Best of Bio Break 2013: Blogging and podcasting community shout-outs

The Best of Bio Break 2013 is a series of “end of the year” lists that talk about various forms of entertainment that I enjoyed this year.  They’re not awards, but they are ranked.  Each entry doesn’t have to be something that came out this year, but merely something I encountered this year.

I hate giving out individual awards or recognition in lists like these to blogs and podcasts, because then it becomes a game of favorites where the not-chosen might feel personally snubbed.  The truth is that I follow a LOT of people and have a very full RSS reader (and you can check those out on the right-hand side of the page.  Still, I want to give a few significant shout-outs to folks who went above and beyond in excellence this year.

1. Contains Moderate Peril and T.R. Red Skies for their work with the Newbie Blogger Initiative 2

These two sites elected to take over the NBI this year and did a phenomenal job with it, inviting new bloggers into the fold and bringing the community closer together.

2. Casual Stroll to Mordor for a lifetime achievement award

CSTM was one of the best examples of a fan site being awesome, servicing the LOTRO community for many years with excellent guides, podcasts, and commentary.  CSTM semi-retired (or at least changed focus) this year, but the crew deserves an award for their excellent work that was enjoyed by so many players.

3. I Have Touched The Sky for epic re-tweeting

Rowan of I Have Touched The Sky is one of those guys who’s constantly pointing and linking to other bloggers that you should check out.  It’s very selfless the way he does it, and I thought he deserved a shout-out in return.

4. Werit for last WAR blogger standing

There’s a lot of us that got started MMO blogging with Warhammer Online, and while most of us either stopped or transitioned to other games, Werit remained the faithful WAR blogger to the very end.  I thought he deserved a nod for that.

5. Dulfy.net and Unfair.co for awesome guides

I don’t know how these people find the time to research and write up these very detailed guides, but I’m so glad they do because they saved me a lot of wasted time in games.  I go to these two sites all the time and admire the thoroughness of their work.

Merry Christmas, y’all!