Turning Online Gamers’ Tantrums into a Wall of Saltiness

Turning Online Gamers’ Tantrums into a Wall of Saltiness

By Casey Douglass

The end screen on Dead by Daylight when you wipe the floor with the survivor scum. That was said in character, obviously. I'm sure they are lovely people just having a hard time of things, and my axe was the cure. Ha ha ha.

‘Camper.’

The word flashes up in the after-game chat and I fist-pump the air.

I’ve been playing Behaviour Digital’s multi-player horror game Dead by Daylight, a game that sees four survivors and one killer trapped on a map, one side needing to escape, one side needing to bathe in the blood of the ones that don’t. It’s very good fun but my word, there are certainly some very toxic people playing it. To be fair, a lot of games have their share of tantrum throwing keyboard bashers, but there is something about the Killers vs. Survivors setup of DBD that throws fuel on those fires. Just check out the game's forum on Steam for a taster.

The problem, as with many games, comes down to people having different views on how you should play the game. I remember playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and seeing the vehement condemnation of anyone that sat in a corner or used cover for more than a second. ‘Camper!’ was a frequent insult thrown around, more than likely by people who felt you should play every first person shooter as if it was Quake or Unreal Tournament. Add into the mix people who seemingly have no idea what camping actually means, or with differing opinions on what camping is, and arguments fly with regularity.

Of course, this type of thing isn’t just limited to camping. In Battlefield 3 I was accused of being a Kill:Death ratio player, just because I was having a good game and had something like 21 kills, 5 deaths. It was whined at me by someone in a tank who couldn’t get it through his or her head that a big tank can be hit from many different angles, and just because you can’t see me doesn’t mean I can’t see you. I think I was called a coward for firing and ducking back into cover again too. I obviously didn’t fit into their view of how my character should be dying easily at their hands, rather than serving up a punishing arse kicking that they were squarely on the end of.

In Battlefield 4, I played as a sniper quite regularly. Oh the cries of ‘Camper!” as I made someone’s head spray red. I could have pointed out that I wasn’t camping as I barely stayed still the whole match. If I did stop, it was only until I got a kill and then I changed position, as snipers are vulnerable if people know where they are and can get up close and personal with them. Instead I took the high road and said something like ‘Booooo hooooo!’ That’s not to say I’m down on campers either, it’s a valid tactic in many video-games, particularly war-based ones. You can bet your backside that if I was being shot at in real life, I wouldn’t be running in circles tea-bagging in open ground, and nor would even the most zealous anti-camper.

By way of a slight trip down memory lane, we come back to Dead by Daylight, a game in which both killers and survivors tend to bitch and moan about how the other side plays. There are lovely people playing too of course, but for the purposes of this post, I’m focussing on the screen-lickers who give fiery verbal at the end of a game.

I play both sides of the divide, as the game lets you have a separate Killer and Survivor Rank, but my heart lies on the Killer side. As a killer, it really does seem that however you play, it isn’t the right way for some survivors. If you hook a survivor on one of the many hooks around the level (your main goal), you have to absolutely run away as fast as possible or you will be accused of camping the hook. Even if you see their three teammates skulking around behind it. You have to practice a kind of unthinking and unseeing that Orwell’s 1984 would be most impressed by. There are other whiny things that get dragged out by both sides, but the crux of the matter is, I was finally called a camper last night, having not even camped, and I always feel accepted by a game community once I’ve had my first cry-baby chat message. What took you soo long DBD?

I’ve decided I’m going to write down any insults that come my way from now on (not who said them, I mean, who cares?) and I will try to collect enough to make a nice image, maybe with one of the DBD characters in the middle, the sniveling words of dejection ghosted behind it. Something like that anyway. I will call it my Wall of Saltiness and it will be tremendous to look at and think of all the gaming experiences I’ve ‘ruined’ for a host of bad losers. I particularly look forward to the really bad ones like ‘get cancer’ and ‘die.’

I don’t mean to say that I will play in a way that will troll people or piss them off. I will just play how I usually do, in a balanced, sporting way, and see what barbs will be flung at me after the match is over. I’m quite looking forward to it, and as my killer ranks up, I’ve been reliably informed that the saltiness after games increases muchly. Tremendous!

