On Missing the Bandwagon

I’ve never been someone to immediately jump onto the next big thing, riding the hype train and all of that. I didn’t even do that when the Plains of Eidolon came out. Mostly because I had to download a huge update and my painfully slow internet connection was being a bitch. Normally, there’s an excuse involved on why I’m not doing popular things. I’m busy with work. Or I’m just late to the party. Or I just don’t care.

Normally, it’s just that I’m busy or distracted by something else. When Plains of Eidolon and Jungle Inferno both hit, I was too distracted with the former to really look in detail at the latter. Of course I did open up TF2, have a poke around their new main menu (which I hate and is an article of its own) but I didn’t jump into details like I did with Plains of Eidolon. Although to be fair, Jungle Inferno is the sort of Team Fortress 2 update we’d get three or four times a year and are now lucky to get once every year and a half, while the Plains of Eidolon is a step in a completely new direction for Warframe.

Not caring though is the big one.

I’m a fickle person. Things need to grab me. If they don’t grab me, then I don’t care. At the same time, I can get stuck on the same old thing for ages. Hence why lately all I talk about is Warframe with a hint of Minecraft. Luckily there’s plenty to talk about when it comes to the former. But I also like to know what I’m talking about. It takes time to actually get into a game and learn enough to write about it. Assuming I can even get into the game in the first place.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a good example. Normally written in all caps, it’s the most played game on Steam. Beating the likes of Dota 2. It’s also an Early Access game, purely PvP and not even that original an idea. I used to play Minecraft Hunger Games, which was basically the same thing without the poisonous clouds, and that was years ago. But the game, despite its popularity (even if it’s currently filled with hackers), simply does not interest me. The same goes for a ton of other big name games, and all the nice Triple A stuff that’s coming out lately.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds also costs €30. I don’t have money to throw around, and I almost certainly don’t get free copies of games. I can’t just buy every brand new hype machine as it comes out. I’d go broke. And I probably wouldn’t even play them even if I did get these games for free.

At the same time, I’m also not a fan of drama. Unless it’s something that’s blatantly wrong or affects a game that regularly gets mentioned here (like a Crimefest of yesteryear in PAYDAY 2), I stay away. Or one of us will mention it as a casual outside observer. I feel that things are less tense and more fair that way. Plus, the last thing I want is to be torn apart by a horde of angry fans who feel I’ve insulted them with my opinions.

The sad problem is that this kinda hurts the Daily SPUF. Aaby and I are only two people. While aabicus is in the optimal timezone to be the first to see these new updates, he’s got a busy, hectic life that he needs to deal with. On the other hand, all the cool things seem to happen at 2-3am, the time at which I am almost always guaranteed to be asleep. So I don’t hear about the next big thing until about 8am, and I don’t have time to write anything about the next big thing until 4pm at the very earliest, assuming I even have the energy to write about a gaming event.

But really, I’ve never been fast enough. even if I was awake at 2am, with everything at the ready, there are also hundreds of other people doing the exact same thing, all desperate to get their content out and get as many views as possible.

I’d much rather have a more thought out article than a rushed one.

Plus, being late to the party means I don’t have to put up with teething problems, bugs and early access nonsense.

Edit: What the fuck, WordPress? November 30th is a valid date.