Happy BoRTday to you,
Happy BoRTday to you,
Happy Birthday Blogs of the Round Table,
Happy BoRTday to you!

On the 28th of August last year we relaunched Blogs of the Round Table. Since then, we’ve had 76 articles submitted – believe me, I’ve counted them – which is incredible. It’s great to see our blogging community developing; thank you to everyone who has written something for BoRT and brightened up my inbox over the past year.

To celebrate the first birthday of neo-BoRT, we’ve got a little surprise: skip to the end of this post to find out more.

Maybe you’re new to Critical Distance and aren’t sure what Blogs of the Round Table is or how it works. In that case, read on:

What is Blogs of the Round Table?

Blogs of the Round Table, or BoRT as we call it to save space on Twitter, is a regular writing club. Every month or two, we pick a new theme – August/September’s is “What’s the Story?” – and people write articles for their own blog or website. At the end of each round, we publish a summary of all the submissions on Critical Distance.

Is BoRT curated, like This Week in Video Game Blogging?

No! We’ll include everything we receive, as long as it fits the topic and was written during the time period. While we want new writing for BoRT, we’ll also accept pieces that you’ve written in the past month that also fit the theme.

How do I submit an article?

You can email them to alan [at] critical-distance.com – put BoRT in the subject line so I know you’re not trying to sell me something – or tweet them @critdistance or @agbear.

When should I have my writing finished?

It depends on the topic. We normally run each BoRT topic for one-two months. The closing date will always be on the post. If you’re running late, that’s OK: you can even submit pieces after I’ve written the roundup post and I’ll add them to our database.


OK, so what about that surprise? It wouldn’t be a birthday without presents, so we’ve got a little competition:

Whoever writes the best entry for the new Blogs of the Round Table theme, ‘What’s the Story’, will win a copy of the new videogame story anthology Ghosts in the Machine.

All you have to do is write an article that matches the theme ‘What’s the Story?’ – see the original post for more details – and at the end of September we’ll pick the ‘best’ piece based on what is the most original and insightful. It’s a prize for ideas, not technical excellence. Ghosts in the Machine is a short story anthology all about videogames, featuring writing from folks like Lana Polansky, Maddy Myers, Andrew Vanden Bossche and myself. The winner can choose between a physical or digital copy.

So get writing and good luck. Please visit the original ‘What’s the Story?’ post for more information on the topic and where to send your piece.

Happy BoRTday, everyone!