It Takes a Village of Virtual Friends

The community of wargame enthusiasts on the web must be all syncing up. I've recently had at least 3 posts in draft form and then another community member writes or videos on the very same topic.

In this case, it's about community.  I've been penciling out this post in my notebook for a week or so when I came across this post by James called, "A blog by any other name." It has some cool point including about why people blog - By the way, I am a solid #1, and I wish I were 4-7. (you'll have to go check out his blog to see what I mean.  What number are you?

I was thinking along the lines of creating community. There are groups or individuals that seem to be able to create a community. I've garnered a few followers here and on YouTube. But I don't feel I've created a community. Not a strong one anyway.  This is no offense to my followers and subscribers. It's on me.

When I think of community, I think of a group of people that begin reaching out to each other to make connections.  I believe BritishLegion 1/Lord Legion 72 on Youtube does a tremendous job of this.  The reason, because he's always promoting other youtubers which gets others to their sites.  But it's more than that, it's a personality type.  He's engaging and friendly and people want to know Nick and figure if Nick talks well of you, you must be a decent bloke.

Warboss Tae seems to have done this as well.  He has 6,506 subscribers. Wow. I've just recently discovered him, but he seems the same, likeable, creative, and generating conversation and buzz in those that follow him.

Jamie Tranter and Ethan Thomas over on Youtube are also creating a community by holding a Bolt Action Tournament via Google Hangouts.  This brings people from all over the world together live and via fun banter together in a unique way.

James, mentioned earlier, has begun something called Blog Con over in England.  Very cool chance for many of the bloggers (and non bloggers) to get together to play some games, talk, and create deeper connections. This is awesome and is shaping up to be a cool event.

James also mentions the Rejects and Posties with Fran and Ray and the gang.  I know they've gotten together at conventions in the past. Whenever I read their posts I always think they would welcome any new gamer or blogger into their circle of friends.

In the boardgaming world there's of course BoardGameGeek.  However, that's a "big" commercial concern now, so I'll focus on a couple of guys.  There's the Dice Tower that seems to have loyal followers and created many other podcasts and even a Con. The one I'm most familar with is Kev, aka Hipshot, aka The Big Board. He's collecting together a group of people to write and video with him to expand the reach of his website. Kev is also very good about promoting other's work and making sure they get their props. As well, he responds to your comments and posts regularly. 

Now I look back over this rambling long post and wonder, what is my point?  This community has opened up fun doors to meet new people, to stretch my talents in the miniature hobby, and to open my eyes to new games and eras in both boardgaming and miniatures.  Also to say thank you to all the community creators out there. I appreciate the opportunity to join the "tribes" you've created to make new friends, get new ideas and be inspired.