#i started modding skyrim on console and then i was like

[leonsbian]

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[anarcho-karlachism]

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[uesp]

hi! i saw the guide to make sure Skyrim doesnt update, and i have to thank you very much for that!

unfortunately, im running out of space on my pc and have to get uninstall skyrim and all my mods. is there any way to guarantee that, if i ever reinstall, it wont install the lastest version?

i really dont care about having the latest version even months from now, i just wanna make sure ill have an easy time getting mods back when i do reinstall

thanks for any and all help!

I'm not aware if you can prevent a fresh install from being the latest version (my assumption is no, but if anyone knows more please feel free to add on your knowledge), but you can downgrade to any previous version. And here is an older guide I've written on how to do this for Starfield, but the general instructions on how to do this are the same:

How to Revert Updates on Steam

There may be times where you wish to revert an update. For example, there may be mod conflicts from an update, the update may have caused unintended issues for your save, or you may simply wish to experience an earlier version of the game again. Doing so simply requires you to replace the updated files with their earlier version, and disable future updates until you wish to progress to the updated version. However, this will require more work unless you regularly backup your game files. Also, you will likely want to back your game files before you attempt to revert to an earlier version.

It is possible to download the necessary files to downgrade your game version from Steam. First you will need to access the steam console. Using the Run program on Windows and input:

steam://open/console

This will open a normally hidden tab of the Steam browser, the Console tab. At the bottom of the page will be a command line. The general format for the command is:

download_depot [App ID] [Depot ID] [Manifest ID]

For Starfield, the App ID is 1716740, and the Depot ID for the updates is 1716741. The Manifest ID is for the specific patch you wish to download. The Manifest IDs are documented on SteamDB. For example, at time of writing they currently are 4447793252473787578, 8383043874900915235, and 3276175983502685135. If you wanted version 1.7.29, you would input:

download_depot 1716740 1716741 8383043874900915235

If you wanted the files for the initial release, you would input the command:

download_depot 1716740 1716741 4447793252473787578

Once the command is inputted, Steam will download the depot. You will be able to tell it worked by this appearing in the console log after your command (this example being for the initial release of the game):

Downloading depot 1716741 (27 MB) ...

Followed by:

Depot download complete : "[Steam Download Path]Steam\steamapps\content\app_1716740\depot_1716741" (21 files, manifest 4447793252473787578)

Note that the exact location of your download location will change depending on where you installed Steam, but as the log helpfully tells you where that is it should not be hard to find. Go to the folder listed there, and extract its contents to your Starfield install location. Replace all files with the files from the depot, and you will have successfully reverted to a previous version of the game. When you start the game, it will be this earlier version once more.

Keep in mind that reverting to a previous version on a save that was created on a more recent version is likely to cause issues, if it works at all.

[avispatr]

Upon playing several hours of Oblivion Remastered here are my thoughts!

I can say with confidence there is no reason to not care about Skyblivion. Remastered is shallow, it looks great at certain moments but the game play is largely the same. The game was not remade from the ground up and it is far from being a modern triple A game.

Do the wolves look better? Sure. Do they roam around and behave like creatures in the environment? No. Do they interact with other wildlife? No. Do they hunt in packs? No. Are they aware of another wolf being attacked right next to them? No. Every AI in the game exists in its own bubble more or less, shooting an arrow and missing will cause no alarm for enemies, and the towns people are as awkward as ever.

The above shows how in many ways vanilla Skyrim is far superior to Remastered Oblivion. Graphics are far from everything and I have never been more aware of this then now, you'll be excited playing it initially but then about an hour or two in you'll understand this is just normal Oblivion.

Skyblivion on the other hand will be built from the ground up, it will be advanced, new, and connect perfectly with Skyrim's world, and the various mods that exist to enhance beyond anything Bethesda could do.

There is great cause to be excited for Skyblivion still! I would argue nothing has changed in my mind! Oblivion remastered is a great nostalgia trip for console gamers(not worth 50 dollars though)! Personally though it just made me want to start playing Skyrim again!

[fassina]

just saw your dao mention in another ask and i'm wondering if you have a ted talk about why you love it?

i also REALLY loved dao but i recently replayed it and i'm wondering how much of my affection was just nostalgia. some of that is just an aging game of course, but if dao came out today i'd be even crankier about some of the design choices than I am about bg3 (and I have a lot of cranky bg3 thoughts that I don't post haha)

I think I last played in 2021 probably, and that was my 9th playthrough lol.

Is it perfect? No, but to me it stands up really well still. I like CRPGs but with older ones I sometimes struggled with how much you needed to use your imagination and/or how unintuitive the UI was. I will say I first played DAO on console and switching to PC was a revelation, it was so definitely built for hotkeys and mod support! But I loved the voiced companions, the 3D graphics.

