In quite a poignant article today, Big Red Kitty (known to all as BRK) announced his departure from World of Warcraft and blogging. @temerityjanebroke the news first, and I knew immediately this wasn’t an April Fool joke.
To say BRK will be missed in the WoW blogging scene would be like saying the moon would be missed if it left the sky. There simply is no way to say it without making a huge understatement.
I’m certain if you poll ten WoW bloggers, nine of them would say BRK was one of their inspirations for blogging about WoW. He certainly was my inspiration. His was the first web log (“blog”) I ever read, not to mention the first WoW blog I read!
BRK’s was not the first WoW blog ever; perhaps not even the best. But I’m certain it was the most influential, by several orders of magnitude. He mixed “what I did last night” with solid theorycrafting, plenty of passion, and loads of humor. His “Daniel- mode” stories of his days as an Air Force enlisted man are the stuff of legend.
His appeal was universal, not just limited to beast mastery hunters, or even hunters in general. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit to learn that many of his current readers no longer play WoW; in fact, I’d bet he has a lot of readers who never played!
Without turning maudlin here, I know I’ll miss his writing. Next to the Daniel stories, I think the most entertaining were his “BRK argues with his brain” articles. Some of those are classics; all are amusing. Sure, BRK has his detractors, who fault him for being overbearing, full of himself, or otherwise are uncomfortable with his passion and his ego. But without passion and ego, what are we? Boring, that’s what—and BRK was never, ever boring.
Best wishes for a happy life, Daniel, and be sure you enjoy your beautiful wife and wonderful son more than you ever have. No matter how long it lasts, life is too short not to do those things. /salute /bow
I didn’t even know what a blog was until I read his, so it’s most definitely all his fault I started my own!
It’s sad to hear that he has gotten his priorities mixed up, but at the same time I know how easy it is to do.
Huge props to him, and /ditto to what you have said.
Softi last blogged about Photohunt: Hands.
[...] this is getting a bit bleak, so I’m going to stop here. There have been many other bloggers who have wished him farewell far better than I could hope to. I echo their sentiments, and I must [...]