The decline of the game blog format

+13

We are getting effortless blogs again

Currently, the Recent User Blogs has been facing a congestion of facile blogs under the 'game' category that do not have any clue of care behind. It's sensible to clarify that exceptions exist, and judging the entire genre for the errors of the majority isn't acceptable or helpful.

Good bloggers have made nice games that actually did contribute permanent value to the format, which hold inherent value besides the emotional attachment of the former players.

I'm not planning to hate the game blogs: what I'm intending is to remember the RUB that effortlessly written blogs have no place in here.

Notwithstanding, what are my points to attempt a critique towards this really 'famous' blog genre that 'lots' of people love? First of all, are these blogs even famous? You could say they are, since they have lots of comments. BUT, they are not the type of comments of this style:

They're more like this...

The people who often read the blogs are just the participants of them; it's not like (almost) any other JetPunkers read them. This engagement is revealing the insular nature of these blogs: their audience isn't the wide JetPunk community, but exclusively the participants themselves...


Their low quality may be explained by something we're seeing at plain sight... and it's the amount of them. The famous saying 'quality over quantity' should be complemented with 'if you're doing bad stuff, at least make less of it; for the sake of humanity'. After a thorough search, out of the last 250 blogs made, 106 out of 250 were blog games (41.2%); out of the last 100 blogs, 40% are related to blog games, and if we only count the last 50 ones, the percentage skyrockets to an astonishing 48 per cent...


•An example is Total Drama - JetPunk: of the last 250 blogs, only this series represents 20% of the published blogs. (45 parts)


The quality of these blogs is also explained by the hurried creation of them, as well as the lack of proofreading. The creators of those games don't refine the ideas of those games, so they just left them at the roulette wheel: it's not hard to ask for complex game ideas.

Tips for bloggers about game-blogs

•If you need general help when writing engaging blogs, read this blog: How We Can Improve Blogs

Don't do daily parts: they saturate the RUB, they drown down the other blogs, they don't help your reputation in general... The ideal time between blogs should be 2-3 days; a week may be ideal if the game's character is complex and loaded.

•When you finish a game blog, don't make another immediately. Take at least a month to make part two or a totally new idea.

Make the blogs larger, and lessen the number of them. An example of a blog that took too long was Total Drama - JetPunk... Maybe 7 or 8 dense parts are better than 120.

•Why not make a blog, only after the chapter is over? In the meantime, the results of the challenges and the voting and so are told privately. The blog would be just to unveil to the RUB the results.

•If the narrative of these game blogs truly cannot be compressed into fewer posts, then here is a technical solution: make all parts EXCEPT the Sign-Ups and the Finale unlisted. The ongoing 'episodes' can be shared exclusively within the private groups or chats of the participating teams.

•If you have something like Countries ShowDown, where the community needs to participate in the series, why not do it outside JetPunk?

•The best 'game' series ever may be KiloNova's Debate stuff: those are blogs that are interesting to read!

Conclusion

If I have highlit critique over solutions, I apologise. The main goal I had with this blog is to help the community remember that blogs should and must have a minimum quality; or isn't that what we deserve?

39 Comments
+3
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
I was seeking for exchange of ideas, and a critique that does more than just moaning. Sorry if you feel offended or think that this is a personal attack.

Please be civil in this blog.

+4
Level 60
Nov 27, 2025
QM has said that doesn't want to have such type of "content" on the Message Board so that argument doesn't really make sense.

Also, the spelling error in the title is making me mad.

+1
Level 52
Apr 21, 2026
You're right about the Message Board suggestion, I'll edit that part.
+4
Level 73
Nov 27, 2025
I feel like there isn't need to make this so public, it would've been better if you sent a private message to the creators of these game blogs with constructive criticism and feedback. That could just be me though.
+4
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
Well, doing that would be direct... more direct than I would like to. I would feel like I'm attacking these people. Furthermore, I already wrote to one of the people who's making those blogs, and their answer wasn't comfortable.

Also, a private message won't guarantee these two things:

+The visibility on this issue by the community.

+The effectiveness of the message towards people who will do the same

+1
Level 83
Nov 27, 2025
Is it less direct to criticize someone publicly on a blog forum only they and thirty other people frequent?
+1
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
I'm not talking against somebody, I'm talking against the attitude and the content.
+2
Level 56
Nov 27, 2025
OWOOWWWO
+2
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
Very ilustrative!
+4
Level 76
Nov 27, 2025
Completely disagree with this blog, in fact I think the game blogs don't exclude anyone and rather make the connections stronger between active JetPunkers. Yes, I love seeing other types of blogs as well, but I think the recent surge in game blogs have been very fun for those who have decided to participate.
+4
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
I love a lot how the games are strengthening the community, but the part of the community that isn't participating should at least be respected, avoiding the congestion on the RUB.

The format is not the problem.

+2
Level 76
Nov 28, 2025
I'd like to step back a bit from my comment because I do see your point and I would like to see other blog types as well, I just have been having fun with the game blogs.
+2
Level 52
Nov 28, 2025
Yeah, I don't want to make people think that I want the game blogs to disappear, currently Total Drama - Action has started and it's been interesting! I just would like game blogs to reduce their volume in regard to the rest of the RUB, and to get less and better of them
+2
Level 66
Nov 27, 2025
I think the game blogs only cause problems when the people participating aren’t welcoming (ex. eliminating people they don’t know first). Think of how many people you met through TDJ! The daily blogs do clutter the RUB, but it’s really not a problem if everybody is enjoying them and they are well put together. The other thing I see happening is game blogs drawing attention away from other blogs, but ultimately it comes down to a matter of preference.

