Hello everyone, thank you all so much for watching the video and leaving your thoughts about it! This is the first time I've had trouble keeping up with my comments section, so apologies if I missed yours- I've been trying to reply to all of them! It's been very nice to see you share your experiences with what I talked about in the video. I've also noticed many people share they've never really felt that way about playing games, and I wanna thank you all as well. One of the most important things to for people struggling with this sort of pressure is to see others saying, "hey yeah, I don't do that thing, you don't have to either! It's all good." I appreciate you all so much, and I'm happy we've kept the discussion mostly civilized!
Millennial cringe self-love psychobabble liberal nonsense. Just finish the game or don't, talk about what you know and clarify what you don't. You're overthinking it.
Partly disagree - because the ending of a game (or any piece of media or even fiction) can really complete/round out an experience. Especially when the latter half or final act really ramps up. Or imagine not getting to the final scene of some of the harry potter movies and missing the train leaving for home sections. Or dropping LotR and missing out on everyone bowing to Frodo & co. Plus I say this as someone who's got multiple games on hiatus right at the end or numerous other points. Watching someone else or reading a synopsis only does so much, it's not YOUR experience. Which is also why watching a stream/walkthrough/let's play is nowhere near the same as you playing it.
Unless your a TH-camr making thousands of videos with a ton of money. You need to finish a game and see the full work and art of thousands of people rather than ignoring the art people bust their butt to make
I was the same for awhile then I realized I can still enjoy the time i spent with a game without feeling the need to finish it. If I’m satisfied with my time and don’t feel like playing the game anymore, that’s completely fine.
Same dude! However I’ve got into a thing where I’m ok as long as I’ve seen most everything, unless I spent like the full 60, which I never do, there’s no need for that imposition I put in myself.
Personally I only push through to completion if I reallly enjoy it (since enjoyment is the goal at the end of the day) otherwise I play till ot isnt fun anymore. This way I have fun when I play and if I want to go back to the game theres still some stuff left for me to do
more and more I've found myself asking the same questions while playing games "Are you still having fun?" "Do you find yourself thinking about the game when you aren't playing it?" "Are you excited to sit down and start a gaming session with the game?" "Is the game holding your attention?" "How long into your session do you find your interest waning and how soon after you stop playing do you want to start playing again?" If the answers to these questions don't line up in the game's favor, I'll stop. I have too many games that I could be playing and too little time to waste it on something. It was totally acceptable to do it when I was in school and had all the time in the world and only like 5 games to choose from. Adulting really shifts your perspective
no shame in putting a game (especially a long one) down and coming back to it later with fresh eyes. I've done this with like every final fantasy I've played, Persona 5 and Cyberpunk.
i play games in a very "nomadic" way, where i play for a week or two, then take a break and play something else, and come back to it months later, sometimes years, unless it's a new release or animal crossing or splatoon, which i play semi-consistently, but i take breaks with even those.
That hit so hard. Business works its greedy little tendrils into every aspect of our lives. We need to actively and aggressively "un-business" our personal lives before we go insane.
I am loving the most recent push these days of "Shorter Games, Please!" People turn up their nose at an eight hour playtime but the game is more likely to focus on quality control rather than endless padding and fetch quests to keep you there Forever. They demand less of your time and I feel more accomplished for finishing it and keeping my life healthy.
@@Shadowwing1994 An 8 hour game that's so good I can replay it 10 times is far better than a mediocre game that takes 80 hours due to excessive grinding requirements.
Short games have become so much more accessible now that there's gamepass and psplus extra. You can't use the full game price excuse anymore. Time is now more important than cost. At a certain point the long games start to feel like a job and a resentment creeps in.
@@OliveOcelotwell but those subscriptions again force you into finishing games. You pay I don’t know 15$ a month or so (don’t know about the current prices to be fair) and this at least makes you feel like you need to start a new game every month so the money pays out. If I buy a game I own it and no further money is charged from me if I don’t finish it in time. But as always all things have their pros and cons.
@@SouLP196 I understand where your coming from but it costs like 80 bucks for the whole year. The price of a lot of new games. Most games stay there for at least a year. So it's either buy one game or have access to hundreds for the same price. It's kinda like movies. Most people watch a movie once and move on but some people like collecting them while they collect dust. Either way short games don't take much commitment. Some take as long as a long movie would. A single sitting and it's over. No need to buy, no need to replay. 7/month well spent. It's kinda like the same price as blockbuster used to be for one 3 days rental but now you get it for the whole month plus access to the entire store as a bonus.
I don't play any games that do FOMO purely because it begins to feel like a job, I have to play 5 more hours this week or I won't get the weekly item and it'll be gone forever thing, it's makes the experience frustrating when I have to choose between something important in the real world and grinding for that weapon skin that will be gone forever if I don't get it now. I just don't see the need to play them when I have so many games that I can complete at my own pace, on my own schedule and put down whenever I get bored and know it will still be there when I want to play it again, games like final fantasy, Skyrim, and the older halo games are solid examples of this.
This is literally what has been dragging me down for years and what ruined my gaming experience. Thank you for making this. You’re blowing a huge hole into the industry and showing thing I never even saw.
I feel this. Growing up, you only get a small hand full of games. As an adult I have bought so many games, some I never even touch just because I finally have the money to buy them.
I've found that I now have the money for games, but not the time to play them, at least not the way I used to. There are people complaining about games "only" being 10ish hours long, meanwhile I'm barely putting 3-5 hours into any given game before I stop playing it.
@@ShyBoy6ty9I feel so sad knowing my job exploited me into working 60+ average hours works during the year of 2020. That felt like the final time I would have had to simply play games and not stress over working or life. I still want my own personal lockdown. We all know that will not happen again
Yeah. And they have us paying for a service with infinite game for free, not really free, but it's like scrolling through Netflix for a hours looking for something to watch.
Also, when growing up, finishing more and more of the game let you talk more about it with your friends at school. But as an adult, it's pretty rare that you play the same games or see people with as much regularity anymore. I can finish the game but if there's no one to share that with, there's less incentive to do it.
One thing I've learned at forty years old is that the point of playing all these games is that you occasionally find that one game you want to finish. Now, Imagine if I had never tried No More Heroes 3: I would've missed one of the most fun game finishing experiences of last year.
