"How to Make Reviewing Games Seem Unnecessarily Difficult"
6 min read
“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
-Ernest Hemingway
Welcome back, NPCs.
The writer’s craft is an unusual one but today’s word loaf is brought to you courtesy of an interesting trial unique to writers who primarily review games. I thought I’d take a minute or several to explain myself. Maybe some of our readers out there wrestle with the same situation.
As the founding writer of a blog with the basic aim of reviewing as many games as possible, I occasionally get stuck in predicaments where I’ve not yet properly finished a game to review. Dedicating myself to writing reviews as long and introspective as possible doesn’t help. Also, I make it a personal challenge to ensure I “beat” the game at least once before giving it a tongue-lashing or a lick of praise but if I’m left without a game to review for a few days, what do I write? From the inception of TWRM, I wanted to post daily, or at least every other day. Read: as often as possible. Consistency has been a big motto here.
However, not having any games completed births a situation which gives me only a few options, given my self-imposed standards of frequent posting: I can either write an “opinion” post or I can review of a game I’m so familiar with that I could beat it in my sleep. I won’t sacrifice my values, otherwise.
Time to come clean. In retrospect, that accounts for half the content of this blog. Neither option is truly “organic”. If I force myself to write an opinion post on something I’m not really energetic about or haven’t thought through enough, then the opinion post fails to get my real point across (such as in “Critical aggrandizement or how being comfortable with 10-point scores has atrophied due to hyperbole”) or it sounds like a footnote or an excuse to complain or gush (such as in “Marvel vs. DC: the True Civil War” and “Rose-Colored Glasses and the Nintendo Switch”).
I’ll leave you to guess the nature of this opinion post you’re reading right now, since I’m writing it precisely because of the predicament I described earlier. “Dude, that’s sooo meta…!”
The alternative is writing a review on a game I’m intensely familiar with. This is the reason why I’ve already reviewed so many games which fall into the “legendary” category. Glancing back over our homepage, I dislike seeing so many iconic games clumped so close together but frankly it’s just easier writing about games I know and everyone respects. It’s an excuse to gush and gushing is far easier than trying to find out what went wrong in a mediocre title, or even poke fun at a below average one.
I do keep a mental list of “perfect” games that I’ve yet to review. I try to spread those out as much as possible and review across a variety of platforms and genres as best as I can. Currently, only Super Mario Bros. 3 is sitting pretty at a 10/10, but perusing our Archive by Score demonstrates that a majority of our reviews sit above the 5/10 grading. I would very much like to change this but it should be clear now why this is the way it is. It’s more time-consuming and more researching-demanding to write about unfamiliar, non-iconic games. Further, the nagging reality is always at the back of my mind that obscurer and poorer games attract fewer readers. Though I try to tell myself that this is a tertiary concern, it’s hard to balance that against the time and attention demanded in writing 3000+ words on a game few folks care to read about. You’ll forgive my transparency, I hope.
So what’s a mage to do?
Until I finish my review of Shovel Knight, in which I attempt to say something unique about a much applauded title, or until I can plow through the first Final Fantasy and The Last Guardian, or any other number of the games I’ve started but not finished, I’m stuck up a textual creek without a paddle. I can’t just abandon my blog for days, though. An overwhelming sense of guilt and failure, as well as longing for the joy of the process itself, overcomes me. And that explains why I wrote this post today! I love writing and I wish my game-time could keep up with it. I suppose that’s additionally why I’ve written on non-gaming subjects over the past year and a half (movies, theology, life, books, etc.).
I think the way of escape lies in enjoying the writing process as much as I can. When writing becomes just another time-devouring chore in an adult life already full of such things then adding blogging to my checklist becomes something I dread. It’s happened now and then in the past, so I always try to come at it now with the best attitude I can. Attitude is everything, as they say. If I don’t enjoy this process, then why do it at all?
On a completely different but not irrelevant side-note, this is exactly why I appreciate our contributors so much. Thanks to the magely crew, we’ve been able to feature an article when I personally didn’t and couldn’t have one available. Such was the case over this past week when the Evergreen Sage Mage (wakalapi) and the Spoony Bard Mage (nerd speaker) really came through and voluntarily wrote great reviews of Hollow Knight and Batman: the Video Game, respectively. Not only do these guest posts provide a different flavor to this blog but they help me remember that no mage is an island. Working together with a team keeps my ego grounded and my heart grateful. So thank you, magi buddies!
