Alister Sneddon's Blog

It's been a while since I've written anything for my blog, so I figured I would do a not so hot take on my daily routine of playing Animal Crossing NH.

I originally pre-ordered the game for day one and have logged on every single day with one exception (forgot to check the bank a few times and had to rebuild the streak.) After a few months and some exciting updates, the game is starting to drag into maintenance mode for me.

I play each morning and do the same thing, I grab the two weeds, keep the paths clear, shake all the trees, dig up the fossils, analyse the fossils, build any I can, sell it all, plant a money tree, put excess bells into the bank.

Every day the same thing.

The wonder of the game has lost its shine. I can chase a five-star island, currently, I am sitting at 4 stars, but I don't know why I would do that. I can also move my villagers around and get the layout I dreamt of, but why would I?

Even having a visitor at the campsite I still have a few villagers I'm not willing to trade away, maybe it's because I like them, or maybe because I don't want to build up the reputations again.

It feels like there was so much magic and unknown when I started, but that has now faded. I don't even check the furniture I get any more, now I sell it just to build up my catalogue of items if I ever want to buy it.

One exception is the stalk market, which I track each day and record the outcomes in Notion, but other than that there isn't much excitement or reason for me to play. Even with the stalks I don't min-max or visit other islands, I check each morning and take note and make small profits.

I'm not sure what major update or change would bring me back into the game at this point, not in the same way as to when I first created my island and it was a bit more of a guided tour. In my mind, Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing NH share a space, I would play them for the same reasons. Stardew I have brought on my PC and my Switch at this point (I resisted buying on my mobile as that would be admitting to a problem) and even that I play rarely, but when I do I'm very attached to what is happening in the world. With Animal Crossing I find I don't care as much any more.

It is starting to feel like an obligation to play and I'm not chasing any end goal anymore. While I love staying up to date with what is happening with the game and keeping up with the subreddit, I don't feel motivated to move my villager across multiple days or finish changing my dirt paths to stone.

I even went through and upgraded every bridge and incline to all be matching stone/brick ones, which gave me some focus for a while. Without time travelling or taking on a big project I'm not sure what I want to achieve or do with the game anymore.

I'm eagerly awaiting more content, I guess to feel like I haven't been wasting 20 minutes each day, or maybe because I want to feel the same excitement from the first few weeks?

I don't think I'll stop playing anytime soon but I'm not sure why. Each day the game erodes a little more joy and the updates give it a flash of life each time, but I fear the depth is missing for me.

A fantastic game and one I recommend, but playing solo and not having a goal or any meaningful progression or flexibility limits its shelf life for me.

Every so often a game will come along that feeds my need to relax and forget about day to day life. I often find these games are the complete opposite of what I would expect. Games will depth but a fantastic surface layer of repetition.

Elite Dangerous is one stuck game which has made its way into my collection (at last!) I've always had a soft spot for sci-fi games set in space, currently Stellaris is holds the crown as my favourite, but it's not generally my go to theme or even genre.

As with most games I end up buying, I watched an hour or so of game play and decided I could sink some time into this. Thankfully, a good friend of mine has been playing the game for a number of years and passed on some good advice. Wait for a discount and buy the horizons DLC at the same time.

I followed his advice and picked up the bundle for £11. After finishing the training (and seeing why the horizons add-on is worth the extra price) I was ready to venture out into the world.

At this point I should explain why I picked up the game and what I was hoping to get out of it. I wanted a slow repeatable exploration and logistics game. When I saw and read through what Elite Dangerous was, one thing stood out. It's hauling cargo in space with lasers. Which, I don't need I need to justify, sounds fantastic.

Any game which I can play on my Xbox controller on my PC and just become immersed in a repeatable, engaging loop is perfect for me. I have a few games which fit this bill not because they are designed that way, it's because I have played and completed them so many times already. It's the ultimate escape, a very simple pattern which is rewarding and a bit of a time sink.

I have my controller in hand, my account ready, training complete (flying is not as easy as I expected but that feels a bit of the charm,) and I was ready to go.