Imo, you can't be wrong about how you feel about a game, no matter what point in the game you're at. If you start a game and it has the best opening couple of hours, you can love the first couple of hours. If it gets boring after, you weren't wrong about those first couple hours, just what follows didn't hold up.
Excellent point. Not all games can sustain high quality for numerous hours. I find that a lot of games have too much filler, which is why I tend to ignore a lot of the extra content if possible. Some of my favorite games are relatively short for that reason.
@@josephbrown9685 I also always felt bad when I was skipping dialogues in games, especially free to play games. All because the dialogue feels like being dragged on and not too important or exciting at all. But in some other games I am so heavily invested in them that I go out of my way to interact with characters to read even more.
@@Asakedia I understand. Certain games have good stories where more dialog adds to the experience but never feel bad about skipping excessive dialog in games with uninteresting stories.
@@Asakedia that's me currently skipping most of the dialogue for the final hours of fallout 4 because I need to get to the ending. I have to beat the game before I start the next one in my backlog.
As someone with ADHD, finishing games has always been a struggle for me. It’s nice to be reminded that beating a game isn’t everything, and shouldn’t be a responsibility. If a game isn’t good enough to finish, we don’t have to.
Damn if this aint some real shit I needed to hear, I say as someone who made a fucking spread sheet to track the games I'm playing this year with the express purpose of beating more games
There are a few sites that make the process a bit easier. I personally use backloggery, but I know there's others. Small tip for others who like keeping track of stuff.
@@AirRideMaster I keep a copy of my google doc spreadsheet saved for offline viewing. I garage sale and go to rural places to hunt for.games where there isnt always a cell signal or wifi.
Another insecurity I have is also the fear of stopping, even if you're burned out on a game. Either because there's so much stuff to do it becomes a laundry list, or because your attention is pulled elsewhere and you don't wanna abandon it. It's painful leaving behind a game you love, but you can't continue because you've gorged so much on it. You keep going because you fear if you stop, you'll never come back to it. And then it feels like unfinished business if you do abandon it.
I'm starting to burn up more often with games, but the way I see it it's a good thing. This way I can focus on my social life, my books, my art, and when I'm ready to come back I get a lot more enjoyment from it
This is called sunk cost fallacy, you’ve put so much time into something you feel like giving it up is a waste of all that time you’ve put into it on a subconscious level
The video game backlog is so real. I was always a fan of video games as a kid but never had my own console or games, I had to watch playthroughs on TH-cam. When I got my first job I went crazy. I bought my very own PlayStation and all the games I had ever wanted to play as a kid. I keep jumping between games and find myself unable to complete them due to the fact there is *so* much media I had yearned to have at my fingertips since I was a kid. It gets overwhelming, especially the thought that I was somehow wasting my money by not squeezing games for everything they have. Thank you for this very refreshing take!
The month when I signed up for GamePass I felt horrible because I felt obligated to play and finish so many great games because I paid for it. Even the fee being so small. It's a weird feeling.
honestly every time i desperately WANT to play a game, i question myself if i’m gonna still be playing it in a month. if probably not, i just buy game pass to play for a little while
my biggest problem, is that there are so many games I've bought that I do want to play, not out of obligation from peers or for paying money, but purely because it was a game I wanted to play. The issue I run into the most is choice paralysis - which of these many games do I want to play? The fact that there's so little free-time in adult life makes each time a lot more stressful than it really needs to be - during Covid, since I had no work and had to make sure I saved money, I finally went back and played a bunch of those games, from Dragon Quest XI to Astral Chain, and I fell in love with almost every one I tried. I guess that's my biggest problem - I know I'm gonna love these games when I play them, but I don't have enough time to dedicate to them as I'd want, especially when there are also new releases to account for that I am anticipating.
I struggle with this too, and as dumb as it may sound, my boyfriend's advice is always simply - just pick one, any one. This is specifically because I will just watch TH-cam (hi, haha) or do anything else rather than make a decision, and then wish I'd put some time into a game instead of wasting time in indecision. On the days you really can't decide though, a random number generator and a numbered list of your games could honestly work too! If you're excited for all of them, it'll give you somewhere to start, and if you aren't, maybe take the title you roll off your list (or put it on a secondary list if it makes you feel better) and accept that sometimes you feel like a certain vibe. Good luck :)
@@amyb2589I'm glad to see someone suggested it cus I was honestly about to say hey just use a site that will generate some random result 😆 i don't personally do it but if I were ever THAT indecisive I think I prolly would
Buy games only physically, put them on a physical pile of shame and only play from top to bottom. When you buy a new game this forces you to decide which place on the pile it will occupy. You can still reshuffle it whenever you want, but you always have a clear understanding of what is up next. If you buy a new game that you REALLY want to play now, put it on the top, but finish the game you currently play first before starting with the new one.
@@RCL89 Expensive and a bit impractical in the modern age isn't it? Many games don't come in physical copies, and sales are more common for digital copies. And if anything people I know who have many physical copies of games tend to not play any of them, compared to a steam library where they're all available to download.
It's okay to not finish a game! Here you go, now two people have granted you permission! If you had fun even a little bit of time, that's important. If it just wasn't your cup of tea, then you learned a genre, a mechanic, whatever that you don't really like in games, and that's helpful in order to avoid spending $60 on more games that you won' play.
@@papageorge4852 I just have a nasty habit of playing to the middle of the game then stopping. Then someday possibly years down the line I'll pick one of my half finished games and finish it up.
@@JerryTerrifying I have 200 games on steam.. Most of them I downloaded them played 2 to 5 hours and never came back. I just now organised it into "backlog", "finished", "dont really like it", "multiplayer" and "maaaaaybe some day". If I like the game, I won't allow myself to download sth else until I reach to the point of not enjoying play it because I dont like it or im not in the mood so I'll move it to maaaaaybe some day. I ended up finishing BDSM (Big Drunk Satanic Massacre), Resident Evil 3 Remake, Tomb Raider (2013), Bioshock Infinite, GTA 3 and GTA Vice City.
I realized this a few years ago and changed my perspective. I used to keep spreadsheets of games listing them in order of priority to complete. Now I just play what I feel like playing for fun.
I feel you man, I had that too. I even had the lists separated out to different consoles lol, with the goal of basically moving those lists of games into a “completed” list. Didn’t realize how miserable gaming can become until I broke free of that.
