As the title above implies, after a lot of thought, I’ve decided it’s time to make some changes to the site. If you want the short version, just scroll down to where the italicized text begins.
To put it plainly, I’m not thrilled with the direction the site is headed in. Over time, the amount of time I’ve had to put into updates on a daily basis has dwindled, resulting in the majority of posts simply being announcements that you could find anywhere else. That’s never how I’ve wanted to run the site. When I started the daily update format, my plan was to include a ton of posts each day, including general announcements, previews, reviews and opinion pieces. I really wanted to either grow the site where it could become a serious portal for original content or serve as a springboard to my joining the ranks of paid game journalists. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your perspective) my professional life changed a bit, requiring more of my time and effort, which meant that there was less time to spend scouring the net for news and composing long articles.
It’s been almost two and a half years since the site went to the daily format, and I take pride in the fact that I haven’t missed posting at least once every day no matter what was going on or how under the weather I was – that was something I really wanted to prove to myself I could do. The problem is, that in doing that, it became difficult to set aside time to actually write articles or features that might interest you. In short, the site became less and less fun to work on as time went on. There were times where I’d have a great idea for a feature, just to see it fall to the wayside when time wouldn’t permit me to finish it while it was still relevant – and there were times where all I wanted to do was get some rest or play a game, but instead found myself searching the internet for something to post for the day.
I have this belief that you should never make your hobbies into a second job, because then they become just that – another job. If you can make a living doing what you love, consider yourself lucky and enjoy – believe me, I’d love to write about games all day as a full-time job. That’s what I’ve done here in a way – I’ve made myself feel like this site is a second job, and it’s taking some of the enjoyment out of my time away from work. There are other ideas and hobbies I want to pursue, and sometimes something just has to give.
So, where does this all lead? Well, effective immediately, I’m dropping the daily updates that I really could care less about. That means that unless I really am excited about something, be it a demo, a bit of news, a video or what have you, don’t expect to read about it here other than in passing. There are great sites like Kotaku and Destructoid that can fulfill those needs far better than I ever could.
That’s not to say the site is closing, or that I’m abandoning everything I currently do – I’ll still be updating you on MAME updates as I hear about them, I’ll talk about demos and new releases if I’m really excited about them, and most importantly, it means that I’ll be posting a lot more articles of substance over time. I certainly hope you’ll at least stick around for a weekly read and maybe, just maybe, add to the discussions by commenting when you have something to say.
So there you have it – daily worthless updates are out, while original content, opinions, impressions and important updates are in. Let the changes begin!