I think there have been other less graphically ambitious CRPGs that have also done things I love. The Pillars of Eternity games, for sure. Some of the Owlcat games. But there's something about the character design of the companions, the way the dwarven origins weave into the main narrative, the way the story unfolds in exactly the amount of time it needs to take that I love in Origins. (side note I think people that didn't like it so much really should play as dwarves, and if they don't like it for aesthetic reasons they need to. Grow up. That's my TED talk lmao)

Some of it is nostalgia, for sure. We've come a long way in a lot of areas from 2009. But I think the balance of exploration and linear storytelling is a sweet spot for me, I find endless open world really tiring unless there's excellent environmental storytelling happening (Skyrim and Fallout New Vegas do it very well, a lot of other games including Inquisition don't do it as well for me.) I love the writing on the whole, especially the two dwarf paths which are the highlight of the whole series IMO. You have a lot of narrative freedom with your warden in a way you don't with Hawke or the Inquisitor, and that's got a lot to do with not having a voiced protag. I'm not a voiced protag fan at all, unless you are telling a very tight story. I feel like if you're trying to allow for a really customisable main character it always hinders things. Shepard is that sweet spot for many, but is extremely hard to get right; it basically works because they are set in a very particular position at the start of the game, but their past is very broad brushstrokes, and the v/o is kept very neutral.

I actually am in the minority of loving BG3, lol. It's again not perfect and I do mourn the game we might have had from early access, but they struck a balance between appeal to audience, graphic level, scale and sheer amount of options that I think is insanely impressive technically. I just wish they'd kept a little more of what they wanted to do instead of responding quite so much to fan desires, but then again the game would have appealed to a much smaller audience had they done that.

But to me, BG3 combines gameplay I actually enjoy, characters I actually love, environments I like playing in, and choices that feel really juicy, and that's what I want in a game. And that feels like origins to me.

Origins certainly isn't perfect and there's BIG things I would change (why do the villainous men all have big noses? Why are the skin tones so poor? Why would a human society based on a church led by women with a woman as prophet still be patriarchal and sexist?) but I think it still has some of the more interesting writing of the series balanced with the narrative freedom I like in an RPG like that.

[yampidimp]

How about questiona 1-10? Is that too many?

ohh ok i can try haha, it's gonna be a long post though

platform of choice

I started gaming on pc specifically because I wanted to install mods in guilty gear strive and now I just play everything on pc lol. I dont have money to buy new consoles and shit and it's just way more convenient. favorite console of all time is 3ds though

2. top 5 games of all time

here's what I put for this on backloggd, I could sometimes swap phantom brave and pokemon out for others but top 3 are like cemented in there

3. favorite boss

the final boss of miitopia mainly because [spoilers for nearly 10 year old game] the theme is incredible and the fact you are fighting a god version of whoever you made your sage is so cool

4. best game soundtrack

this one is hard but probably guilty gear strive there's just way too many good ones. if we're not counting vocal tracks and i can't just say "the entire sonic series" then probably miitopia again i really like miitopia lol

5. most memorable gaming moment

honestly cant really think of like one singular one that stands out lol <-answer player with ironically bad memory

6. first game you ever played

a bug's life for ps1 I think my cousins let me try their pokemon games before that but that was the first one I actually owned and played at my own house

7. most recent game you played

most recent NEW one I played was peak (like the game peak but it is indeed peak) and I love it. it's so funny with proximity voice chat

8. most anticipated upcoming game

TOMODACHI LIFE LIVIN THE DREAM BABY i'm so glad it's on switch 1 so i can actually play it as i am not made of money

9. most hours you've put into a single game

i'm getting very close to 2000 hours in xrd and i'm expecting it to eventually be the first game to surpass my actual most hours game which is like 3000-something on acnh

10. game you've replayed the most

not counting games that don't really have an 'end' definitely miitopia. i also replay sonic adventure 2 several times a year. third place is unfortunately probably skyrim lmao

[awesomechocolatesauce]

Astarion: "You know, I didn't care for you when we first met. But I do now. Being with you is about more than lust or manipulating you into a tactical alliance. I love you. I love this. And I want it all."

---

Did I replay this scene over and over to get screenshots? Perhaps.

This scene just... it's so important to me. He takes her to his grave, where his mortal life ended and his slavery began. Then, after he's truly free, he decides he wants to live again, so he carves another year into the tombstone and turns to his love and says "I love you. I want you. I want it all."

He's starting out this "new life" by making love to the person who was by his side since the day they met, even though he threatened her with a dagger to her throat (which is hot, don't come at me). And he's making love to her on top of the place that started his two hundred years of torment, so now he reclaimed it, as well as his bodily autonomy. Symbolic, and also...hot.

Honestly, as a full time console player, mods never really mattered to me. I'm one of those people who plays vanilla Skyrim and Sims and is perfectly content with my limitations...except for this scene. With the free cam mod, it shows him climbing on top of her while hooking her leg with his knee as he lays her down onto her back in a passionate kiss. Hey, Larian, WHY YOU GOTTA HIDE THAT?! Biggest crime! Jail!

I've seen some people say how "weird" it is to have sex on top of his grave, and I'm just like "Uh...why?" Compared to the other things you can do in this game (bear scene, the Emperor scene, Haarlep), this is far more normal. It's not like he's still buried there, or anyone else is, so it's fair game in my eyes. Also, you decided to romance a damn vampire! What exactly did you expect? A feather bed covered in rose petals? Nah, we're doing a graveyard smash!