Last part rang so true... The milking incentive of companies has ruined so many games. Giving us grind and filler and chores instead of letting us move on and do what we feel like. It's counterproductive too because it burns us out on something then why would we buy the sequel?
I think the saddest bit for me as an adult is looking around at "Western society" and seeing that everything models a job anymore. Everything assumes you're "homo-economicus" and everything is a business transaction, attention==currency dynamics just make it 10x more complicated. Dating is viewed like job interviews cycling through "applicants" and tossing them when they "no longer fit with your vision." Gaming is all some kind of "value analysis" and you feel guilty for not keeping up. Self-improvement isn't for your own satisfaction, everything is to make you a "more attractive applicant" to either show off online, get a job, or find a mate, or all of the above. Neoliberalism is a cancerous tumor I hope we're not too late to excise and eject into space.
I've been struggling with all of these feelings for a while now. This year I finally did a lot of thinking and soul-searching, and figured out I was using video games for escapism. It came to a point I was not even having fun anymore, as other aspects of my life were falling behind. This combined with the weird guilt of abandoning games unfinished, was impacting my mental health. I drastically reduced the amount of time I spend gaming and started a manual hobby (miniature painting) and singing lessons (plus daily practice) in my free time instead. It was the best decision I made in a while.
Now I know from where my completionist obsession same from 😂 still struggle to accept that I did not complete all the games even though I hated those 😂
There's been this disconnect between what gamers want and what developers want. They seem to push onto us huge open worlds, 100+ hour experiences full of chores that don't make the game fun anymore but gives us a feeling that we at least got our moneys worth. Short games are becoming the unsung heroes to counter this. It's where the risk taking is happening (instead of repeating the tried and true formula year after year) and we get really unique and fun experiences as a result.
The best part of getting over how one feels others judge you, is playing games that you think they won't approve of. RDR just ported to the switch and it one can get past the no online multiplayer aspect and the fact that the are two games in the bundle for $50, it's really a good game. Or how Nexomon is the best Pokemon game I've ever played just at his the characters can emote and how the game creates humor by using pop culture references and the world works within itself and it's universe, yet since it's ripping off Pokemon "stop the world". Don't worry about others, worry about yourself and how you want to feel. Let God help you. Acknowledge first, God's grace, of course and he will gladly help.
I think often times we, as gamers also don't know what we want. To me a game with thousand of hours sounds like a good deal but...then when I'm actually playing it, I realize I don't have all that time and patience anymore as I did when I was 8. I think it's because of how some of us grew up, I always thought a good game was one you had to sink hours and hours in, I often think back to many old JRPGS like FF7, for example...but now I'm not sure if those games are worth my time really. Maybe they never really were my thing but I somehow forced myself to think I should be playing them anyway. I have Monster Hunter World for PS4 sitting on a shelf and the thought of grinding for armor pieces just doesn't sound appealing to me anymore...tbh it stopped being appealing as I grew older, thank god I had friends in HS that would help me grind for materials in MH4U, lol. THAT was fun. Honestly, I like to spend my day doing so many things (when I can) that the time for playing games isn't much anymore.
Well said. I’ve learned to put a title down the moment I get disinterested. I enjoy most titles but get burned out sometimes. So, I put it down, grab something new/ different and play. I always have the option to return, I just need a break at times. Plus I’m a grown ass man with grown man responsibilities. The last thing I want to do is “grind” through a title that sucks up my time and not enjoy it. I play to relax and have fun after all.
It's these open world dumpster fires responsible for this. They create 4 side quests....and then duplicate each one 50 times. I played AC Origins - which means I've also played - AC oddesy, AC Valhalla and the Witcher 3 ( seriously - what is up with that overrated trash? ) .... Fuck that game
The classic "I'm an adult now so I just play to relax" really wish they'd stop catering games to your ilk. Bet you want the Souls series to have an easy mode too huh ?
@@paz1514 That's not all what was just said - READ MY POST, instead. It's the lazy, repetitive crap people are getting burned out on.... Again - when a developer creates 4 side quests and then duplicates each one 50 times. This has been a problem for a decade now.... Every single open world game is trash.... Including Elden Ring - What kind of a masochist wants to fight the same boss 55 times??!!! .... Those games are for nut jobs.
This is exactly how I felt about writing papers at university. I wouldn't start writing until I was sure I had all the facts right. Why? Because it's been engraved in my brain that everything I say needs to be backed up by evidence. And while that's true in an academic setting, it also sets up this vicious circle of having an idea, researching a topic, finding more ideas, and doing more research in order to build a solid foundation to base argument upon. It just never ends. I often found myself stricken by fear and anxiety because no matter what I did or how many hours I'd invested in doing it, it'd never be good enough. I'd read these fensy journal articles and wonder when or how I could ever achieve that level of smartness. I kept hearing lecturers say, this is what you should aspire to. As a result, I'd lose motivation even if I liked the topic. And when the results came, I'd realize that I could've done better. More often than not, I'd think that I didn't do enough. But sometimes there'd be that voice in my head that would say, no, you could've achieved better results if you weren't so darn focused on doing too much. And of course, there's the eternal competition between students. I tried to tell myself that I didn't care about others and that I'd do my own thing. But it hurts to not be the best. That's just how it is. We're being "encouraged" to be perfectionist to make us look smart. Because the more research you put into your work, the better, y'know. You can't make a solid argument if you don't know everything. You have to absorb an encyclopedias content and become the Encyclopedia. But I feel like that's a fool's errand. I've noticed the difference between over researching and doing research, setting limits and learning to be satisfied with it. My ideas are more coherent and comprehensible when I don't try to sound smart or when I let it go and just write the paper with what few but meaningful evidence I've ghathered. I've always had low self confidence when it comes to writing, especially because I'm not a native speaker. So I always get pleasantly surprised when someone says they like my writing. I'm slowly learning to be kinder to myself. But old habits die hard. All this to say that this doesn't only apply to video games, but to any and every aspect of our lives, especially if it's remotely fun. You have to like what you're doing or you won't feel satisfied or fulfilled.
As a student, I needed to hear this. I'm definitely falling into the rabbit hole of over researching. I know this comment is a year old but thank you for typing this.
I work in academia and I've also experienced this a lot - to the point that my work gets slower as I discover an ever-increasing body of literature that I feel I need to digest before I can say anything with any legitimacy. Knowing your limits and knowing what's "good enough" is a very important life skill that I wish I had developed much earlier.
