Very carefully (Gaming)

by kidtsunami , Atlanta, GA, Monday, April 11, 2016, 11:47 (3152 days ago) @ cheapLEY

Towards the later part of last year, I finally started paying attention to Giant Bomb, watching their Quick Looks, listening to the podcasts, etc, enough that I actually upgraded to their premium subscription for more videos (I love watching Unprofessional Fridays!).

Apart from just being entertained, it has flooded my life with video games that look extremely cool and fun (I'm currently watching their Enter the Gungeon Quick Look, and it looks fantastic!). Combined with getting a Surface Pro 4, which can actually handle most games at least acceptably, and the problem is even worse! Obviously a large part of the job Giant Bomb does is playing games--most normal people will never play as many games as they do.

I think Enter the Gungeon looks extremely fun (and it's certainly cheap enough at $15). A few Steams sales means I have a decent games backlog. I just bought Dirt Rally. Dark Souls 3 comes out tomorrow night. I still have an unfinished Uncharted Collection and Bloodborne. I actually really want to play some more Destiny on the PS4. Etc, etc, etc. Having so many games currently in my catalog makes it seems stupid to buy new stuff so often, to the point that it almost makes me feel guilty. I passed on Hyper Light Drifter (although a large part of that is just deciding to wait until it hits PS4), and I'll be passing on Enter the Gungeon for now.

There's so many great games being released all the time now, and it feels like I have to miss out on some of them, and that sucks.

All of that is sort of a meandering way to ask: how do you consume games? Do you pass on games that look really fun, just on the basis of not having time? Do you feel bad about buying a game and then not finishing it before moving on? How do you reconcile spending so much time playing one game (Destiny) at perhaps the neglect of other cool games?

I actually keep a backlog on Asana where I manage my work/personal task lists. I keep an eye on the games I'm playing socially (Rocket League, Destiny, The Division, and Halo 5) and most importantly keep track of which games I specifically want to play (even down to creating sub-tasks for what I do in them).

This way I'm always making progress on trying out/finishing all the games I intend on while avoiding choice paralysis.

It also helps to do what Cody mentioned, raise your standards. If you're ever playing a game that you're not enjoying, check it right off and move on.