AzuraCub’s 2019 Recap: My first 6 months as a blogger
Now is the time of the year where we all start making our New Year’s resolutions with our hopes and dreams for the new year that comes. We also take a moment to reflect on the year that has passed. For many the year that has passed was both rewarding and stressful, and for others, life-changing.
Self-reflection is an important aspect for anyone looking to grow and sometimes looking back at some of the struggles throughout the past year can help with defining next year’s resolutions. Even if we say we don’t, we all have little lists of hopes and dreams for the future. You don’t have to write it out for it to be official but you still have them slowly building in your mind. Having these lists helps focus as we step by step get closer to our goals.
For me, starting a blog was never on my list, the thought of it never crossed my mind, and it’s something I still can’t believe I’m doing! Today, especially, with the rise of gaming competitions and streaming on Twitch, a lot of gamers dream of making a career out of gaming. And it’s becoming a viable way to turn into a decent living!! Whether its testing games for big companies or designing a game that ends up breaking the internet, I’m sure there has been a point in every gamers life where they felt they wanted to immerse themselves into the culture and world of video games. And ultimately I’m no different, to me 2020 is the year I turn 26, and it is also the year where I really want to grab hold of the dream of sitting at home testing and reviewing games from companies I love.
2019 was the year that I was encouraged to pursue my dreams, to do what I love, and to be honest trying to follow through on this crazy adventure has been the best part! I now regret ignoring what others told me in the past and I wish I started earlier!! 2019 was the year I took a step in the right direction, the direction to making my dreams for being part of the gaming community come true. A lot of work had to go into deciding what I wanted to write about, the community I wanted to try and build, but deep down I always knew gaming was going to be the main focus. This was the first time I actually got to sit down and really do research on gamers/streamers and learn what was “in” right now.
Growing up gaming was not something that was really encouraged until it was used as a learning tool for me to help with my dyslexia (yes video games helped me read!). Going back 17 years gaming was not something someone encouraged girls to play, it was something that was frowned upon in our town, many of the girls danced, did art or drama. It was really hard for me to openly talk about something so silly as a video game because I worried what others would think of me, it would have definitely been frowned upon back then if I did. Most gamers recall hearing the famous lines of “you need to play outside more” and “you need to do more creative things with your life”. So when I agreed to give blog writing a try I felt both nervous and proud, its something I never thought I would be doing. I finally get to have a creative outlet talking about the games I enjoy playing, the games I held back not talking about, it’s an incredibly nice feeling when you get to do something you love.
For the gaming industry 2019 was a good year, many great games captured fans hearts. I’m sure at least one game came to your mind that you poured hours and hours into whilst you got caught up in the story or gameplay of it. I think it’s definitely easy to say that some of the games released this year have seriously set the bar high for 2020! With incredible games like Control, the Resident Evil 2 Remake and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice breaking sales expectations and growing the fan bases of each game it’s almost been too difficult to decide what game to play and sink your teeth into!!
Surprisingly for me, the game I enjoyed playing the most this year has been Untitled Goose Game. I’ll be releasing a review on this game sometime in the future but my favourite thing about it was how fresh it felt in terms of ‘storytelling’ and gameplay. It was something that worked really well and had a wonderful approach by getting the player to laugh (which I did a lot) and learn through play. We don’t get many games like that lately, a fun, friendly and most importantly easy-to-dip-into game for everyone to play. This is a shining example of how videogames can be used to bring more people together, and that is exactly what the developers did. This is a game I can see my family playing and enjoying themselves and having a laugh. If the video game industry wants to move forward and reach different age groups then I think Untitled Goose Game is a great example of how to achieve that, and it’s something I would love to see other developers try their hand at.
Looking back on the year and all of the content that I wrote, my favorite article for 2019 would have to be the heroes that I looked up to (read it here). When I started playing video games I would have never imagined that it would have such an inspirational effect on me. Nobody, especially me, would have thought that video games would help a child with dyslexia to read. There was a time that I had lost all hope and I used to tell my mom that I would never read again (I was very young at the time probably 9) but through playing games and seeing how amazing and courageous the strong female leads were it helped inspire me to try and do my best and become as great as they were!
I remember the first time I saw Aya Brea from Parasite Eve, she was a rookie cop and considering both my parents were cops I was mesmerized. Here I got to see my dad defeat enemies and save the day not only in real life but ingame as well. 12 years later I got to see another strong female lead in Commander Shepard, I actually played the games many years after the release I was probably about 20 years old when I played the first one. It was an important year, and was also a bit scary. You see I was moving to Cape Town on my own. Travelling across the country with no family, no friends and the constant feeling of dread that I would be 18 hours away from everyone I knew and loved. It was a scary experience for me and although everyone always told me that I was never alone, I felt lonely because I was sitting in my apartment by myself. When I started playing the Mass Effect series I soon saw a brave strong woman, standing up for what she believed in and that is what I wanted to be. If Commander Shepard could save the universe then I could definitely make a success of living and working somewhere new!!
My biggest goal for 2020 is to turn it into the year that I focus more on creating a better gaming community for girls. It’s going to be the year that we get treated equally to the guys! When I started looking into the subject of how cruel some guys could be to girl gamers I was shocked. At first, I thought it couldn’t be true until I started researching it and literally saw girls come forward and sharing their stories. Girls feeling ashamed to say that they are a girl in a game, or that they refuse to tell someone if asked. It’s insane to me that we get limited to what we can or can’t do, or who they can meet or talk to because they can’t really be themselves ingame.
This is something I would like to change somehow, I would like to see more girl gamers enjoy video games not being scared to be who they want to be. I wished I was encouraged more to play video games, our world is changing and technology is getting better by the day. We should be allowed to enjoy video games without getting victimized because of our gender. Although I do need to say that not everyone is toxic and there are some really good people out there that help and support the ideas that gaming is meant for everyone.
Outside of my gaming and blogging goals I also keep promising myself that I will learn a new language. So I’ve decided that this coming year is the year I will do my best to keep that promise!! I might also take the time to maybe improve my drawing skills and continue to doodle here and there :)
So, in conclusion, there’s a lot I want to achieve in the coming year and 2020 is going to be like an unexplored map, never before seen and I look forward to the journey that unfolds before me. What are your resolutions or goals for 2020? Share them in the comments below!!
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