To the community: A letter on the future of The Star Wars Game Outpost

Hey all!

I’ve had a blast writing here at The Star Wars Game Outpost. The positive reaction the past few weeks has truly been overwhelming. Thank you to everyone who reads the blog, follows on Twitter or likes on Facebook!

I figured I’d share what I hope to see with The Star Wars Game Outpost in the near future, as well as write a little bit about how I got this blog started. My name is Jared, but you might know me elsewhere on the Interwebz as leftweet. Most of this year I’ve been helping share Battlefront information on the game’s official forums, as well as its subreddit. As someone with a background in journalism, I found this immensely satisfying. I love spreading news and helping keep people informed.

This blog was a natural extension of that. By creating The Star Wars Game Outpost, I was able to start building a platform that could allow me to more easily reach people. It also (hopefully) helps craft a more informed Star Wars gaming community.

Even Boba Fett has the selfie urge sometimes…

Here’s what I hope to bring to this blog in the future:

• Better coverage of non-Battlefront games. Battlefront (and its sequels) will always be prominently covered. However, improving my coverage of games like SWTOR and Galaxy of Heroes gives me more frequent opportunities to share information and will open up the potential for a greater-sized audience. I’ve started playing these games more often and tapping into their various communities to bring smarter and more relevant coverage.
• Consistently featuring community-driven posts. In the weeks after the Death Star DLC drops for Battlefront, I will start regular posts featuring (from all Star Wars games) top moments, machinimas and screenshots from those in the community. I’ll make sure to post about this again soon.
• Regularly posting about old Star Wars games. There is a long list of Star Wars video games. I’m hoping to tap into that wealth of content by revisiting one title weekly (or bi-weekly) as well as, more infrequently, posting a review of old Star Wars games. The revisits will look into the history and development of each game, while reviews will center around my thoughts. Let me know if there are any games you look forward to hearing more about!
• Delving into Battlefront a bit more. I’ve been bouncing around some ideas, but I’d like to get some sort of weekly feature going that looks into different aspects of the game.
• Posting weekly link roundups. These would share articles and videos about Star Wars and Star Wars games that I think would be of interest.
• I might do one off-topic post per week. This weekly post would still pertain to Star Wars, but it would be fun to branch out beyond the gaming side of things from time to time. Maybe it’ll show up Friday afternoons.
• At some point, I’d love to start weekly discussions about certain topics in Star Wars gaming, be it about past memories, current games or future hopes. I feel like I have a healthy readership right now, but I’ll probably wait a bit until the blog gets a little bit bigger (assuming that happens!).
• Longer out, I’d love to interview influencers, developers and creators in the Star Wars gaming community. This probably won’t be something I’ll pursue until SWGO gains more clout, but it’s something in the back of my mind.

Ultimately, I want The Star Wars Game Outpost to be a place for the community to learn about, discuss and enjoy Star Wars gaming. I’m really happy with the growth it’s experienced so far and further growth will simply take time and effort. However, feel free to share the blog around!

Also, let me know if you have any ideas or if there are other types of posts you’d like to see! I’m curious to know what would engage the community.

There’s one other topic I’d like to touch on: monetization. Right now, I do not make any sort of money on this blog. However, I hope for that to change soon. It would be awesome if I could use this blog to help support my family in some capacity.

I first plan to include Amazon affiliate links for Star Wars-related products I think might interest the community. I will probably do a weekly deals post that includes numerous products, while also embedding links in various articles.

In the future, I’m open to the possibility of receiving donations and selling sponsored posts and SWGO merchandise. Venturing into these categories will depend on how popular the blog becomes.

One thing I hope to refrain too much from are more traditional ads. Personally, I find it annoying when I go to sites covered in ads. Ads can bog down load times and make mobile browsing a pain. I want SWGO to be a place people enjoy browsing and a place they look forward going back to. I’m toying with the idea of adding ad space below posts, but I hope to refrain from banner, pop-up and other intrusive forms of advertising.

I’m excited to see where The Star Wars Game Outpost goes. The main focus will always be on news and current events, but I think there are other avenues to venture down that could be beneficial to the community.

Please feel free to let me know whatever’s on your mind via the contact form, Twitter or Facebook. I’m eager to hear what you have to say!

Thanks for reading and may the force be with you!

Jared