So that’s how things work around here. I got an article up today by explaining why I wanted to have an article up today but why it’s not a review. It’s just some insight into the mechanisms turning wheels round here and since the occasional commenter has expressed that these sort of “behind the scenes” posts are helpful, I don’t feel too bad about missing out on writing a review.
Am I putting too much pressure on myself? Do any of you fine fellows or fellowettes struggle with this? What are some of your solutions? Does writing infrequently not bother you? Do you only review the icons because of it? Do you spread yourself out over different subjects of writing or do you avoid writing reviews for this reason? What keeps you writing? What’s your greatest challenge to overcome as a writer?
As always, thanks for reading.
-The Well-Red Mage
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Trousers! But also: for Lord C, this is nice because you are still goin… I seem to have an unintended habit of followin blogs that have since died, (WildArsChase, ChildrenOfThe90s, DiscoViolenceManiacs, etc)
due to my obsession of ‘startin frae tae beginnin’ due to ‘Chrono OCD’ issues… *Grins*
Wow. As someone who intermittently has written only a handful of posts over the course of 4 years, let me just say it is refreshing to read this and know I am not alone in some of these internal debates. I’m trying to up my consistency with my writing, but have faced the same internal dilemma – ‘I can’t find the time to write about it until I find the time to FINISH it, and by then… oh, forget it”.
I just recently discovered your blog, and I’m inspired by how much awesome content you have fleshed out. It must be so rewarding to look back on it all. I think one angle I may take to avoid the “finish before review” dilemma is, like you said, weigh in with some sort of fresh, opinionated take that makes it worth a read. Regardless – great stuff here!
I need to say, before I forget, that your frowny-face Kermit the Frog avatar is the best thing my eyes have seen today. Jim Henson was a genius considering what he could do with what was essentially a glorified sock puppet. Anywho… thanks for reading our post on reviewing games. I’ve found that being transparent about the craft of blogging, writing, and reviewing helps me to focus better on what I love about it and want to get out of it, but the side effect is that others seem to share their thoughts on it as well. We’ve tried a lot of things over the past year and some change: writing on gaming music, trying a 30-day challenge, covering upcoming game announcements, but now I’m comfortable just with maintaining this blog as essentially a reviews and opinions sight. The focus is important to me. Thanks for your kind words! The encouragement is a part of the DNA that makes this blog what it is. I have our contributors to thank for helping me fill this place out, too, so I’m definitely in debt to them. This is a project I can’t take full credit for.
My unsolicited advice is this: don’t be too hard on yourself! 🙂 I go through periods sometimes as well where I WANT to write, but I just don’t have the energy to put up a post. I don’t really put any pressure on myself to get a post up. Ideally, I’d like to make 3-4 posts a week, but if that doesn’t happen, I don’t beat myself up over it. Sometimes life is just really lame and gets in the way, haha!
In all seriousness, I love reading your blog. Your reviews are so informative and wonderful to read!
I’ll take unsolicited advice! I guess I may be too hard on myself. To clarify, I don’t feel any overwhelming guilt or depression when I don’t write as much. I just feel like I can always do more, that I should do more. I pressure myself more sometimes because I want to make something out of this that’ll let me get out of working a “normal” job haha! I think there’s a lot of wisdom in the saying “You can’t be the smartest person in the room but you can be the hardest working.” Life does get in the way! Lame!
Thank you for such kind words! It’s a pleasure to be able to entertain and inform, especially when it’s for Kirby!
I gotcha… well I can relate with you there! I do sometimes wish I could write more, because it’s something I love doing. I would love to get rid of my “normal” job and write full time as well! If I didn’t have to work, I’d be able to dedicate more time to doing what I love- writing and video games. Oh, and going to the beach more, haha! 😉
And you are very welcome! Kirby is always entertained by your posts 😉
Thanks for sharing, Well-Red! There’s a lot I could say on this topic, but I’ll give you the brief version. Aside from when I do have a deadline, I like posting on a schedule for my own sake and sanity. I like routine and knowing what to expect. Of course, I appreciate changes to the routine every now and then, and I am flexible. But whenever I can, I set things up so that I have clear, time-defined goals that I can work towards. If I don’t make the goals, I look at what I need to do differently, whether it’s decreasing or increasing workload. And if I’m steadily on path with the current schedule, I have a better idea on where I can make time for other important tasks. I like to keep my panda head on my shoulders.
