Getting Ahead of Myself.

     As you may remember, (and probably are tired of hearing about) I hosted a contest on this blog a few weeks ago. It seemed at the time a really good way to drive traffic to the blog, and pull in some more long-term readers. Alas, I got ahead of myself with that one. It turns out that nobody entered the contest. However, rather than being sad or embarrassed about it, I've decided to do my best to learn from it. So, here, in a nice, formal bulleted list, are the things the contest has taught me:

• Contests bring in traffic in direct proportion to the number of readers you already have.

• Offering contestants a prize only works if they know that the prize is worth it.

• Nagging doesn't really work (sorry about that)

     First, the idea behind the contest was to draw a lot of interest in the blog, and get some readers. I have been (almost obsessively) studying my stats on the blog, trying to earn how things work as far as page views and visits. What I learned is that before the start of the contest, I had consistently about four readers viewing each post. With the publication of the contest, that number jumped all the way to 61! What that means, is that on average, those four viewers each brought in about fifteen readers to my blog! (and I cannot thank them enough, by the way!) SO, I managed to have 61 viewings of the creation contest posting, But, unfortunately, the mistake that post made was asking for something without really offering anything in return.

     That is to say, I was asking readers for their ideas without ever having shown them that I have the skills to make their investment worthwhile. I admit, I haven't shown my readers that I have what it takes  to make a game like the one I was asking for. OOPS. to be honest, I don't blame you guys for not wanting to chance your ideas in the big old internet. It's a scary place where people steal each other's ideas, identities, monies, etc. So, next time I try something like this, I'll be sure to offers some sort of collateral for your ideas.

     The last thing I realized is that in spite of my persistent reminders, from Facebook to tags at the end of the posts, if nobody is interested, nobody is going to post. Sorry about that. : /

To make it up to you, I am going to plot out and build a game anyway, and release it to you all for free. 

Thanks for reading!