If you play any online multi-player games, maybe you could create a Wall of Saltiness too, something to remember your past victories with. Good luck if you do. I will post my own when it is complete. I don’t know how long it will take, but it will be worth the wait I think.

Contact Me

Trucking Along With Depression: Why I Find American Truck Simulator to be a Valuable Tool

Trucking Along With Depression: Why I Find American Truck Simulator to be a Valuable Tool

Written by Casey Douglass

The concept of space is an important one. Whether physical or mental, without space around the things that we perceive, think or feel, we lose sight of the complete picture. The glass that is always proverbially half-full or half-empty is actually always full; the air sitting in the water-free part is often overlooked. When someone is feeling depressed or struggling with their mental health, a feeling of space or distance can sometimes be helpful, as being too close to something is also not a great way to see the big picture. What has all of this got to do with playing American Truck Simulator? I’ll try to explain.

SCS Software’s American Truck Simulator is a game that puts the player behind the wheel of a truck, gives them a slice of America to travel through, and a list of possible jobs to take on. I know next to nothing about trucks, American or otherwise, and I have no desire to become a truck driver. I don’t even particularly like to travel, except in the realms of my imagination, or the occasional trip to the shops (Not sure if I’ve ever been to any imaginary shops). So why in the world do I find myself regularly driving a big rig in a game that, on the surface, I probably shouldn’t enjoy. The simple answer is space. The more complex answer is space, the correct mixture of tension and relaxation, and the minutiae of driving.

Expanded horizons.

Let’s start with space. Whether moving around in the real world, or some digital representation of it, the feeling of leaving home and going out into areas that you don’t control is a different mental experience to staying inside, surrounded by your own belongings. When we leave our homely surroundings, our thoughts will, to some degree, focus on where we are and what we are doing. I say to some degree because if you have a mental illness, a good proportion of your thoughts will still quite likely be ensnared in your awareness of self, or any of those worries and fears that seem to follow you around wherever you might go. American Truck Simulator gives a fairly good impression of what it’s like when moving from one place to another, seeing a new town or city loom on the horizon as the old one fades in the rear-view mirror. This helps me feel a sense of space.

Driving into the Sun.

Another way that the game serves up a dose of space is in its day and night cycle. Anyone that has spent too much time grappling with their own inner-states usually tends to lose the awareness that thoughts, moods and feelings come and go quite naturally, given enough space and time. Anger at the knock of the postman waking you up soon diminishes when he puts that parcel you’ve been waiting for in your hands. When you are trapped in your more upsetting moods and feelings, it’s easy to lose this sense of things ebbing and flowing (Practising mindfulness is very useful here, and is also quite useful in general). As far as ATS, driving along with the setting sun in your mirror, the sky ahead darkening and the cars driving past you lighting their way with headlights... it just gives a feeling of moving on, of things progressing. There is also something quite lovely about driving through the night and witnessing the sun begin to rise, the golden hues of everything giving eyes that are used to darkness and headlights something to feast on again. I personally find this invaluable when I’m at my lowest, and ATS serves up this feeling with a dependable regularity. 

Traffic and red lights at twilight.

The next aspect that I want to talk about is the mixture of tension and relaxation. This concept seems integral to so much in life, whether it’s the contraction and relaxation of your heart beating comfortably in your chest, or your concentration being held firmly by a task for a duration of time before you let go and relax with a coffee-break. This seems to be the pattern for a well-balanced life well lived. Once again, if you suffer with anxiety, depression, or are undergoing a particularly trying time, your period of tension might stretch on and on, your body and mind hardening around the issues that brought it on, eventually leaving you unable to unwind or relax to any great degree. American Truck Simulator, by way of approximating the act of driving, provides a framework in which you can start to feel this tension/relaxation process, even if it’s only in the context of a game. Once felt in this more minor way, it sometimes leads to the loosening of other emotional or mental sticking points, as if the mind just needed a way to remember what letting go feels like. As an example, driving your truck through the desert on long, lonely roads is fine... for awhile. Just as you start to feel a little bored with it, you will likely come to a large city, somewhere where you need to be more “on your game”. The comfortably sparse roads are soon replaced with busy junctions, more road users and traffic lights. There will be many periods where you will be held up by red lights, queues and slow speed limits. Ah Las Vegas, what a pain in the arse you can be, with your many lanes and streets with traffic light after traffic light. Just as you begin to feel a bit annoyed, you are away, free, out in the wider countryside again, and can let go a little bit more. This is how the game provides tension and relaxation, and it is pretty low level, which is about right if you aren’t feeling your best. Other games provide tension and relaxation too of course, but trying to evade the Xenomorph in Alien: Isolation provides a far higher level of tension than accidentally bumping a pavement in ATS.