I wish I could be so organized! This perhaps my greatest vice (beside for rampant arrogance or an unwillingness to grapple with reality). I’ve never been organized in my entire life except for at work. Maybe I can figure out a way to treat blogging like work but then will I enjoy it? I guess I worry that strict scheduling might lessen my enjoyment of blogging, personally. Who knows? I should try it. Thanks for sharing a bit of insight into your creative process!
I think everyone has their own style or preferences. I like things more organized, and a regular schedule made more at ease, as opposed to when I would post on one of several days or not at all. It helps that my wife is also super organized!
My wife is organized so I married my opposite but since she’s just the editor now and then around here it’s mostly up to me. I remember starting off just trying to post every day or every other day. I generally average 4 posts a week but I’d be happier with 5.
Sometimes just reviewing something on the short side really helps give myself a mental break. Don’t have to analyze a long work, but I still have something to show that updates are still happening.
I definitely agree with that. I think that’s why I gravitated toward indie and retro games for years now, and why I tend to write reviews for those games. Not only do I love them but they’re more manageable. It’s less stressful for me to play them and later write about them. Thanks for the input! I appreciate you commenting!
Great article, for me personally it depends on the hours I am working. During the 12 hour shifts I write very little if at all and I try to write as much as possible when I am off earlier. For me personally it is hard to find the energy and inspiration to write when working over 60 hours a week. Also I don’t think you are putting too much pressure on yourself since your plan is to take it into professionalism, you definitely have the skill to and if you keep up with your constant output it will be right within reach for you I am sure.
Thanks for your response! I couldn’t imagine what writing would be like if I were working such a schedule. Fortunately, I have the luxury of writing after my kids are asleep for several hours at night, which I divide up with gaming as well. The encouraging words mean a lot coming from you, my friend. Thanks so much! I don’t know what the future holds but I don’t think any ambition is too big. Sky’s the limit.
I know the feeling, been there. It is not fun. I went from my original plan of reviewing more than one topic(books, movies, music, etc) till I realized there were two problems. First, I hardly kept up with the latest movies and music, and did not read as often as I had in the past. Secondly, I spent more time playing games that it just made more sense to swap my focus to be a game review blog. I must confess though, I do not always keep up with the latest titles/news in the gaming industry, I usually play the game titles that I want to play and when I have the time for it.
I actually did not have a regular upload schedule for a few years. It did bother me though, not having a regular schedule. My self-imposed challenge, if you can call it that, was to post something at least once or twice a week. Very sporadic uploads. If I did not have a game review post done on time, I usually used my Minecraft projects as filler content till I could get the game done. Or simply just went ahead and gave my “first impressions” review of the game.
Nowadays, I finally worked out upload schedule that works for me. It gives me time to start a game and writing the review for it, while maintaining a regular upload schedule (fortnightly on Fridays). Only downside is that my blog did take a hit in view numbers though and changing blog address did not help that either. It has slowly been going back up so there is hope.
I briefly had a co-writer who would post on the Fridays that were not my upload days, to give the blog regular updates but he had to take a hiatus from writing. I do agree about the indie gaming scene. On the rare occasions that I forgotten about the upload days, I will look for a indie game that has caught my interest and play it, then review it. Nowadays, I am just trying to get as many reviews done and scheduled as possible before June 14th, as I will be studying to earn my Bachelor’s degree in Game Design. Hence the rush to get as much as possible done, because I do not want to neglect my blog as badly as I did in 2015 when I was studying to get my diploma of IT where I barely uploaded anything at all (once per month if lucky).
I do apologize for the massive wall of text (>.< ")
We love massive walls of text around here! Textual healing. Focus is definitely the word for blogging. Though my namesake refers to a jack-of-all-trades, our emphasis here has always been on games with the occasional tv, book, or movie review. That’s at the heart of the pleasure I’ve had in working with a team of writers who can write from different perspectives on a variety of topics. Now if only I could figure out a schedule of some kind! Best of luck to you in pursuing your education and bachelor’s. I’m confident you can get your blog back up to where you want it to be if you put in the work for it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I do not suffer from this problem exactly, mainly because I have an extremely slow output rate. As someone who also wishes to play through the main story of a game and produce a detailed review of each game, I find it difficult to create reviews at a fast rate (although I did post a review about Tomb Raider Chronicles, a game I declared that I have never played). I can also understand resorting to posting about familiar games, there is less need to remind myself of the game because playing the game so many times helps me remember it. My solution was to review Game Gear games. When I decided to review them, I had recently played them as an extra feature on the Sonic Adventure DX game and found the simple nature of the games allowed me to analyse all aspects of the games within a shorter post, compared to the Tomb Raider games, which could be examined for pages. The games could also be completed fully within a few hours, allowing a relatively short period between starting the games and posting a review. I, personally, have no problem reading about obscure games or reviews on books and films. I have been considering posting a book review.
