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The Corner of Randomness: What to Play

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He Chose PoorlyI’ve run into an issue this week. It’s not world ending, and it sure as hell isn’t a first world problem. Yet, it is something I’ve noticed a lot of gamers go through. That question of “What the hell do I play?” that so many of us hit from time to time. I’ve found myself asking that question a lot this week.

It’s not like I don’t have anything to play. Sure, I really want to be playing Nioh right now, but that just isn’t in the cards at the moment. I have a massive backlog of games on a few different platforms. I’m truly not lacking in content when it comes to slipping away into a virtual world.

Yet, I find that when I can sit down and play a game, I don’t even know what to play. I just end up spending that time looking at my inventory of games, giving up and watching Twitch. You know, because watching someone else play a game is so much easier than making my own decisions.

I’ve read some articles about how other people handle this. Some just make a list, start at the top and work their way through the list. Others just let the guilt go of not finishing this or that game, and play whatever floats their fancy at that moment. Some just stop playing games for a time and invest their energy in other places. I should probably put my time and energy into more productive matters, but we all need a break. It’s only healthy.

Is it safe to say this is just gaming burnout? What do you do when you just can’t decide what game sounds the most interesting to play when you have the time? Curious minds want to know.

The Corner of Randomness: Free-to-Play Games are good at Times

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I couldn’t even make it through the first month of 2017 before dropping the ball. Yeah, I missed posting an article last week. Life happened and some things just had to be missed. I’d tell ya not to grow up because adulting sucks, but you can’t stop the march of time.

I find I’m already getting busy. Lots of plans are now being put into motion for my photography business. This means a lot of time going to meetings, web work, planning, more meetings, making copious amounts of coffee, more meetings, and even more coffee. Self-employment might be a dream for some, but damn is it a lot of work. How Keri can do this while juggling family responsibilities…mad props to her.

With life becoming a sequence of task lists, gaming has taken a big hit. At one time, I could throw a day away by gaming it all away without much care other than some project on the house wasn’t getting done. Now, I can’t really blow a day off as it will mean a setback in this or that part of the business. This does suck, but I’ve also found a great way to deal with the guilt that I carry when it comes to new games. I spend my time in free-to-play games.

I know. F2P games?!?! WTF? Are you drunk? No. I am not drunk, even though I really want to be right now. This change started happening when my wife lost her job. I really wanted to play World of Warcraft at that time as the new expansion was so fresh and new. Sadly, money wasn’t there to do that. Thus, I jumped back into Guild Wars 2 because I already owned it. Sure, it’s not that free-to-play as you have to buy the game. However, it doesn’t carry the monthly fee like WoW does. You know, I am still playing GW2 and enjoying it.

Next came Warframe. I’ve always been curious about this game. The Steam reviews would have you believe that the grind was just too much. Unless I was going to devote my life to the game, I’d have to invest money into buying this or that to make the game fun. I said screw the reviews and downloaded the game anyway. You know what? In my limited amount of gaming time, I find I am loving Warframe. Sure, I’m not the most badass player there is. Yet, I’ve invested no money into it. I know I’m stuck with some pleb shit. That is okay. When I sit down to game, this is fun and takes my mind off life for a bit, and that is just fine with me.

Most recently, some friends have started playing Trove on PS4. I was pretty reluctant to look into yet another game. However, combine Minecraft with some adventuring, add in some MMO flavors, and mix it all together with a lovely visual palette and I’ll bite. Trove is a decent distraction. The grind here is a bit more evident and in your face, but as with Warframe I have yet to drop money on it. I just take my basic bitch toon out and grind out various dungeons in hopes better gear drops. The RNG struggle is real!

I know free-to-play games have a massively bad reputation for being terrible money grabs. I knew that both Warframe and Trove would be a lot easier if I would just drop a few dollars into them. Yet, I don’t feel the need to do that yet. The amount of time I get to spend gaming now is limited, and these games have provided a good amount of entertainment, yet they haven’t costed me a dime yet. At this point, that is a good thing. Sometimes, a free distraction from the stresses of life are all you really need to get from one meeting to the next.

The Corner of Randomness: I Am Slightly Lost

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Well, AGDQ 2017 is now over. They managed to bring in $2.2 million dollars in donations. I was pretty well glued to my computer for the entirety of last Saturday. Then Sunday rolled around and I had no idea what to do. I was facing con drop, and I wasn’t even at AGDQ. Thankfully SGDQ will be here before I know it.

It has been a pretty eventful week, however. Nintendo gave us a look at their new console, Switch. It looks nifty, but they lack enough launch titles to make me want to snag it at release. Though the new Zelda game looks like a damned good time! Of course, with anything exciting and new, the Internet had to get all hateful and negative. So many people complaining about the Switch. It’s sad when gamers can’t stop and just have fun.

Speaking of fun, I finally gave Warframe a try. This is essentially Destiny, but with more robots, swords, and plenty of grinding. It is a free game, so it does come with all the joys of spending money to remove portions of the grind. I have yet to spend any cash on the game, but I’m close to it. In the 15 or so hours I have played it, I have had a really good time. I almost question why I waited so long to give it a try. Oh right, because Steam reviews made it sound like it was going to be terrible.