Rainy Vegas.

Finally, we get to the minutiae of driving, which also straddles the tension and relaxation section above. In American Truck Simulator, you have the rules of the U.S roads to follow, along with other actions that make driving... well, driving. In the course of your travels, you must obey speed-limits, indicate when changing lanes, use your headlights at night (and reduce high beams when other traffic approaches), and other things like turning your wipers on when it starts to rain. You also have the technicalities of managing your rest periods, fuel levels and how you can squeeze a long trailer around certain intersections without clipping anyone. To some people, this might sound like a pain, but to someone looking for gentle diversion, I find that there is just enough going on to keep my mind focussed on what I’m doing in the game, rather than having too much free time to ruminate or reflect too much on how I’m feeling. A counter to this, for me at least, is Candy Crush Saga. I’ve recently taken up playing it again on Facebook and it’s fine, as far as games like that go, but even though it’s puzzle based, I find myself with plenty of time to ruminate and feel like crap as I force the sweets to mate with each other and disappear in puffs of colour. No doubt it’s a very personal and subjective thing when it comes to how an individual game affects someone, but as far as keeping me gently attentive, ATS wins again. 

A nice drive by the beach.

We’ve reached the end of my little ramble around the topic of why I think American Truck Simulator is my perfect depression game. You don’t need to be depressed to play it of course, but in the context of how I’ve been feeling lately, I just wanted to think about and share why it seems quite useful for me. I don’t mean to present it as a cure or treatment, but as one enjoyable tool that fills a gap for me when other games seem overwhelming, or my energy levels are low. A twenty minute digital delivery job that takes in some simulated scenery and maybe gives some experience of the day-night cycle is a pleasing buffer between what ails me and the stresses of the things I am trying to do in other areas of my life. If you like the sound of American Truck Simulator, be sure to check it out here. It’s only £14.99 too, so it shouldn’t break the bank.

If you are suffering with any form of mental illness and have yet to seek help, please do, there are plenty of places out there that can and will help, from doctors to other organisations. 

Contact Me

Who Listens to Dark Ambient Music?

Who Listens to Dark Ambient Music?

Written By Casey Douglass

"Who listens to dark ambient music?" is a question that I’ve come across a good many times while browsing the web. Another variation is “What kind of person listens to dark ambient music?” often by someone who listens to ten seconds of a track than promptly spits out their incredulity dummy as they fail to click with it. I can’t answer for anybody else, but I have spent some time reflecting on my own reasons below. 

If someone asks me what dark ambient music is, I tend to describe it as resembling the score to a horror movie, but that glosses over the more peaceful or sci-fi varieties. Dark ambient is a kind of music that touches uncomfortable feelings and features harsh, often cold soundscapes, that bring you out of your safe mental space and into something more melancholy or challenging. As far as I am concerned anyway. As far as why I listen to it, read on.

The first thing that comes to mind is the variety of dark ambient out there, and that’s if you ignore the larger parent genre of ambient music. One dark ambient artist might use the kinds of drones and bassy rumbles that might accompany the summoning of Satan himself, another might use field recordings of cars passing in the rain and birdsong, mingling in a little melancholy piano for added effect. Yet another might revel in creating massive fuzzy walls of noise that trick the ear into conjuring other sounds deep within the staticy mass. It is always a great pleasure to find a new artist, or to hear a new release from an existing artist, that makes you sit back and go “Wow!”

