The Didge Digest 2015 in Review... Part I

Given this is an entire year in review, this will be perhaps my longest entry to date... Taken together, perhaps twice that if not more than the longest one before...

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

As the fireworks roar over the neighbourhood skies while setting the Melbourne skyline alight (about $8 million worth last I heard), the drinks have been going down smooth, and the revellers have went out in full force,  it's pretty much official that 2016 has been given the red carpet treatment. The television has promised that it'll be their biggest NYE celebrations ever, to which I offer a simple counter-point... "Until the next one."

Regardless, it's fair to say that we have kicked past the halfway hump of the decade with a bang. 

From myself and to all my Australian friends, as well as those abroad for the future, I'd like to wish everybody a very safe, prosperous and above all happy new year for 2016. 2015 was a year full of amazing discoveries and terrifying events, both highlighting the callous streaks and beautiful natures of humankind.

Needless to say, I really look forward to what 2016 will bring forth in such areas as science, technology, engineering and medicine, as I was wowed with incredible advances that would never have been possible a century ago, let alone during my childhood. We've grown immensely since the days of the Industrial Revolution, while at the same time we've also seemingly regressed in other areas.

Namely, the fact that we're turning the English language into sloppy seconds thanks to social media, while in other areas, racism, bigotry and straight-up irresponsibility began to rear their ugly heads. Freedom of speech is without a doubt a quality we should all enjoy, but much like alcohol, we get so blind-drunk on that freedom that we're soon spouting complete gibberish and staggering on the sidewalk, spewing vitriol, bullshit and whatever else onto our poor friends, family and the general public. 

In the news, it seemed every other week a mass shooting was happening, while rising threats of Daesh's regime popped up, threatening humanity's peace. Of course, this was disregarding the thousands of worthless fluff pieces reported on over the year. I won't pretend I'm smarter for choosing not to watch traditional news, but I sure as hell feel a lot saner.

Geez... nearly 400 words and I've barely left the introduction. Phew... well, buckle in, because now it's time for the 2015 Year in Review, Didge Digest style!

Before we get started, there seemed to be a general theme running throughout my entire year, and that was being busy. Whether for this site, university studies, gaming, music and movies, social life or whatever else, the amount of dull moments were quite little compared to last year. Or at least, if there were any, they were forgotten about pretty quickly. So, without further ado, or Old English for "Let's cut the bullshit", here was my 2015 in review:

Quick note: This "Part One" is split into DA itself, university and gaming, with the other sections coming in part 2.

DeviantART Dish
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A mere three-and-a-half years ago I first joined this site, and through all that I've seen the webmasters put forth all kinds of changes to bring it to the future; not necessarily good ones either. Aside from the desperate attempts to be more like Facebook and Twitter, which work in their own right for different reasons, perhaps chief among them for me was the doubling of Core Membership prices without any form of prior notice or anything.

Of course, they're more than free to do whatever the hell they want on their site, but was it too much to ask to give us some form of voice or, barring that, any notice? Because the Australian dollar has taken a huge tumble, I'm paying the equivalent of 70 dollars for a year's worth of membership, and given the features currently offered, I just don't think it's worth it.

Hell, with a bit of bargaining power and freedom to shop around, I can purchase full PS4 games for that amount, and I can promise to having a lot more fun doing that than changing my own username (Wha?!) or getting a "coveted" orange star on my profile (Shiny!) Despite the advertisements and reduced search functions, I'm still perfectly capable of using DA; submitting poetry, photography and whatever else, so getting CORE, as of right now, doesn't interest me in the slightest.

Now that I got those gripes out of the way, it's time to talk my DA. Overall, the year was about as successful as the last one, although honestly, that doesn't say too much. I gained a bit north of 5,000 page views and several watchers, but at the end of the day, I'm still slowly climbing one miserable little rock at a time. That being said, my writing really began growing and I stayed somewhat active, despite inactive streaks during university.

