I’ve been a creative soul for just as long, or maybe longer, than I’ve been a gamer. I often find myself in the conundrum of needing a creative outlet in all the things that I do, including gaming.

Perhaps somewhere down the line, you’ve heard of the Bartle Taxonomy of player types. The one that defines gamers by four quadrants: Killers, Achievers, Socializers, Explorers.

I don’t find myself identifying with any of these, to be honest. I’m a bit of an explorer, and sometimes a socializer, but really, I need to express myself through creativity and immersion. Be that in game by designing a neat house or glamour, or outside of game through drawing art or writing stories.

I’m much more inclined to lean towards the Amy Jo Kim’s Social Interaction Matrix because of this.

I feel like this matrix captures of how I see myself interacting with a gaming world more than the Bartle taxonomy. Namely, because it acknowledges those who “Express” and “Collaborate” – both activities that I find enjoyment in when playing a MMO.

All of this rambling is to preface this announcement that I’d like to make: This blog is undergoing a slight change in direction.

When I launched Spot of Mummery two and half years ago, I was establishing a creative outlet that I really needed to keep me engaged in my MMO of choice – Final Fantasy XIV. I’d played the game since the relaunch of ARR without a break in my sub, but after so many years, I knew I needed something more than just running roulettes or raids… or even glamour and housing.

I’m a bit of an oldskool MMO player, and immersion in a living world is a big part of what inspires me to play MMOs. I desired to make a character who was part of Eorzea. I wanted to write stories and develop my own plots with the amazing backdrop that FFXIV provides. Such a lush lore and story-driven game gave me all of the foundations to do just that.

This began as a RP interaction Tumblr. But last year, I decided to broaden my horizons, and moved it to WordPress, a platform I’m quite familiar with as a blogger. My other gaming blog just celebrated 7 years of being in existence, something I’m pretty proud of given how difficult it is to launch and maintain a blog now days. So for me, long-term blogging projects are a thing.

Now, I’ve decided to expand Spot of Mummery even more. I’ve spent over 20 years writing online stories and interacting in various role play environments over the years. I’ve also been pretty involved in the FFXIV community as a creator and a collaborator – helping to welcome players and encourage them to create, too. From all of this, I feel I have ideas that are relevant that I can share with other like-minded creative souls.

I’m going to be launching a series of post for folks who feel like me – those yearning to be part of a living online world and who want express their creativity. This is especially for folks who are shy as I am, but desire to connect, create and share with others in whatever MMO community you’re part of.

I hope you’ll join me as I explore various topics, some from the beginning level on up. Much of this will lean towards FFXIV since this is the community I know best. But I hope some of it can be an encouragement for players of any MMO.