I plan on posting more screenshots as I play through Act 3 on the intent of actually finishing this damn game, so stay tuned. 💕

[mangosimoothie]

📩 Simblr question of the day: A non-sims simblr question/s! Besides Sims, what other games do you play and what platforms do you like to play on? (PC, Console, Mobile...) What would genre/s do you tend to lean towards? (FPS, Sandbox, Multiplayer, Simulation, etc.) Bonus! If a game has character customization, do you like to make a completely new character everytime or do you like to use the same OC/Sim? Feel free to ramble, especially if you really enjoy a game (❁´◡`❁)

answer in whatever way is most comfortable for you and feel free to share this SQOTD around, make sure to use the hashtag SQOTD and tag me in separate posts ~ 💛

Omg yay my first SQOTD! It is an honor 😌

Right now my go to game is Stardew Valley! I just started my second save (which is why I’m a little inactive here rn 😅 ) Usually I play games on my switch, but I decided to buy it again on steam so I could play on my laptop and use mods and omg best decision ever!! My lil modded character and farm are so cute 🥰 in games with character customization it’s always like, a version of Mango - my Internet/fictional self. I’m Maya and my cat is Zami - in Stardew we’re Mango and Zoomie. When I played as a kajiit in Skyrim I was Za’mijaa. My simself is also named Mango, hence the name of this blog.

My other top games include: Outerwilds, Hades, Ooblets, Undertale, BOTW/TOTK all which I played on my switch. Lately I’ve been really interested in learning about writing for video games. Like, do they have writers rooms? Do they hire out for a script? How does it work?? As a writer who loves games with amazing story, I would love to be involved in the creative/writing side of game development.

[nekrops-shaped]

actually i just wanna make a normal ass human courier OC in Skyrim and put them in situations. there are so many situations to be put in in Skyrim, specially if the LDB is doing their whole dragon-killing civil-warring shebang. specially with a modded Skyrim playthrough/godmode/console commands activated. and the courier can see all the shit going on in a 4th wall breaking way. why did this guy wearing dirty stolen bandit armor stand for several seconds doing nothing when a thousand cheese wheels suddenly spawn out of thin air in front of them. why are they killing dragons with a single punch. wh. why are they running on the air. why does no one react to anything they do- yknow what. none of my business. they don't pay me enough for this. here's your stupid letter from the jarl. no i don't give a shit if you're in the middle of battling a troll. no i don't CARE time stopped the moment i started talking to you. i got places to be. food ain't gonna bring itself to the table. the world is stupid and can fuck off. and hey, they probably won't notice me taking a few cheese wheels in the meantime. it's not like it matters anyways!

[ghoulemic]

henlo, I saw your post about Gore in the tags on here and I just wanted to reach out and nerd out and say that if you feel immensely close to him and inspired by him and feel like hes such a friend shaped dude (all of which im giving a big hard AGREE to because s a m e ;__;) i highly highly recommend Vigilant and his integration into it. I'd have never tried Vigilant on my own, I've never really had a big interest in the DLC quest mods on Nexus usually, but after hearing so many things about his tie in with it that the dev worked so hard on, I made a dragonborn who's father was a vigilant, and its a whole thing and shes now a major OC of mine who is rotting my brain, and I did Vigilant and im gonna warn you now- you are gonna SOB. OUTRIGHT C R Y. Vigilant is going to throat punch you and then Gore is gonna come in with the STEEL CHAIR. It is so freaking good and I cannot recommend it enough; i restarted this OC on a new game to 1: iron out my load order some and 2: to really nail down her lore and I'm just starting Vigilant on this save and I am s o feral at the prospect of living through all of it again; of the emotional journey, the way Gore just,,, completely and utterly just became s o much of a beacon of hope and light and family and chosen blood for me; he was already all of that already to me by the time I did Vigilant but Vigilant made it that much MORE. Vigilant itself is also just an amazing work of art honestly; the amount of lore it digs into, stuff I'd only heard whispers of in TES lore research (I'm a bit of a nerd and i really like learning about the lore of TES, I joke I know more about TES history than real life history sfgksdkg) and it just really is very ambitious and does so much and Gore only adds to the experience in such a unique way that will have you just absolutely ready to start screaming from your rooftop at 2am. I hope you continue to enjoy your Skyrim adventures with the boy by your side and I hope you enjoy Vigilant if you decide to try it out!

God you have no idea how much I WANT TO, but I'm a console player and as far as I know, Vigilant isn't on Xbox as far as I'm aware! That, plus console skyrim having a mod and size limit really makes it impossible to play it, although I've been very tempted to watch someone play through it with him!

Either way, thank you for the recommendation!!!

[tomsawyee]

Every time a Pretty Good RPG comes out, the same brand of post crops up and gets reblogged by Pretty Much Everyone, and it always functionally boils down to:

"See??? People still love single player games!!"

It's pretty easy to see where this take comes from. With the advent of consoles and internet connections that can functionally "always" be online (ymmv, our private internet infrastructure is woefully lacking), AAA has been on a shift away from offline standalone experiences for ~15 years.

What this take ignores, though, is where this shift in what gets greenlit and published comes from.