With the mentioning of Satan in the previous paragraph, I suppose I'd better address the perception of dark ambient listeners. There are certain genres of music that just bring out the hysterical in some people, people who might think that heavy metal fans are Satan worshippers, all rave music lovers are druggies etc. Dark ambient is very dark, and I have no doubt that there will be some Satanists listening to it, along with a whole heap of Atheists, Buddhists, Pagans and whatever-ists. Personally, I don’t mind the fact that people might be shocked by the darkness contained in a dark ambient track. I’m a horror writer after all, it adds to my cachet. I also don’t particularly care how people view the things that I enjoy, be it the music I listen to, the books I read or the TV series I watch.

Speaking of writing, dark ambient is a tremendous tool for a horror writer to find some inspiration. Even the most directed of tracks (e.g. something called “journey into the forgotten temple”) can send me on a totally different tangent, maybe into space, hell or a strange reality of bog creatures. If you are a writer of fiction that has even the smallest amount of darkness to it, it would be well worth your while investigating dark ambient as a genre. I’ll mention a range of artists at the end of this piece.

While we are delving into the mind, dark ambient serves another purpose for me, and that is one of catharsis and relaxation. I have suffered with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder for decades, an anxiety condition that floors me at times. I also have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, an illness that leaves me exhausted 24/7. Most days are a teeth clenched struggle for me, even with various therapeutic approaches in play such as CBT, ACT and mindfulness. When everything is turning to shit around me, tension building in my neck and shoulders, heart hammering; listening to a bit of dark ambient while resting on my bed gives me a mental holiday when few other things will. This gives the stress response in my body time to ease off, lets the anxious thoughts drift away, and very often, gives me a little sleep too. When I was younger, I dabbled with the New Agey types or relaxation music, whale song, birds and that kind of thing. It was okay but nothing great. I did notice that I clicked more with ones that had darker undertones. Phil Thornton’s Shaman is one that comes to mind: wolf howls and drum beats the order of the day. When I discovered dark ambient, it was like “This! Holy shit this!”. For the record, the first dark ambient I knowingly heard was one of Atrium Caceri’s early albums.

So there we have it, my reasons at least, for why someone might listen to dark ambient music. There are countless other reasons, I have no doubt, but these are the main ones for me. I’d love to hear the reasons someone else might have too, so if you are reading this and feel compelled, feel free to comment or just find me on social media and say hello. Oh, and before I go, here is a small collection of dark ambient artists you might like to check out. Many of them will have a Bandcamp page where you can freely stream some, or all, of their tracks. Others might be on Soundcloud or even YouTube. Wherever you look, if the website has the feature, like YouTube, pay attention to other suggested videos or sounds if any are recommended beside what you are watching, you never know where it will take you.

Okay, here are a few artists that you might like to check out: Atrium Carceri, CryoChamber (a dark ambient music label), Hoshin, Randal Collier-Ford, Terra Sancta, Lustmord, Cities Last Broadcast, Creation VI, protoU. Dronny Darko and Zalys.

Thank you for reading.

Contact Me

How To Use Naughty Spam Email for Writing Inspiration

How To Use Naughty Spam Email for Writing Inspiration

Written By Casey Douglass

*Contains adult language but isn’t pornographic. Just a warning for delicate flowers visiting this post*

Over the course of the last week or so, I’ve had a particular spam email that seems to have made my junk folder its permanent home. The chances are high that it’s just an email with the same title but coming from different senders, but I’m not going to open it nor mouse over it to find out. The title is the focus of this little piece as it makes me chuckle and also, just might be a fun writing exercise.

“Save your neighbour with your cock!”

Isn’t it a doozy of a title? Now I know that spammers have to try all kinds of things to get your attention, or to get around your junk mail filter, and these usually leave a mangled mess as the title that looks more like the typer had a stroke while sending it than a proper sentence. It’s even less common for the titles to seem semi-creative. After I chuckled at this particular email’s second appearance, I got to wondering: How on earth would my neighbour ever be in a dangerous situation that would need my cock to get involved? I thought I would brainstorm some ideas, just for the hell of it, and obviously, this is just a bit of fun and not based upon my real neighbours, who are lovely people.

Okay, onto the possibilities:

Maybe an armed burglar would point a gun at us and say, “If you don’t fuck, your neighbour’s dead!” It’s a bit on the nose this one, I’m sure I can do better.

Another possibility could be that my neighbour is pinned against the wall by some slavering giant dog, more wolf than pet, whose only interest beyond killing and maiming lies in sausage-like objects dangling about 3 ft from the ground? Fucking ouch. I’ll try to avoid scenarios that end in eye-watering fashion I think.

