Bowie Omikron

Arcadian obituaries: Walker

After five years, Arcadian Rhythms has reached the end of its road. It is a wistful moment when something that has been part of your life, however peripherally, comes to an end.

I never got around to writing as many pieces for AR as I meant to. The chief reason was that I rarely felt like I had something interesting to say. My dedication to procrastination played a role, too: I started more projects than I finished. I rarely found the time, energy, and motivation to get them to the point where I felt comfortable having them read by an audience of strangers. Because of my meagre contribution I always felt something of an outsider, and as a consequence, I’m not sure it’s my place to say much about the late Arcadian Rhythms. Once again, I feel like I have nothing to say.

I did appreciate having access to this platform to publish some of my musings on digital games. It might have always been a bit of a niche site, but it was still a step or two up from a personal blog. I also appreciated having Shaun for an editor. His feedback helped clarify my thinking and arguments, and I wrote with more confidence knowing he would smooth out my grammar and awkward phrases. I don’t write professionally—with my output I would starve—so having somebody fill that role for me was a privilege.

Mostly, I think, I liked the idea of Arcadian Rhythms. I liked the variety of articles it published. There were long stretches where I basically didn’t follow games news or discussions, but I always read AR. That diversity of viewpoints and voices also reassured me that when I did manage to write something games related it would more than likely find a place here. I guess I took the site for granted to a degree, expecting it would always be here for me, no matter how much I neglected it at times.

I will miss this site. I always thought I would get around to writing all those articles, one day, but with the demise of AR that looks less likely. Well, it was fun while it lasted, and I will no doubt come view Arcadian Rhythm’s digital corpse now and again. Rest in piece.


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One response to “Arcadian obituaries: Walker”

  1. Guillaume Avatar
    Guillaume

    Little known fact – what ended up being fuel for some of the craziness which got me to dive into my 24h Le Mans log/review the way I did can be found in the second paragraph of your ‘Man cancels life: went insane, part 1’:

    ” (…) Against my better judgement I decided it was finally time for me to play the game, and I decided to do it hardcore. No Lazy Newb Pack, no tilesets and no Dwarf Therapist because, goddammit, a game should be playable without external utilities. ”

    In fact, that entire 7-part story is a solid element that pushed me to do it as a log rather than a “I’ll just play for 24 hours, then say how it felt like and what I think of the game” format. Well, on top of having seen the Top Gear log of the Le Mans that year which also ended up being quite the motivator, but that right there – right here at AR – was something that had a pretty positive effect.

    And while originally meant to be a single piece and not 2 (or 7 [but I think Shaun must have wept at the sight of the clusterfuck of words originally submitted {or cursed under his breath/beard}]), in the end I felt without AR, or you, this piece of mine might have never seen the light of day.

    On a side note, as I go through that Dwarf fortress journey of yours again, I swear I had posted something and a screenshot about my attempt, but I can’t find it anywhere. It wasn’t much… just a lone dwarf dead in a burning forest, but I thought I had posted this. DID I DREAM THAT I DID?! Well that would suck! Anyway, I just realize now that I never commented back proper, that, or WordPress ate my comment.