Chp 823. Blogging frustrations

Today is the last day of June, 2020. Before most of us even realized it, half the year is now over!

Hard to believe, right? Time just... flew past like that. Woooshh.

The worst part for me is, I did nothing productive in these 6 months. At least nothing that I can boast about or be proud of (completing game achievements doesn't count :P ). This is an eye opener for me to turn my life around in the next six months.

The end of June also means that my blogging platform "Blogger" will be moving to a new blogging interface.

Well, today is the last day of June and this has still not been implemented as the default interface, lolz. But I really hope it is not! Because I have tried out the new blogging interface and I hated it. I mean, everything looked cool, from the new "Stats" interface to comments and search operators, but the main feature, that is, the post EDITOR, was super unfriendly to use!

I've been blogging for 16 years now, with over 50 blog posts per year. And in all these 16 years, I always blog by typing whatever I want to write first on an MS Word document, along with all the HTML codes for links and images, and then once I have completed writing and proof-read and am satisfied, I copy-paste the entire text content to the blogger editor (but I make sure I do a "paste as plain text" to remove the MS formatting like div class=“MsoNoSpacing” style=“text-justify:  inter-ideograph” etc).

I mean, you can always type directly on the blogger editor (in fact that's how you're actually supposed to use it), but I'm just more comfortable typing on an MS Word doc first.

For me, I always use MS Word because its kinda like a force of habit, I guess, from the days of using MS Word to type gazillion assignments during my IIM-B days (when I first started blogging) to years of updating my blog from an internet cafe (because home internet connection back then was super expensive and so I had to type everything from an offline home PC first) and finally, my occupations of being a copywriter in an advertising firm and a designer in a gaming agency, where MS Word was still my most frequently used software.

In the new blogger Editor interface (that is supposed to be the default interface from end of June), copy-pasting from an MS Word document didn't work! The HTML commands for links and images that I had typed manually weren't functioning, and when I tried to paste it in the HTML section instead, it converted the HTML commands to plain text! Line breaks were all mixed up too. Arrrrgh, it was super frustrating.

And so I had to revert to the previous interface. To me, this current (old interface) is still one of the best WYSIWYG editors I have come across. And that is why I am praying that the new interface does not become the default interface.

Things like this just make me lose my motivation to blog. Already we know that blogging is a dying past-time, why hammer the last few nails in the coffin?

Another incident that had really frustrated me is that advertisements were starting to appear on my blog posts again! I had deactivated advertisements on my blog a long time ago because I hate the fact that random ads would just appear in the middle of my post. I don't mind having ads at the top or bottom of my post, but not in the freaking middle, spoiling the flow of what I have written.

These ads don't appear on desktop/laptop browser, but you'll see them if you view my recent blog posts from mobile. I even complained about this, showing them proof that my ads setting was turned off, and that there had been no activity on my adsense account, but alas, there seemed to be no solution.

I mean, I wouldn't mind the extra revenue coming in from my blog (especially now that I am unemployed), but I don't want to compromise on money by giving my readers a bad experience. Making money from my blog had never been my intention since I started blogging 16 years ago. And the worst part is, these ads that started appearing on my recent blog posts aren't even from my adsense account! So yeah, I'm still not getting paid for that even if I have no option, lolz.

It is no secret that people don't blog anymore. I mean, look around you, how many friends do you actually have that still blog? I remember the good old days when there were more than 200 active Mizo bloggers, and I found a lot of great friends because of that, many of whom are still one of my closest friends today. But the blogging community is now just a has-been era.

Putting all that into consideration, it is not surprising that Google (owner of blogger platform) no longer prioritizes its blog user-base. Why spend extra resources to sort out someone's advertising issue or editor issue for a platform that has lost its charm, right?

In fact, just recently I found out that many of my old blog links no longer work! When I see my "Facebook memories notification" of a blog link I had shared years ago on my status, clicking that link now leads to a broken link!

So when Google acquired the blogging platform "Blogger" in 2003 and we could use their "blogspot" sub-domain name [example: mizohican [dot] blogspot [dot] com] as our blog link, everything was cool. And then there was a time when blogging reached its pinnacle and a lot of Indians started blogging, and so we were given a new Indian sub-domain ".in" instead of the ".com". And to avoid confusion, using either the ".in" or ".com" link lead back to the same post. However, if you wanted to copy you blog link from the browser address bar, the default sub-domain link generated was the ".in" one.

Now, if I click on any of those old links I had posted before, the ones with ".in" sub-domain name, it leads to a broken link. All blog post links are now back to being just ".com" only. This was probably done to cost-cut on expenses and domain usage, maybe, I don't know.

But the most important question is, did we read about this change anywhere on social media? Did anybody complain about this change of sub-domain name? Nopes. Nothing. That just shows how much of a dying business this is.