No amount of "proof" that single player character RPGs still make money is going to change the fact that shitting out Call of Duty every year makes more.

The games audience on Tumblr is heavily skewed toward character games with flexibly approachable RPG mechanics and gamified relationship interactions. This community, large though it may seem from the inside as all fan communities feel, is a microscopic slice of the games market. Every rando who's ever worked in a store that sells consoles can confirm: The vast majority of Xbox One's and PS4's are/were Call of Duty + Fifa and/or Madden Machines. These games are annual releases with minimal change between titles and robust+heavily monetized online features.

Bioware didn't shit out Anthem because the (exhausted, mismanaged) workers there wanted to make Destiny: But Worse. Bethesda didn't shit out Fallout 76 because their devs thought it would be a compelling restructuring of the IP they had already rendered unrecognizable under the survival MMO umbrella. They did it because EA and Zenimax, publicly traded billion dollar parasites, wanted to cash in on the fact that, if you can tap this content well just right, you can convince people to keep paying for your game forever. They did it because we've been modding the shit out of Skyrim for 10 years and they're losing sleep over the fact that we haven't had to keep giving Zenimax (Microsoft, lmao) more money to do so.

The antidote to this problem isn't to cross our fingers and pray that Dragon Age 4 doesn't suck (It's going to) (If it even comes out at all). It's to stop placing our hopes in the hands of enormous publishers, and to do start digging for games that scratch the itches AAA is intentionally missing because they aren't infinite money pits.

The antidote to the frustration of corporatized art-making is the same for every medium: Go looking for the thing that you want. It probably exists, and it is probably being drowned out in the mainstream by multi-million dollar marketing campaigns for Assassin's Creed: We Promise We Don't Abuse Women Anymore Lmao XIII. You don't even have to manually dig through itch.io-- Investing a little more in this hobby we all love can start with something as simple as clicking the "more like this" equivalent tab on whatever online marketplace you use and reading more about a title that doesn't cost $59.99 but still catches your eye. Mainstream indie-adjacent publishers like Devolver and Annapurna Interactive have strong recent track records of enabling small/medium studios to make games that are compelling and fun without the looming specter of infinite monetization and breaking employee's backs to make sure horse balls shrink in the cold.

I really hope you consider this perspective if you feel like BG3 came out of nowhere. It was in Early Access for almost 3 years, but it was largely panned from the mainstream Hype Cycle. Larian self-publishes, and games journalism is by-and-large not journalism but marketing, so this enormous game was incredibly easy to miss if you weren't actively looking for it.

Every tier of this industry has its own foundational rot, its own bad actors, its own entities that we really don't want to give our money to. But I promise, taking a little bit of time to go digging past the AAA buzz of the week will net you a better experience than waiting for megacorps to place something in front of you that is worthy of your time.

[seohostkingcom]

How To Make a Gaming Website in 2025 Strategy, Branding, and Market Positioning

Planning Your Gaming Website — Strategy, Branding, and Market Positioning 

🎯 Why Planning Is the Most Important Step

Before you install WordPress or even register a domain, your success starts with a strategic plan. Too many aspiring gaming website creators jump straight into design or content without first understanding their target audience, competitive landscape, or monetization potential. This part of the guide will walk you through: - Choosing the right niche in the gaming world - Defining a target audience - Setting short-term and long-term goals - Mapping out your branding strategy - Understanding your content model - Analyzing your competitors - Crafting a future-ready business roadmap Let’s dive deep into building a solid foundation for your gaming empire.

🎮 1.1 Choosing Your Gaming Niche: Find Your Zone of Genius

The gaming industry is massive — spanning AAA titles, indie gems, mobile games, retro consoles, VR/AR, eSports, game development, and more. 🔍 Why Niche Down? Trying to serve every gamer is a recipe for failure. Instead, laser-focus on a sub-niche that matches your passion and has viable search traffic. 🎯 Popular Gaming Niches You Can Build Around Niche Type Description Audience Size Monetization Potential eSports News & Tournaments League of Legends, CS:GO, Valorant, Dota 2 Huge Sponsorships, ads, merch Mobile Game Reviews Focused on iOS & Android games Large Affiliate links, YouTube Retro Gaming Archives NES, SNES, Sega classics Medium Collector sales, Patreon Game Development Tutorials Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot Medium Course sales, memberships Let’s Play Blog + Streams Twitch/YouTube embeds, personality-based Large Donations, ads, merch Modding & Custom Content Skyrim, GTA, Minecraft Niche Paid mods, community store VR/AR Gaming Hub Meta Quest, PSVR, AR mobile apps Growing Product reviews, affiliate Tip: Use tools like Google Trends, Ahrefs, and Reddit communities to validate niche popularity.

