So here I am, it's 5:53 AM and I have yet to sleep. I've spent roughly twelve hours a day running this site single handily. I spend a few hours looking up the latest news and sorting through what is actually worth putting on the site. Another few hours updating the articles I've already written with new content. Then I spend a few minutes writing a blog for the day and if I'm riddled with ideas and energy I might just write two. Then after that I do some promoting on Twitter for roughly an hour. At any given point I have between 100 and 300 tweets buffered. Now this site doesn't seem like a lot and to be honest I have no maintenance or server worries thanks to Weebly. But this is a full time job with no reward other than looking at my page and giving myself a pat on the back. However, I find no satisfaction in my work. I've changed the sites URL twice already. Now I've decided that I've found a better name that appears more relevant to gaming. But I've also decided I don't want to have a .weebly.com account. So on top of paying for a new URL I have to resubmit my site to search engines. Not that it really does any good because only 7% of my traffic comes from them. Now that we're onto traffic, let's talk about that. On a GOOD day, I can get maybe 100-150 views from 50 unique addresses. That's a good day. On average I get 60 views a day. The average time spent on my site? Less than a minute! So my twelve hours a day of work transpires to one minute of viewing. I even do giveaways which cost money out of my pocket to attempt to boost traffic. The real kicker here though? This site doesn't and won't generate any form of revenue. Even if I was getting a million views a day, not a single penny will show up in my Pikachu piggy bank. I'm solely doing this because my addiction for video games and passion for writing. But I feel like this is all for nothing. Because in a month new games will roll out. Which means all my hard work will be set on a back burner and forgot about and I'll have to write about another game. I'm realizing that this is now madness. Expecting a video game site to compete with the likes of IGN, Giant Bomb, Gamespot or, well you get the point. But here I sit, persistent as ever hoping that somebody stumbles upon this post. Maybe my desperation will reach the likes of some group that will somehow help out. Until then though, I'll return to the shadows to continue my writing.
I would like to thank my lovely girlfriend of six years, Julie, for putting up with me. I'm not the easiest person to be around, but add stress and concentration to it and I'm near impossible. I know you wont read this, but I Love You and thank you for dealing with me.
0 Comments
Yesterday I ranted on about what's wrong with the current generation of games. I finished it off with talking about Electronic Arts. As a huge NFL fan it's only natural that I should be a huge fan of Madden. However, and I'm not alone here, EA continues to do the bare minimum and collect our money annually. They'll throw in a few "New" game modes that were copied from a previous version or game and update the graphics slightly and then release weekly roster updates until Madden 17 comes out next year. In which case they'll do the same thing. Now I wouldn't have a problem with their methods if they didn't go out of their way to essentially buy out the competition by getting exclusive rights to the NFL. This is the cheap way out of having to do the work. Having no actual competition means they can do whatever they want and reap the rewards. Within the next few years they'll more than likely get a chance to renew their contract. This is where I'm calling upon somebody to create a petition. I'm not sure it will have any effect, but I can almost guarantee that it would get close to a million virtual signatures. People want the choice of a better game or at the very least an alternative option. But they say money is power, so this might just all be for nothing. They have a rich kids mentality now, if they can't beat the competition they can buy the win.
I know, my last few blogs have been complaining and reminiscing over the good old days. But do you remember when games weren't sequels and prequels? I'm all for binge playing Call of Duty every year on it's release or playing the latest Gran Turismo. It seems the lack of original games has slowed the latest generation of consoles down. Also the lack of exclusives probably doesn't contribute. I don't blame consumers for not wanting to buy the newest consoles when games are still being produced for the last gen. The Xbox One has dropped $150 since it's release a little over a year and a half ago. Sure you don't get the Kinect but it appears that Microsoft has all but given up on it's motion control all together. So what are you actually losing? The Playstation is staying pretty true to it's price however and it appears that sticking to a gaming only console seems to have worked out for now. Back on point now though. When are we going to see a new game changer? (Pun Intended) I realize that blockbuster games don't just spawn overnight but when is the last time we saw one? Bungie's Destiny is one of the latest premieres to become a moderate success. But it's just using the simple RPG formula backed with millions of dollars. It's hard to think of those big games. However the solution lies with the fans. I can almost guarantee that at least on gamer out there is sitting on the next huge game. I urge developers to reach out to the fans and ask for ideas in exchange for a role in the game or a chunk of change. I also urge Call of Duty to stop milking the cow. Same with you Electronic Arts, but I'll get to you tomorrow.
I mean they still exist, however they're limited. I spent most of my gaming days as a kid playing demos. They were a great way to sample games before purchasing them and helped get a feel for how the game was. I can't tell you how many times I played the Spyro on my Playstation One or even how many hours I spent replaying The Silent Cartographer in Halo: Combat Evolved. These were both on demos and it was the same level. Yet the replay value was so great that I saved my allowance and bought the games. I used to get a monthly magazine subscription that came with a sample of demos. I would carefully base my next purchase off of what I had experienced. Demos still exist today but not in that sense. They're very limited and most of the time require a massive download just to play for a few minutes. What happened to the disc based? What happened to having around 10 samples ready at your command? With modern media I understand what developers wouldn't want to take that extra time to make a demo readily available. YouTube does a great job showing you what the game looks like and from that you can guess how it plays. But games are like cars. You can't judge them just by the looks, they all drive differently. Most people test drive a car before buying it and that's exactly how I feel video games are. I want to know how the game plays before I spend my hard earned money. I'm not sure how many of you feel the same way, but I would like to see the return of disc based demos. |
AuthorDaniel Naylor Archives
June 2015
Categories
All
|