% 100 agree with you as someone who spends all my time researching the best strategies to be the best at games, life, and work instead of actually just enjoying, and learning organically from experiencing the game, life, or work. Great insight
This hits so close to home with me, playing games has turned more into a chore than actually sitting down and enjoying the actual game itself. This video was something I've been needing to hear for a couple of years now, thank you!!!
My god...dude this spoke to me on a deeply, DEEPLY personal level. We not only are of a very close age but had a similar upbringing when it came to financial restrictions. Everything you talk about in this from wanting to beat the games you very seldom got to rent as a kid to feeling left out by the console wars in high school, this video took me through a journey through my gaming past. Thank you so much for putting the effort into this. You've got a sub in me mate 👍
It's a stigma we gamers have inherited. It's no different being told to finish watching this TV series, anime, or movie franchises. Sure, he have to finish our interaction with it, but nobody should tell you to so you can avoid being antagonized for it in any capacity. Tell any responsible adult to finish a game or show when his responsibilities lie elsewhere. Take your time with what you need. You can finish it, but you don't HAVE to right away. Great discussion, GC. This is kinda inspiring me to make something similar.
This is something I knew as a kid. I don’t think I finished a single game I owned, not by myself anyway. The Spyro games, Pokémon White and Heartgold, Fossil Fighters, and lots of online games too. I’d often start new save files and overwrite old ones, usually by accident, but I never really had an issue with it, and with Pokémon I’d usually just mess around with other activities once I got to the elite four, I wasn’t skilled enough to beat them. Now I’m grown. When I get a game, I either don’t enjoy it enough to play it at all, or I enjoy it and beat the hell out of myself trying to do as much as I possibly can. I was happier playing games as a kid. I have so much nostalgia for the first portions of the games I played because they were the parts I played the most. I think I need to relearn how to have fun with the medium I love so much
I didn't think I enjoyed games, until I played actually really good games And not games everyone loves, but games that are almost like made for me specifically
This video, man. This video hits. I've been trying to get myself back to gaming like I used to do in my childhood and teens, but it's been hard. Trying to engage in a boring ass Assassin's Creed wasn't making it. Then I downloaded and met a little cute baby game named Celeste and GOD DAMMIT I had fun (still trying to finish C sides a whole year later). And it ignited the passion I needed to get back to it. I went at it and finished Tomb Raider which I know is accessible and not too long with fun moments and a decent story. And now I met that beautiful thing named Hollow Knight, it's been kicking my ass painfully every time I start it but the art style, the music and the really difficult yet fair combat got me hooked and I accepted the challenge. TLDR: play games to have fun and find what works for you; super gigantic open worlds or 2D linear platformers, ultra mega insanely realistic graphics or indie original different art styles. Just find your jam and have a lot of fun with it!
This video kinda made me feel a certain way. I genuinely thought I was the weird kid at school for actually beating games, literally everyone I grew up with got everything they asked for so they never actually beat anything they just moved onto the next game. I always got made fun of for still playing a game from the previous year while everyone around me had moved on to the newest game. Its kinda nice to know that I wasn't the only one who actually beat games as a kid
I usually refuse myself the access to other games until I have finished the campaign of the one I am currently playing. I have over 500 games on steam, a subscription to GamePass and I buy games faster than I can finish them. Last week, I stopped playing Outer Worlds, even if I liked it. I uninstalled it to remove the guilt feeling I would get when booting another game. The GamePass subscription gave me the opportunity to try games ''for free'' and learn to not finish them because I value my time and I shouldn't shame myself for not finishing a game. What I want is to have fun and I shouldn't put game completion in front of the fun factor.
I have just wanted to hear this. No, more like I have just NEEDED to hear this. I've spent a lot collecting games but they have never been installed or played. I spent my time playing a few games in particular, because I am still having fun playing those few, but I also have some kind of guilt not playing other purchased games. Thank you so much for the discussion.
I had the opposite issue in High School. I didn't WANT the games everyone my friends included had. I wanted them to play what I was. They played on PC online, shooters, etc a lot of the trendy stuff I had zero interest in and was playing KH3 and BOTW on my Switch and PS4, lol.
I'm a doctor. Im a dad. I don't game as much anymore. I hate that about myself but I do my best to keep my hobbie alive. But when I don't have the energy to do so I go to TH-cam. And you my dude are of my best discoveries of year. Thank you so much for your effort in this video. It hits home so perfectly. Thanks man.
I've been the same way for awhile. I even had some friends gate keep me just because I couldn't finish a game. As a young Adult responsibilities start becoming more of a priority for me and i wish my friends would understand that finishing games should not become a stressful job they're made to be an escape and have fun. Currently now I feel a lot better and i have now been able to finish games but im glad this video exists because as a kid I used to only get games on special occasions like Christmas, birthdays, and school grades but now as a young adult with a minimum wage paying job i spent most of my money since 2020 on games and i have a huge backlog.
Few years late, but 11:41. This moment was pretty damn strong for me as you slowly piece together your point/thought. Hearing "A game... is an investment? I think?" genuinely struck me because I've said those exact words half-jokingly. Hearing it echoed through that lens made me realize just the kind of unfortunate relationship I've stumbled into with gaming. Looks like it's time for me to break that and rediscover what made me love games so much...
Backlog encourages me to think very carefully before each game purchase. I use to buy many new game on release day, but now I buy a game once, maybe twice a year.
This might be one of the most important videos on youtube about videogames. I have been feeling like this for a while now. Watching the video and looking at the comments, I see I'm not the only one. I even tried to organize my games list and then went back to only highlight games that I wanted to play that week, but I didn't know how to put this sensation into words, and I feel your video hepled me view this issue in a more general way. I'm sure it's going to help a lot of people. Thank you so much for making it
The part where you talk about the mental aspect of making TH-cam videos, and wether the effort was worth it. That hit home for me. I stopped making TH-cam videos because nobody was watching. (Left Earth - Bad Ads 1, 2, and 3) 100+ hours of work for a 10 minute video. It became a job that didn't pay. _Don't let your dreams die, Bro._
There’s a reason only a specific amount of people beat games. It’s not because a game is too hard or challenging; if you enjoy a game then you won’t notice it as challenging. It’ll seem fun, not hard. A game with a higher completion percentage is most likely a game that is highly praised and loved by many.