Anyway, yeah, I didn't mean to rant so much. I have a lot to say about blog image hosting services too, but I'll stop here for now. Hopefully, the remaining half of 2020 will be better and brighter for us, especially with regards to the ongoing pandemic. And I hope too that these issues with blogging cease to exist too.

Happy Half Yearly greetings to you all, dear friends. Cheers.

Chp 822. 10 Types of Achievements...

...that are really difficult to get.

In my previous post, I wrote about how Steam, the world's largest PC Games distribution platform (around 75% of all PC Gamers) calculates its "Average Game Completion Rate", along with my personal quest to reach at least 50% completion rate before the Steam Summer Sale 2020 starts this coming Thursday (June 25th).

So far, that is going on well.

In this post though, I would like to take you through the 10 types of Game Achievements that I find the toughest to unlock, and the reasons why.

Before I begin, for my non-gaming friends, let me explain that "achievements" are extra features added to a game. Apart from the main mission of a game, you can also unlock various achievement badges for performing certain tasks or reaching certain milestones within that same game. They need not be a part of the main game's "core loop" and are usually optional. It has been proven that achievement badges and trophies have indeed increased the longevity and retention factor of all games by multifold.

Now if you want to compare this with the real world, "achievements" would pretty be the time... you scored your first kiss, or your first break-up, your promotion to senior management, your 1000th bottle of whisky, and so on. In my case, being single for more than three years now is pretty much an achievement unlocked moment :P

There are all sorts of game "achievements" that can be unlocked, from the usual "level completion achievements" in games like "Limbo" and "Hidden Folks", to performing a special combo move in "Mortal Kombat" or crafting a special weapon in "Grim Dawn", the list is endless. Some games have ridiculous achievements, like in "Garry's Mod" there is an achievement called "Yes, I am the real Garry" that you can only get if you stalk the creator of the game Garry on Steam and wait for him to play the game and once he does that, join the same server he's currently in, then only will you get that achievement, lolz.

Yeah, there are a lot of crazy achievements out there.

So without any further delay (because I tend to blabber a LOT whenever I write about gaming) here are the 10 types of achievements that I find it the most difficult to unlock.

#1. Arena Battle Achievements.

Arena Battle games are your typical online PvP games like DOTA2 and Counter-Strike. Some of these games on Steam like CS:GO, Smite, Warframe and even PubG have so many different achievements to unlock that you'll have to play for a very long time to unlock them all, because such games were designed to be replayed many times over. For example, my favourite game in this genre is "Team Fortress 2".

As you can see from my stats above, I have spent a good 555 hours so far playing this game, and I haven't even unlocked 50% of the total achievements in this particular game! That's how extensive the achievements are.

#2. "Ain't Got Time For That" Achievements.

There are some games where you can get "100% achievements" in a couple of minutes, while some other games will take you a few hours, or even days. And then there are games like the classic Age of Empires II. I purchased the HD edition back in 2016, and after more than 100 hours of gameplay, I have unlocked only 12% of the total achievements so far!

I completed the Burmese campaign (I even wrote an extensive guide in this post), and so far, as of today, only 1% of the total AoE players have completed this campaign!

Considering you have to play with every Civilization and win 100+ times each (along with other requirements), some gamers estimated that you'll have to invest tens of thousands of hours to unlock all the achievements, which is something I don't have the time and patience for.

#3. Mandatory Replay Achievements.

In some games, by the time you complete all the main missions, you would have unlocked most of the achievements. There would be a few achievements here and there that you can unlock by replaying some of the quests again. However, in most of the RPG adventure and action games, you will have to play the entire game again, starting from the very beginning while using a different character, so as to unlock the other achievements.

I have faced this issue many times after I have completed the main game. The Borderlands series is one such example.

As you can see from my stats above, I played as "Soldier" class and after 50+ hours of playing, I killed the final boss and completed the game. However, I didn't even unlock half the achievements. To do that, I now have to play the same game again from the beginning as "Berserker" class, "Siren" class or "Hunter" class, and repeat all over again after each completion. Urrrgh.

#4. Mandatory Online Multi-Player Achievements.

In today's age of easy internet connectivity and good speed, you have to be online while playing most games. And that is something I don't mind. What I hate though, are those games that force you to play multi-player co-opt if you want to unlock certain achievements. I'm not talking about those Battle Arena games like DOTA2, TF2, CS:GO, etc., because the very foundation of those games is online multi-player.

I'm talking about RPGs where you must go on a quest with a complete stranger. Worse is when you have to add complete strangers as friends to make it easier to play co-opt together.

"Torchlight II", one of my favourite games because of its similarity to "Diablo", even has achievements based on the number of friends you add! Arrrghhh.

