Board 8 > There are too many games I want to play and it makes me play none of them.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Does anybody else ever encounter this issue?

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Oh yes, its the permanent state of things for me.

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Yep. All the time to the point where I maybe finish 1-2 games a year. Last game I physically finished was FF7R at release so it's actually gotten a lot worse

I think another huge problem I have is my tendency to fall back into "endless" games, usually sports games. I love them, but there is never any sense of completion and when I'm going through this phase of wanting to play a bunch of things, defaulting to something like FM22 (even though it just released and that's exciting) doesn't provide much in the way of feeling accomplished at the end of the day like something with a set narrative would.


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Literally every day

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Yep

One thing that's helped me this past year is mentally organizing a small list of games I truly want to focus on and then sticking to it. There were so many releases this year and so I sorted them into high priority vs wishlist for later and generally did a good job of sticking with it. Limiting myself to choosing between 3-5 games breaks whatever choice paralysis I have.

Just don't do something stupid like downloading Genshin Impact on a whim while you wait for a big release. Live service games fuck me up.

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I had this issue for a while but finally made a backlog and then honed in on the games that really mattered to me. Making myself feel guilty about all the recent games I got and never played has helped.

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This used to be a serious issue for me but (at least in my experience) if you can just force yourself to start playing anything while also telling yourself it's okay to play other things, the flood gates burst open pretty quick.

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Xiahou Shake posted...

This used to be a serious issue for me but (at least in my experience) if you can just force yourself to start playing anything while also telling yourself it's okay to play other things, the flood gates burst open pretty quick.

Yep. This strategy combined with an organized backlog has done wonders for me.

I used to be a firm one-game-at-a-time guy but now if I'm not binging something that I've just been dying to play and can't get enough of, I have much better luck combining two or three playthroughs so I can tailor stuff to my mood a little better. Add in some good estimates from howlongtobeat so I know exactly what I'm getting into and I find that I'm pretty much always willing to pick up a controller.

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I usually play 2-3 games at once. One more story-driven and/or serious game, and two more casual pick-up and play type games.
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Xiahou Shake posted...

This used to be a serious issue for me but (at least in my experience) if you can just force yourself to start playing anything while also telling yourself it's okay to play other things, the flood gates burst open pretty quick.

Oh yeah this too.

The Action Button discord had an event a few weeks back called "Murder Your Backlog" that I did with some friends. You pick 3 games in your library, play each one for approximately 20 minutes, and based on that write a short review or haiku (these are Tim Rogers fans we're talking about here). Super helpful mental icebreaker that also helps you determine how much you actually want to play a game or not. Gotta have no issue with dropping a game.

I ended up beating a very short game, returning to the second the next day to finish it, and the third...okay the third is still in backlog limbo because it was just on the fence of being interesting or not. But it helped!

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KingButz posted...

I usually play 2-3 games at once. One more story-driven and/or serious game, and two more casual pick-up and play type games.

Same.

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hylianknight3 posted...

Oh yes, its the permanent state of things for me.

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I'm too stuck playing "Endless games" and havent played a good single player game in a while.

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Yeah, but its mostly my own fault for getting so many long ass games. Every now and then I wont play anything, but Im also bad at juggling hobbies

"Look at all of these cool games I own or have on gamepass!!"
-> plays Rocket League for another 100 hours

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I've found it helps to be concurrently going through multiple games on multiple systems, so I can bounce between those games on a whim and I'm way less likely to drop 3 at once as a result.

I have an EO2U on the 3DS expert story mode run I've been working on for a long time that I just reached the final main storyline boss in last night

P4G on Steam I'm on the final day of the entire game

Xenoblade on the Switch I'm steadily working through and am now up to mid-chapter 10

I find having games to bounce between makes the completion rate slower but makes it way more likely I'll actually finish. The last time I blew through a game straight through was Tales of Berseria.

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Yeah it was a pretty big issue with me for awhile, but I'm taking a break for now and hopefully that'll help

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Ha just video games?

Try anything I find interesting.

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it's pretty bad right now with me playing both FF14 and Diablo II Resurrected as my forever games, but also trying to cram in enough 2021 games before GotY hits so I can make a proper list


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Me

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No, I haven't ever had this problem. I've played through over 50 games so far this year...
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Yes, absolutely

worst part is being too busy with work to play anything

then on my day off being too anxious about what I want to do that I end up doing nothing

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Right now I feel like I have brain fog and can't play anything.

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It sounds silly but the thing that helped me was to just sit down and start playing. Like literally just go grab one of your games, put in your console, sit on the couch, and start playing. Forget your mood or what you feel like playing or whatever, just put a game in and see where it goes.

Maybe you'll stop after an hour or two but it helps to get rid of the analysis paralysis. I mean you bought all of these games with the intention to play them all at some point so just go for it!

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it's the decision paralysis

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Decision paralysis paired with depression of well I don't wanna start a game because I will have to play it or I can only play an hour so why bother at all.

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if i'm ever in that situation, i think i just don't actually want to play those games, and that's okay

there are a lot of like... 7.5 or 8/10 games that i think i should want to play, but i never do

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guffguy89 posted...

I'm too stuck playing "Endless games" and havent played a good single player game in a while.

Between Genshin Impact, Hearthstone, and Civilization, I'm honestly amazed I ever touch anything else.

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GTM posted...

it's the decision paralysis

It's the paradox of choices. The more options you have, the harder it becomes to select one. In one survey, when doctors were given a choice between surgery and a drug that would potentially preclude surgery, they'd go for the drug. If given the option between surgery and multiple drug candidates, they'd opt for the surgery.