Maybe my neighbour is defusing a complicated bomb that has so many strange wires and devices attached to it, that she needs an extra pair of hands and a handy protuberance to loop wires over to keep them out of the way? Doubt you’d ever see that scene in Mission Impossible, but if it went well, we’d all survive I’d imagine.

I might just be over thinking the title. It could mean something as simple as “save your neighbour’s blushes”. Maybe she is hosting a nude painting class and has told everyone how good it will be, but the model has dropped out and would I stand in for him? It might save my neighbour’s blushes but it wouldn’t save mine.

I'm sure that the longer I sit, the more ideas I will generate, but I think I’ve reached the end of my interest in this one now. I think it just goes to show, you don’t always need a posh writing prompt from some upmarket literature website to get your ideas popping; even the utter shite that fills your email junk folder can be fodder for pondering. Just be sensible and don’t open any of them.

Contact Me

Dark Article - Electronic Relaxation Aids And ME/CFS

I've written a piece about the variety of, and possible benefits/drawbacks of, ME/CFS sufferers using electronic relaxation aids to try to increase their quality of life. It can be found at this link on Foggy Friends.

Image used freely courtesy of Gratisography

Contact Me

Dark Article - Mindful Binge-watching For Intelligent Geeks

Do you binge-watch TV shows? Are you intelligent? You are reading this so you must be...in my opinion anyway. Check out Geek Syndicate for the article I wrote on Mindful Binge-watching For Intelligent Geeks. You can read the full thing at this link.

Clockwork Orange Image © Copyright Warner Bros.

Contact Me

Dark Article - An Introduction To Mindfulness

I have another article up on ME/CFS website Foggy Friends, this time the topic is Mindfulness and how it can help sufferers, and anyone in general really. Click here to have a read.

Image used freely courtesy of Gratisography

Contact Me

Dark Article - ASMR Inducing Videos Might Be Useful For CFS/ME Sufferers

I've written a piece for CFS/ME website Foggy Friends about the possible benefits of ASMR for relaxation. ASMR is a bodily response to certain kinds of sensory input and can be triggered by watching certain videos etc. Click here to read my full article.

Image used freely courtesy of Gratisography

Contact Me

The Mixed Blessings of Celebrity Crushes

Written By Casey Douglass

 

Have you got one? One celebrity that seems to light up your life? Maybe you have a handful, a menagerie that rotate around depending on who might be in a current film or TV series? Either way, I seem to have three. At times, they bring escape, solace or pleasant dreams. At other times, they can bring feelings of depression, hopelessness and loneliness. The media seems to portray crushes at only the extremes, the screaming fans passing out at concerts with tears on heir cheeks or the psycho stalker that might break into someone’s home. Most people will almost certainly sit somewhere in the middle, quietly spending the odd minute, film or TV episode lost in wistful thoughts about their crush.

Image © Copyright 20th Century Fox

My first proper celebrity crush was Gillian Anderson, watching her as Dana Scully in the X-Files. I was drawn to her amazing portrayal of strong emotions, particularly in the scenes where Scully was ill with her cancer. She has carried that same talent to other roles, her characters usually strong- willed women that seem quite stern a lot of the time but when they show emotion, it is a revelation. It can be seen in her portrayal of Stella Gibson in The Fall and as Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier in Hannibal. Typing that now has just helped me a see a thread to my next celebrity crush. Isn’t it nice when writing is therapeutic as well as satisfying!

Image © Copyright Contender Films

I first saw Eva Green in Bond film Casino Royale as Vesper Lynd and I have to admit that she didn’t particularly register with me. I think the next film I watched her in was Franklyn, the strange and twisted otherworldly drama about unhappy people and their beliefs. In that, Eva played two characters, Emilia and Sally, both showing various sides of her acting ability. Emilia was dark, troubled and creative and I think this character resonated with me in a number of ways, especially in the manic way Eva played her. I have since seen Eva Green in quite a few films and TV shows: 300: Rise of an Empire as the dangerous Artemisia, Sin City 2 as the clothes shy Ava and I am currently enjoying her talents in Penny Dreadful as the troubled Vanessa Ives. When one of Eva’s characters smiles, which seems to be rare, I can’t help smiling back. Eva has that stern-faced quality that I mentioned above, but I always feel her characters are more chaotic and troubled, like a shaken can of fizzy drink, calm on the outside but ready to explode with lots of energy. Ooh, another thread just emerged to the third and final of my celebrity crushes.

