The secret world of message boards....

This is kind of a little secret in the video game industry, but there is a message board where a majority of developers, publishers, and journalists go to discuss the latest in video games, and, a message board prerequisite, whatever crosses their mind.

The message board has rarely been mentioned in the "open", but, I've been following the clues for a long time. Most of them came from PC Gamer's Gary Whitta, leaving clues in his columns, and just this past week, I finally discovered this forum.

The admin of the forum says in his rules post, "Finally, although we welcome everyone, this is a forum composed largely of people in the industry: press, publishers, developers, and PR folks, many of whom openly identify themselves as such."

Holy crap! Being a young man who hopes to work one day in the technology (maybe video games) industry, this seems like an almost mythical place. I mean, some of the biggest names in the gaming industry openly frolic in the posts, spouting their personal e-mail and their Xbox Live gamer tag everywhere. Some, even act like little kids and annoy the others with their poor spelling and childish antics.

I mean, I was browsing and thread, and I realized that one of the posts was written by J Allard. J *freaking* Allard, Microsoft VP, head of the Xbox and Zune projects.

Well, about half way through browsing through this little treasure island, I get hit with an idea. What if I put it on Digg.

"Secret Message Board used by Game Developers, Publishers and Journalists!" Of course, I could be overreacting when I assume it would get thousands of Diggs.

This is a moral delimma? Do I enjoy this little insider's peak into the gaming world, or do I bust it on Digg, get 15-minutes of Digg fame, and ruin the forums when everybody knows about it.

Oh boy. The problems with being a blogger.... :(