It’s over.
After almost five months, I just cannot do it. I’m not going to be able to complete “The List.” It’s just gotten to be too painful.
A couple of days ago, Jason from Unfethered Blather (Not reading it? You should be.) left a comment here that summed up perfectly one of the feelings I have evolved towards in completing my games.
I am trying to either finish all of my games or at least play enough of every game that I can honestly feel like I’ve gotten something out of it.
I went back to my chart and calculated based upon reviews and FAQs how much time out would take me to complete “The List.” It came to roughly two and one half months—straight through. I then figured for the insane normalcy that is my life and it came to almost a year and a month just to finish them. Uh, I think it just became a job. What Jason said should probably be true. In the back of my mind all this time I had been doing a quick assessment of what games I had gotten enough playtime and enjoyment out of. That led to two things:
- I had a lot of games I that I had gotten enough enjoyment from playing. They had to go.
- I am not a responsible gamer. Some games I paid a premium for and not played a whole lot.
The second item is something that I want to focus on over the next couple of weeks. Being a person with a limited budget, how can I be a more responsible gamer. What are some guidelines I can follow so I don’t just blow good, hard-earned money on crap? There’s just too much to choose from in the digital entertainment industry, and it’s probably high time I start being “adult” about it. I’m actually thinking of starting a series called, appropriately enough, “Being A Responsible Gamer.” I’ve certainly thought about it enough over the last five months.
All too often, I think gamers in general, are the worst fad followers in the world. We move from game to game and release to release. Of course, it’s no help that the developers and retail industry make it possible to purchase games before they are released. No, don’t get it on release day. Get the satisfaction that you get it ASAP. Very rarely, if ever, have you known a game not to be available. Most are very easy to find. (Yes, there are some exceptions. I recently tried to find Puzzle Quest for the DS as a birthday gift.)
I would like to address issues of money, time, quantity, morality (yes, there is such a thing), kids, and even quality in the upcoming weeks. Now, it’s just time for a gaming clearance at our household. “The List” will still be around, it’ll just be much smaller.
Good on ya, Nat.
I don’t try to finish games to 100% completion (esp. RPGs and such). I just want to finish the storyline. If I happen to get 100% completion, all the better, but unless a game is very short, I rarely replay a game, at least not right away.
I agree that a lot of gamers are caught up in having to have something on release day. I wonder how much of this need to have the newest thing is due to being part of an online community of gamers where you want to feel like part of the conversation.
My only problem with waiting for games are those titles that come from publishers like Atlus and the like. I’ve had a lot of great experiences with Atlus games but I’ve also had some stinkers. The problem is that they are infamous for doing limited print runs and the last thing I want to do is miss out on a great game because I didn’t snag one of the 3 copies that were available launch day.
I think you need to continue your efforts to convince the game industry to bring game prices down to the range of DVD prices. Given that many games can be bought either used or discounted a few months after release for a fraction of the initial launch day price, why do we gamers keep forking over $60/game when we know we can get it for $30 or less in 6 months time?
I don’t know if you’ve been following my “Best and Worst of” series (Sorry, don’t have a page dedicated to it yet) but you’ll notice quite a few older games on there.
I don’t follow fads. There are some games that are simply not worth the money to me and I refuse to pay it even if it means I don’t play something on release.
At the same time, you’re experiment did inspire me to dive back into my collection. There were simply some games I needed to do more with. I spent the money on them, they’re good games, why am I ignoring them? I don’t want to make it a chore that I finish everything to some degree, but at the same time I have a whole list of games I honestly think I’ll get back to. Not games I’ve finished and am keeping because it was a quality experience worth redoing, but games I maybe put in a few hours and moved onto the next thing.
Maybe we should have a responsible gamer series. Go talk to Corvus over at Man Bytes Blog and make it a Round Table and I’ll even contribute.
My usual strategy is to see if I want something for longer than a week or so.
If I crave something for long enough, I probably actually want it (so I should find room in my budget).
I second Jason O above, let’s talk to Corvus and make this a round table topic!
As a blogger, I always feel at least a little bit of pressure to be playing the latest games, because that’s what people want to read (at least what I perceive it’s what people want to read). I’m glad Nat’s been doing these posts, because I’ve refocused my attention on enjoying the games and feeling less like it’s a chore to finish one so I don’t feel guilty moving on to the next one.