Image © Copyright Century Media Records

Cristina Scabbia is an Italian singer from heavy-metal band Lacuna Coil. With Cristina, it was her voice that first tweaked my heart. She is not one to shy from singing at a great range, the low and the high all equally strong and her voice is the stand out thing for me above the metal riffs of the band. Unlike the characters Gillian and Eva portray, Cristina seems an optimistic bundle of energy, bouncing around the stage and painting pictures with her words. Some of that no doubt comes from her being a singer rather than an actress so it is hard to compare, but I wouldn’t be able to call her stern-faced and believe it. When Lacuna Coil came to Norwich, her performance was even more amazing in person. She is also a great person to follow on social media, always tweeting and sharing on Facebook.

So there we have it, the three women I have never met that manage to enchant me and warrant the term “crush”. At times, with my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, I can get very low indeed. Having these crushes can sometimes be very helpful, a way to brighten my day even though I know they are just based on 99% fantasy and maybe only 1% of knowing the real person being swooned over. I went through a stage where I had an elaborate fantasy about my writing involving Gillian Anderson, all played out with a play list created from music artists like Chase and Status, Tinie Tempa and Inner Party System on my iPod. It became my escape from my shitty illness, frustrations and other issues, even though I knew that it was probably not helping anything either.

On the other hand, these kinds of crush can just serve to make you feel even more lonely or low. I had a time where I couldn’t stand to listen to that aforementioned play list because it just made the difference between my reality and my fantasy too painful to bear. I have had times where I have bought films featuring Gillian or Eva and then taken months to watch them because I don’t want the bitter-sweet feelings they will probably cause in me. When I saw Lacuna Coil live, I was on a high while being there but was in a hell of a funk for days afterwards, struggling to listen to their Cd's for maybe a month afterwards. This is the downside, and even being aware of what is going on doesn't always immunise you to the downward swing in mood.

I hope that the above doesn't make me sound like an obsessed loser or pathetic dreamer. It’s just really me thinking over what I get out of having celebrities that I can pine over. As you can see above, it’s certainly a mixed bag when it comes to the pros and cons. The thing is, I couldn’t change it if I wanted to. I use my feelings about these people who I know next to nothing about as a guide as to how I am in myself. If I find myself withdrawing from things and thinking about them more, chances are I need to address something in myself. If I don’t think of them much at all, I am probably more engaged with the “real” things in my life. Maybe that’s the most valuable thing I get out of the situation, seeing myself in a celebrity enhanced mirror and knowing what the reflected images mean.

Thank you for reading.

Contact Me

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Version 2.0 Now on The Huffington Post UK

The article that I wrote called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Version 2.0 and was published on Geek Syndicate is now on The Huffington Post UK website here. Going to that link and giving me any shares/likes/+1s would be greatly appreciated as it's something that has made my life bloody hell at times. It would be nice to get something nice from it for once!

Contact Me

Front Page

Well, my item about Gaming Rituals that was posted on The Huffington Post is now on the front page! Not much to say about that except 'Woo!' You can read the article here if you missed my post yesterday.

Contact Me

Dark Article - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Version 2.0

I've written a small piece about the interactions of my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Technology / Geeky pursuits, about how it always catches me out and why it just plain sucks in general. There is hope though. You can read it on Geek Syndicate here.

Contact Me

Article on the Huffington Post

An article I wrote for Geek Syndicate Magazine awhile ago, on Gaming Rituals and habits, has been published on the Geek Syndicate website proper here. It has also, as of today, been published on The Huffington Post, which is something I am very chuffed about!

This wouldn't have come about in the manner it did if it wasn't for Barry and Geek Syndicate. Yes I wrote the thing, but if I hadn't been contributing to G.S, I may never have written that article. It was also through G.S that this opportunity arose. It just goes to show, you never know when something you've written might come in handy in the future.

