I just got my e-mail this morning that I have been renewed as a Microsoft XNA MVP for 2008 for my work this past year. So what did I do to deserve this?
Well. A lot.
This past year has been a busy one for me just in general and I didn't get nearly as much done as I had planned on doing for the XNA community. But here is what I did do. If you've ever wondered just what DOES an MVP do? What is it that earns them a nomination or gets them renewed? Here's my list. I can't guarantee that by duplicating this effort you'll see the same results, but this is the type of work and community involvement that has earned me my MVP award for the last two years.
Places I participate:
Creators Club Forums - Where I spend my time answering questions and moderating posts. Think I'm in the top 15 for number of posts (no chance of being in the top spots, those guys are machines, yeah, I'm talking about you ZMan, Shawn and Nick!). This past year has been a bit harder for me to offer support because the technical level of the questions has increased (where have all the beginners gone? come back, I want to help you!). For me to be more useful this coming year, I'm going to have to finally start picking up some 3D development. At the very least I need to learn the 3D terminology and 3D beginner basics so I can provide better support.
The XNA IRC channel (efnet #XNA using XNADevelo handle although everyone just calls me George)- I just hang out here spending my time chatting about nonsense (hey guys!), answering any XNA questions I can and helping out other XNA developers on their projects. I also use this channel as a place I can get support for my own projects. I'll often ask people to review my code or share my progress on some project I'm working on. I'm there pretty much daily and I'm a channel operator.
Publications:
CoDe Magazine - I wrote an article for the Sept/Oct issue of the print (and online) CoDe Magazine titled "Introducing XNA Game Studio Express". This was the first time I had been published in a magazine and I loved it. I really want to try and write another article. Just need to think of a good idea...
Speaking:
Portland Code Camp - I did an XNA talk where we walked through making a 2D game using XNA titled "Drive Fast and Dodge the Oncoming Obstacles". This was my first public speaking experience and it was pretty nerve wracking. It went well (I think?) and I'm planning on doing another talk at the next Portland Code Camp.
Tutorials:
XNADevelopment.com - I run the community site XNADevelopment.com all by my lonesome and I release tutorials and game demos with full source from there. Over the past year I have released quite a few XNA projects to the community. I think majority of the content currently on my site was written after November 1st, 2007 and I know for sure all the content was re-written with the actual release of XNA and then the refresh so all of it has been touched in the last year. Now I just need to go through all of that content yet again and update it for the XNA 2.0 release that just occurred in December of 2007. That's going to be quite the chore...
Blog:
http://geekswithblogs.net/clingermangw - My blog (the one you're reading right now) is where I write about XNA news, development practices and give myself a face to the community for them to communicate through contacting via email or through discussions in my comments. I love having this blog now if I can just figure out how to write more consistently.
Miscellaneous:
XNA3Way - is a side group I started with some friends (hey Chris! hey Jason!). We get together and do some game coding in a weekend, release our source on CodePlex and provided some entertainment for the XNA community. Unfortunately, due to some personal reasons, I'm not going to be able to make it to the next session, but I'm looking forward to seeing what Jason, Chris and my stand-in Andy come up with this time....
The Best Video in the Universe - I got lucky and got interviewed by Rory Blyth for Channel 9 when I went to the XNA release party. It was a fun time and I hadn't seen Rory in quite a while so it was good to have a chance to talk. Now that he's back here in Portland living (and writing, and YouTubing) I really need to catch up again and do that lunch I keep writing to him about. It totally will happen Rory!
XNATutorial.com interview - Joran Omark conducted an interview with me and released it on his site. It was a lot of fun to answer his questions. I miss his site, he isn't nearly as active in the XNA community, but it used to be one of my favorites.
I think that covers the majority of my community participation. I'm sure there's things here and there I didn't think of or that are hard to share (all the IMs I get from people with questions asking for help (I add everyone who asks) or my inbox of emails for support or help (I try to respond to every single email I get)), but the bulk and most important part of my community work I think is with the support I give to the people on the XNA forums, the time I spend in the IRC channel and the content I release from my site.
I'm proud of the work I've done and I've really enjoyed doing it. I like helping people a lot and I think that's one of the key elements of being a Microsoft MVP. I love being a Microsoft MVP and I feel incredibly grateful to receive the award for another year. This past year as an XNA MVP has just been incredible, unbelievable experience and I'm looking forward to another year just like it.
So what do you think? Did I deserve to be renewed? And just what am I going to have to do this next year to get renewed again?