My daddy's day gift was a 2 - game plan membership to Gamefly. I have a very special lady if she gets me a gift that is guaranteed to increase my playing video games when I should instead be, oh I don't know, taking care of our kid. This is one of the best gifts I have ever received, and it was something I was looking forward to ever since Gamefly first appeared on the scene. Why? The obvious answer is that I love games, and I can't afford all of them therefore I miss out on a lot of games. The less obvious answer is: having a gamefly account is the answer to all my gaming problems. 
I started a blog at the beginning of the year on 1up.com, and my goal for that was to play only the games that I owned for all of 2010, nothing else. See I have close to 50 games that I haven't either finished, 100%, or even touched, and it was starting to really get to me. Every time I would buy a new game, I'd feel bad because I knew that there were games I already owned that I haven't even played, good games too (i.e.: I bought Twilight Princess on release, but never played more than an hour on it). I would overload on my game purchases and buy games in bulk like I was shopping at Sam's Club yet I wasn't getting my money's worth. Yeah I owned all these games, but what's the point if I didn't play them. 
So for the first half of the year I did pretty well. I completed a bunch of Xbox Live arcade games, racked up on achievements, and I was gaining a much larger appreciation for the games I owned and really feeling these past purchases were worth it. I was doing well on my blog too: writing constantly, gaining fans and support, and finally feeling I was putting my passion for video games to good use. But then, I had to move... 
Moving was very stressful for my wife and I as we grew tired of living in NYC, and decided we needed a change of pace. So we got out of the city, and moved upstate. Yes it may not be as exciting, but I realized I prefer peace and quiet than excitement. During the move I got really out of touch with my blog and it was hard getting back into it again. When I received GameFly, I was excited but knew that my goal was going to be over, because there was no way I was going to pass up on Gamefly. 
But now I've decided that I'm going to make it a very productive membership. Remember the problems I mentioned earlier? Well my gaming problems are: money, "completing" a game, and purpose. Gamefly is one of the best deals in gaming right now. Sure you don't get to keep the game, but maybe, and this is an idea I've only come to realize with age, maybe I don't need to own games anymore.  
I first realized this during Batman Arkham Asylum. I wanted it so bad when it first came out, but I had no money. I hadn't purchased a new game in a while but the demo confirmed that I had to get that game. My friend told me he got it day one, and a couple of days later, he let me know he had already beat it, and was thinking of trading it in. But before he did, he asked if I wanted to borrow it. "Of course!" And I loved it. It was fantastic and anyone whose played it knows this. But I beat it rather quickly too, maybe a little too quickly. So to get more out of it I went after the achievements...which didn't take long either. Huh. Here I was, sitting with a 1000 gamerscore, within two weeks of the games release, with only 5 days of actually playing the game, and I had did it all. Like I said, I loved the game, but there was a part of me that said, "Glad, I didn't buy this right away." It was a new part of me that realized, I would've spent 60 dollars on a game for a few days of enjoyment, and then it would sit back in my collector's pile, maybe to never be played again? Suddenly, I realized that my passion for gaming had a dark side. 
Yes I know gamefly will help me save money, but I'm going to track all the games I rent, for my first year of gamefly, and see how much money I actually save. I'm going to track when I received a game, how long it takes me to beat it, complete it, and return it. If possible, I'm going to track the hours I spent on the game too. Also, on the day I received the game, I'm going to search and see the best price I would pay for that game if I were to buy it on that day. At the end of the year I will look at all the time I spent on the game's, and the money I would have spent compared with the cost of the membership for the year. 
Hopefully this will put into perspective why I play video games. Now, I won't get to own the games I play, but I think there is a positive side to that. I think I take for granted that I own so many games and many of them I've never played. I always say to myself, "I'll get to them eventually" but that rarely happens. With gamefly, I won't return a game until I'm completely done with it. With Xbox 360 games that means 100% gamerscore and in certain cases, %100 game completion. For my Wii games unlocking everything and beating games on the highest difficulty. Only when I feel I've finished a game according to my OCD standards, will I send it back, because I know I will never get to play that game again. 
Having that knowledge, helps me appreciate the time I spend playing the game. It forces me not to rush either; all my attention will be focus on what I'm playing. It'll keep me from getting ahead of myself, and play games in ways I've never played them before. And this relates to purpose, or why I play video games. I know why I do: because they are a part of my being. I am passionate about games in a way I don't think many people are, and loving them so makes me who I am. In the past couple of years, only hoarding games so I can collect them all and have these ultimate collections have disconnected me with why I play in the first place. It's to have fun, to challenge myself, to learn new things, to interact with others, to improve my gaming skill, to stimulate my imagination and creativity, and to discuss games as an art form. That is why i'm a gamer, not to collect and have them all on my shelf but to play  them. 
i think I will be more successful in accomplishing this goal, and I will definitely be shocked at the results. But in the meantime, I know that I will be doing the one doing I love to do: play games.