So i was sitting here and thinking to myself what should i play tonight once i’m back from work and am done with tasks around my home.
And this notion just sprang in my mind that sometimes i just feel sort of ‘forced’ by myself to play this game or that game because of one or another reason. Maybe i bought it full price and now it sits in my backlog, maybe it’s because it’s multiplayer game and i feel like i should make progress because i will be left behind while maybe it was gifted by someone and you feel like you must play it because that’s nice and right thing to do or simply you feel like you should finish what you have started.
Is it just me who tends to burden myself with such nonsense or i’m not alone in this and you guys and gals also tend to do so?
Hmmm. I do understand that some games feel like a chore to play. Like online games that make playing feel habit-forming.
I play games to have fun. If the game is not fun, then I just need to remind myself that I don’t need to keep playing and move onto another one. I used to be a completionist! But with so many games, it is impossible for me to do that anymore.
I actually have a hard time playing old-school JRPGs these past few years. Because even though the story is fun and the gameplay is “ok”, grinding mobs by running in a circle to get xp/levels slows my enjoyment. Sometimes I push through, sometimes I move on. Which is a shame because I feel like I’ll miss out. Rarely, I watch a play-through on youtube of a game I am interested in because they edit out all the tedious bits.
So yea. You’re not alone. Maybe it’s burnout? Playing games while thinking it a burden will distort your experience of the game. There are always movies and youtube to keep you entertained until you feel the urge again.
I feel the same way but not in a frequent basis. Like with changing tastes and whatever you’d inevitably drop something and never touch it again probably.
Hmm. Yes and no. I’m a bit of a completionist when there are achievements and trophies involved (which is why the Nintendo Switch has been my safe haven a lot these days) so I’ll often play games past my point of interest just to mop up all those extra grind things.
Outside of that I also struggle regularly with depression, something I’m going through right now actually, so anhedonia makes gaming in general difficult for me at times and I find nothing can hold my interest more than 5 minutes before I shut it off. In these situations I generally force myself to play something, even if I’m not feeling it, because over time I usually get back into it and it forces me to do something rather than sit around and do nothing like my depression would normally cause me to do. Right now I’m forcing myself to play Persona 5 Royal. I love the game and I’m enjoying it, but emotionally I still don’t feel like playing it lol.
I used to feel required to play something when I bought it new at full price, or when given to me as a gift, but those feelings faded. I generally just play what I feel like.
Oh, one more thing that I sometimes feel forced to do in games is dailies. Whether it’s a mobile game that had daily login bonus, or something like Animal Crossing where there’s certain things that refresh daily or a few times weekly (daily fossil collection, weekly fruit picking, etc) I often force myself to do that too even if I’m not feeling it. I’m loving my time with Animal Crossing right now, but some days thanks to anhedonia I just don’t feel like playing it, but I’ll always boot up my switch and to my ‘daily minimum’ at the very least.
This. Same for a lot of your post too. For this one, I’m not as hyped about Empires & Puzzles any more, but I still feel compelled to play it. I’m 3 levels away from getting to Advanced Buildings - upgrading the Stronghold and I feel like I have to get there - just to see if it’s been worth all the effort that came before… or something? Plus, I like my Alliances peeps. I’d miss them a bit if I quit altogether.
For completionist vibes, I do feel like I should 100% achievement Moebius Empire Rising - it was a gift I wanted really really badly and I loved the first half, but hated the second half and the fact that’s there’s no way there’ll be a much needed sequel. So yeah, that always bothers me some.
With depression, I do have a lot of guilt for not playing certain things. It’s a bit of a ‘fortunate’ thing that I still don’t have a completed new PC yet. Pretty limited to what I can actually run. Many gifts from loving Chronies I’d love to play, but can’t or simply don’t want to right now. Devil May Cry kicks up my adrenaline, every time. If I can play anything on any given day, I’m usually gonna itch to play some flavour of it first. Hm.
Good topic and I share several things you say.
When I start a game I feel a bit compelled to finish it (with or without 100% of achievements) since in the past I started many games and left them abandoned with only 1 hour of play or less. Currently I have the rule that until I finish a game, I can not start a new one to avoid this, except for the games that my friends give me (which I start playing their games as soon as possible), so that they do not feel that I do not value their gifts.
