On being a name

[Image: condenser mic]I’m really getting into podcasts. When it first started becoming a phenomenon, I really thought podcasting was going somewhere. Turns out I was right.

Now I listen to the Gillmor Gang all the time. I listen to the PC Gamer Podcast, I watch The Show with Ze Frank (technically videoblogging), I grab the GamerAndy podcast every Thursday, I listen to KEXP’s Song of the Day, and NPR’s Press Start. That’s not a shabby list for someone who hasn’t really found a use for radio in several years.

The curse, however, is that I’m an opinionated person, especially about games and technology. What I liked about running Flicker Gaming was that it made me “a name” instead of just “Jason Preston.” If I ever had the opportunity (which, sadly, I didn’t), I could join a podcast about gaming and I could be “the guy who runs Flicker Gaming.”

And that gives me legitimacy. It’s why I’m on the show. It validates my opinions. As weird as it is, you are as relevant as your job says you are. There is celebrity in the internet.

That’s kind of a scary thought, isn’t it? And it’s never sat well with me, because I have an annoying habit of thinking that I’m just as good as every other guy puttering about the internet. I think my opinion about in-game ads is just as valid as Gary Whitta’s. Too bad I don’t run a gaming site anymore.

Maybe I’ll start a podcast so I can be opinionated on my own time. Anyone else down? (Pssst…we need to be important people…)