Shorter games are definitely better for reviewing! You wrote a review for a game you never played? Thanks for sharing!
How do you produce such detailed reviews so quickly?
Right now, my kids go to bed at 8:30 and my wife shortly after that, so I spend several hours until it’s much too late writing and gaming. It gives me enough quiet time to finish a 4k word review in one night or a longer one in a few nights.
Belting, geeza. One approaches one’s content schedule in the way a bull approaches another bull – avec violence.
Hey, but I’ll glady write guest reviews for you if there are any places available. Credentials:
– 300 years’ writing experience
– 400 years’ grammur experience
– 500 years’ experience playing video games
– Chronic streak of belligerence and desire to kick up flame wars
– Hates noobs
I appreciate some of the above may be unbelievable, but one does need to lie to get one’s foot in the door. Holla if you’re interested. If not… well… up yours!!!
Haha so all day I wasn’t sure how to respond to this comment! I guess if you’re earnest, you can send me a PM on either our Facebook page or through Twitter and we can chat details, provided you’re still interested. We’re always accepting more contributors, even if their credentials seem slightly skewed in their favor 😉
Oh aye, I was being serious. I still am being serious! I’ll drop you a message on Facebook later. Ta very much!
Very much looking forward to our chat, Mr. W! And now time for all good mages in my time zone to head for bed.
https://www.facebook.com/thewellredmage/
https://twitter.com/thewellredmage
Just in case.
I think that is really cool that have you different ‘mages’ as like crew. It’s like a clan but on blogging and reviews haha.
This has been a group effort since the beginning and it’s one of the things I’ve really enjoyed about blogging here.
Ahhh ok, well that’s cool 🙂
I’ve only recently revived my blog after nearly a year’s absence. I missed it, and posting sometimes feels like visiting an old friend. Sometimes that friend is fun, and sometimes I want to throttle it. This time around, I’ve started writing about games, something new for me. Finding time to finish games and write about them has been a struggle. I’ve recently changed my format to try to encourage shorter, more concise reviews in order to keep my enjoyment up. But some games are long, and I’m not posting as often as I would like. I’m having to make peace with writing reviews as I have time.
Well allow me to triumphantly tell you “WELCOME BACK!” It’s rough, ain’t it? You want to write more but then you’ve got to finish more games. You want to finish more games but things like life and the process of writing take up time. Time is the real enemy.
What these other comments show is how much you’ve expressed something that we’re all feeling. There was a time when I’d post numerous times a day, but I burnt-out. Then I went through a period of digital existential crisis, in-which I began to question what I wanted my blog to be about. As I wrote about more in my response to your last community project, what I now want to write about is what my friends are showing a common interest in. Anything they review, which I’ve also seen/played/read, I like to review back. I’d rather be sharing my opinions for a small group of friends than a large group of anonymous clickers. Of late, I’ve been posting a lot less than I usually do, but then that’s because I’m finishing that documentary I’m making (yes, that again), and once that’s done, I’ll probably be able to get back to it. One thing I’d like to know though is whether professional, full-time, mainstream media video game journalists have these same problems, i.e., completing each game before reviewing, especially when working on multiple reviews at once, if they do. It would be like working through several novels at once, that are a lot longer and require the correct decisions to be made, with increasing skill. Being a mainstream video game journalist is something I’ve wanted to experiment with, even if only for a short time, to see if it works and it’s my kind of thing. Making gaming my profession would certainly give me more time to do so, without it being procrastination. But then would I stop enjoying it? Would I have to force the desire to play the latest games? And would that change my gaming experience? I sound like I’m rambling, but that’s a problem that comes with being an engaged analyser (though it helps my writing a lot, even if it gives me more editing to do). These are the things we should be talking about; I don’t think this problem is ever going to go away with this medium.
Thanks for sharing!