#5. DLC Achievements.

Oh I hate this so much! DLC means "downloadable content", and it is an additional package of a game that will give you extra missions, additional characters, new weapons etc., within the same game. DLC costs extra and you'll have to shell out a couple of $$$ even if you have already bought the main game.

There are many games out there where you can unlock certain achievements ONLY if you purchase and play the DLC. Developers do this as a strategy to make people buy their DLCs, but gamers feel this is a very cheap tactic because they have already spent a lot of money buying the main game. I have many such games in my library with incomplete achievements because of bloody DLCs, and the one example I will give is the "Sniper Elite" series.

I've already completed the above game, I even replayed many missions multiple times to unlock other achievements, but I will never be able to 100% it because I don't own the DLCs. Bummer.

#6. "Too Difficult" Achievements.

These are achievements that are really difficult to unlock. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about this type of achievements, because after all, achievements are supposed to be hard and challenging, or else they lose their sense of achievement. That mental satisfaction and moral accomplishment are no longer there if they are too easy to unlock.

One such example would be the "Metal Slug" series.

It is an old classic arcade shooter game, ported to Steam and other platforms because of its popularity. Completing the game is not very difficult, but there is an achievement that can be unlocked only if you complete the entire game without dying even once. Now that is really tough to unlock, lolz, and I don't think I ever will.

#7. "Too Embarrassed to Play" Achievements.

Hehe, believe me when I tell you this, there are also a lot of weird games out there, games that you don't want your other Steam friends or even your family members to see you playing :D Just out of curiosity, I purchased a few of them (note the curiosity angle), but after a few minutes of playing, I had to make sure I was alone in the room while playing, lolz.

As you can see from above, I have unlocked only one achievement each from "Hunie Pop" and "Panty Party" as I was too embarrassed to play them anymore. "Hunie Pop" is a dating simulator game where you must hone your "wooing" skills to date a couple of virtual chicks. I think I installed this game during the second year of my single bachelorhood :D And "Panty Party" is an action RPG game where you must fly around as a panty and battle other evil panties! :D :D :D

#8. "Specific Time" Achievements.

There are many games out there that require you to play the game at a specific date or month of a year in order to unlock some of its achievements. For example I've just unlocked 24 of the 25 achievements of this puzzle game called "RUSH". The last achievement can be unlocked if I play a series of level that will be available only during December.

"Pictopix" is one of my favourite nonogram puzzle games (I'll write a separate post on that genre), and one of the achievements called "Four Seasons" can be unlocked only if you play one particular level on all four seasons of the year.

The same level even has different solutions for all four seasons!

So yeah, if you're someone like me who don't want to cheat the system by using SAM (Steam Achievement Manager) or manipulating your computer's internal clock, you'll have to wait an entire year to unlock this one achievement :)

And if you think that is insane, then you haven't played this game called "The Stanley's Parable" :D

As you can see above, I have already completed the game, but I'm far from unlocking all the achievements. One of the achievements called "Go Outside" can be unlocked only if you play this game again after five years! During those five years, if you launch the game even by mistake, the clock resets itself and you'll have to wait another five years, lolz.

Totally crazy. :D

#9. "Early Access" Achievements.

An "Early Access" game is one where developers (usually Indie games developers) release a game that is not yet 100% functioning to the public. The money from that purchase is then used to further fund the development of the same game. During "Early Access", gamers report bugs and other issues, while developers listen to feedback and suggestions. Gamers also usually do not give negative reviews caused by bugs if the game is still in "Early Access".

Now some developers reward their "Early Access" customers by giving them an exclusive "Early Access" achievement badges. The problem with this is that, once the game is finalized and in "stable release", then anybody buying that game after that can no longer achieve the "Early Access" achievement, lolz. Some games like AoE have fixed this issue, while this is still there in games like "DiRT Rally".

#10. Buggy Achievements.

Coming to the last point of this post, this is the one type of achievement I HATE THE MOST. I mean, like, literally loathe. And with over 1000+ games in my library, I have quite a lot of these games. These are the games where you do everything that is required to unlock the achievement, but the achievement does not unlock because of bugs. Aaaarrrgghhhhh.

Many developers listen to their customers and fix the so called bug, but there are also many others who simply don't care enough to listen to the complaints. Square Enix is one such developer. One of their games on Steam (ported from mobile) is "Hitman GO", a turn-based puzzle game. In that game, I have completed every criteria required to unlock the achievements, but only 14 of the 26 achievements have unlocked for me, because of bugs. And yes, their discussion forum is filled with people reporting the bugs, but the company just doesn't seem to care.

Fuck them.

And so, these are my 10 types of Game Achievement that are really difficult to unlock. Hope you enjoyed reading the post. Until my next update then, cheers. :)