👥 1.2 Define Your Target Audience Like a Pro Gamer

🔎 Who Are You Creating For? You need to understand your audience on a demographic, psychographic, and behavioral level. ✅ Key Audience Metrics: - Age range (teens, college students, 30+ retro fans) - Location (global or region-specific like EU, USA, SEA) - Gaming platforms (PC, console, mobile, VR) - Engagement level (casual vs hardcore) - Content preference (text, video, community-driven) 🎯 Build Gamer Personas Create at least three gamer personas to tailor your content and tone. Example: Persona 1: Hardcore eSports Enthusiast – “Alex” - Age: 24 - Plays: Valorant, LoL, Overwatch - Spends 20+ hrs/week gaming - Uses Twitch, Reddit, and Discord - Seeks competitive guides, meta analysis Persona 2: Mobile Casual Gamer – “Jess” - Age: 30 - Plays during commute (Candy Crush, Clash of Clans) - Buys in-game items occasionally - Interested in reviews and time-saving tips

🎯 1.3 Set Clear Goals for Your Gaming Website

Treat your site like a serious gaming business, not a hobby. 🧠 SMART Goal Framework - Specific: “I want to gain 1,000 organic visitors per month.” - Measurable: “Increase YouTube subs by 10% monthly.” - Achievable: “Write 2 high-quality guides per week.” - Relevant: “Focus on indie PC games.” - Time-bound: “Monetize via affiliate links within 6 months.” 🎮 Example Goal Scenarios: Goal Strategy KPI Build a gaming news blog Cover daily updates & SEO content 5k organic visits/mo Grow a YouTube Let’s Play channel Link website with embedded playlists 1000+ subs, watch hours Sell digital game assets Build WooCommerce shop $1k/mo revenue

🧠 1.4 Develop a Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

❓ Ask: Why Should Anyone Visit Your Site Over IGN, Kotaku, or Polygon? To stand out, you must differentiate with: - Deeper insights - Humor or edginess - Personal voice - Hyper-niche focus - Higher visual quality (infographics, videos) - Interactive features (forums, rating systems) 💡 Example UVPs: - “The only gaming blog that rates games based on streamer reactions.” - “Your weekly digest of obscure indie horror gems.” - “Retro game walkthroughs that your uncle would love.”

🧱 1.5 Outline Your Gaming Website’s Core Structure

📐 Common Gaming Site Pages and Sections: - 🏠 Homepage — Featured content, latest reviews, call to action - 🕹️ Game Reviews — Categorized by platform or genre - 📰 News & Updates — Industry, patches, developer diaries - 📺 Videos — Let’s Plays, walkthroughs, eSports replays - 🗣️ Forums/Community — bbPress or Discord integration - 🛒 Store — Digital downloads, physical merch - 📩 Newsletter — Opt-ins, lead magnets - 🧑‍💼 About / Contact — Establish trust and connection

🧰 1.6 Tools for Planning and Strategy

Use these tools to supercharge your planning phase: Tool Use Free? Trello / Notion Organize your content calendar ✅ Google Trends Analyze niche interest ✅ Ahrefs / Ubersuggest Keyword & competitor research Limited Canva Design site mockups & logos ✅ AnswerThePublic Get long-tail question ideas Limited Reddit / Discord Validate niche ideas via real gamers ✅

🕵️ 1.7 Deep Competitor Analysis: Know the Enemy

🔍 What You Should Analyze: - Content frequency - Type of content (videos, news, guides) - SEO strategies (keywords, backlinks) - Community size (email list, social followers) - Page speed and UX - Monetization methods 🛠️ Tools to Use: - SimilarWeb – Traffic stats - SEMrush / Ahrefs – Keyword gap analysis - BuiltWith – Tech stack - BuzzSumo – Most shared gaming content - Wayback Machine – History of top sites

🧭 1.8 Create a Long-Term Business Map

Gaming websites aren’t just for fun — they can become 6-figure digital businesses. 💸 Plan for 1–3 Year Growth: Phase Timeframe Focus Launch 1–3 months Content, branding, SEO setup Growth 3–12 months Build traffic, YouTube, mailing list Monetization 12–24 months Ads, affiliate, merch, sponsorships Scaling 2–3 years Hire writers, launch products, create apps

🧠 1.9 Common Mistakes to Avoid in the Planning Stage

- ❌ Choosing a too-broad niche - ❌ Ignoring audience research - ❌ Lack of content schedule or strategy - ❌ Neglecting SEO from the start - ❌ Choosing a brand name similar to others - ❌ Building without monetization plans

🧠 1.10 Bonus: Naming Your Gaming Website

🕹️ Brainstorm Ideas: - Use keywords: “Game,” “XP,” “Nexus,” “Arena,” “Spawn,” “Guild” - Try name generators: Namelix, Panabee - Check for .com or .gg availability - Ensure social handles are available (YouTube, Twitter, Discord) Examples: - GameNexusHQ.com - IndieLoot.gg - PixelLegends.net - StreamSpawn.com

✅ Part 1 Summary: What You’ve Built

You now have: - A clearly defined gaming niche - Target audience personas - Long-term SMART goals - A compelling value proposition - An initial site structure - Tools for research and execution - A strategic roadmap for success

Technical Foundations — Hosting, Domain, WordPress Setup & Advanced Security

Why Tech Infrastructure Can Make or Break Your Gaming Website A gaming website demands speed, uptime, flexibility, and ironclad security — especially if you plan to scale with traffic, stream embeds, forums, or monetized content. This section breaks down: - Choosing the right hosting for a gaming website - Securing the perfect domain name - Installing and optimizing WordPress - Selecting the ideal tech stack (themes, plugins, caching tools) - Hardening your website’s security and speed - Preparing your site for high-concurrency traffic (e.g., during game launches) Let’s start by building your gaming website on a rock-solid foundation with WordPress.