+

Contact Me

Dark Feature - The Strangest Things Can Make Great Games

I've written a feature for Geek Syndicate that takes a look at some of the weirder things that become games and actually turn out to be quite good. Click here to have a read.

Contact Me

Dark Article - Collector's Editions: Are They Worth It?

My Collector's Editions: Are They Worth It? article is now online in the fantastic Geek Syndicate Magazine Issue 11. I take a look at the good, the bad and the ugly of buying those special and limited editions of the games you enjoy and also the damn right crazy. Click here to go to the Geek Syndicate site and either view it online or download the pdf for consumption later.

Contact Me

Dark Article - Hoarding for the Gaming Apocalypse?

My Friday Feature Hoarding for the Gaming Apocalypse? is now up on Geek Syndicate here. A look at the possible reasons why gamers might buy games and then never get around to playing them. I also suggest a way to avoid that situation in the first place.

Contact Me

Dark Article - Video Gaming Rituals

My article "Video Gaming Rituals" is now up in Issue 9 of the Geek Syndicate Digital Magazine. A look at why people do the things they do when it comes to getting enjoyment from their gaming hobby. There are also lots of other interesting things to read for anyone with a Geek Gland. Click here to go to the magazine page where you can choose a number of ways to read it.

Contact Me

Dark Distractions is Two Years Old Today!

My blog is officially two today, and just like last year, I thought it would be interesting to do a post that is more for me than anyone else. A post that will let me see what I did in the last year, and how that improved on the year before. It will also include some shout-outs and thanks, as I didn't do it alone.

The year before last I wrote 43 blog posts. This past year I did 75. I’m pleased that I almost doubled my output, even though I know quantity is no assurance of quality. I will aim to double it again this year.

I went from around 25 Twitter followers to around 300. I’m not chasing numbers as it’s all about quality followers, not just slack-jawed “I’ll follow you if you follow me’ers.” Twitter is nice but I don’t think I’m social enough to really take full advantage. Even so, my goal for this year is to pass the 1000 follower mark.

My blog traffic went from around 2,000 hits to around 21,000. It’s nice to see some traffic, even if a lot of it is just automated bots and crawlers. I think this year my goal will be another 10X increase to around 200,000 hits.

I managed to get an article into every edition of the Geek Syndicate Magazine, and thirteen articles/reviews for the website. I will aim to continue that level of contribution to the magazine (as it is beyond my power to make it come out more frequently) but I will try to increase my website contributions.

I wrote 9 film reviews for the Generic Movie and TV blog before I decided to part company with them and put my effort into my other areas of interest. I did have a look at letterboxd but think that I will just keep the odd film review to my blog.

I wrote 17 pieces of flash fiction for #fridayflash. Fridayflash is a great community of writers and it has only really been the second half of the year that I have been able to fully take part and commit to publishing a story each week. I think it has helped my writing a good degree to have something weekly to aim for.

I entered 5 competitions gaining various places/mentions in each, which won me a free ebook (Grey Matter Press) and my stories featuring in 3 print and ebook anthologies (Darker Times). I had only entered one competition before these, and that was before this blog even existed. I am committed to keeping the competition entries flowing as I feel that they are the main way to gauge my progress and, if won, the main way to get my name out more. It was also very nice to be able to hold my work in printed form, something physical to show for the effort. On a larger note, I aim to plan and complete a novel of some kind in the next 12 months.

I joined the Horror Blogger Alliance, which has led to three review requests from people that found my blog and asked me if I fancied reviewing their books/films. 

I was given a Liebster award by Steve Green which was very kind of him. It wasn’t my first but the first one I was able to accept. Paul Dail gave me my first but it came at a time where I couldn’t meet the criteria for accepting it and so it fell from my mind. I appreciated the gesture though.

One low point was that I did sign up to do NaNoWriMo but just couldn’t get started with it. I had a couple of ideas for novels that I wanted to follow and the indecision ended up putting too much pressure on me so I just let it drop.

As usual, I would like to thank my good friend Paul Brewer, who has tirelessly commented on my posts when I'm sure he has had much more interesting things to be getting on with. Thanks as always Paul :).

Thanks to everyone who knows me, reads my stuff and lets me know that I am not writing in a vacuum.

Casey.

Contact Me