It's strange that in a way that never till recently I got the social pressure of playing games. As a kid I was an only child and a very lonely kid all the way through high school, I was the only gamer in my friend group even in senior year, so only now at 21 do I feel that pressure but I still knew I had to beat games as a kid, as a teen that pressure lightened slightly, more just habit from my childhood but then adulthood happened. Mainly from elitism from fanbases along with the fact that games go out seemingly faster than ever. I've been playing through the SMT games and I've played through SMT 2 three separate times now just for fun, just to see everything, sure I'm still beating the game but it's cause I want to now. You don't have to beat games cool people, you beat games when you want to, it's okay to not play whatever everyone is playing, what your friends know, or what you missed, do that cause YOU want to, do it cause you feel happy doing it.
I like this video essay, and all of your points are right, but I feel like pointing out how childish feeling obligated to finish a game takes some of the child-like joy away from video games. As a film student I see games as stories, even if the main story created for the game is bad or non-existent I still feel like my value comes from the journey that the game took me through and how I grew as a person. I have nearly all the important games of the last 20 years and have only played a fraction of them, but I am still proud of my collection not because it says something about me, but it gives me the sense of being a part of something that develops through time I have reference points for new games and can find comfort in knowing when allusions are being made and homage is being payed to great games of the past.
This is so good. The only games you need to finish are the ones you want to. There are plenty of games that I have gotten to busy to finish, but I want to, those are worth going back to. There are other games I don't super want to finish so I don't. Right now I have the most amount of unfinished games in my library, but the mindset of going back only when I want to is freeing. It's a fun hobby. That's what it should be.
More videos like this need to exist! Thank you! I don't always complete some of the games I've played because not 100% completion is not worth getting. More to life than video games coming from a gamer myself.
"Game completion is so obsessed nowadays, people gate-keep and invalidate each other’s opinions based on how far they made it while playing them." Being up-to-date on a long-running series seems to be more important than caring about its trajectory, its quality, and the conditions it was made in." seems right on, because I'm way better about quitting one-off games than I am a game in a series. Games like Amnesia Dark Descent and I Am Alive bored me so much that I didn't even want to start them up again to continue playing, so I just didn't. And after a few days of that, I realized I was just done, and uninstalled them.
Man I really needed this. I have so many different games on multiple platforms (on my PS5, Switch, Xbox and Steam) that I haven’t completed. So many games, so much money spent, and I just couldn’t finish them. Then it makes me feel like I’m a fake fan of said franchises. I really want to consider myself a fan, but I just can’t complete it. Sometimes it’s either cause it’s too hard, too long or just both. Whenever a game doesn’t interest me enough, it feels wrong. There’s only a select few video game franchises I’ve ever felt truly invested in to the point of playing and completing every game (multiple times even) but I guess that really says something then, because it means I’ve found the series for me. Sometimes I’m just not too invested in a game even from a series I like. For example I’ve been a Sonic fan for like 10 years and yet I struggled to complete the new game Sonic Frontiers, and a friend of mine who is new to the Sonic series was able to complete it, even though I actually owned the game for even longer. And that just made me feel like such a fake fan, because while I enjoyed previous Sonic games, and while I still loved this one, I just couldn’t complete it. Once again, it felt so wrong. But after watching this video, I definitely did start to feel a little better. So thank you so much for that! It did help me with comfort.
@@Vergil1233x agreed. That’s what gaming is all about, and I realise that now. Besides, if you’re not enjoying something it’s probably best to just stop. That’s what I do now
I've been struggling a lot lately with this same thing, particularly the idea that if I buy a game and don't finish it, I've wasted money and time. Even when I get most of my games on sale and they end up being around $10 each. I try to tell myself that if I went to the movies I'd spend like $15 for ~2 hours of content that I might not like, so if that happens with a game that I spent $10 on, is it really that different?
I've been trying to avoid buying games unless they have a demo I can try. Which not a lot of games have on Steam, but more than I expected. Sometimes I'll try to find a copy online and if I like it, I'll buy it. I find that I bounce off of games pretty hard nowadays so buying them is often a waste. But I've also been going through my library for games I got in bundles and stuff that I thought I'd never like/play but actually ended up loving. Like Steamworld Dig. Goddamn, I owned both games for years but never played them. So yeah it's pretty fun to just try random games in my libraries just to see if I like them. Having decent internet definitely helps, but indie games are relatively small so that also helps a lot.
i think this is partly a problem with how we consume games. going to the movies is different in that you can't 'impulse' buy a movie ticket and save it for a later time. with digital game libraries literally just a click away, i think we're a lot more susceptible to marketing. it's hard work resisting all those flashy sales.. and digital storefronts / publishers know and exploit this.
To be fair you are keeping the game. That's why you can go back to it and play it later. Gaming should be fun. You should be able to play how you want to play. If you don't want to play a game anymore then that's cool man, you do you. Just have fun. People turn gaming to a chore and forget that it's supposed to be for fun.
Can't relate. I am rather picky with the games I play and tend to finish them. However, nobody I know cares about the crap I play so there is no way to show off.
As a kid I was very rarely finishing games. I was even satisfied with just playing one level over and over again. Part of that is obviously because I was too bad at them and I also didn't understand english, but I genuinely wasn't getting bored of doing it over and over again. It's only now, as an adult, where I feel the need to finish the game because otherwise I feel like I didn't get my money's worth. Of course I don't have that problem with games that I got for free. If I didn't spend money on it, then I don't feel like I have an obligation to even open it, I can safely let those gather dust.
I have a lot to say about this.... First of all, letting go of everything you discussed has made me able to play games with more enjoyment instead of this OCD feverish attachment I had with games that put a bunch of weird rules on how I should play a game and enjoy my leisure time. Ironically it's joining a community of backloggers and watching youtube videos of finishing my backlog that helped me get to that point. It made me get over my analysis paralysis and has turned me into the type of gamer that's willing to expand and play a multitude of different types of games and I enjoy them without that feverish attachment. Unfortunately it also made me amplify that feverish attachment during that backlog process from treating games like it's my job to complete them and being hyper analytical of flaws, just so I can move on to another game I want to play instead of just taking the risk of playing games calmly and possibly not getting the best experience out of it. I graduated last year and got my Diploma of Counselling. I have every reason not to finish games but I managed to finish at least 3 to 4 games. I did it by letting go of this OCD rule in my head of: "I haven't played this game for two years, therefore I won't play my original save file and start the game again". Letting go of that rule helped me finish those games and let me enjoy playing those games more and enjoy replaying them. This was done ironically by letting go of trying to finish the game and just play imperfectly. What helped me enjoy games more, is letting go of this feverish attachment to finish games and just take the time to enjoy them. Doing the backlog challenge that you see gamers post videos about was fun for me only when I took off the yearly time limit expectation off and made my only goal to just start a new game and play. Great Video 10/10.