The game feels slow and laboursome, but I mean this in a good way. Every action is deliberate. To land your ship you need get within a set distance, make a docking request, get approved, then fly in following the rules given to (or use the auto-docking if your ship has it.) To land you need to put out your wheels, you need to be pointing a set direction, you need to land in a set space. If you take too long, or mess around, you'll get shot down.

Flying between planets is real time, and the game is a scale model of the Milky Way. Going from one side of a solar system to another will take you 10 minutes in real time, of just flying. It's slow, it's boring, you'll do other stuff while it's happening.

Not to say that is the whole game. There are dogfights, you can transport passengers, you can mine, land on planets, explore new worlds, and so much more. For me, I just want to haul stuff through space and make a profit.

The added danger adds the spice I wanted to the game. This for me is the difference between Euro Truck Sim and the same game but in a spaceship. There is a risk, it's complicated, when it needs your input it requires your attention, other players can be unpredictable, a live market to try and play against, and unknown risks with every jump.

All in all, the game has been a pleasant and welcome surprise for me. I'm enjoying venturing out deeper into space and find my own little trading routes. I don't feel the pressure to be the best trader in the universe, or the most min/maxed ship in the galaxy.

I happily fly along, stick some YouTube on the other monitor, and just enjoy being distracted. Enough danger and unknown to excite me, with a predictable loop that I don't mind grinding.

For right now there is no other way I want to relax, than flying my space ship through the Milky Way enjoying my life as a space trucker.

The original Dark Souls is a masterpiece in my eyes. The phrase "beatify is in the eye of the beholder" has never been so perfect. The game has aged, it has horrible performance, it's unforgiving, and then makes you do it all again.

If you haven't played the original Dark Souls it's an experience I recommend. Dark Souls has an extremely special place in my heart. I often play video games for the escapism aspects, it's downtime where I can feel like I am making progress without the rules and stresses of life.

The reason this game is so special to me, is how the game felt like it was trying to one up me at all times. I never felt like I had an advantage or I was taking an easy way out, it honestly felt like I would do whatever I had to survive. Every advantage felt well-earned and deserved.

Often when it comes to gaming, I want a challenge but not something impossible. To experience a great story and get the sensation of victory. However, Dark Souls doesn't offer such a mode or playthrough.

The game has set the difficulty curve and it's your job to match the challenge they present using the rules you have learnt. There are extra benefits and aid you can get if you need, but ultimately you will repeat that process again. It's often better to master the steps than leave it up to chance or luck.

Dark Souls has a grim story and it is very overwhelming about what has happened to the people of the world and how they struggle now. The golden age of fire is fading, and now we are all falling apart.

The real reason why Dark Souls sticks out in my mind, is because the importance the game had to me when I played it. I was stuck in Australia, I had brought an Xbox and had Skyrim, a friend lent me Dark Souls for the first time and it was very frustrating, but I sank a lot of time into it. After I gave the game back, he found a place that could sell the game cheaply to me.

My time in Australia wasn't that pleasant, and I sank a lot of emotion and distraction into playing and mastering Dark Souls. All the routes, all the attacks, every enemy and what I needed to do. Even to this day I have it drilled into my head some of the routes in the game.

This alone isn't what made it an amazing game for me. The ending was the tipping point for me. The final boss of the game only really has one way to beat it. It takes perfect timing multiple times. Hours and days passed where I was stuck on this final boss. Each day my time in Australia would draw closer to an end, something in that moment I wanted, and I could spend it distracted from my problems by focusing on this hard challenge.

Until the day I did get the timing right.

The boss fell, there was no other phase, no sudden trick, the reward was given, and I was left with a choice. The beauty of the Dark Soul games is the story telling. You are part of an endless cycle. You can choose to carry on the cycle, or not, but no matter your decision the cycle will go on.

After all the effort, all the struggles, it was finished. I choose to break the cycle. The game faded to black, and I was back at the beginning.

That for me was the hardest moment I've faced playing a game. Over 110 hours I had put into mastering the game, making the choice. In the end, it didn't matter. The cycle will go on, with or without you.

At a time in my life where I was avoiding my problems, looking for a distraction so I didn't have to deal with the bigger questions, this hit me like a truck.

