A Post about Not Posting

I really need to stop making ridiculous blanket statements like “I’m going to post something every day in October!” You know why that’s ridiculous? It’s pretty hard to maintain a gaming blog when you aren’t actually playing games. I haven’t gotten any new games, I don’t feel like revisiting any old games, and even my normally weekly tabletop experience has been on hiatus.

So what am I gonna write on this gaming blog without a game to write about?

Well, that’s what this post is for. I’m just gonna write whatever, and hopefully it’ll be interesting. Think of this as an exercise in stream-of-consciousness, I guess. And maybe between now and Saturday I’ll pick up a game and start playing so I have something to talk about. So here we go…

What ever happened to Ni no Kuni 2? I was really excited when that game was announced and now it just disappeared. And in the meantime Level 5 thought it would be better to release Yokai Watch 2. I mean, seriously? The world really needed two Yokai Watch games before it needed Ni no Kuni 2? No way. Come on, Level 5, you’re better than this.

I’ve been in a huge Dragon Quest mood lately. Like, Dragon Quest 7 is pretty much the only game I want right now. Other than Dragon Quest 8 and 11, but those aren’t coming out for awhile yet. 7 is on the market right now, with all kinds of new features in the 3DS remake, and I am super stoked to play that game. I cannot wait to finally get my hands on it.

I can’t really decide what to do for Fanfic Friday. I have ideas for two totally separate huge projects to do for the site, but I don’t want to start committing to either of them when historically I have never followed through on a long-term fic. I’ve only succeeded on ones lasting four or five weeks, and sometimes not even on that. I think part of the problem is that I don’t feel a lot of support when it comes to fanfiction. And that’s fine, that’s really not the reason that people follow my blog, so maybe I should just change Fridays entirely. Maybe start up a whole new segment instead, one that fits the overall theme of the site more and is more likely to be appealing to my main fanbase. I just don’t know what that IS, because I’ve been doing these Inktober things on Twitter to almost no applause and my custom-made Silent Protagonist class was a drop in the bucket, and in the past Multiplayer Week has been a failure. It’s like everything I try to do that isn’t “hey, here’s how I feel about the latest Pokemon trailer” totally flops. And even THAT doesn’t always see success. Most of my views come from people looking at the Fire Emblem Fates guides but the need for those guides and the interest in those games is dwindling, and as it does so is the viewership of my blog. And here I am trying to do emergency surgery by posting every day and trying to get Twitter caught up to my other sites and all that and it’s just a total mess. Wow, I did NOT mean to go on a rant about the blog’s recent lack of success, and you all as readers really don’t need to know about that, but hey, stream-of-consciousness, right? I mean, the only thing I’m actually editing in this post is spelling, because I have a thing about that.

I guess what I really want to do, and what I think would ultimately be beneficial for the blog if I could actually afford it, is to sink my teeth into something new. Play games I haven’t played yet. Play new titles as they come out and talk about them while they’re popular so that when people search for those games, my blog and my name pop up as a force that’s out there talking about those games. But right now the only new games I can realistically pick up are labeled “free to play” on Steam, and past experience has taught me that the indie scene doesn’t help the blog grow either. I’m kind of at my wit’s end when it comes to this, but I have no idea how to go about fixing it either.

On YouTube or Twitch or something, I could just ask. Say “hey, people who pay attention to me, what could I do with my limited resources that you would legit be interested in?” And they’d tell me. But the blogging world is totally different. Because I have tried time and again to say “hey, what do you want to see?” and what I get back is crickets. And I’m not  blaming anybody, because when bloggers I read ask stuff like that I certainly don’t comment. And I don’t know why that is, I don’t know why our world is like that, but it’s discouraging when I can’t ask my readers for their input. And honestly, I feel like a big part of it is my total inability to network. I mean, I don’t comment for other people and I barely read or like the blog posts of others, so maybe that’s my problem. Or maybe my problem is that I’m trying to utilize the written word when my main focus is an industry that is highly visual.

This whole process of writing like this is really freeing but also really erratic at the same time. I’m sitting here imagining you all reading this and I feel like most of you are gonna be like “wow, Ian REALLY hates us and thinks we don’t help him succeed,” when really there’s nothing wrong with you guys. I wouldn’t be succeeding as well as I do without you all. I’m my own worst enemy and most times I’m pretty aware of that. Procrastination, not following through on blog goals, not finishing fanfics, that’s the kind of thing that gets in my way, and I guess to really solve anything that’s what I need to focus on first – doing what I set out to do. And that’s why I’m writing this ridiculous rant in the first place – because I have nothing else to write about and this is the one way I know that I can produce a post for you all to read, even though it’s random and crazy and probably off-putting to everybody.

Yikes!

Alright, I think that’s enough stream-of-consciousness for one day. Hey, if for some ridiculous reason you enjoyed this, let me know and maybe Fanfic Fridays can be changed to Rant Fridays or something. If I’ve gotten one thing out of this experience, it’s that I definitely don’t want to write a fanfic tomorrow. I think I just need to post whatever for now, and maybe later down the road I’ll figure out a new segment to go on Fridays. But for now, let’s just focus on getting SOMETHING on paper. And by “let’s” I of course mean “let me.” For the adventurers who took the time to read this mess and who have stood by my side in this venture, whether you joined up last week or last year, thank you. In a weird, totally crazy kind of way, this is for you.