Once again, I find myself in the unenviable position of apologizing for the lack of activity on Token Opinion. To you the reader, especially those who’ve asked, I am sorry. What’s been going on? Well, work, life, the usual. I’ve found it difficult to balance a healthy family with weekly game nights; family comes first for me, so I’m currently only playing every couple of weeks. Adding to that, my job is… Well, we’ll call it stressful, although that doesn’t accurately convey much. But ultimately, some changes in the industry have left me a tad unsettled, which has dampened my optimism for the hobby as a whole. All of this has left me more than a little unmotivated.

Enough excuses!

So, what’s going on with the website?

Holiday Recommendations

I decided to take a break from Holiday Recommendations last year, and that break will likely remain permanent, at least in it’s current form. This primarily happened because it’s become too difficult for me to play enough titles to keep up with the hobby in general. Further, I’ve started to take issue with these kinds of lists on an ideological level, at least in the sense of being curated and released by a single individual. After some consideration, I decided to nix the feature altogether.

That said, the stocking-stuffer-esque “20 Under $20” was a relative hit, so I may try to begin doing something like that once ever couple of years. It will probably look more like an affordable games list, and feature a broadened price range- I was thinking under $40. Ultimately, I’m still working on this, so I don’t know for certain what the end product will look like.

Game of the Year

In place of the retired Holiday Recommendations, starting in the next year or two Token Opinion will begin announcing a Game of the Year. I’m torn between sticking resolutely to a single game, or adding a runner-up or two. Beyond that, I’m still very early in the process of working out what the eligibility rubric will look like, so I don’t have much more to say about it at the moment.

Reviews

Finally, the bad news, at least for some: I’m going to be writing fewer formal reviews. I’ve told a few people about this decision privately and they’ve all been a little alarmed, so I’d like to explain. In brief, I just don’t enjoy dedicating enough time to craft a proper review anymore. Between the game nights lost to review-think rather than just enjoying time with my friends; then the writing, editing, re-writing, and sometimes starting from scratch- it’s mentally exhausting. Once I’m finished, I slap that score on at the end, and it layers a serious sense of finality to the whole endeavor that can’t be undone. Often, I’d prefer to to leave things open ended, giving myself room to return to certain games more than once. Finally, sometimes I’d simply prefer to say less; and more importantly, avoid a codified score.

So, going forward I will be adding the Thoughts heading to the website, and these will take the place of most reviews. Yes, I acknowledge that this is a very bland title. That said, it provides me with no immediate specified direction and therefore a lot more flexibilty in structure and concept. This will allow me to address each title in it’s own way, on it’s own merits. Thoughts articles will also have no final score, and may extend beyond a single article. Eventually Thoughts will account for the lion share of my focused content. All of this said, I will still pen the occasional review, so if you’re interested in those, keep checking in. Both Reviews and Thoughts will be found under the Games category in the menu.

So, that’s about it. I’ve finally completed a review I’ve wanted to finish a while ago, so I’ll be posting that up later this week. It’s unlikely that I’ll turn up my activity level too drastically this year. I’ve got about a half dozen reviews, one editorial, and a top ten in various stages of completion that need to be finished; but not much else in the works. Still, I’m going to do my best to get moving on things, and make 2023 a better year for Token Opinion.

I would really appreciate feedback on some of these changes, particularly Game of the Year.

Best wishes to you all.

And as always, thanks for stopping by!