I do believe games are a medium which can power so much good in the world, can tell stories in ways we didn't think possible. I hope everyone can find answer to the questions and problems they face in life, no matter where it comes from.

Dark Souls has a special place in my heart, it made me face the problems I didn't want to. I gave me the courage to say that not every decision matter as much as I want it to, or believe it to. I saw my time in Australia was part of a cycle, everything would carry on regardless if I wanted it to or not. With that in mind I changed roles, and made the most of the next six months in Australia, if the cycle has to continue then I want to enjoy every moment of it.

There is no other game that I have put more hours, across more platforms, or brought more times than The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Before Skyrim I had multiple playthroughs and kept coming back to Oblivion, but why has Skyrim gripped me for so many years in ways other RPGs haven't?

Skyrim for me is the game that has stood the test of time, and not only passed, but is still beloved. Out of all the games I uninstall or fall out of love with, Skyrim always has a permanent place no matter where I have lived or what devices I've had access to.

I can still remember when Skyrim first came out, the unknown, the excitement of a new adventure, the new combat, the new graphics, and a massive new world to dive into.

Yet all these years on, I still find comfort in watching content about Skyrim and even jumping into the game myself. You'd think I would be focused on the amazing modding community for keeping the game so fresh, but even now I keep on returning to the base vanilla game.

I have noticed that I don't have all the achievements for Skyrim special edition, so I've set out to remove all the mods and just play through the game with the intention of ticking off the achievements.

It made me realise how much of the main story and main guilds I normally skip when I hop back into the game. A rush overcomes me reminding me when I first started to experience the story, the scale, the impact, and even knowing the outcomes I still eagerly await each step of the journey.

At this point I have completed the game multiple times, at different difficulties, with and without mods, and in different play styles. Why has the game got such a strong grip on me?

For me, I play games to escape reality, to have a break from a busy day to day life. The thrill of being an adventurer. Skyrim is a game where I know the rules, I know how the game world works and what to expect, that makes it comfortable. The systems are interesting but I wouldn't describe them as deep. The characters are flat, but the story is engaging. The quests are predictable, but the journey is vast.

I've heard Skyrim described as a lake. It's very wide but not very deep. I understand that criticism, your actions don't truly have an impact, people don't remember your achievements, and the game is heavily scripted, meaning it's easy for the gaps to show.

Yet, Skyrim is warm soup for me. It fills me up and I keep coming back to it whenever I need to switch off and feel like a hero.

There is something very special about Skyrim, about the story, the gameplayer, even the bugs. It all comes together to make an engaging and memorable experience. I still have memories of other playthroughs, bits of the story I have made different decisions, even characters and their scripted lines.

I wouldn't say I discover something new in each play through, but I do find new things to appreciate and admire. New character reactions, bits of the story I missed before, the contextual clues which litter the landscape.

Why do I think Skyrim stands the test of time? It's the attention to detail, it's the little bits of lore and the funny item placement. It's the untold stories created by the layout.

I don't know if I'll ever revisit Skyrim once Elder Scrolls 6 shows up. I went back to Oblivion and Morrowind once after playing Skyrim and I was happy with the latest version to indulge myself with. I have tried Elder Scrolls online, and found that it was missing the magic that Skyrim and Oblivion gave me.

There are a lot of unknowns about Elder Scrolls 6, but until then I have my warm Skyrim soup to keep me happy on those long nights waiting for the next major instalment.

Today I ran into an interesting situation which reminded me why we set out on this journey to help DIY investors, like myself, research and understand investments.

A new cloud computing ETF has launched, as someone who currently holds a cloud computing ETF I figured it would be interesting to look at the differences.

As the ETF had just launched it doesn't have enough performance data for me to run it through the ranking algorithm, but it shouldn't take me too long to read through the documents, should it?

Rules of Engagement

I'm sure we are all familiar with the KIID, Key Investor Information Document, you have to tick a box saying you have read this before you buy any fund. They have a standard structure and should explain what you are getting yourself in for. The idea being this is an apples to apples comparison.

To make sure it's as similar as possible I picked the USD share class for both funds. Even ETFs have share classes, something to watch out for, it's common to get different currency versions or Income versus Accumulation.

