A New Year: 2014 Data and 2015 Thoughts

2015 is here!  Happy New Year!

I have been reading a lot of end of year summaries and I decided there is value in being able to look at a post and see a review of the previous year and thoughts on the year to come for myself.  Hopefully others will enjoy it as well.

This Blog

Blog posts total:  66 (not counting this one)
Blog posts in 2014: 28
Blog posts in 2013: 24
Blog posts in 2012: 14 (My first year blogging)

Eventually I'd like to post once a week but I'm fine with just over every other week and I'm glad I made a few more posts this year than last.  It shows that I'm not losing interest.  This is a casual gaming blog and it wouldn't be casual if I was posting every day.

Games Played

As of 12/31/2014, Raptor shows my game time as:

Dungeon Defenders		6.5 hrs
Hearthstone		1 hr
Civilization V	1 day	2 hrs
Mass Effect		2 hrs
Minecraft		1.25 hrs
World of Warcraft	43 days	4 hrs
Cook, Serve, Delicious		2.75 hrs
Dust		1.25 hrs
Total	44 days	19.25 hrs

I didn't record these hours last year, so I don't know what was from 2013.  Not surprisingly, World of Warcraft dominated my time (96% of my time recorded by Raptor).  As you can see I sampled several other games but other than Civilization V and possibly Dungeon Defenders I didn't really get involved in them.

Other games played:
Final Fantasy XIV
Don't Starve Together
Plant's vs Zombies (phone and Kindle)
The Tribez (phone)

I'd estimate I played a few hours each of Final Fantasy XIV and Don't Starve Together (Beta).  I have set up tracking for Don't Starve since I expect to be playing it more with my daughter.  I'm not counting casual games like Sudoku or 2048 (my blog, my rules).

Other 2014 events

Gamersgate was a big event in 2014.  I hope we have confronted the ugly side of gaming and that it didn't just become a chance for many people to talk to those that agree with them and entrench their positions.  If enough people condemn the treatment of women within some games and by many in the game community it will change, even if it won't go away all at once.  Even though I don't play as much as many others, I still consider myself a gamer and that we shouldn't let some people usurp that label with actions I and most others who play games won't accept.

Looking forward to in 2015

I'll be interested to see how long I keep playing Warlords of Draenor.  I have exceeded 630 iLevel so I could raid with my guild, but I'm not sure I want to.

The only new MMO I think I might play is Shroud of the Avatar.  It is possible I will go back and play Star Wars the Old Republic.  I have two characters there and since it's free to play it would be pretty easy to try it out again.

Once my activity in WoW settles down it may be a chance for me to enjoy some single player games or games with my daughters again.  We played Dungeon Defenders and Minecraft some (two of my daughters now play Minecraft, but I've never played it much myself). I have 24 games on my Steam wish list but even though many just went on sale, I didn't think I'd be playing them soon, so I decided to wait.  As of today, the most likely one for me to get is Banished but if I get in a strategy mood and don't want to play Civilization, I might play Age of Wonders 3 once the price goes down to $10 or less.  I played a lot of the first two versions.  I would be surprised if I pay much more than $10 for any single player game (I paid more than that for Don't Starve, but I received two copies, so I still paid less than $10 per copy).

I enjoy gaming and I expect it to remain a part of my life, but I have learned to adapt it to the other things happening around it in my life, rather than the other way around.  Whatever 2015 holds, I am sure it won't be something I expect, but that is one of the pleasures of life.