I actually thought this would be about tears of the kingdom (not seeing the date of the video), since both creators and some of my friends have already dumped hundreds of hours into the game, alongside completing it. It surprised me you talked about this culture in general, and I think it's very telling, to furthering your point, that I expected that. I think this video was overall fantastic, and I'm excited to see what's next for your channel ❤
For me it was lol, I'm struggling to come back to it to finish and came across this video. Been playing totk for nearly 2 months trying to do EVERYTHING. I'm literally at the end(have been for 2weeks now)and have about 30 sidequests still left and am completely burned out! I think it's overstimulating me with all the content!
Heck, with this video you expressed every emotion and concern I felt about the need to complete every game. But now, I always try to focus on a title that really interests me, but the need to complete each game is always lurking there.
Good luck! I think as long as you're having fun doing it, play for as long as you want! But once it starts to feel like a chore or something on a to-do list, it may be time to stop!
"People are afraid of missing put on the sequel that they'll prevent themselves from playing it until they beat the preceding game" This hits home with me and Tears Of The Kingdom. Haven't finished Breath Of The Wild
at the same time, i feel like not finishing botw kind of muted my desire to play totk. like, botw is a game i'll pick up every few months, try to remember what i was working towards last time, and just hang out in for a while, then put away until next time. i don't really need another game for that as well, so i'm probably just not going to pick up totk. i respect what it's got going on, love all the costumes, and am glad for the people who were excited for it, i just don't see ever playing it myself.
Honestly man, I love zelda more than most and even I never got around to botw, and here I am damn near non stop on totk, like I know I would appreciate it more (or maybe less since a fair bit of it can be sorta same samey) but with how little story there actually was in botw far as I'm aware, I just didn't mind it. From what I've heard too there's very little callback or mention of events in botw outside of quick little "hey I remember when you did such and such" in a vague manner from side quest characters, hell even the guardians from botw and the towers that unlocked the map on there are just entirely gone, far as sequels go? It might be one of the worst for acting like the previous one existed, and its BECAUSE they wanted to let people like you or me play, for better or for worse. So watch a quick recap video or some longer lore one if you want, but don't feel bad for skipping out, you can always go back to it if you want too, tho I doubt you'll want to go back 😂
@@SSlash fr man. I suddenly got busy with school after the pandemic and just didn't know what to do anymore to go back to the game. It's like I don't remember what I was doing, what I was going after. Maybe I'll try a recap and go at it again, but for the time being I can't see myself finishing it. Botw will still be one of my favourites no matter
Thank you for making this video. It helped a lot to hear someone talking through this topic, especially how you covered the different reasons we feel pressure to finish everything (from recreational gaming to content creation), and how you were open with your own current state of being caught in the loop.
If they're games you played a few hours into and just don't have the desire to go back to that's okay! If you're struggling to get into video games in general, but you LOVE video games, it may be something you should talk to a professional about.
@@GCVazquez Back in the day I was In a very bad place in life. and video games were my only reason to keep going. but in the last year or so many things happened to me and I'm happier than I've ever been. maybe I don't NEED video games anymore..... I don't find the world so bad that I need to escape to someplace else.
Holy fuck, what the fuck. This really drove a feeling into me that I was absolutely not expecting. I came expecting some simple validation, and ended on an emotional and self-critiquing cliffhanger. I've gotta say I appreciate how much this video ended up feeling just the voice in my head, but now I have too many questions and not enough answers
The answer is to let go of whatever guilt you might have for not finishing a video game, and maybe treat the act of playing games with a little less reverence!
I feel the comment on how game completion isn't a matter of personal fault, but a gauge of how much you enjoyed the game. I have games in my steam library that I've completed several times over, and games that I've never touched after only playing them for a few hours. Ad an adult, I've realized buying a game is not an obligation to finish it. At the end of the day, gaming is a hobby, not a job. Play whatever is most enjoyable for you.
You know I've kinda started to feel this way with several aspects of life. I didn't think I needed to watch this video as the topic seemed obvious, but your personal perspective really makes me reflect on my own experiences. I feel that I have thought in similar ways and have hit a point where I'm trying to squeeze everything for what its worth. But I don't need to. I get my fun or value out of something, and when it stops doing that for me, I just move on.
I've realized I can't play games that don't have an end to them because then I won't stop playing them. Amazing video on a subject I haven't heard anyone talk about yet!
Personally, I see that as a win. I don't have a ton of money so if I enjoy a game enough to spend hundreds or thousands of hours in it, its a win. I don't need all the newest games. I don't need tobe constantly jumping to the next thing. As long as I'm having fun, its all good. Conversely, if I'm not having fun I'll drop a game. I only played about 5 hours of Tomb Raider because its just not fun to me.
I'm 25 years old, and have a job from 6 to 2pm so I have a lot of free time, at work, I'm excited about the thought of playing video games, but when i come home I always have trouble picking what game to play I inevitably end up surfing youtube or doing something else altogether, but I still do wanna play. Such a weird feeling and it honestly bothers me so much lmao
I relate so much, I always push myself to finish any game I buy, but I also have finishing anxiety so it takes me 6 months or more to finish something...Especially as a new TH-camr, I definitely feel the "how can I run a successful channel" part.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. For the first 8 months of the pandemic, I was unemployed and video games were my job. I was beating them, discussing them online, etc. I felt everything you said in the video, especially the parts about money and imposter syndrome. Now that I'm in grad school and my time for playing games has significantly decreased, I'm trying to focus on having fun when I'm playing the games. Because I am supposed to be PLAYING them, right? Not WORKING my way through them.