🌐 2.1 Choosing the Best Hosting for a Gaming Website

🚫 Avoid Cheap Shared Hosting Free or $1/month plans won’t cut it. Gaming websites often include: - Video and stream embeds - Real-time forums or Discord integrations - Downloadable files or custom scripts - SEO-rich content requiring fast TTFB (time to first byte) ✅ Key Features to Look For in Hosting: Feature Why It Matters SSD NVMe storage Faster game asset and image loading High RAM/CPU Needed for real-time interactions Free CDN Speeds up global access Staging Environment Safely test theme/plugin updates Auto Backups Crucial in case of site corruption Optimized for WordPress Less setup, faster load speeds 🥇 Recommended Hosts (By SEOHostKing): Host Ideal For Notes SEOHostKing WP Turbo VPS Pro gamers Pre-optimized for gaming content, blazing speeds Kinsta Premium users Google Cloud infrastructure Cloudways (DigitalOcean) Developers SSH access, scalable Hostinger Budget-friendly LiteSpeed Cache included Rocket.net Fastest WordPress CDN Great for media-heavy sites

🌍 2.2 Selecting a Domain Name That Screams "Gaming"

🎮 Domain Brainstorm Checklist: - Easy to type and remember - Game-related keywords: “XP,” “Spawn,” “Noob,” “Pro,” “Loot,” “Arena” - Avoid hyphens or misspellings - Check availability on social platforms - Secure both .com and .gg if possible 🧠 Name Examples: - PixelArena.com - LootNexus.gg - eSportHive.com - IndieBoss.net - SpawnCraft.gg 🔒 Tip: Use SEOHostKing's domain checker to lock your domain + hosting in one go.

🛠️ 2.3 Installing and Optimizing WordPress for Gaming Sites

💡 3 Easy Installation Options: - 1-Click Install (via Host panel like cPanel or SEOHostKing Dashboard) - Manual Install (upload WordPress + config wp-config.php) - WP-CLI (command-line interface for power users) 🔧 Post-Install Essentials: Task Purpose Delete default post/page Clean up starter junk Install SSL certificate Enable HTTPS (free with Let’s Encrypt) Change permalinks to /%postname%/ Better for SEO Set Timezone Align with your target audience Upload Favicon Boosts branding & UX

🎨 2.4 Picking a Theme Built for Gaming Websites

A gaming WordPress site must balance speed, design, and content hierarchy. 🔥 Top Gaming WP Themes (SEO + Performance): Theme Speed Features PixieFreak ✅✅✅ Built for eSports, tournaments Youplay ✅✅ WooCommerce support, Twitch embeds PlayerX ✅✅ Community-focused, retina ready Astra + Elementor ✅✅✅✅ Build from scratch with speed Blocksy ✅✅✅ Lightweight, modern UI ⚙️ Key Theme Features for Gamers: - Dark mode styling - Twitch/YouTube embeds - Game review templates - Blog + News layout - Forums support (bbPress, BuddyPress) - Responsive across devices

🔌 2.5 Must-Have Plugins for a Gaming Website

⚔️ Gaming-Specific Plugins: Plugin Purpose GD Rating System Game reviews with user scores WP RSS Aggregator Import news feeds from gaming blogs WP Discord Post Plus Cross-post articles to Discord Embed Plus for YouTube Custom video embeds BuddyPress Build gamer community profiles myCRED Gamify with points and ranks 🛡️ Security & Performance Plugins: Plugin Function Wordfence Firewall & malware scanner iThemes Security Brute force protection WP Rocket / LiteSpeed Cache Speed optimization UpdraftPlus Auto backups WP Armour Spam block without captchas

⚡ 2.6 Speed Optimization for Gamer-Grade UX

Gaming audiences are impatient — your site must load fast. 💨 Speed Killers: - Massive PNG screenshots - YouTube embeds without lazy load - Unoptimized themes/plugins - Shared hosting CPU limits 🛠️ Optimization Steps: - Use WebP images (smaller size) - Implement lazy loading for all images/videos - Use CDN (Cloudflare, BunnyCDN, RocketCDN) - Use caching plugin (LiteSpeed or WP Rocket) - Minify HTML, CSS, JS - Disable emojis and embeds in functions.php

🔒 2.7 Security Hardening for WordPress Gaming Sites

Gaming sites are juicy targets for hackers — especially if you allow comments, user registration, or forums. 🔐 Critical Security Measures: Layer Action Admin Access Change /wp-admin URL, use 2FA Login Brute Force Limit login attempts Database Change default prefix wp_ Filesystem Disable file editing from dashboard Backups Daily + offsite backups via UpdraftPlus SSL Force HTTPS with redirection rules Firewall Enable Wordfence or Cloudflare WAF

🧪 2.8 Test Your Setup: Launch a Local Dev or Staging Version

Before you go live, build and test your site offline or in a staging environment. Tools to Use: - LocalWP – Best for offline WordPress dev - DevKinsta – Local + staging with Kinsta - SEOHostKing Pro Plans – Built-in staging & rollback - Duplicator Pro – Clone site to test server