I'll be getting into the detail with two ETFs today, First Trust Cloud Computing UCITS ETF, and WisdomTree Cloud Computing UCITS ETF.

State Your Purpose

First thing I want to check, these are both passive ETFs, so what index are they tracking?

Under the objective and investment policy you can find the two respective indexes being used, it's normally the first point under objective.

We have the "ISE CTA Cloud Computing Index" and the "BVP Nasdaq Emerging Cloud NTR Index" respectively. Both roll off the tongue and give me absolutely no idea what I'm investing into.

I've had to visit the websites for both providers to get the index explanation. Funnily enough both are indexes provided by Nasdaq.

So, what's the difference?

For First Trust an equity must be classified as a Cloud Computing company by the Consumer Technology Association. Again, not sure who those guys are but it seems pretty official, they have some extra rules but nothing too note worthy. For WisdomTree an equity must derive the majority of its revenue from business-oriented software products via a cloud delivery model. Given "the cloud" is just someone's computer that is pretty broad too.

Keep in mind this isn't in the KIID, but fundamentally the two investments have very different rules for what companies make the cut.

The other interesting thing is how these equities are weighted, both indexes are equally weighted. Yet, First Trust doesn't have equal weights. Turns out First Trust modify the index with a scoring system about how "cloud" you really are.

This is odd as the KIID for First Trust says they are attempting to replicate the performance of the index, but really they are completely changing from the index weighting to their own weights.

WisdomTree's KIID is much clearer in this regard, it says it has an equal weighting, and they are open that it's representative sampling. Then again, much clearer doesn't mean it makes sense, representative sampling of an equally weighed index?

Finishing off the tasty bits in the objectives section, both ETFs offer a recommendation. This fund is not suitable for anyone looking at short-term investment. Which is about as helpful a recommendation as telling me what soup the fund managers enjoy. MiFID II has introduced some extra information in this area, a recommended holding period, but good luck getting an EMT document from any fund provider which is up to date or makes sense.

Risk Reward

The biggest and most eye catching part of a KIID, this is what you likely look at whenever you open one of these documents.

They both plan to invest in similar companies, they both have roughly the same objective.

First Trust has a risk rating of 6/7 and WisdomTree a risk rating of 7/7.

Even better, they both give the same reasons for their different scores. High concentration risk into a volatile sector.

WisdomTree mention some extra risks about the fund but it's boiler plate stuff that First Trust have stuck on their website.

We have an ETF that completely changes the weightings, but is trying to match an index, and an ETF that does sampling on an equally weighted index.

This is the joy of the risk and reward section in the KIID, the fund manager can set this based on their own rules and logic.

Charges

Also known as the bit with more clauses than an American mall during December.

Sadly this section really highlights the issues with reporting fund charges, there isn't a clear standard about what to show.

Entry and Exit fee for First Trust is "None" but for WisdomTree it's 3%. I know for a fact, this 3% charge is simply not true. Why is it showing up as 3%?

On WisdomTree's KIID they have a note under the fees that says, this is the charge if you deal directly with the fund, in some cases you pay less.

However, this is an ETF, you don't buy directly, you are trading on the secondary market primarily with the market makers. This 3% is extremely unlikely to ever apply to a retail investor.

It then gets even stranger, the First Trust "None" also has a clause. It says it's none in the secondary market (correct) however anyone dealing with the fund directly can expect a fee of up to 3%.

Both have the absolute same entry and exit fee but display them differently! First Trust have assumed you are a typical retail investor, whereas WisdomTree has a KIID that assumes you trade directly with them. This is an odd decision as WisdomTree doesn't offer UK based investors the opportunity to investor directly through their own channels.

Neither have a performance fee or any interesting clauses around performance, we can skip ahead to the tasty bit, the ongoing charges.

First Trust is 0.60% and WisdomTree is 0.40%.

However, let's read those clauses.

For First Trust if the expenses go above 0.60% the fund manager will have to cover the costs, not the investors. It's also clear that this fee covers all operational costs.

WisdomTree is a bit different, the ongoing costs will vary year on year, and it excludes portfolio transaction costs, meaning these are added separately and not disclosed here. There are more rules around the charges for both of these ETFs but they are hidden away in the prospectus.