17 different poems were drafted, researched and created, and my secondary hobby took a huge leap with over 200 photos being posted, (the majority of which from various comic conventions I attended, more on that later.) In addition to my own writing, I also began fleshing out my "commentiques" for various artworks around the DA universe. I'm prepared to guess about 400 or so were written this year, and if I included the various replies and conversations that I had from several Deviants, I'd bet money I could've written a thesis.

It seemed unfortunate that quite a few of those people never replied, but once again, the general theme here was being busy... It also didn't help that I spent months postponing works at some point, as studies loomed and shit got crazy.

Despite everything though, the fact that the majority of Deviants responded so overwhelmingly to my criticisms really did my heart a world of good. I tried to include the things that legitimately took my interest, and ignore the rest (Seriously, why critique a crappy doodle art when much better choices exist?) and I'm honestly really glad my words meant that much to them.

As an aside to close out this section, let that be something to consider. Constructive, lengthy feedback is something every legit artist not only wants, but NEEDS. Saying "Tis iz gud." or "OMMMGG!!!!!!!1" does not help anyone but the commenter; one pressing for quantity over quality. Aim for something better; even a couple of sentences. Don't be afraid to tell them what you like and don't like, within reason and with civility, of course.

Given it's such a rare resource these days, you better believe they'll thank you for it. Hell, you might keep some permanent watchers and fans as a result.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The University Ultrasound
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With only a matter of months before the culmination of years' worth of study, experience, failure and hard lessons, it's about time I updated everybody on the university life; namely, my feelings on what it's like, what I see myself doing next, and whatever else that comes to mind.

As far as 2015 goes, let it be said that, although I came away from subjects just clawing on for dear life, hoping not to plummet in a chasm of failure, this year's worth of results were quite better than the previous year. No failures and pretty decent grades saw me improve upon my average well past the fail grade, despite those cataclysmic drops; living proof that it's never truly over.

With just one semester until graduation, I've been occasionally thinking about what I'm going to do for myself once the time runs out and I parade around the halls in my fancy hat and cloak. Do I manoeuvre myself into a career, or consider taking on volunteer work first, leaving more time to develop my writing and photography? I'll be 24 by the time I finish, and with no prior work experience, I constantly get the sinking feeling that my prospects were doomed from the start.

That being said, it might also be a call to develop my skill of writing, moving on into poetry books and novels as I age. Travel around more, experience the outside world more often, and other stuff of that nature. Maybe, I'm just not destined to work 9-to-5 for The Man. There's seriously no telling.

Given that it has been such a long-running chapter of my recent life, and perhaps my life summed up, I s'pose it's a good idea, for any prospective year 12 students, mature-age types and whoever else, to give some thoughts on what university was like for me. Basically, to take liberties from Harvey Dent...

"You either leave thinking the world of the place, or stay long enough to witness the festering rotten core within the prestiged walls."

There have been plenty of times they have annoyed me; extreme cuts resulting in my degree being changed (therefore, my slate involuntarily wiped clean), enrolments becoming too rushed, core subjects wiped out, forcing alternatives to be found, and other administrative bullshit that got in the way of a quality education. Perhaps not to mention the sheer lack of resources sometimes for particular subjects.

And I'm pretty sure mine was one of the better experiences.

Still, and I say this in all sincerity, it's worth going to. Given an independence to learn, like-minded students to work with, and genuinely interesting people in classes full of stories, hobbies and quirks to explore, you might find yourself making some truly valuable friends, who are suffering through admin fuckery just as much as you are. Maybe, you and your friends will stumble upon the greatest idea the world has ever known, and that university will provide the resources and support that you need.

And let's not forget to mention, the grounds are perfect for exploring and getting in touch with nature. Could you imagine studying out in the warm sun by a lake or even a river as in some grounds? You can make that imagination a reality. And if it doesn't work out for you, then so be it. It won't be the end of the world.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A Gander into Gaming  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Finally, onto something that's near and dear to my heart (and just about everyone else's, given the $100 billion industry value), and that is gaming. For me, the 2015 year of gaming saw me try out an incredible plethora of interactive imaginings, ranging from the continuously updating labs of Mutilate-a-Doll 2 to the intense wastelands of the Commonwealth in Fallout 4, and just about everything else in between.