📈 2.9 Prepare for Scale: Traffic Surges, Streaming, and Multiplayer Plugins

As your traffic grows, prepare to support: - Real-time chat or livestreams - Downloadable mods or files - User-generated content or leaderboards - Multiple authors or moderators Scaling Tools: - Redis Object Cache - MariaDB or PostgreSQL (for large DBs) - Cloudflare Argo / APO - Amazon S3 for file offloading - Load Balancing with NGINX

✅ Part 2 Summary: You're Now Technically Equipped to Dominate

You’ve now learned how to: - Choose ultra-fast, secure hosting for gaming - Pick a gamer-friendly domain name - Install WordPress the right way - Select performance-optimized themes & plugins - Harden security like a true boss - Optimize for high performance and scale

Building the Ultimate Gaming Website UI/UX — Design, Features & Functionality

🧠 3.1 First Impressions Count: Planning Your Site Structure and Layout

Before you build a gaming empire, you need a strategic layout that delivers on both aesthetic appeal and SEO-friendly structure. 🧩 Basic Page Structure for a Gaming Website: Page/Section Purpose Home Highlight featured games, latest content, stream Games List or showcase games, categories, or genres News/Blog SEO hub for reviews, updates, walkthroughs Streams/Media Embedded Twitch/YouTube live or VOD content Community Forums, Discord, or comment-driven sections About Site mission, authors, game focus Contact Forms, Discord links, support Store (Optional) Game merch, digital products, affiliate items 🎯 Pro Tip: Use breadcrumbs, silo structure, and internal linking to boost SEO.

🎨 3.2 Picking and Customizing a High-Converting Gaming Theme

Your theme sets the mood. It needs to be visually gripping, fast-loading, and easy to navigate. 🕹️ Criteria for a Great Gaming WordPress Theme: - Fast performance (under 2s load) - Dark mode or cyberpunk styles - Built-in game review schema support - Stream or YouTube integration - WooCommerce-ready (for monetization) - Customizable homepage sections 🔥 Top Gaming Themes (Optimized for UX + SEO): Theme Pros Best Use Case PixieFreak Stream, match schedule, tournament support eSports sites PlayerX Visual-focused, Twitch/YT integrations Game reviewers Astra + Spectra Lightweight, custom-built SEO-friendly game blog Youplay Cool effects, WooCommerce support Community/gamer stores Blocksy Super fast, flexible headers/footers Modern, mobile-first gamer sites 🔧 Use theme builders like Elementor, Spectra, or Bricks to fully customize your layout while preserving speed.

📹 3.3 Embedding Live Streams, Videos & Game Media

Modern gaming sites are visual by nature. YouTube reviews, Twitch livestreams, and embedded gameplay clips boost engagement and SEO dwell time. 📺 Stream Integrations: Platform Integration Method Twitch TwitchTV Embed Block, or plugins like "TwitchPress" YouTube Embed Plus Plugin or default block Kick iFrame embed Facebook Gaming JS or iFrame embed tools 🔧 Tips for Stream Integration: - Lazy-load all video embeds for faster loading - Use schema.org/video markup - Add captions, summaries, and timestamps to improve SEO - Use thumbnail previews to encourage clicks - Categorize videos (Walkthroughs, Let’s Plays, Reviews)

✍️ 3.4 Creating Content Types: Reviews, News, Guides, Walkthroughs

A high-traffic gaming website needs content diversity to appeal to Google and gamers alike. 🧾 Key Content Types to Create: Content Purpose SEO Tip Game Reviews Monetizable, traffic-generating Use structured data schema News Updates Real-time gaming world news Publish frequently Walkthroughs Evergreen traffic Include video + text Top 10 Lists Great for SEO and engagement Use FAQ schema Mods & Cheats Traffic magnet for niche games Offer downloads or external links Tournaments/Event Coverage Community-building Add calendar and countdowns 📘 WordPress Custom Post Types (CPTs) allow you to build separate content silos for each content type (e.g., /reviews/game-name).

💬 3.5 Adding Interactive Features: Forums, Comments, Gamification

To turn casual visitors into loyal fans, your site should offer interactive experiences. 🧱 Add These Community-Driven Features: Feature Plugin Recommendation Forums bbPress, wpForo Comments + Upvotes wpDiscuz, Thrive Comments Gamification myCRED, GamiPress Discord Integration WP Discord Post, Simple Discord Widget User Submissions User Submitted Posts plugin Polls/Quizzes WP-Polls, Quiz Cat 🚀 Benefits: - Boosts SEO through user-generated content - Increases time-on-site - Encourages social sharing - Builds niche communities (e.g., RPG players, FPS clans, modders)

🧰 3.6 Building Game Review Features with Structured Data & Ratings

Google LOVES structured data, and game review schema can win you rich snippets. 🧠 Tools for Review Schema: Plugin Features WP Review Pro Star ratings, schema types, user reviews Schema & Structured Data for WP Full schema markup + FAQs GD Rating System Leaderboards + frontend review systems 🧾 Key Fields to Include: - Game Title - Release Date - Platforms - Publisher - Genre - Rating Score - Summary - Pros/Cons - Download/Buy links 🎯 Use Google's Rich Results Test to validate your review pages.

