So Pokémon Unite got an update today to add a Halloween event. They changed around the gimmick of one of the quick match maps and add some themed rewards to earn and buy. Something new and different to keep players interested.

Except I feel like this might be the last thing that makes me finally push away soon enough. I actually had another post I’ve been brewing around in my head about “obligaming“ and micro goals and OCD where you feel obligated to check in often and presented with a constantly rotating list of small to medium level tasks that are attainable but their continuously refreshing nature is giving me burnout.

And yet my OCD completionest has me begrudgingly returning and continuing to stick it out thinking ”I’m close to finishing one of the larger goals.” As it is, I have a few games I’m checking in on each day and I’m seeing these trends that are pushing me away with “features and improvements”

* Pokémon Unite - As I said at the start, today was a new Halloween event. But even before that the release on mobile included changes with normal event structure and was a point prompting my earlier thoughts on this. Each Tuesday introduces a new two week timed set of tasks challenging you with specific tasks ranging from play multiple matches in a specific role to doing side objectives in matches. They had these before the mobile season but the rate of refresh is wearing me out.

Also the battle pass changed up where it may have less levels (it is a slightly shorter time frame) but you also earn less to it with the daily missions this season. 100/day down to 80 vs still 100 points per level. In addition to the weekly missions, you can get just over 1,000 points per week this season where I could get 12-13 levels a week last season. But I’m also at level 48 of 60 with 2.5 weeks to go. So chances are once I unlock space suit Gengar, my Pokemoba time may be over.

* World Flipper - Yep, the pinball gotcha game snagged me. Thankfully for $0. But it’s another case where they’re rolling though overlapping events to try to give fresh content but I see it as too much to keep up with. I’m actually done with all the story content (so far) and recently S+ ranked all the regular and Ex missions. So it’s just repeatedly farming the events and co-op bosses to keep leveling things up and unlocking items and characters. Even more since this is the English language release of a game that has been out and already went through various timely events, one of the previous side events was Christmas themed and one of the new ones that just started is New Years. Yeah… timely.

* Animal Crossing New Horizons- Another case where I see this 2.0 update coming and I think that might be my time to punch out. My year two with ACNH has basically been finishing up 2nd tier collections. Already have all the fossils, bugs, fish, and deep sea creatures in my museum. Now it’s bug & fish models (which I have the triples of each bug and just short two November fish and a December fish) and now just 5 more pieces of art. That and two more Nook quests to completely 100% (one more villager birthday and a bunch more KK concerts for the 100 concert quest). It’s again a case of it’s easy to do a quick set of rounds each day while watching TV but I feel even the free additions may tip me over.

Those are kind of the big three that the steady pace of “new things to do” is actually having the opposite effect on me. There are a few others I also recognize I keep coming back to even while questioning why (cough Harry Potters Hogwarts Mystery). But the common thread that I think so far has kept me from deleting them is they’re something where I can easily pick up my iPad or Switch, tap at for a few minutes while watching TV, and put down until the next day.

And who knows, maybe typing this whole thing out may be the catalyst that does make me finally delete these gnat like annoyances that are starting to form an encompassing swarm.