2015 was the year my Steam came into full bloom, purchasing a laundry list of games and playing the absolute hell out of them... In fact, if I were to take a sum total of all my play time just on Steam alone, I would've clocked nearly 1,000 hours, or 42 DAYS, worth of gaming, and that's forgetting the various hours ticked away surfing the web for various other titles, specifically my latest addiction into idling games. Seriously, I must've played a dozen of those this year.

Well, guess I'm glad I haven't progressed to pissing in a bottle yet...

Now I'm pretty sure I've already touched upon my experiences in both Terraria and Borderlands, so I'll keep them as brief as possible. Even though it has been months since I last played them, I could still picture myself chipping through ores and fighting monsters, exploring the 2D land as well as Pandora, in equal measure. Hell, Terraria taught me a heap of lessons that I'm sure will benefit me in the years to come.

Namely, that life isn't fair and more often than not, like those monsters, it will kill you spiritually, mentally and physically over and over again. It will overwhelm you, swarm you, give you hell in more ways than one, and yet through the relentless attack, if you play smart, use the environment to your advantage and persist with dogged determination, you will eventually push them over the brink.

You will stand tall, as the ruler of a thriving kingdom, while they rest in unmarked graves, forgotten blips of history.

For those interested, there is a holiday sale going on right now on Steam where you get 66% off that game's price, meaning you could get an EASY 100+ hour game, full of vibrant colours and epic challenges, for the equivalent of a cup of Melbourne coffee. Hurry though, it'll only last till the 5th of January. 

I'm pretty sure I've already touched on Borderlands and its DLC, so I won't go into too much detail here. It was always fun grabbing a rifle or machine gun, heading into Pandora and proceeding to blast the shit out of Bandits, creatures, Hyperion staff and other scum, but of course, like all good things, you tend to move on after a while.

It's been nearly nine months since I played that game, but who knows, I might throw in some hours over the holiday period... No telling really.

I mentioned the PopCap game collection I purchased in a recent entry, so I won't go into it here. As far as web releases went however, there's no denying that several of them caught my attention, meaning hundreds more hours spent checking resources, slaughtering innocent dolls and playing all kinds of different Flash RPGs and upgrade games over the year.

Safe to say that Kongregate (www.kongregate.com/) has become my second Internet home, aside from this one of course.

2015 in PC and console gaming, aside from mine, has seen a huge collection of incredible games pop up both on Steam and the console library. In wait lied a smorgasbord of choices for adventurer, shooter, social and solo types alike, but it had also been a year full of awful practices, shoddy business, catastrophic messes for games and even cynical or half-baked attempts at game creation for the purpose of a quick buck. It's been one doozy of a year, and it promises to get even more ridiculous.

For me though, in among the new releases and PS4 mania, there were a couple of games I experienced that really stood out; playing Fallout 4 and watching my dad adventure with Geralt in The Witcher 3. You better believe I have every intention to saddle up with Roach and slay monsters and help save the world with The Witcher 3, but for right now, Fallout 4 has certainly been keeping me busy and I imagine I'll be playing my Christmas present, WWE 2k16, sometime after.

Once again, I do have plans of writing a Fallout 4 review over the coming months, in addition to the feedback, gallery scrolling and poetry, but for now, I guess I'll sum it up like this... It's certainly a good game, it even borders on great, but it eventually falls out for a number of reasons.

I guess, if nothing else, I'm really looking forward to the journey that'll be 2016's year of gaming. Hopefully, you'll be there with me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And that was Part 1 of the Didge Digest New Year extravaganza! Join me next time when I talk about music and movies, my social life in 2015 and what there is to look forward in 2016. I'd like to thank you guys for reading, and I hope you can stay tuned.