Do you have to talk yourself into playing games?

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zabyyzab

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#1  Edited By zabyyzab

I know it's a bit ironic, considering I'm posting such a thought in a Giant Bomb forum, a major video game website. BUT, I do find myself having this inner conflict more times then I'd like to admit. I probably buy about 5 games a month between me and my girl, and I'd be lucky to have beaten ONE. Mind you, I do work full time, but I am sure many of you work just as much as I do.

I'll give you an example, I bought Guacamelee the day it released, played for about 3 hours, haven't touched it since. Same goes for Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon. I don't know if I'm doing a bit of growing up (21 living on my own) and realizing some time could be better spent doing more productive things. BUT productive to me IS playing a video game. An experience. A story. It is ten times more interesting going into these worlds then anything else I could think of. So why do I hesitate when I pick up a controller?.. I don't know if I have the answer. I was wondering if anyone here went through that similiar experience or might provide me some insight.

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Justin258

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There needs to be a pamphlet that comes with every graphics card and game system that says something along the lines of "If you have disposable income, you probably won't have time to play every game that you buy!"

Actually, I don't have to talk myself into playing games. Most of the time, I have to talk myself into doing my schoolwork or whatever I'm supposed to be doing.

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zabyyzab

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That is very true. I actually never thought of that. If I work so much I have enough money to buy games, I probably won't be able to play them all. I guess I should just suck it up, take a shot and get less sleep hahahah

There needs to be a pamphlet that comes with every graphics card and game system that says something along the lines of "If you have disposable income, you probably won't have time to play every game that you buy!"

Actually, I don't have to talk myself into playing games. Most of the time, I have to talk myself into doing my schoolwork or whatever I'm supposed to be doing.

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TobbRobb

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#4  Edited By TobbRobb

Oh yeah, I totally get stuck in my thoughts and wont play games or watch shows or read books I want to play/watch/read. I'm not sure what the reason is. I just consider it as my mood. Not in the mood to do stuff I wanna do? Surf the internet instead!

It would be nice to be able to just pick things up at any moment and get into it though. It would make me feel considerably less restless.

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Klaimore

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#5  Edited By Klaimore

I have a similar issue right now I really want to play Souls Sacrafice and Dragons Dogma but meh...I just play Dota 2.

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BeachThunder

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#6  Edited By BeachThunder

Sometimes. Mainly this happens with games that require a lot of skill/time/emotional investment; a good example (of emotional investment) is horror games.

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Levio

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#7  Edited By Levio

I have to talk myself into finishing games. The beginning and ending of games are always the parts I enjoy most (by a huge margin), and I often dread slogging through the middle parts just to see the ending.

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mandude

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I'm much the same. I always enjoy it once I've picked it up and I'm playing it, though. Sometimes, it's that I'm not in the right environment to immerse myself in it properly and I'll put it off until I am, but a lot of the time, it's that I feel bad for not having done anything productive.

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Mrsignerman44

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Sometimes, it mostly depends on how I feel.

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ShaggE

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#10  Edited By ShaggE

Yup. I really need to stop buying games for a while and finish what I have. Thankfully the summer drought is coming up, so I just need to keep myself from buying games for the sake of buying games.

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natedawg_kz

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I know what you mean, when l get home from college l'm just absolutely knackered and end up spending too many hours playing sports games because there basic.

I think it's because the amount of energy drinks l have and the lack of exercise just makes me feel drowsy if that makes sense.

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Pezen

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Not entirely, but sometimes I have to force myself to start a game I know I want to play. Instead of being lazy and just play CoD multiplayer because that disc is already in there.

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myniceicelife

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#13  Edited By myniceicelife

Weekdays I don't really play games at all, between my new job and the 2.5 hour round trip takes out most of my day. Weekends I play games at times, but I haven't really played many games to finish even before I got my new job (was unemployed for 15 months so plenty of free time). Buying a game is easy, spending the time to play it is sometimes harder even though I don't do anything else. Some games are easier than others to get into (bioshock infinite) and i have been getting into tomb raider on the weekends. I wouldn't say I have to talk myself into it, I just have to, for a lack of any other way of putting it, be in the mood.

