How do you decide which games you'll make time for?

Hi all, I'm looking at all the games coming out here in the first part of this year and it's a pretty fantastic line up. There are still several games in my backlog, but I find myself lusting after some of these new titles. With many of us reaching an age where we have more money to buy games than we do to actually play the games we buy, how do you decide which games to play when so many games look interesting and fun? How do you decide which games deserve your time? When do you quit playing a game, uninstall and move onto something else?

Personally I spend a lot of time trying to decide. Like wayyy too much time, all the way up until the point where I dont have time to actually play anything.

If I have multiple games I really want to play, I'll usually go for the shorter game. I'll be more likely to have time to finish it, and once I do I'll be able to move on to the next game.

@poppduder: I've gotten better about that. But I'm still really bad about just sort of looking at all my choices and 'thinking' about what games I'll play while I watch a documentary or something. One thing I have done though, is started putting myself on a time limit. Like, by the time Persona 5 comes out, I want to have finished Pillars of Eternity. If I don't finish it by then, I'll just uninstall the game. It helps to kind of focus in on one game instead of meandering from game to game like I normally do.

I tend to rotate RPGs and open world games after I hit a nice stopping point. Mixed in with smaller stuff like indie games, that don't require as much time investment. But also not really, like I just finished Bloodborne after playing a half of Nioh. Also How long to beat is a great tool for estimating whether or not I'll finish a game.

Why does every game have to purchased Day 1? Its just as easy to put that money aside to purchase after you've completed something or are ready to move on. I know this doesn't work for everyone but that's how I do it. It helps that I typically only ever play one thing before moving on to the next. The exception to this right now is that Horizon got put on hold for Mass Effect.

I ask myself what is more important: completing games, or experiencing them? I often choose the latter. There are so many good games out there that the sad truth is I will never have time to finish them all. The trick is therefore to stop caring about getting to the end credits or stories in video games. When I feel I've seen everything the game has to offer in terms of mechanics, I move on. I can always just re-install it some time later if I feel like it.

I just pick what I want to play most and start there. Sometimes I'm in the mood for a specific experience. Sometimes games just pique my interest more for whatever reason. I don't really have a special system. I bought Horizon, Zelda, and Nier at the same. Horion was the one I wanted to play most so I played that. Now, I'm on Nier. I'll play Zelda last...then set aside when Persona 5 comes out, because that's my most anticipated game of the year, and then pick it up again after I beat Persona.

It's not really a conscious decision; I just play what I feel like playing.

I also don't really ever get hyped for a game pre-release because I feel that most games aren't worth their launch prices, so I typically don't get to most games until a few months to a few years later.

Whatever I feel like. I generally have a relaxing/easy game on rotation with a demanding single player game together with some multiplayer stuff. Right now my games are Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Nier, which I put Horizon/Nioh on the backburner for, because I love me some Taro stuff. There's been almost no multiplayer reacently because I just haven't had the time or energy.

Gameplay.

I try Baldur's Gate, I see that the gameplay is too ancient and cumbersome to be worth my time, I stop.

I play the latest Mirror's Edge, I see that EA sat down and actively designed shit just to keep me busy, I stop.

I play Just Cause 3, I see that the developer is dying for me to enjoy myself and has given me such a rich interactive and fucking fun game, I stick to it, blowing shit up and having a blast.

@coryukin: That's very smart. I should try that approach. I'm trying to finish Mafia III while digging into Horizon and it's just foolish. I wind up thinking too hard about which to play and going back to Stardew Valley for a few minutes at a time.

I like this a lot. You're right, there are so many games that look interesting and fun to experience for at least little while. So while some people like myself have this completion bent, it's probably best to not feel compelled to complete every game you play.

I have, for the most part, cashed out of big, open-world, single-player games because I simply don't have the time. I made an exception for MGS5 and am considering another one for Yakuza 0.

I just have a better sense of what games will make me happy. I buy way less games but these days it's pretty rare that I don't get at least 100 hours of the games I love (Darkest Dungeon, XCOM, Invisible Inc, and the various Souls and Souls-likes).

Completionist games and collect-a-thons don't do anything for me anymore. Other than those (relatively) single player games above, I also play League of Legends and fighting games, where you can have a whole game experience in less than an hour.

IPs I know I like already pretty much get time carved out for them automatically. Like I'm usually playing 3-4 games at a time, but I know Persona will probably jump to the top next month.

Sometimes it's money: I seriously want to play every game worth playing, no matter the genre, but this is a costly hobby as I'm sure we're all aware.

When I can afford to just buy a buffet of games it'll be whatever hooks me the hardest in the first 5 hours or so.

I just kind of buy whatever and bounce between them. No rush. If a game looks cool i'll play it eventually. I make time for the big sequels since they're talked about more.

