I think everyone reaches a point in their blogging career when they ask themselves, "Why am I doing this?" It is rare that a suitable and satisfying answer comes to light. Some people do it to explore their own thoughts in an organized fashion, others do it for entertainment, and others simply as a job. I don't know why I write to an invisible audience. If we are to be brutally honest, most of us blog because we crave attention and want to be recognized for our worth. It's tough to admit such a superficial and seemingly needy concept, but a blog that receives 20 comments is certainly more satisfying than one that lives in obscurity. It's just one more attempt at belonging, one more stab at climbing the social ladder. It is not an unwise attempt by any means. The anonymity of a community such as this one affords many people an opportunity to become something utterly more satisfying than their real-world counterpart. The risk is minimal and the veil never has to be lifted, unless the writer chooses to do so. Just to clarify, I am not saying that people who blog are are unsuccessful in other aspects of their life, but talents hidden away by shyness and social misunderstanding need not hinder someone in the written word.
 
It's tough to analyze oneself without a certain amount of bias and I am sure I write, at least partially, for some of the reasons above. I can honestly say that I'm very pleased with my current position in life and really have nothing to complain about, but the allure of a successful blog is still there, dangling just out of reach. Beyond simply wanting to be read, perhaps I also seek a place to delve deeper into my video game-related interests, as they are still not something I share with most of my real world friends. They know I play them and own way too many, but they certainly don't understand my desire to know about developers and follow the business of the industry. It's a shame that this hobby is so widely derided that we flock to blogs, rather than our close friends, to share our thoughts on a supremely entertaining form of media. Of course, gaming is far more accepted now than it ever has been, and people blog about everything under the sun, so the medium is not particularly important to our current discussion.  
 
With that being said, I will probably put something more substantial and more game-related here in the near future as I would like to see where it takes me. Success is, after all, only one amazing blog away. As usual, I'd love to hear your opinions on this subject. 
 
With that, I bid you adieu.

-_- so you found out about my reasons for "blogging" (well the untold reasons anyway) , but .. yeah it is hard not to have someone to talk about videogames with passion in real life , even more so that I have moved away from the people that more or less had a similar passion for games like me. Also I talk about them with my mother , but how can I expect her to be extremely interested in them , and after a very hilarious but unsucessful attempt to make her play Halo Reach (she couldnt master moving the camera while walking/shooting) I decided to torture her no more. So yeah I crave for attention :(

Some people also blog to practice writing, with regards to gaming, blogging about video games is a good first step to break into the industry.  

" I think everyone reaches a point in their blogging career when they ask themselves, "Why am I doing this?" "

When in doubt, DMV.   Humanity is working through the basic problems of life, the universe, and everything, but all it takes is one trip to the DMV to realize there must be something fundamentally wrong with the whole works.  Games provide a pleasant distraction from this fact and, at their best, offer glimmers of a solution.  Best to you on your travels. 

Well, I just wrote a blog a few moments ago so I have no idea what you're talking about.

I usually blog when I have a random thought about something and no one is around to listen to me, or I do not think they would care about what I say. I personally dont care who reads it, its basically a form of expression, if someone reads it and responds then I am just happy that I possibly entertained them.

i don't blog a lot but it's not just about stuff about video games it is also about random stuff. one blog i did was about vince offer(shamwow guy) and his new commercial of eminem's album recovery.

i never attach my blogs to the forums or even relate them to stuff on the site because i know nobody cares, i just do them to entertain myself basically.

I probably blog mostly because of vanity and a need for validation. But it also keeps me motivated towards my goal and also affords me an allotted time every week in which to collect and order my successes and shortcomings.
 
Also, no one that I know wants to hear me babble on about what I'm interested in.

I think all of my blogs were written late at night when I had nothing to do and I was still too wired to go beddy bye. Writing one is a good diversion. So is masturbating. In conclusion I am going to write a blog about masturbating. 

I let my blogs just come to me. If I'm not in the mood, I never force myself to blog. I've had blogs with a few comments and some with 30 or more. They're all my babies, so I don't judge.

I'm pretty much a failed blogger. It's an interesting thing to do, but my "talents" seem to fail me right as I submit them. I used to blog ALL THE TIME when I was younger on the internet(around 13-14. Am now 18). I don't know what my deal is but normally I lose interest as they are finished and sitting there. I mean I'll spend a few hours coming up with stuff and writing it down, then proof-reading/editing a few times over to make sure there are no petty mistakes, but then I'll be like "Alright, I'll just leave it here and go boot up some music and then browse the net" and after a few hours of totally forgetting about it, I'd have lost interest and just delete it all.
 

I've never found reason nor compulsion to blog. Guess I've nothing interesting to share. Reading a good, well-written blog is nice though.

My blog is basically an opening for a conversation which I can't have anywhere else. My friends don't want to talk about this stupid pretentious videogame bullshit, but thanks to the internet I can discuss my addiction in minute detail with other misguided enthusiasts like yourself. 
 
As for getting replies... I guess it depends on what you want from your blog. Some people don't consider a blog successful unless they get a huge stack of replies to rifle through. I don't see why a blog can't be successful without any replies at all, but personally I have always maintained it's about quality not quantity. If one were to write a huge wall of text and get one reply, that's still a win - that's one person connecting with another person, and that's all you can really hope for.

" I've never found reason nor compulsion to blog. Guess I've nothing interesting to share. Reading a good, well-written blog is nice though. "

A lot of really good points and interesting comments. I agree with a couple of you that blogging and reviewing on a games site could be seen as the first step towards getting into the video games industry (although a bachelor's degree in journalism is also highly recommended). It's not surprising that so many people blog about video games because they haven't been able to find people to talk to these things about.  
 
I also find if quite interesting and commendable that so many people are so honest about all of this. So as long as you enjoy the blogging and a lack of views doesn't get you down, I say keep on writing. Something great could come out of it. 
  
@N7: Venting is a good thing. 

@Sweep: You make a really good point about the wall of text. Having one person really identify could certainly be worth it, depending on the response. I think the issue with replies really comes down to the need to be validated. Quite frankly, no one likes to work for hours on an entry and then have no one read it. But such is life.