In conclusion, there are definitely good series as well as bad ones out there right now, but game blogs aren’t the problem

+4
Level 66
Nov 27, 2025
Also, there really isn’t a good way to condense some game blogs or drag them out longer than necessary. For example, TDJ literally wouldn’t work in 7 or 8 parts like you mentioned. Sure, the voting results and challenge could be combined, like in JP Survivor, but then it requires even more from the participants. Daily blogs aren’t a problem if they don’t require a lot from the participants.

I do actually agree with a lot of your other points, like unlisting them, but it would be cool to see more feedback from people that don’t participate in the game blogs.

+1
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
Yes, people besides the participants should interact with the blog: and that won't happen if the bloggers know how to make the blogs both appealing to foreigners and useful for the insiders
+1
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
Hm, what if instead of making a blog for each part, all three parts of a chapter were included in the same blog after the voting?

-A single blog that all foreigners can read.

This can reduce unnecessary blogs for those who won't read them. Also, the contestants can be informed without the necessity of a public blog, and then write in both groups the challenges and the results.

+1
Level 71
Nov 28, 2025
People not knowing me got me almost voted out in TDJ episode 1... :( I dislike it when new people get voted out with no reason :(
+3
Level 45
Nov 27, 2025
As a game blogger, I never followed any of these tips.. it's hard to do that kind of stuff for the things that I'm hosting

(TDA premiere coming soon btw!)

+2
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
Try to follow them, please.
+3
Level 82
Nov 27, 2025
I think the game blogs are fine, but I do agree that they should make them larger so that they require less installments.
+2
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
I also think the core idea of them is great, but I disagree on parts of their execution
+5
Level 61
Nov 27, 2025
Honestly, I've had similar thoughts. I want more unique blogs. Diversity!
+6
Level 65
Nov 27, 2025
this blog is surrounded on both sides by game blogs lol
+3
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
That's bad, isn't it?
+5
Level 83
Nov 27, 2025
It’s hard to tell if this was part of a challenge on total drama JetPunk or something. The Drama JetPunk series obviously had a few poor planning decisions, but it looked like plenty of fun and generally a good idea. I read those blogs as a spectator and thought capy did a pretty good job.
+3
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
it was really fun and I made lots of friends there! I think the series had a nice quality, but I'm worried that the recent game blogs aren't meeting the expectations.
+5
Level 83
Nov 27, 2025
Wow, there are like 4 of them aren’t there. Huh. I just skip past the low quality ones.
+1
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
Your tone is supercilious. Also, you're not getting my point.
+3
Level 83
Nov 27, 2025
I was agreeing with you after looking how many different game blogs came out recently. 🙄
+1
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
what do you mean?
+5
Level 83
Nov 27, 2025
… at first I thought you were criticizing game blogs in general, like capy’s, so I defended capy’s blog series. Then you pointed out that a lot of other users put out low quality game blogs lately, which I hadn’t realized since I don’t check the blogs that regularly. I expressed surprise that there were four separate game blog series that had been started lately, but pointed out I just filter out game blogs that I’m not into (which is probably why I didn’t realize there were so many different series). Then you called me supercilious and I rolled my eyes since I was agreeing with you. Then I summarized the entire exchange from my perspective, and then everything was cool.
+2
Level 52
Nov 27, 2025
Oh! I'm so freaking sorry Dimby, English is not my first language :0

So yeah, we agree on this: I also pass over the low quality blogs, but I would prefer they weren't there in the first place (or at least be good enough to don't be considered 'low quality')

+5
Level 83
Nov 27, 2025
No worries, ha ha. I misread this as a criticism against capy at first and was a bit defensive because I know he put in so much work. :)
+2
Level 57
Nov 28, 2025
I would say that the idea is (or at least seems) good but the format isn't. Publishing daily blog entries is not sustainable for the bloggers neither for the blog section.

Quizmaster doesn't want such type of content on the Message Board? That's completely understandable. But why should we have that many on the blog section?

In my humble opinion, the best thing to do would be to publish only two blogs for each game: one announcing the subscription period and an other one at the very end, to sum up everything for the non-participating JetPunkers interested in that games. The game itself could entirely happen on a JetPunk group. It wouldn't be a big deal for the hosts since no one but the players read their "blogs".

+1
Level 71
Nov 28, 2025
I think the only recent game blog where non-contestants still read is Total Drama...
+4
Level 71
Nov 28, 2025
Hm. I have thought that recently some of the blogs game blogs are of low quality. You, and other people could also just right more blogs to declutter the RUB from game blogs... (Joke).

To think about it, Capybarra wasn't born a natural game-blog writer (no offence!). It took practice, and a few failed ideas. Eventually, the game blog qualities will go up (for some users).

I also kind of understand you.... some just are repeditive, and aren't formatted/well written enough (you really like making things look good right? I feel similar about that sort of thing)

+1
Level 45
Nov 28, 2025
OG Country Showdown mention?
+2
Level 81
Nov 29, 2025
I'm not a fan of "Game Blogs", mainly because they don't interest me. However, I'm not against them at all. To paraphrase a famous quote attributed, wrongly, to Voltaire..

"I don't like what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"

Although "to the death" does sound a little extreme for the RUB.

I don't think the problem is a plethora of game blogs, but rather a scarcity of other blogs. There used to be geography and history blogs, I know WillemLAif is writing excellent travel blogs, but they are in a minority.

I'm partly guilty in this regard, I haven't written a blog in a while, mainly due to personal commitments that have given me less time to concentrate on blogs. Hopefully, this will change in the near future.

So instead of bemoaning the fact that game blogs are taking over the RUB, lets get writing more quality blogs to even up the imbalance.