Past Performance

Neither have any past performance due to the regulators laws around minimum active trading history before showing a graph. However, the First Trust ETF does have a five year history just not in this share class, and KIID is per share class.

Honey I Shrunk The KIIDs

All in all, the documents weren't as helpful as you would hope. Most of the interesting information was on their website, like the holdings for instance. That showed some very big differences between what kinds of investments they hold and actually explained how the fund picks and allocates the equities.

Going through and trying to make sense of the KIIDs reminded me why we got into making Genuine Impact. Trying to cut through the noise to what matters to you as an investor.

The next version of the app has heaps more information on funds (like these ETFs) and I know the whole team are really excited to share more details with you.

I'm looking forward to the day I don't have to decode the KIIDs!

Now the dust has settled after a problematic launch I feel I can talk about SimCity without being clouded in media/press arguments.

So the first thing you should know about me and SimCity is I pre ordered the game based on the SimCity I played 10ish years ago. There was a lot of noise regarding the always on DRM and the fact the game will not have a single player mode, however I have a good internet connection and don't mind setting my game to private.

I had to choose between ordering the normal version of SimCity or the SimCity Digital Deluxe Edition, I went for the SimCity Digital Deluxe Edition. What really sold me was the fact I would be getting Elizabeth Tower to place in the middle of my city and turn everything into London.

The first problem with the launch was the staggered release. Why for a purely online experience do I have to wait for my country to have a turn? The worst part was the people who brought the game, lied about what country they are in, got the game early and could select their local region to play in. So the whole idea of a staggered release was worthless. That left me with a sour taste but life isn't perfect.

Now as I am in the UK my release day was three days after the USA. Between starting my game and the USA launch the swarm of connection issues started to come to light. When I finally got home after work at 8:30pm I was unable to boot into the game. The start screen updater kept crashing. Sadly there was no help or support so I just had to re-install and keep on trying.

Around 10pm I got my first taste of SimCity. I was unable to boot into the tutorial city which is required before you can play the game as you wish. Due to the game struggling with the connections with my every interaction the experience was painful and unplayable. Around 12pm I finished the tutorial and was no longer experiencing connection issues.

For the next two hours I made my first city.

The city building is always exciting, you never feel cheated if you run out of money/power/water because that is your job. If you fail to make place for a building you brought then that is your problem and poor planning.

My biggest issue was the traffic. It just didn't work how I expected it to. The problems with the motorway that was passing through my city was insane. The traffic down my main street was a 24 hour stand still. I stopped playing for the night when 12 buildings burned down due to the fire department being stuck two buildings away in traffic.

Next day I tried to log back on, sadly the connection issues where back. I moved to a different server only to find my cities are not cross server. Also I had to play the tutorial again. My second city has far more success, sadly the traffic woes kept coming back. After a while your city has an explosion of growth. All of your major buildings start turning into skyscrapers. Suddenly your energy, garbage, water, waste and population become un-manageable.

This is the core fun of the game is the back and forward, trying to survive. It is at this point the game tells you to move to another city. I opted to keep on trucking.

What happened next was what I love and hate about SimCity. My power went out because the traffic was so bad the coal couldn't get to the factory. My population started to drop and my services shut down causing a bigger loss of money. I had to destroy my coal power plant and build a nuclear one. By that point it was too late, my city could no longer sustain itself, I had lost too many people and the taxes/factories where not making as much money.

Before my city went bankrupt I started a new city and then moved back to my original one, from there I moved all services to my new city as well as all my money. Then I went back to my new city. Suddenly everything was sorted, I could never go back to my original city out of fear it was run out of cash any moment. By playing in other cities the problems of my first city were frozen.

SimCity is still riddled with problems but if you want a SimCity game then you can only play a SimCity game. The multiplayer is unusable, the servers are crappy and you can expect them to pester you to buy add-ons. However if you want to play a city building game and suffer some real rage as it tears its self apart, buy SimCity.

Maybe wait till it gets a little cheaper.

70 hours, level 37, countless collectables and tones of side quest later I finished The Witcher Three - Wild Hunt. I've never been so upset and left down by an ending since Fallout Three (do bad things come in threes?)

