First Birthday

           
Today is the first birthday of the CRPG Addict, and I was hoping that this posting would come after a long string of reviews, culminating in my 50th game, rather than as the first posting after nearly two weeks of silence. But perhaps nothing else better exemplifies the feast-or-famine nature of my blog. As hiatuses go, this last 10 days has been one of my shorter ones--I had breaks in May and August last year that I wasn't sure I'd recover from.

My winning Rogue screenshot.

This blog began at the encouragement of a Reddit user named RedDyeNumber4, after I won Rogue and posted a screen shot to /r/games. I had just spent four months trying to beat the game, and I wanted to share the triumph with someone. I don't know why the idea of a blog hadn't occurred to me before. I had long been drafting thoughts on CRPGs--some of which have appeared among my "special topics" postings--but if I thought about publishing them at all, I guess I thought I might interest a site like Gamespot or something. Once I had the suggestion, though, I was very excited about it.

I know various aspects of my plan--DOS only, chronological order, six hours no matter how forgettable the game--have struck some readers as silly, and many of you have suggested changes or exceptions. But making a specific plan and sticking with it is very much within my personality. If I had to do it again, I probably would have set a rule about playing the games on their best platforms, but I definitely wouldn't jettison the six-hour rule, which has prevented me from writing trite, cursory postings on some games while rushing to the ones I most anticipate. Even with the rule, I've given a raw deal to certain titles. I could have tried a bit harder on Wizardry II, III, and IV, for instance, and I should have spent more time on Swords of Glass, which seems now like an authentically good-but-overlooked title--the very thing I started this blog to find.

On the whole, though, I'm satisified that the blog has met its purpose. I am a guilty hobbiest, and I can assuage that guilt by having a goal to my hobbies. I used to feel slightly ashamed at all the time I spent on crossword puzzles, but now that I attend the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament every year, my crossword time becomes "training." I used to hate myself for all the CRPG hours--going so far as throwing away games in disgust after winning them--but now I have this project, and goals for it, and readers who seem to like my postings. This makes me feel better about playing games. In fact, it makes me feel bad if I don't play games for a long stretch of time, as in the past 10 days.

The CRPG addict's weekly visits, courteey of Google Analytics.

At the outset, I didn't think I'd care whether I had many readers or not. I considered the blog primarily a self-expression project. But I've been surprised at how much I've come to value comments and dialog. I know nothing about most of you, but I've learned to recognize and appreciate your unique voices. Some of you offer me good supplemental information about the games, some of you have great senses of humor. I can always count on one or two of you for hints. You've helped me with research, files, and translations--sometimes removing a convenient excuse to just move on from a game! When you've disappeared...well, I haven't cried myself to sleep, but it's been a little disappointing. Two longtime, quality commenters stalked off permanently when I bailed on Faery Tale Adventure. It's made me more conscious of the consequences of giving up on games that are someone's favorites.

Here's something I didn't mention on my blog when it happened: a few months ago, I quit my job so that I could do training, teaching, and contract work full-time. I haven't revealed my profession on this blog, not because I care if you know, but because I don't want people from my profession finding the blog. It would cause a lot of issues. But imagine I was something like a state economic planner, and then I started teaching and consulting on economic planning, and now I do that teaching and consulting full-time. That'll give you the right idea. The reality of my new life is that I'm on the road at least half the time, but when I'm not, I'm at home all day, and the temptation to play games instead of working is all too real. I was home for most of the month of January, which explains my prodigious output, and I'm traveling most of the month of February, which I hope excuses my recent drop-off.

I can never correctly anticipate how much time I'll have. Sometimes I'll be going to a conference with plenty of friends and colleagues, and yet I find I have a lot of time to play--almost all of Dungeon Master was written from hotel rooms in Dallas and Seattle. Other times, I'll be headed to a boring place I don't like, like Kansas City last week or Phoenix a few months ago, assuming that I'll be playing and blogging at night, and I end up absurdly busy all week. I've experimented with writing postings in advance, and sometimes it works. You didn't notice when I was gone for a week in January because I had already won Ys before my first posting on Sorcerian was even published.

Over the last few months, I've started to receive a lot more direct e-mails from readers or other people asking about my blog. Sometimes, I don't really know what they want. Other times, I'm delighted, as when a reader recently gave me the opportunity to comment on a CRPG under development. Between the blog comments and e-mail, I get a lot of the same questions over and over, so here are the answers to a few:

• Time: I have time to play so many games by staying up late at night. I do much of my playing in the four hours after my wife goes to bed and before I get tired. I don't have many other hobbies, I don't follow sports, and I don't watch TV except what I get on Netflix Instant Play during a particularly boring game, so I have extra time that most people don't.
• Comments: I get an e-mail alert for every comment someone leaves, and I read every comment no matter how old the original posting. I respond to about 50% of them based on my overall reaction. I think I've responded to almost all questions.
• Maps: I make them in Excel by using the "draw borders" tool. Nothing fancy.
• Money: I don't put ads on my site because I can't imagine the amount of revenue would make it worth while. I don't want to make this blog about money. If regular readers feel compelled to pay me back, I wish they'd just offer to buy me a drink when I'm in their towns.
• Wife: I have one. Her name is Irene. She doesn't know about the blog, and I think it would be kind of difficult to tell her after doing this for a year. She does occasionally like to play console games with me, and a few weeks ago we went out and bought an X-box 360 and a few games she liked the look of, one of which was Oblivion. The irony stings.

The ultimate message that I want to convey here is that I'm grateful to all of you who read the blog. You've helped turn something that I used to do solo--and feel embarrassed about--into a kind-of community where you can share my joy of good games, my disgust and amusement at bad games, and make unique discoveries as we tour the history of CRPGs. I apologize for my hot-and-cold publication schedule, but I'll try to do better in Year 2. Stick with me, and we'll have a lot of fun together.