General Updates – Delfeir vs. the Backlog

Delfeir vs The Backlog General Update (Sept 2022)

Because the least I can do for my website is write stuff for it

Given that I’ve spent much of the year not updating this website, I figured I should rectify that.

Hi! I’m alive!

It’s been another one of those years that — while mercifully not spent in lockdown — has seen very little headway in any of the things I’d like to do or the projects I’ve begun. In addition to a status update on some of those, there’s a few games in particular I’ve played this year that I would like to write about, so I’ll put a spotlight on those in a mini-Backlog Report.

IGN Review of Galactic Civilizations IV

Let’s start off with the major positive news from the year: I got hired by IGN as a freelancer to review a game! If there was any doubt to myself (or others) that I’m not any good at what I do, that helped me dispel it significantly. Paid review work for one of the biggest games media sites on the internet? Regardless of your opinion of the website, that’s a big deal, and I was certainly thrilled. It was a good little opportunity to work with some very skilled, friendly, and communicative editors over there.

The only negatives about the experience were that the game in question (Galactic Civilizations IV) itself was not particularly good, but writing about it was nonetheless interesting. If you’ve not seen it yet, you can read the review over on IGN. I also wrote the script for the video version, which is slightly different and a lot more condensed due to word limits.

There’s more I’d like to write about GalCivs 4 that I didn’t touch on in the review, honestly. But the reason I elected to omit it from the review is that it’s a heavily political deep-dive into some of the systems and writing there, both as a political reading and as a kind of “eureka!” moment on why I always felt the series failed to meet my expectations. I think there’s plenty to say there, but it’s not what IGN is really about or particularly pertinent to the rest of the overall review. Hopefully I’ll get to put it up here at some point.

No New Website, Just New Life to This One

And here’s where I’d mention a Squarespace sponsorship… if I HAD ONE!

Since the last post, I dabbled in trying to get a website going for a new tangential writing project. The intention was to make Vs. The Backlog its own thing rather than just building off this old WordPress blog, with avenues to expand into more than just me. Unfortunately, after screwing around with the tools on Squarespace and trying to get myself a crash course in web design, I ultimately ended up nowhere. There’s a few reasons, but what really sealed it was that there was never a point I could say “This isn’t something I could just do on the old blog.”

Actually tweaking this WordPress after the fact solidified that feeling further. Multiple times I would have to really fight the tools needed to get something to look or feel just right, but here it’s been effortless and intuitive. So why bother compounding stress by adding hassles to the design and writing process? This blog will do for my purposes for now. All I really want at the moment is a platform to write on that people can read, and the rest will unfold from that.

Well, Here We Are Again

Been a while since I dusted off Delfeir vs the Backlog, but this blog is as good a place as any for the time being.

Most people reading this will probably know that I’ve been writing exclusively for the website DualShockers for a bit over a year. I mentioned as much in the Yakuza-flavoured epic that was the previous post here, but that’s at the bottom of 10k words so I don’t begrudge anyone for missing that detail. Originally I had considered adding posts here alongside it, but there wasn’t really anything I intended to write that wouldn’t also work over at DualShockers. So I let this place lapse.

But now I’m back here, so the astute among you should easily put the pieces together: I’m no longer writing for DualShockers. I handed my resignation in on Friday, effective immediately. The full explanation for why could take a while, so I’ll just keep it brief. DualShockers was purchased by a media company, and despite assurances of a relatively hands off trial period while we all get acclimatised, it only took four days before our entire process had been gutted.

Any article that wasn’t chasing trends and analytics while aimed at big views was to be scrapped. Long-form content like reviews and editorials — y’know, the thing I do pretty much exclusively — was dramatically reduced if not outright axed. The writing was on the wall, and I no longer had a place there, so I bowed out. Still, best of luck and all the best to the many writers there who are staying on. I bear none of them any ill will, you guys are great and I enjoyed writing alongside you.