I have a problem that isn’t completely related to what this video is about, mostly because when I was younger I cared more about me and my own thoughts rather than the thoughts of those around me (a part of that is still with me today). Whenever I buy a game, I tend to buy ones that I have already seen cutscenes or reviews of on TH-cam. There are some exceptions, but I generally never go into a game completely blind nor do I ever want to. If I want to buy a game on day 1 of release I would have already watched every single trailer and promotional material of that game that exists multiple times over. I go out of my way to make sure a game that I purchase is a game that I will like. Sometimes I spoil myself to the entirety of a game’s story and all of it’s secrets without even having the thought of purchasing the game in my mind. That aside, I have a problem with buying a game, playing through a bit of it, enjoying it, and then never doing anything to see everything that the game has to offer. Fire Emblem Three Houses, Dragon Quest 11 S, Octopath Traveller, The Legend of Zelda Age of Calamity, UNDERTALE, Astral Chain, all of these titles are games that I have purchased, played some of, enjoyed, and never bothered going back to to see everything. No matter how many aspects of a game I like or love, if I get bored for too long, I instantly lose my motivation to do anything else in the game. The reason why I stop playing a game is different from case to case. In Astral Chain, the slow pacing combined with my natural instinct to walk slowly rather than run as well as occasionally janky controls turned me off from the game despite me really liking the style, worldbuilding, and overall gameplay. The story of Dragon Quest 11 is very intriguing to me and I want to see more unfold but the gameplay grew old on me way too quickly. I stopped playing UNDERTALE because despite how much I love the story, despite how much I like all of the characters, despite how much I listen to the soundtrack because of how good it is, I stopped playing the game halfway into the story because I have been spoiled of every single aspect you could think of practically a year before I even bought the game. I already know what’s going to happen, I already know that I will like it. If I know that I will like it, what’s the point of going any further? Is what I assume that I think unconsciously. The only game that I have played from start to finish and love to this day was Splatoon 2. I think I liked playing Splatoon 2’s story campaign so much was because on top of the enjoyable story and lovable characters, the gameplay is unique and feels fluid, the soundtrack is absolutely amazing, and because of how involved you are when it comes to finding gameplay levels, the fact that finding them is easy didn’t matter to me. Using the story campaign to get me introduced to Splatoon 2 and then getting better at the game by playing online setup the perfect segue from that into the Octo Expansion, and while yes, some levels are challenging, that didn’t matter since I already knew how the game worked and was well prepared for the twists and turns the DLC threw at me. This allowed me breathing room to appreciate the characters, environment, soundtrack, and lore while still giving me an enjoyable time with the gameplay. Splatoon 2 is a great game in my opinion because of how it eases you into the world and letting you know how it works before effectively sending you to Brazil after nabbing 20 bucks from your pockets. Jokes aside, I think the reason why I get so turned off by games that I know I enjoy is because of how they are presented to me. Astral Chain introduced me to dire situations, characters, and story revelations too fast for me to know what the deal is. Dragon Quest 11 did have one story moment that got me highly invested but that was only after I got through other story moments that didn’t intrigue me at all, and there were more side plot shenanigans that happened after that. Fire Emblem Three Houses gave me the best experience out of everything I think because I was consistently invested in the story all the way through because of how clearly the game shows me all the characters desires, ideals, and flaws. The thing that ruined the experience for me was a difficulty spike near the very end of the Blue Lions route on my first play through which I gave up ever attempting. So I made a new save file and chose Edelgard’s house and got a better experience due to my knowledge of the game I acquired from my first failed play through, which effectively showed me that the game only ever says how certain mechanics work instead of telling me the general idea of what you’re supposed to be doing. Imagine being taught Chess. Another person is explaining to you how all of the pieces move and what the win and lose conditions are, without ever telling you how moving certain pieces in a certain order can drastically change the state of the game despite appearances. The only two games I played that didn’t have this kind of trap was LoZ BotW and Splatoon 2. BotW never overwhelmed me with it’s mechanics and there were interesting aspects of the game which lended itself really well to internal role-playing which felt really really cool. The exploration aspect of the game was also nailed down almost perfectly since you’re always seeing points of interest in the distance which naturally gives you goals to work towards. Along with the fact that there are many environments in the game that feel distinct from each other, it makes you really feel like you’re on an adventure in a fantasy world. The reason why I have a consistently good time with a game like BotW over similar games like Minecraft is because the game gives you the goal of “head to Hyrule Castle and save Princess Zelda”, giving you the liberty of achieving that goal in whatever way you want, making yourself stronger before the final boss. Yes, you can do lots things in Minecraft and be almost infinitely creative with what you can make, but there really isn’t anything that motivates me beside “use block make thing”. Yes, there is the Ender Dragon, but the End Dimension isn’t a compelling goal to work towards mostly because the dimension’s existence is never explained in the game, it’s just there for the sake of being the place where the big boss can fly around in. Minecraft is a mostly community-based game that isn’t really fun to play in just single-player and I’ll respect the game for that, but BotW gives a completely different experience that appeals to me more because of how the game treats you like you are part of the world, limited by it’s rules, whereas you’re an un-compelling omniscient being in Minecraft. And again, this is also why I like Splatoon 2 so much. On top of the characters that feel like they have lives beyond what we see on-screen and the clever ways how the game explains away game-y elements to add to the worldbuilding, Splatoon 2 doesn’t make you feel like you are on a trivial roller coaster, you are an important part of a larger whole. What I am trying to say is that I want less games that assume that you know what you’re supposed to be doing, I want more games that introduce you to a world that you feel like you can be with rules and limitations that don’t feel forced. TL;DR, I’m bad at videogames
Those opening anecdotes were perfect. I find it really interesting to know the psychology of pressure to finish games - and so much of what you said I massively relate to. It’s kind of weird compared to the mentality of other people who had an early abundance of games, especially younger people these days due to ease of building a huge game collection.
These days I mostly solo game with mods. I made an attempt to try to get new games to play with friends this year, three separate times. Lethal Company, Palworld and Helldivers 2. I had tons of fun and loved all three, and all three times my friends and the greater internet and content creation sphere as a whole moved on after 2 weeks max. I learned my lesson, I'm done with trend games and finally buying Fallout 4 and modding it has been one of my favorite gaming experiences in the last few years
Another point not mentioned here is that finishing games is often anticlimactic. The endings are usually not that interesting IMO, just a cut scene and credits roll. Why bother? Most of the fun is in the first ~75% of a game. Rather than finishing it, I find myself getting more pleasure out of a game by playing most of it and then restarting, using skill and experience to do things more efficiently.