I don’t know that I could ever post numerous times a day. With my self-imposed standards, that sounds nigh impossible unless writing is what I did for the whole day. Getting burned out is something I dread. It happened to me briefly on this blog but it happened heavily to me on my previous one and also in my volunteer work. Balancing your time between projects as your doing is essentially the same thing as balancing your compartments of life, as I also assume you’re doing. As far as professional journalism, I wish I had the pleasure of the experience to answer your questions for you. I imagine it becomes less a work of joy like personal blogging and more a job task complete with paperwork to complete and notations to make. I would hazard the guess that anything, even a dream job, becomes less exciting when it becomes your real job. It may also explain why mainstream reviewers are stereotyped as bland. I totally agree that we should be talking about these things. I’m interested in writing as a craft and its ins and outs, its joys and struggles.
Interesting Meta Mage thoughts! I know I enjoy reading all of your posts, no matter the frequency of them, so keep doing what you’re doing 🙂
My ramblings are just an outlet for my thoughts. There’s really no pressure on myself to create content for views. I post whenever I feel like it, on topics I personally care about (which is 99.9% video games and Lightning, haha). If I force myself to write posts that I think will draw an audience, then writing becomes an unpaid job I don’t need.
Thanks, LE! I think frequency is more important to me than anyone else but I appreciate that you’re a regular ’round these here parts. You seem to have your head on straight running your blog, and I recall as much from your recent response to the big question, as well. Maybe I work best under pressure? I don’t know. I do know that I at least enjoy what I’m doing right now so I’d see the subject of this post more as a challenge than an actual problem. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me! It’s always nice to hear how other people think about the same issues I do.
You very well could be putting too much pressure on yourself, but as long as you aren’t stressing out over what to post and are still enjoying it then you are probably fine. I myself went through this years ago when I ran a regular blog on IGN, before they moved to a WordPress system. I had decided I was going to post a blog post everyday for a year. I accomplished it but the quality wasn’t always great and by the end I kind of hated blogging. It has taken me a long time to get back and feel comfortable trying to write on a blog on a regular basis.
I’d say setting a schedule for yourself that you are comfortable with is probably the best way to do it. And of course, motivation is certainly key.
I’ve generally reviewed newer games over the past decade, although occasionally I have dipped my toe in to the retro realm. This is mostly due to the fact that my reviews were for other sites and not my own personal blog. This year I’ve done some retro stuff for both another site and my own blog and it’s been a lot easier to approach than trying to rush out a review of a new game.
I too though don’t just write about games, although they are often a strong focus of what I write about. I also love movies and my blog’s only recurring piece right now is a weekly recap of things I’ve watched.
I think what keeps me writing though, is that I need to write. I need to put my ideas and opinions down in some form out of my head. Corralling those opinions and ideas into something coherent is often the struggle though.
See? I knew we could still be friend! Thank you for sharing your own experiences with blogging and for the wise advice.
I’ve never been great at schedule keeping but that’s something I’m personally working on. I wouldn’t know where to begin for blogging, though, as I try to do it by working around whatever else happens with work and the wife and kids, and the shred of social life I attempt to maintain. I’m banking on enjoying the process enough to keep away from being stressed about it. Right now, this is all more of a challenge than an actual problem but I don’t want to get to the point where I hate it, of course.
Reviewing retro games is easier, at least from my limited experience. I’ve published two reviews so far that coincided with the games’ launches, but that took a lot of doing since I don’t get games in advance. I gravitated toward the retro reviews since we started this blog because that’s where my real heart is in gaming.
Needing to write is a fascinating idea. I’ve been writing for so long down different avenues that I’m not sure what life would be like without an outlet for regular writing.
Let’s both stay motivated and do the best we can. Thanks for the encouragement!
Dang. You might have had something if I’d have helped you finish your interview by now! Sorry about that, my friend. But I do get you. Trying to make sure you have something new on a regular basis is not easy at all. The struggle is real! 😛
Aw man so your comment ended up in my spam folder for some reason? I didn’t even have a notification for it. I only found it today because I had a notification on my phone for an all-Espanol comment which made it past the spam filter. Stupid WordPress and it’s quirky glitches. I hope I can assure you I had no intention of ignoring you! Anyway, that aside, take your time with the interview. I know life gets busy. The proverbial struggle is indeed real.
