Hooked on Gas Station Simulator: A Surprising Time Sink

I Forgot Where I Was for a Minute

My brother recently started a side gig as a photographer. He set up a Facebook page and began posting his work, and when I saw it, a light bulb went off in my head: he needs a website. And I know a guy who enjoys building websites—me.

So, I asked him if he’d like me to set something up for his new business, and he was cool with it. My initial thought was to use WordPress so he could easily manage the site himself. But two things became very clear, very quickly.

One: WordPress is confusing as hell to just drop into someone’s lap without a tutorial. My brother was completely lost. Even something as simple as creating a new post felt like a chore for someone not used to this stuff.
Two: WordPress is painfully slow.

I threw together a quick two-page design with a homepage and a contact form. It looked fine, but man, it took forever to load. That’s when I realized what needed to be done: I needed to use my own CMS that I’ve been building here at Wisedocks.

I built my CMS with ease of use as a top priority. WordPress has way too many options and hoops to jump through for things like SEO, which can be overwhelming for someone who’s not familiar with it. My system handles most of that on the backend, leaving just the essentials for the user. Labels are clear, and the whole process just makes sense. So, I decided to ditch WordPress and build my brother a better site using my own code.

And then I hit a snag.

Gas Station Simulator

The day after I set up his site, I was casually browsing Steam for games on sale. I’d had Gas Station Simulator on my wishlist for a few years, and this year it was on sale for $12. How could I not? I downloaded it Friday night, and since then, it’s completely consumed me.

To give you an idea, I’ve worked 11-hour days for the past three days—and still somehow managed to log 30 hours in the game. That’s just the base game, too. I downloaded the free Party Time DLC yesterday, but I’ve already maxed out everything else. Now I’m torn between turning it off to finally get started on my brother’s site or buying more DLC.

Video games are one hell of a drug

I actually love getting hooked on a game like this, but I wish the playability was longer. For me, Gas Station Simulator is a one-and-done experience—I’m unlikely to replay it. That’s what’s holding me back from buying the rest of the DLC. Even with the sale, I’d have over $40 invested in a game I’ll probably only play once.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great value. I could probably squeeze 150+ hours out of the game with all the DLC installed. But at the same time, I keep thinking Farming Simulator 25 might be a better investment—especially with mods.

Anyway, I think I’ll finally start working on my brother’s website this week. I’m still debating whether to build it live or on a local server first. Honestly, working live is just so much easier.