Hey. If you don’t listen to my podcast, this might be a bit sudden: This blog is at its end of life.
I want to go ahead and get a couple of things out of the way:
If you want to keep following my standard content production, I’m launching a new website – One Controller Port. This will feature all my usual articles, videos, podcasts, etc. Ultimately I wasn’t getting what I wanted out of my standard WordPress blog and decided to move forward on building a website to better organize and surface content.
Please read the post on my new website for more information. Thank you for sticking with me!
If you’re looking for Final Fantasy XI unused content, stay tuned to this blog. I plan to keep moving forward with this, but would like to find a new platform to discuss it. It doesn’t really fit on my normal blog, so I plan on starting something new. I’ll post here where that platform will be All discoveries will still appear on TheCuttingRoomFloor page.
So now that you know where to go, one thing that kind of felt appropriate was to reflect a bit.
Recently I’ve been questioning why I do this. I’ve been writing about games for almost a decade beginning with a review of Mother (well there was an awful Shenmue II review, but let’s not talk about that.) It often feels like I have nothing to show for it. Between 2008-2012 I was building a portfolio and getting new gigs, but since then have largely returned to essentially doing this for myself.
I stress out about my output a lot and it often feels like a second job. It keeps me from playing nearly as many games as I’d like to as each new title I start can create dozens of hours of work. Sometimes creating content takes longer than actually playing the game itself. And when it’s all over, I often come out of a piece seeing nothing but the flaws.
In the end though, I really enjoy it. This probably sounds worse than it actually is, but I think a lot of the reason I started writing was because I felt like nobody around me had any interest in discussing anything I was playing. After playing Blue Stinger around 2008, I kind of cut loose and ended up in some weird places. I’d say that marked the point when my perspective on games began to deviate from the norm.
For better or for worse, I write for myself. So it’s created a situation where I make content about things I think are interesting and, because my target audience is also me, I assume whomever is reading it is also interested.
A lot of my move to the new website has been looking over old content and seeing if they’re of note to resurface. Without an editor, or anyone bounce anything off of, I don’t improve much. Being able to look at what I’ve done the last five years has shown me that I have come a long way. It often doesn’t feel like it since the progression is so slow, but years of being detached from some posts has helped. Although I think only others can judge if my work is good or bad.
I have no idea how many people have continued to follow me or for how long. As much as I say this is all for me, I really appreciate anyone who has dropped by this blog and read, watched or listened to any of my dumb stuff lol.
Honestly, I feel kind of sad leaving this blog behind. I think that’s part of the reason why I was insistent of bringing all my posts forward to my new website. Maybe some day, if I don’t feel like paying for a hosting plan anymore, I’ll return here.
I will probably never make money off what I do. That’s good in some ways and bad in others. But if you like what you’ve seen so far, I hope you follow me to my new online home. If you have any suggestions or feed back, feel free to reach out to me.
The best place to reach out out to me is on Twitter. However you can also comment here, or e-mail me at OculinKaykei@gmail.com. Just keep in mind it might get filtered or something.
Thanks!
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