I was a bit worried that I’d perhaps ended up in your spam folder, my friend. It’s happened to me on other blogs before, and I’ve noticed it happening to other people on my own blogs. It’s so very weird, isn’t it? It makes you wonder what kind of obscure, arcane algorithm is doing this, doesn’t it? But, hey, no harm done, and I never once thought that you were ignoring me. It just doesn’t seem to be in your nature. 😀
I had one day, I think it was a Saturday, a few weeks back when every spam comment made it through the filter. I woke up to thirty comments and was like “ah yeah!!!” until I saw they were all the typically misspelled comments talking about irrelevant subjects. Why is there even spam anymore?
I’ve asked myself that too. Is anybody really fooled by spam any more? Especially when it looks like a room full of monkeys with typewriters put it together? 😛
Exactly. Like what is their end game? Nobody is actually going to click on their links when every single comment begins with “this aritcle was good infor sufficint for me never had found such good content ass thiss in all my searchings the webs”.
Laughing so hard here! 😛
That’s the trick, balancing actually playing games to review and posting to the blog regularly, not to mention actually having a social life! Originally I committed to one post a week, though I’ve been keeping to two. There will certainly be weeks though where it’s only one or none, and I have to learn to be okay with that :p
Absolutely! And thanks again for taking the time to write one of those one or two posts here! I think it ultimately depends upon what one wants to get out of the blogging experience. I use my platform as less for an online journal than anything else and since I have a personality which craves to entertain, developing a readership base is an important aspect of blogging for me. In the past, I’ve had to learn that it’s not THE most important thing and that viewership ebbs and flows. I’m fine with that so long as it flows higher than it ebbs. I’d like to be okay with writing a handful of times a week but it’s an addicting happiness to write and post something daily. I fully realize that I’m in this situation (or I was until I posted this post today) because of my own self-imposed standards but I can’t imagine going about it any differently, not until more writerly work such as prepping for podcasts and returning to fiction comes along in force. Thanks for the comment!
LOL, wish I had the time and energy to be that dedicated! Readership is great for sure, and tbh at least with WordPress, unlike Blogger, I know at least I have this dedicated community of blog friends who I know will read the posts, if no one else :p
Ah yeah I was on Blogger before WP and it’s a ghost town. There’s just no easy way to discover other like-minded people there.
Nice thoughts, as always! Yes, infrequent posts bother me. I like having a certain amount of structure in how I do things, and I sometimes worry that if I let things slide one week, then it’s just a downhill tumble from there. Maybe I’m too hard on myself, too. Another worry is coming up with things to talk about… I don’t usually write reviews, and it’s not something I’d be all that great at, I’m sure, so I’m always left hoping that the next game I play gives me something interesting to relate to the world, or at least give me something to comment on. But I hear you: all of us (at least a little tiny bit of us) wants folks to notice the things we say and read them, so it’s a hard balance between writing about what you want/what you think it important and writing about what your audience likes to read about.
Not a really helpful response, but at least you know you’re not alone in your thinking!
Hey thanks for the comment! I suspected as much. I once discovered to my surprise that most every struggle I’m personally going through is something that a number of people have already experienced or are wrestling with in the present. I occasionally worry about content too. I can at least encourage you in this that I have let things slide for a week or several before since we began in Feb 2016 and readership does take a dive. Makes sense. However, it’s easy enough to recover once I learned how to use social media and regained some consistency. Sometimes life happens and it gets in the way but I guess I mean by all that that it’s not the end of the world. I know you and I just don’t want it to get that far in the first place! I appreciate the response and it was helpful in that it expressed another nuance to the writing craft, which is always helpful. More info on this kind of work I can get the better.
I feel you. I went from blogging (or trying to blog) as much as possible to only now posting when I have something I want to say. My stress levels related to blogging went down and I found I was more passionate about the posts I did write, instead of feeling like I had to have an opinion on everything just so I could blog about it.
My gaming enjoyment took a major nosedive when I pressured myself into posting. I was playing games I thought I could write about rather than for the desire to play.
Nowadays my writing is spread out, but (in my view) better quality and much stronger pieces.
Hey thanks for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate it! Currently, well today at least, I don’t feel particularly stressed about writing for the blog, though I’ve felt that way in the past. I’ve flirted with the whole “I have to play this game to review it” thing and yeah I don’t much care for that either. I originally started this blog to bring extra value to the games I already play/played so turning it into yet another checklist and making gaming subordinate to that sounds distasteful to me. You’re spot on that quality is better than quantity. I’ll need to keep that at the forefront. Thanks for the word of wisdom!
