Writing an introductory article, I’m led to consider the words of Jasi (a.k.a. Steve V), a contributor on World of Ming at Gameriot. He writes:

Ming is no different than any other professional media giant,(Except [sic] for the Racism [sic] and general insults, that would generally never fly). Whatever sells, sells, there’s nothing else to it. Understanding this media angle is the key to 100% viewer dominance and if that is what floats your boat, then you won’t be sinking any time soon. I don’t think that anyone will ever be able to stop him because the very end fact is that there is a reason tabloids sell and that regardless of how you feel, someone else out there enjoys drama. Now that’s not to say there isn’t a varying degree in quality of drama (did I really just say that?), but the point still stands.

I won’t dispute that tabloids sell. And I won’t deny the assertion that people revel in drama. However, I disagree with his opinions on viewer dominance. Tabloids are not the most prestigious, nor the most read magazines. If you look at the top 25 magazines in circulation in 2007, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, only People registers on the list at #11. Time (#8) and National Geographic (#5) both outsold People by 8 and 35 percent, respectively. Us Weekly doesn’t even register in the top 25.

This suggests a confirmation in my belief that quality has the potential to dominate readership. But the amount of quality blogs out there for WoW is minimal. I’d even chance saying it’s non-existent, having yet to find a blog or blog community for WoW that isn’t either boring and kosher, or wildly controversial and elitist.

Which leads me to discuss the creation and intent behind this blog. The title is devised in homage of Lum the Mad, an old school blog written by “Lum,” a.k.a. Scott Jennings. In 1999, before becoming an employee of Mythic in 2001, Scott wrote extensively about Ultima Online. While his blog started out as mostly a rant-fest, it slowly evolved into a well-respected source of commentary. But that’s not to say I entirely agreed with his points of praise or complaint, and I often think he went a little overboard with certain issues. But he was definitely a pioneer of the MMO blogging community.

With Lume the Mad, I hope to maintain a level of excellence, rationality and interesting discussion that most blogs lack. Furthermore, I am planning to avoid maintaining a niched discussion about merely one area of the game. This is World of Warcraft, afterall. If it wasn’t, it’d be called World of Raidcraft or World of Arenacraft. That’s not to say I expect to be perfect in maintaining a high level of quality, however. I figure I’ll sometimes slip up on a few facts here and there, or find myself ranting on occasion. But I want to uphold the highest level of quality I can. I don’t want to be just another grain of sand in the hourglass. And I don’t want to become an irrational ranter with veins like railroad tracks sticking out of my forehead.