So what went wrong? What happened?

I first tidied up as many quests as possible before starting the ending sequence. Then suddenly everything felt rushed. The missions were fast and gave you huge amounts of experience very quickly. Yet the story seemed to be closing as many lose ends as possible. When I ended this "end game" state I was told the side missions would wait for me. So any missions that came up I figure I would wait till later.

The final battles of the game were filled with never ending spawns and basically cannon fodder. The final bosses were forced multi stage boss battles, which annoying enough my hits that triggered the next stage would see the boss recover health.

Suddenly the game was over.

Just like that the game ended.

A new mission starts, I hunt down a missing piece of the puzzle and have a final fight. Then Geralt, completely out of character basically breaks down. Monsters swarm around him and it heavily shadows that he died there. Yet all of these monsters I've killed a hundred times each, in bigger packs.

Then the final "this is the end" slide show kicks off, just like Fallout three (you're a mutant get in the chamber and save us all.)

I got the worse ending, ended up alone and doomed all non-humans. Seventy hours I put into that game. Seventy hours for this game to give me the middle finger. You're a terrible father figure, you couldn't commit to one person, and most of all you doomed everyone because you are selfish.

I was told my decisions would matter in this game. Yet all that mattered was what happened when I ended the "end game".

So let break this down. The whole fathering side of things. Turns out all the decisions were binary yes or no answers. The problem is this game isn't Mass Affect. So your lengthy game changing decisions are built from three word prompts. There is one section where saying destroying someone's home because you're in a bad mood was a negative. Telling someone not to go nuclear over nothing was a NEGATIVE. Maybe it was designed to be confusing so you would go back and play it again or maybe get the guide. I looked up the correct answers and they were a push at best. All of the decisions were objective, you could argue them either way. Is it my fault Geralt is a shit negotiator?

So those binary confusing three word answer got me the bad ending. Because I didn't want to ruin the ending but looking it up, I was punished.

Next was the love life side of things. Remember when I said I done all the side quests. I done Triss first and kissed her, at the end however I let her go. Then I done the other love quest and stuck with her. Turns out the choice was not based off who you pushed away or who you was closest too. No it was based off the kiss option. In the game I played the events were so far away from each other and I clearly pushed away any advances from Triss, yet the game had spoken. So because I wanted to finish the side quests before the end of the game I was punished. I wanted to play through to the end and experience the amazing story yet the binary irreversible choices had already been made. Again back to Mass Affect, in that game when you have a love life tangle the game tells you so and give you a chance to correct the course or push both away.

Finally the death of all non-humans. Guess what? There is a quest that comes up during the end game sequence that is required for the good ending. Even better is the quest automatically fails if not completed before the end of the game. So I missed out on a whole section of the story line and was told I neglected everyone. The game told me my side missions will wait, it told me the world would wait. Yet it flat out lied.

Once all was over the game kicked me back, put me back in the world and told me to what point in time the game was rolled back to.

The game started to bug out and lag. I had to restart the game as it became unplayable. Once back in the game I revisited all the locations to have a look at what was going on. No reward, no happiest and all the best main characters were locked away as they only showed up in the end game which was now finished.

I uninstalled The Witcher Three and I don't know when I will go back to it.

The Witcher game play is not my favourite type and the fights where not the strong point of the game for me. With the game over and after getting the big middle finger surprise I had no desire to play it again.

I played an hour of Witcher One, 20 minutes of Witcher Two and seventy hours of Witcher Three.

After such a long commitment to one game it ended up feeling like my time was not respected. Even if I go back to the save before the end game I will never correct the love life decisions due to how the game made its decisions.

Originally, I brought and setup this domain in 2008. Over the years I've update and tweaked the website. With work being more involved and my role changing from a developer to a product manager, I was spending less time keeping on top of my own personal code.

I figured getting an email that my domain host would be dropping support for the old PHP version this blog was written in, that I should upgrade the whole website.

Fresh new SSL certs, latest version of Symfony, even plugging in the Unsplash API, and giving me a change to refresh my AdSense integration too.

I'll have more posts and updates to come soon. First, I need to get the basics setup and in place!

Looking forward to sharing more with you.