I consider which one I feel like playing the most at that point in time. If I'm not having fun I'll stop. If I'm engrossed by the story, I'll keep at it depending on how frustrating/not-fun the gameplay is.

If I see something I want to play, I usually buy it and play it. If I see something I want to play more than the other thing, I buy that instead and wait to buy the 'less interesting' game. The only time this becomes a problem are in times like these, where we're spoiled with quality games. Then I just have to make a judgement call of when I play the games, because I typically buy them at the same time. For instance I picked up Horizon and BotW in the same week, but I decided to clear Horizon first because I had already started on it.

@coryukin: I also liked your time limit idea. An interesting experiment could be to limit each game to say 1-2 hours, rate it, and then continue to the next. Do this until you have played all games in your library. And since you are playing ALL games anyway, you don't have to feel bad about buying even more when there is a sale ;-)

Well, the challenge is to make time, not to pick a game. I still have tons of games waiting for me to unwrap them.

First of all, I strip them of all posters, covers and even gameplay trailers. Not because it's something wrong with marketing, but I just can't get the picture. I watch the gameplay on youtube and see how it feels. If I like the game I'll either buy it or hunt it on sales.

Impulse. Unless it's a review which then takes priority. I've decided to get my backlog down by any means necessary (aside from selling up ... the sensible option.) I've managed to take some out by cheating through them. Generally the older stuff that doesn't age great. I also use How Long to Beat to decide which ones will take more time and effort. The smaller ones are now all gone which leaves a couple that I fancy god-moding through before leaving RPGs and games you can't cheat through.

Depends on which genre I'm in the mood for at any given moment.

It just comes from my gut; a pleasure instinct if you will. Sort of like the way you have a food craving. You can't really explain it, but when you see a pizza on tv or online or wherever, you kinda just want a slice. So when I hear about certain games, sometimes I get that craving based on whatever mechanisms are turning in my head.

Honestly I just play whatever I feel like at that moment. Of course it's easier for me now that I've stopped buying games to focus on my backlog, but I've generally stopped making plans for what I'm going to play when. I used to operate like that until I realized that gaming was starting to feel more like a job than a pastime. Games are made to be enjoyed, so why do anything else?

I buy all the games that interest me at once, then I just go through one game, then the other. Generally, I'll go through the game that came out first. For instance, I got Nioh and Horizon Zero Dawn the same day, and I went through Nioh first without even touching Horizon Zero Dawn. I try to stay invested in the one game, and while I try to experience everything the game has to offer (if the game and its content is good) I'll also pretty much sit there for hours playing it so I could play the next. I've done this a few times within the past couple of years. First, it was when Rise of the Tomb Raider and Fallout 4 came out, but I got Assassin's Creed Syndicate for free alongside them, I played through Assassin's Creed first (despite it hardly being on my radar), then Tomb Raider then Fallout 4.

Length also mattered in that case; I knew I'd spend the most time getting through Fallout 4, so I kept that for last. Then all the Dark Souls games and Bloodborne since I had gone through Demon's and the first Dark Souls as they were backlog games that I didn't know if I wanted to finish when I got them on release (I thought they would be way more grind-y assuming from the several hours I played of them). I went to GameStop and bought Scholar of the First Sin, Bloodborne and Dark Souls 3 after I finished those games. I played them all by release date, rather than just going through all the Souls games before jumping into Bloodborne which is connected. I only stop playing a game if I dislike it. Thief, Mafia 3 and Mad Max are the most recent of games I couldn't get through because I didn't like them enough.

Actually, I bought Mirror's Edge Catalyst relatively recently since it was cheap on PS4. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it and so I took it on the PS4 to make room for other games. I might still go through it at some point. I'm probably almost done with the story.

I'm pretty good at aimlessly vacillating between two or more games at the same time before eventually picking one to stick with and focus on, assuming I don't get distracted by something else. That's actually a problem sometimes, because it turns out a lot of the games I like (RPGs and Strategy stuff) sometimes don't gel with my attention span... which likely explains why my pile of shame has a lot of RPGs in it.

I'm usually very picky with games so when I buy one I usually end up completing it thoroughly. Though there is that weird middle ground where I have nothing to play and I'll get something of a familiar genre I might waste away with.

I decide by not making time for any games and just watching Giant Bomb stuff.

I only ever play one game at a time every game I start I'll finish I'm very selective on what I buy or more importantly start, currently playing Andromeda next is Cosmic Star Heroin then a few things from my library until Prey then a long wait till Destiny 2.

I usually try to focus on a game I've been wanting to complete for the longest. but honestly, I've been in the process of trying to beat 3-5 games at a time all my life. I almost always get around to playing the games I want, even if it takes a while