When not hacking things up with my virtual sword of flaming hate, I’m either getting destroyed by big robots in Titanfall 2 or I’m plugging away at one of my toons in Guild Wars 2. I would be remiss if I didn’t stress just how fun Titanfall 2 is. I know it’s been said before, but this game is extremely entertaining. I know the first game caught a lot of flak, but this second attempt has shown that the devs listened to criticisms and made a vastly improved experience. My biggest complaint now is that it takes so friggin long to get into an online game. Hopefully more people will snag this gem over the summer so it’s easier to jump into more online matches.

Well, I do believe one of my new weapons is finally done building in Warframe, so I’m off to pick that up and go waste some more bad guys. The work of Vlad the Heartless is never ending.

The Corner of Randomness: AGDQ 2017

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I’m currently sitting at my desk watching four gamers speedrun Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat thanks to the greatness that is AGDQ.  If you don’t know what AGDQ (Awesome Games Done Quick) is, it is a week long event where speedrunners (gamers who play games at a stupid fast pace) play a variety of games to help raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Games ranging from Super Mario Bros. to Dark Souls III are all at the mercy of glitches, save breaks, unintended wall jumps, and so on. I love this week!

What makes it even more fun is that I got Keri into watching this as well. We now text each other during certain games to express our disbelief as we watch our childhood get completely wrecked. I feel as though we now need to add attending AGDQ in the future to our bucket lists. I think it would be a fantastic time!

It’s always a sad time when the event draws to a close in the wee hours of Sunday morning. This sadness is tempered a bit with the excitement that comes with knowing that SGDQ (Summer Games Done Quick) is just a few short months away. Also, getting sleep again is nice.

At the current moment (Thursday afternoon), AGDQ has managed to bring in $665,669 in donations (Editor update: it’s at $812,736 Friday morning!). It’s certainly looking like a solid possibility that they will cross the $1,000,000 mark by the middle of Friday. Saturday is when the people rush to get their final donations in. I’m curious how close to $2,000,000 they will get. With all the hate and negativity that seems to be the norm as of late, it’s such a joy to see gamers coming together to do something fun and positive.

The Corner of Randomness: Greetings

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OMG! It’s an article from Chris. Hell must have frozen over. Well, maybe not Hell, but where I live it certainly has. Curse you winter and your frigid below zero temperatures. Anyway, based on the date stamp from my last article, I took quite the summer vacation. Some of that was planned due to extensive travel. Some of that was unforeseen circumstances of life. A bit of warning before I proceed. This will be much more life based than anything having to do with gaming. Hey, it’s my corner. I’ll do what I want!

Now, where did I disappear to the last half of 2016? Well, Keri and I both knew summer was going to be a hectic time. She would have kids at home thanks to summer vacation. I’d be on the road doing various things such as taking pictures, working weddings, and visiting family/friends. It was supposed to be a hiatus that lasted only through the summer. Then life threw some curve balls and I slid into a dark hole that I’m still trying to climb out of.

In August, my wife lost her job. My wife is the money maker here. She supports me. This was a rough blow to us. Some time ago we setup a savings account for just such an occasion, so we have been fine so far. However, there is now uncertainty in the air as we look at the possibility of having to pack and move yet again as the job chase struggle is real.

At the end of August, I was out in Colorado working a wedding with a friend. We had just finished working for the day. It was late. I sat down and checked Facebook for a moment and found a message that my step-father had but a few days left to live. The next morning, I packed up and raced home to snag essentials before racing off to hopefully see my step-father before he shed his mortal coil. That was some of the hardest 20 hours of driving I had ever done. I made it in time to make my peace. The morning after I had arrived, he passed away.

In September my beloved truck blew-up. Well, not literally exploding in a glorious ball of flame and smoke. However, the engine was broken to a point of needing a total replacement. This happened three days before I was slated to leave for Colorado to help lead a photography tour there. Thankfully, I have great friends who jumped to my aid without me even asking for any sort of help. I was flown out to Colorado. A friend rented a truck. The tour continued on. Fun was had. Memories were made. It was a distraction I needed.

The holidays came and went. They were clouded with regret and guilt. Dragged down by the things I cannot change. It was tough, but I’m still here.

Over the course of several months, starting well before any of this craziness happened, I started sliding into my own well of depression. The drinking accelerated. Life happened. I fell deeper and deeper into my sadness. Soon, I was just a walking, talking, hungover liquor store that just struggled to get through the day. Enjoyment ceased to exist in my world.

I’m still here. I’m slowly starting my crawl out of this damned hole. It’s not easy. I’ve almost gone cold turkey on the liquor. I’m fighting my demons. The nights are the hardest. When I finally stop to unwind for the day, I reach for a drink that isn’t there. The darkness fills my head. I fight with my emotions, most times well into the wee hours of the morning. Yet, I continue on.

I don’t really know if there was a real point to telling this story. Maybe I just needed to get it out of my head. Maybe this is just some form of catharsis and a part of getting back to a more healthy life. Either way, it’s now posted and it’s done. Next week I will get back to babbling on about gaming stuff like how AGDQ (Awesome Games Done Quick) is a damned glorious time. You do know AGDQ starts this Sunday, right? No!?! You do now! Here’s to you 2017. May you be vast a improvement to the dumpster fire that was 2016.

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