Games like Move or Die, Don’t Starve Together and Battleblock Theater have daily gifts for simply connecting, which I have no problem with, since they do not take more than 10 minutes in total from all three, but still generate that feeling of dependence.
I can agree with some of the sentiments already posted here. Once I start a game, I don’t like to “give up” on it. Sometimes it can get a bit tedious when an otherwise good puzzler overstays its welcome. I don’t think this is super bad though, more of a minor personal issue than a serious one.
What I do think is a serious issue are the games that, as mentioned, create a feeling of continued dependence and sunk cost. This is why I don’t play online multiplayer games anymore. Most of them are specifically designed to give you the feeling that any time not spent playing is time you should be playing. The communities of competitive games also seem to draw in toxic players like magnets.
After playing World of Tanks for awhile, I decided that sort of game just wasn’t for me. I went back to singleplayer games (or primarily single-player games with co-op options, like Borderlands games) and I’m happier for it.
I love completing a game and getting all achievements for it. One of the features I love with steam is that it shows you how many achievements you have, your perfect games and your average completion rate on your profile that you can choose to have displayed.
I use it a “goal” for my profile. I love that playing more than one game can contribute to something, you know?
But it does often cause me to rather pick short, indie games with easy achievements.
I also play games past their fun value just to grab them.
I also get a bit downhearted when there are very difficult achievements/achievements where you have to play the game more than once.
I used to get slightly annoyed at starting a new game with someone if there were achievements because it would lower my average percentage score. But this is getting easier
Damn, my fav series. Never gets old. Always looking forward to play again
I used to be the one what won’t start a new game until I got all the “values” from my current one (achievements, challenges, etc.) But now with a huge backlog, I prefer to prioritize indie games that I can finish within hours or just switch to another game once I have invested hundreds of hours in one.
Though I believe I definitely will try to get 100% for all my games through the journey of my life (if they are not horribly playable like this one )
I tend to sink a ton of time into a couple of games that I play on a regular basis. But I also have a few games that I’ll occasionally come back to and play - like Audiosurf.
The problem I tend to have is just starting a game. It’s one of those, “eh, not feeling it. If I started that one I would need to play for X hours to get past all the starting bits. That one’s 20GB and I don’t feel like downloading it. That one I want to play with people, but they are busy. I’m not looking for something that challenging right now. I would need to relearn the controls.”
Once I start though, I tend to play the heck out of them… until I manage to start playing something else.
Yup , while i have never been big on completing games 100% and never bought any of those easy achievement games on steam ( you know there was a wave few years ago of shovel ware on steam with thousands achievements given for doing nothin’ ) i must say that seeing those sweet achievements pop up always had this pleasant feeling which is nice in theory but line between achievements enhancing the game and making you slave for them has always been thin .
Oh , mobile games are the worst thankfully i never had any interested in them , only playtime they see is when i’m on a plane and cant do anything online. And even then i only play puzzle games with minimal monetization.
I have difficult relationship with multiplayer games as well. Something like 10-15 years ago that was all i’ve played . Mostly competitive FPS games like Counter-Strike or MMO’s like Guild Wars , it worked back then because i had a lot free time on my hands plus i’ve used to play only 1 game at one time , usually for hundreds upon hundreds of hours before switching to something else.
I took a huge break from online gaming 5 or so years ago , mostly because it was becoming a damaging addiction and i had less and less time on my hands.
Though games became super cheap through bundles and stuff so getting my hands on many single player games for pennies became pretty easy . Nowadays i’m sort of 50/50 . I’m delving into multiplayer games from time to time , quitting them if i feel like i’m becoming too dependent on them ( I’m looking at you RS6 ) and keep on playing ones which either have minimal addiction factor ( like Monster Hunter World ) or i feel all right by just getting few matches in and be on my way ( like Day of Infamy which i just started to play ) .
Oh i find it very easy to start a game , i need to constantly keep myself from doing that and just sticking to maybe 3 or 4 ‘active’ games at one time. I had a limitation of space but after my pc rebuild that is gone and it has been harder than ever to not have 15 games installed at the same time
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thankfully i never had any interested in them , only playtime they see is when i’m on a plane and cant do anything online. And even then i only play puzzle games with minimal monetization.