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awesomeusername

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#14  Edited By awesomeusername

Most of the time, I have to talk myself into doing my schoolwork or whatever I'm supposed to be doing.

@tobbrobb said:

Oh yeah, I totally get stuck in my thoughts and wont play games or watch shows or read books I want to play/watch/read. I'm not sure what the reason is. I just consider it as my mood. Not in the mood to do stuff I wanna do? Surf the internet instead!

These about sum me up.

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zFUBARz

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I'm the same way, I wonder sometimes if it means i'm just getting sick of games but I doubt it, I still love a good story or a good experience. It's more a general malaise and lack of commitment to any one thing. I've been reading more lately. I think in my case it's trying to get away from the constant input of things, I've usually got several things going even when i'm doing nothing. I'll be playing a game, watching something, listening to a podcasts, etc. games just end up being another distraction.

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living4theday258

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i have to force myself to play games that start to drag themselves out.

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EarthBowl

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#17  Edited By EarthBowl

I'm currently doing that with Luigis Mansion 2. I want to dedicate a large portion of a day to play it, but I never commit to that time dedication.

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tonyp2121

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#18  Edited By tonyp2121

@tobbrobb said:

Oh yeah, I totally get stuck in my thoughts and wont play games or watch shows or read books I want to play/watch/read. I'm not sure what the reason is. I just consider it as my mood. Not in the mood to do stuff I wanna do? Surf the internet instead!

This is me exactly. Its hard to sit down and play games, and honestly it seems these days I vastly prefer reading news about video games, or watching people play games on YouTube, rather than playing them myself.

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eskimo

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#19  Edited By eskimo

Yeah, I suspect I like the aspiration of games, and the buying of that aspiration, much more than I actually like playing the games themselves. Just chasing after the joys of my youth I guess....

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breadfan

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#20  Edited By breadfan

For the past few months it seems that way. I don't know if I am just losing interest in games, but I'll load up Steam or turn on my Xbox with the intention of playing a game and then just end up looking for a game to play, then give up and do something else. It takes really unique games to get me to invest a lot of time into one game. Crusader Kings 2 was the last game to do that, but that was months ago and I can't seem to get back into that.. FEZ recently has had me super excited with games again, but after I 'beat' it and went onto new game plus I feel like the game 'magic' hits me less and less.

It's kind of a bummer.

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TheManWithNoPlan

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#21  Edited By TheManWithNoPlan

I mainly play games off of impulse, otherwise I would never play anything. Given that I have actual Ocd, I have the strong compulsion to finish every game I play. It's a hell of a lot easier to talk myself out of playing games with huge time investments. It's a huge problem when clusterfucks like fall 2011 happen and there's a dozen really awesome releases within the span of a couple of months. Thank God for the lull right now so i can finish my backlog.

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RenegadeSaint

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#22  Edited By RenegadeSaint

This is a very real problem for me. I work a ton and my work comes home with me, so there's always something better I should be doing with my time. I really have to get psyched up to play or have a friend nudge me. I love video games and this makes me quite sad.

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Hunter5024

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#23  Edited By Hunter5024

I can tell a game is great if it's in the back of my mind whenever I'm not playing it, and for games like that I basically have to force myself not to play it. On the other hand though there are games I have to talk myself into playing, maybe because I'm not in the mood for the type of game it is, because there are other things I'd rather be doing, or its just not very good.

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Slag

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@zabyyzab: yeah man I totally get it.

Sadly the only real answer I have found for it is to buy less games. Oddly That really helps.

When you buy a ton of games that you realistically can never have enough time to play, it ends creates this sense of failure and pressure that takes the fun out of it. It turns it into work. Steam sales is the worst for this. Now that I strictly limit to buying games very infrequently. and only games I want the most and only after I burned though most of what I've already bought the last time. I find enjoy games so much more than I have in years.