💰 3.7 Monetizing Your Gaming Website

Monetization should be built into your design, not tacked on later. 🎯 Monetization Options: Method Description Affiliate Marketing Link to Steam, Amazon, Epic Games with affiliate tags Ad Revenue Google AdSense, Ezoic, Mediavine Sponsored Reviews Partner with indie game devs or studios Digital Products Sell guides, eBooks, or game mods Merch Store Sell branded t-shirts, mousepads, hoodies Patreon + Memberships Offer exclusive content or private streams 💡 Use Pretty Links to cloak affiliate URLs and track performance.

🧭 3.8 Building Navigation, Search, and UX Flows

A good gaming website must be intuitive — especially with growing content. 🗺️ UX Navigation Must-Haves: - Sticky menu with dropdowns - Search bar with autosuggest - Breadcrumbs for SEO hierarchy - Tags and categories clearly listed - Recent and popular post widgets - Mobile-optimized menus (hamburger icon or slideouts) 📱 70%+ of your gaming traffic will come from mobile. Use Google Mobile-Friendly Test religiously. Read the full article

[maximuswolf]

Any games where you start with end game skills?

Any games where you “start with end game skills?” So I’m bored of starting a brand new game and having to do the most basic tutorial things that take forever because they’re teaching you the mechanics. I get the time is necessary to help newer people, as well as allowing time to build the intro to the plot. First thing that comes to mind is Skyrim, where there are mods to skip the opening sequence and just start near Whiterun, so you don’t have to waste 30-40 mins just running aimlessly around. However, you do have all the trees unlocked to level and can pick what you want.The main question, though, is if there are any games that are just like, START, then, “you’ll figure out the controls and systems on your own just fine,” with little to no guidance.If anyone knows of any from any console/ era, I’m looking! Thanks. Submitted March 05, 2025 at 12:15AM by newtostew2 https://ift.tt/82ws6lT via /r/gaming

[companionwulfsarena]

Press Start to Begin

Hi all. I am Companion Wulf. Many of you may know me from my game dev tutorials on YouTube or the Bakin Athenaeum website.

Topics on this blog will be wide and varied, from games to game development to the world we live in.

I'm creating this blog to reflect our daily struggles (past, present and future). We all fight in life's arena, where sometimes we're victorious and sometimes we're not.

We live in a very dark world (whether we see it or not), so having a beacon of light to pierce that darkness is important.

A Beacon of Light

We'll start with our Daily Word, which includes anything from Bible quotes to humorous memes.

Hopefully these will inspire and invigorate you.

Games & Game Development

Games - and more recently game development - have played an integral part of my life for decades. My very first computer was the Sinclair ZX81 and my very first console was the Sega Master System. I'm really showing my age now, aren't I?

The engine I primarily use is SmileBoom's RPG Developer Bakin, so posts on this subject will likely be progress (screenshots and updates) on my own Bakin game, The Explorer's Guild.

Skyrim Anniversary Edition

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is one of my all-time favourite games. It's hard to believe that it's now 13 years old, but it's still going strong, especially with mods.

I'm remodding Skyrim to bring it into 2024. By updating the graphics to ultra 4K parallax for more realistic aesthetics.

I'm aiming to livestream gameplay to raise funds for our son's after-care expenses not covered by medical.

Rants & Raves

Sometimes I'll post some rants about various topics. These will be things close to my heart. There won't be any political, religious or anything that can be construed as sensitive.

My world view, I think, is different than many people's, shaped from my own experiences and upbringing. Most will be philosophical and philological.

[livingobserver]

Skyrim and Sony and Comcast

I've been a Gamer (electronic games), most of my adult life since 'Pong'. Most of it in my down time. Which is a lot these days. I've watched and enjoyed the evolving immersion in graphics and story lines. Becoming ever more involving. My favorite, so far is Skyrim in it's Special Edition. Especially for the exercise in memory skills. But no matter the how hard Sony seems to try to increase it's consoles performance. It just never seems to be enough to keep a game as expansive as Skyrim from collapsing and crashing to the dreaded blue screen. This may not be entirely Sony's problem since Skyrim was not developed to be compatible with consoles. Only PC's from the start. Also an issue I would note, is Comcast's obsessive need to data collect and intrude into Sony's functionality, in the background, sucking up resources. Something I've always despised 'STEAM' for as well. Microsoft and Google also, as a matter of fact and consequences of data collection. I've learned it is better to play "Offline", but this is of little remedy. Never much liked the troll's online anyway. A game as good as Skyrim and as popular...., should rate a complete do over but the Game Developers, Bethesda Games has completely walked away from it except to continue to profit off of it. With all the Modders who are so very good at modding Skyrim out there. Is there no one willing to take on this challenge? Should a world such as Skyrim simply devolve into the ash pile of so many other games that were otherwise worthy of continued life? Of course this of no REAL importance in life. But it is one of those things that makes you wonder how easy it is to throw away anything of value these days and maybe that..., is important.