Gamer Blog Genre Analysis, Part 2

Part 2: Multiple Authorship

or

I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

On a note somewhat different and yet somewhat related to the previous theme of reliance on other people, is the gamer blog with multiple posters. I'm not here reffering to the comments a person may leave on one's blog, although this can also contribute to the topic. I'm reffering to a blog in which there are multiple authors. This doesn't crop up in PvP, but I've noted it in both Penny-Arcade and game girl advance, and it seems to somewhat set the gamer blog apart from other subgenres.

Penny-Arcade, for one, has regular posts by both the creators of the webcomic. Much of the time, the first (and largest) post of any given day is made by the strip's writer, with the artist contributing smaller posts later on. Oftentimes the artist does not contribute to the blog at all, while at other times the two will have conversations with each other within the blog. Very occasionally the artist will make the first post, usually when the writer is unavailable for some reason. In the past, the two have even allowed others to post to their blog, although this hasn't been true for some years now.

game girl advance also makes use of multiple authors. In fact, the original author herself, jane, has not posted to the site since June of this year (although she has contributed to other sites; note the article is on an event put on by the creators of Penny-Arcade, a coincidence I'm not sure how to classify) The majority of recent posts on this site have been by ClockworkGrue and matt. A look at the "masthead" portion of the site shows at least eleven people involved in the site's production --- in addition, it seems, to matt.

So what does the presence of multiple authors do for a gamer blog --- or indeed, for a blog in general? Well, not much by itself, but it does point out one aspect of the blog that sets it apart from other forms of media: Multiple perspectives. Where other blogs are concerned, this doesn't mean much, as one can just as easily achieve the same effect by sampling a wide variety of blogs, some of which may even be linked to by the blogger. PvP and Penny-Arcade, for example, have been directly addressing each other on their blogs within the past few months. One can also see multiple perspectives in a blog's comments section. The fact that these are common in blogging helps show how the weblog is distinct from more traditional forms of media.

On to Part 3.