Hmm … I must admit, I try to finsih everything that I review. The reason for that is that I try to make my site as positive as possible. If I haven’t finsihed an aime for example, it’s entirely likely that it just didn’t click with me and I gave up. It’s for that reason that the In Desperate Need of Love articles are good for me with gaming because I can write about old games whether i’ve finished them or not (though, that said, I have my first proper game revew coming up next month after finally getting around to 100%’ing a recent game). For me, if I don’t feel like I’ve seen enough of whatever i’m reviewing to be able to do a decent job of it, I just delve into my back catalogue of finsihed ‘things’ to review.
As to challenges, that’s simple. Right now, i’m trying to keep to 3 posts a week for four weeks out of a month. Keeping up with that, even writing msot of them a month in advance, is difficult, largely because of how many other things I tend to work on at once.
Yes, finishing everything that you review is the best thing you could do for a variety of reasons. I personally feel like I’d be churning out something cheap and not giving my readers all the info they deserve to make a judgment on a game for themselves if I don’t finish the game before reviewing it. This doesn’t necessarily mean 100%ing the entire game for me, though, depending on the nature of the game. If I have to grind for 40 hours just to get that last trophy/achievement, then forget it. But I’d liken this to reading a book or watching a movie. If I stopped reading or walked out of the movie half way through the thing, then I couldn’t really give an accurate judgment of it, by my standards and by yours, it sounds like.
Thanks for sharing! Currently, all my writing focus is here on this blog but I know in the future when I get back to writing fiction and eventually when I get into more prep for podcasts that my pace here will have to change.
Absolutely. I’ll try to 100% games if I can do that relatively quickly. I just don’t have the time to finish the 40 hour games. I’m much more adept at the 4-12 hour games these days.
I’m anyways happy to explain why I didn’t finish something, but giving a full review is difficult on that basis I think. Of course, with some games, I simply fail to finish them due to ineptitude. That leaves me on dodgy ground 😛
Excellent. Are you planning a podcast for the near future or as a long term plan?
I’ll take the shorter games, too. I think that may be why the indie scene is so flourishing because so many people like us have other responsibilities to attend to and indies accommodate that. But if it’s something like platinuming a game that demands a huge grind then I’m out (thinking of FFXIII specifically here).
As for your question, I’m already putting together things for the podcast. “Mage Cast” will require a lot more specificity to get going, as far as its content, so I’m taking my time and doing a lot of research and prep for it. This weekend I just cleared the hedge of finding some custom music I can use for free and I’ve got the equipment now, so it’s really just a matter of getting the feel of the process and crafting some essays/interviews/conversations to record. I won’t be launching it until I’m satisfied with it and until I can record maybe 5 or so episodes. But it’s something we’re very excited to move forward with!
I think that’s true. Short but fun games are wonderful when you have responsibilities.
Sounds marvellous. I’ll look forward to catching the first episode when it’s done.
Great post, always nice to see how people approach writing and running a blog. I’ve never felt that I have to keep to a regular schedule when blogging. I often have the luxury of reviewing stuff in advance, so in that respect it gives me more lead in time to prepare and article or review which is very helpful. I love writing and enjoy covering lots of different subjects, and I think that’s what helps me keep motivated the best 🙂
Thanks for taking the time to comment! I feel better now getting all this out and I’ve been encouraged in the past before from reading “behind the scenes” posts by my favorite writers/bloggers. I understand that my particular struggle is self-imposed since I’ve tried from the beginning to keep up a fast pace and schedule. How do you review stuff in advance? Do you mean new releases? Keeping up the enjoyment of the whole thing is, as you point out, key!
You’re welcome, its always good to get views out there and share opinions ect. I write on a few sites now, so I often get ARC’s of comic books, sometimes attend screenings for new films, and do the same for my blog as well sometimes. I like a wide mix of subjects, that way I always have something fresh and different to look forward to. But the most important thing is to have fun and enjoy it all. Never get bogged down worrying about stats and numbers ect. Find a schedule that works best for you. I think you are doing great work with you blog, keep up the great work 🙂
Thank you for the encouragement. It goes a very long way with me, trust me. I’m certainly enjoying it as much as I can right now and I’m trying to keep up that positive momentum.