Makes it much less stressfull and fun again you know? It's a lot easier to mess around carefree in a game for extra hours if I know I donn't have anything else to play sitting around.

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Oscar__Explosion

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#25  Edited By Oscar__Explosion

I used to buy tons of games to the point of my back catalog was in the upper 30's on a bunch of different platforms. I just learned to stop buying so many damn games and play/finish the ones I own.

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donkeycow

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Now that it is summer break i've been having an easier time playing games. But during the school year, even when i don't have work to do i feel like i'm wasting my time playing games. Recently though i've jumped into EVE online and am having a blast. I do still have an issue finishing games though, I start many and finish few.

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emem

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Sometimes.

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Winternet

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Kinda. But that goes with pretty much everything else in life. I'm a lazy person.

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ajamafalous

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#29  Edited By ajamafalous

Yes, literally all the time. I'm too busy to be able to invest long stretches into games like I'd want to, so most 'normal'/'conventional' games that I buy never even get played. Instead of starting a new game, I usually just continue playing a multiplayer game (Dota, etc.) instead.

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Danteveli

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#30  Edited By Danteveli

I have to say yes. I don't really have much time to play my games and often when I go back from work/all the other activities I'm too tired and have to fight with myself to play games and not just watch tv or do something else thats less engaging.

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JouselDelka

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#31  Edited By JouselDelka

@tobbrobb said:

Oh yeah, I totally get stuck in my thoughts and wont play games or watch shows or read books I want to play/watch/read. I'm not sure what the reason is. I just consider it as my mood. Not in the mood to do stuff I wanna do? Surf the internet instead!

It would be nice to be able to just pick things up at any moment and get into it though. It would make me feel considerably less restless.

Same...here man....... COME HERE AND LET ME HUG YOU *warm melancholic no-homo hug*

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Orbitz

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I sometimes have that problem with video games.. Mostly movies though, it seems to be a real struggle for me to get into the mindset of watching a whole 2 hour movie in one sitting.. and if I have to pause the movie to do other stuff by the time I come back I have no interest in finishing the movie. My brother thinks it's really weird how I can just pick a random game in my free time and play it, but when it comes to sitting still for a movie I'm really hesitant.

Maybe it is weird.. lol.

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Nodima

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#33  Edited By Nodima

Yes, I'm a music critic which means that I spend a considerable amount of time listening to music (whether I like it or not, like this new LL Cool J album) and having to think critically about it. Games are long, and they are loud, which is why I generally stick to NBA 2K and similar sorts of games I can play silently. Taking the plunge into something like Bioshock Infinite, or Sleeping Dogs now that I have it for free, is always a real calculated risk.

thee WORST though is when I really feel like I want to play something or I have nothing on my plate at the moment, so I boot up my PS3, scroll through the games folder and see nothing that intrigues me, then I go to Netflix and see nothing that intrigues me, and then I just power the system back down. And I might do that two or three times in an evening.

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joshwent

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I think a lot of this has to do with the propensity for games to try and be as long as possible because that's still considered a factor of quality. It's something that Jeff has talked about before, that he tries not to discuss game length in reviews (as I think they were supposed to back in the gamespot days) because folks will be put off if they think a specific game should be longer.

It has to do with the price of "big" games, too. If you're shelling out $60 for a 5 hour experience, it starts to become hard to justify. But I play games mostly for a good story, so if that story can be told in 5 hours, then I'm actually more apt to play it than something that's boasting "50+ hours of fun!", which I would have to talk myself into.

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JouselDelka

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@nodima said:

Yes, I'm a music critic which means that I spend a considerable amount of time listening to music (whether I like it or not, like this new LL Cool J album) and having to think critically about it.

