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The Journey Begins


Hello, fellow geeks and nerds, to the first post of my new blog, The Mindful Geek, a strange amalgam of a publication combining game design, geek culture, and philosophy.

We'll be covering everything from board games mechanics to bad sequels, from the Hero's Journey to the Hobbit, and perhaps even a delve into the design of my own games from time to time.  Oh, and for those who enjoy a healthy dose of humor, I've been known to create geek-themed memes from time to time.

The Man Behind the Curtain

But wait!  You still have no clue who I am, or why I'm writing any of this.  I'm Ethan, a Graphic Designer by day, Game Designer by night.  I've been prowling the Game Design community for a while now, mostly hanging out on the sidelines and absorbing as much as I could, so now I feel like I should be giving back to this wonderful community, and I decided that the best way to do that would be starting a blog.  Hence this post.

For Whom the Geek Tolls

Of course, an equally important question is this;  Who are you?  More accurately, who do I expect you to be?  Of course, the people who will get the most out of the blog are game designers, be they brand new, veteran, or somewhere in between.  Most of my informative content is for them.  That being said, anyone who loves geeky things-- Books, Comic Books, Movies-- will have a lot of fun reading all my other stuff, which makes up about half of my content.  And people who just love games will benefit from my game design posts almost as much as the designers--  I know my enjoyment of games goes up the more I understand their design.  And if you marked D, none of the above, you might still find a few diamonds in the rough here-- Especially if you like a good chuckle now and again.

So that's who I think will be reading my posts, but what I really want to know is who you really are;  I want this blog to become part of the community, and a whole is nothing without its parts.  So I would love it if anyone reading this would like to share a quick introduction.  Who are you?  What do you like?  What do you hope to find here?  If you feel so moved, please comment below!

When & Where

One final bit of information that you might want to know, the posting schedule for my blog.  I'll always post my main posts on Wednesdays, and an original geek-themed meme on Saturdays.

 Additionally, I'll post a Card of the Week, where I choose a Magic: The Gathering card every week, then play a deck using all four with any of you guys who cares to join on untap.in at the end of each month, on my Tumblr each Tuesday.

 On my Facebook page, I'll post Required Reading links, where I point to helpful articles and podcasts not written by me on Thursdays, as well as the occasional Kickstarter Spotlight, where I talk about a noteworthy Kickstarter game that's funding, whenever it's most appropriate.

That’s All!

That's about all I have to say, but if you have a comment, question, or if you want to introduce yourself, please comment below.  If you have a suggestion or request, you can email me at themindfulgeek01@gmail.com, or submit an ask on my Tumblr.  So, until next time, keep on geeking on!

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