I really don't mean to put you down but this is a sad sentence. Music is made to be enjoyed by the soul, danced to or relaxed to, it's an expressive form of art that brings joy. The fact that you listen to albums and have to think critically about them means you're doing it wrong.

Never liked the whole critic concept for art, it makes no sense, it's art, not a government plan that needs scrutiny to defend the people's rights.

But hey I'm glad you have a job and a monthly paycheck, no hate :)

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Jeldh

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#36  Edited By Jeldh

I see myself as a real videogame-fan (videogamer?, I dont know the word here). But I lately realised that i only finish indie games. AAA-titles i just buy on steam, install. play a few hours and if it isnt really really good i get bored and just leave it there.

Its even worse for DOTA and Starcraft, Hardcore multiplayer games really takes an effort to start playing, but when I do i usually have a blast and say to myself that I should play them more often, haha.

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TheUnsavedHero

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Not really the games themselves, but I do have to convince myself to play online multiplayer games. Never played shooters much and had to talk myself into Gears 3. Ended up enjoying the experience once I got the hang of it.

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Marcsman

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Not at all. If I don't like the game, in the closet it goes and off to the next one.

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EarlessShrimp

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#39  Edited By EarlessShrimp

I'm never too concerned with beating all the games I get because it would never happen (thanks GoG/Steam). But I make sure I get my enjoyment out of them before I toss them aside. Plus, it's not like they're gone forever... You just have to install them or put the disc in again and you can have another go down the line. I never really try to convince myself to play a game, if I don't want to play eh, I don't want to. I'll go for a bike ride or watch a movie or something.

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McTangle

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Only dem Humble Bundle games.

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oldenglishc

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#41  Edited By oldenglishc

There's plenty of things you can find to eat up your spare time. If you have to talk yourself into playing, you should probably stop wasting your time and money on something you don't enjoy.

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jfunkhouser

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I often have to convince myself I want to play a game. I buy too much games, and then never really getting into them.

Personally (and general consensus, probably), I think this console generation has been going on for far, far too long. As someone else said, I get more enjoyment out of buying my games and hoping that it have some new, awesome mechanics, than actually playing it. Naive, I know. That never happens anymore, because every game is just the next game in a longrunning series, or totally derivative of something else. The last game I bought and had high hopes for was Dishonored. When I started it, it just kept reminding me of what I don't like about Deus Ex and Thief. I finished it though. Only because I felt obligated to. That's something, I guess.

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Nodima

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#43  Edited By Nodima
@jouseldelka said:

@nodima said:

Yes, I'm a music critic which means that I spend a considerable amount of time listening to music (whether I like it or not, like this new LL Cool J album) and having to think critically about it.

I really don't mean to put you down but this is a sad sentence. Music is made to be enjoyed by the soul, danced to or relaxed to, it's an expressive form of art that brings joy. The fact that you listen to albums and have to think critically about them means you're doing it wrong.

Never liked the whole critic concept for art, it makes no sense, it's art, not a government plan that needs scrutiny to defend the people's rights.

But hey I'm glad you have a job and a monthly paycheck, no hate :)

I think you may have thought about that a little too hard. Thinking critically about music is how you can actually engage with it; to connect the links and threads that make 2009 matter in 2013. It's a fun mental exercise. I am not a technical person when it comes to music, there's a magic to it I try to preserve by avoiding a lot of lyric quotes, or production break downs. Have a look if you ever need time to kill:

PopMatters - Kendrick Lamar: good kid, m.A.A.d. city

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Jeust

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#44  Edited By Jeust

Sometimes.

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Clonedzero

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#45  Edited By Clonedzero

No, because i like video games. Why do you buy them if you have to work up to playing them?

I'm also not that asshole that buys games and doesn't play them. None of that, having 20 games on steam that i'll never play and bought them merely because they were on sale. Thats just dumb. When i buy a game its because i want to play it and i play it the moment it's done downloading/installing or when i get home with it.

Thats right. Everyone with a big backlog of games they own but haven't played...I'm calling them all assholes.