Wow, watching this was like learning about different cultures in school, it's incredible how differently people can view this topic based on their experiences. I don't remember the first game I beat, but for years in earlier childhood I couldn't beat a single one. It was always them being too hard, too long, or, usually, structurally not based around a "thing that you can beat". I think the last is what shaped my views the most. I've also never seen anything like what you called "video games are kid's job". I never had any incentive to beat games outside of just seeing the ending. No stigma, no reward. So, if I couldn't beat it, I just didn't. What I find funny is that just like you, I feel opposite to what I felt as a kid. Nowadays I try to finish games even if I see fundumental flaws that make playing them less enjoyable to me. Why I love games is that even doing something that's not as "fun" can feel great just because I can analyze these flaws on the go and confront them with what I would prefer. Obviously I know there is nothing wrong in abandoning a game and I still do it myself, sometimes with an intent to go back. TL;DR You don't have to finish games you don't have fun with, but you can still find them enjoyable in a different way.
Legit saw 3 videos before this one on how to clear your backlog and was stressing about it then came across this and brought me back to reality . Thanks mate this video was great
This has bothered me for Years. I have (what I thought was) an issue where I could never finish my favorite games. Example. I have been avoiding any and all spoilers for persona 5, and have been for years. I don’t own a PlayStation, so when I heard that it was finally being released on the Xbox made me so incredibly excited. I preordered it, heavily anticipated for one of the best jrpg releases ever, and I was right. I was having tons of fun with it, but of course you eventually have to put the controller down Now I keep passing it in my game library, thinking “Man I really should go back and complete P5. It’s no longer “Im excited to play” but instead “I should go back and play” I’m 80 hours into P5 but I don’t feel any closer to finishing it, as much as I love the game, I don’t love the thoughts it gives me as I look at it in my library, and that occasionally bleeds into my playing sessions, leading into a lower overall experience at no fault to the game’s developers. This video has helped that thought process just a bit.
Ive been going back and forth with this in my head the last few months. Sometimes when you stick with a game you don't enjoy at first you find something about it that is unique and special. Games that dont appeal to you at first can grow on you. This isnt always the case, of course. Sometimes you commit to a game and end up sinking dozens of hours into something extremely boring to you. But maybe there is value in fully experiencing things you dont enjoy in that it makes you better appreciate things you do. It's extremely unlikely that you will go through an entire game without finding some parts that are boring, but you have to force yourself through boring times to get to the good experiences. I feel like the advantages of playing whatever appeals to you at any given time are pretty clear, but overall the advantages seem more short term. In my experience, when I just play whatever seems most interesting at any given time, Im swapping through games far too much, and I just get burned out and disinterested in video games in general. As you mentioned, as kids, we had smaller libraries of games, and I think we were more grateful and more focused on what we had. As adults, it's more difficult to appreciate games because there's so many to choose from, and a lot of ideas presented to us are old news, and not nearly as captivating as they were to us as kids enamoured with the world around us. Based on my experiences, completing games regardless of interest is the best way to approach games, as I think it ultimately leads to more enjoyment, though it often requires sacrifice in the present, which isnt always easy when you're looking for a shot of dopamine at the end of a long day.
Low key felt stressed out listening to you punish yourself for not being good enough, glad you found a way to love yourself, games should be fun, not make u feel like your never going to be enough x
This is so dope! Such a great break down of a complex issue that's not often spoken about in gaming discussions. However I do have a positive take on my backlog personally, and some others might relate. When I was young my older cousin gave me a PlayStation as a gift. Along with all of the games that he had and with all of the memory cards with the save data of the games that he beat. There was nothing like the feeling of having instant access to all of these different worlds that I never explored before. If I got bored with one world I can instantly step into another sometimes with the memories of someone else's exploration of those worlds, still in tact; which was very fun. I intentionally started building my backlog knowing that I had no time to play these games that I was purchasing, or downloading as a part of a monthly subscription. Why? To recreate that feeling. I know that one day when I do get a chance to sit down and do whatever I want with my time I'm going to have a huge library of different worlds to explore, different experiences to be had. And one thing that I noticed as I recollected on my childhood experience with those games my cousin got me: I didn't care how old they were, who was playing them or who wasn't, if they were the latest and greatest or not, I was just enjoying playing video games; experiencing new worlds that I never experienced before. And that's the relationship with games that I strive to maintain; actively strive to maintain; to not judge myself for not playing the latest game when everyone else is playing it; for not playing or beating a game until a year after it's been released and no one is playing it anymore. Because at the end of the day it's my experience with my hobby, not someone else's, so I should enjoy it comfortably and within the comfort of my own timeframe.
In terms of access and exclusivity, I have the opposite problem. I am always talking about games my irl friends don't know about and nobody around me in my town would know about the stuff I'm playing. I felt like an outcast because I was cursed with knowledge that NOBODY knew about except my internet friends. And so that's when I became an internet dweller primarily.
Before I comment I will say that this video was beautifully written. Idk if I am about to sound like I am mocking the video so I wanted to say that first because mocking it IS NOT MY INTENTION Its insane how people sometimes need to be reminded of things that should be self explainatory...like for exampel when you have adults who "need to be productive" all the time. No you dont. Its okay to take a break. Its okay to not care about work from time to time. Learn how to keep a good balance. I am sure I could come up with tons of stuff like this and it's suprising how often we need to have that explained to us
Thank you for making this video. Critically analyzing our relationship to video games is important, but it's unpopular to do so because it can trigger all sorts of defensiveness in people.
I really agree with the message of this video, and I have definitely experienced the backlog issue ever since I have gained more ability to buy games. However, in terms of gatekeeping my own ability to watch videos about a game that I started/want to start, I also think that spoilers play a role. As someone who has fallen in love with the stories of various games in the past, I have a slightly subconscious expectation to be moved by the later events of the story, and I fear that watching videos with potential spoilers will ruin everything. As your video points out, however, I think that at some point it is necessary to acknowledge when one's never going to play a game, and to be willing to "spoil" themselves if it will lead to greater enjoyment of the story than the person would otherwise get. On a side note, my transition to adulthood has been hard, but I feel like I've made progress weaning myself off of an obsessive mindset regarding games. As the series that I cared about for a long time like Zelda and Smash reach a new era on the Switch, I've been trying to find closure with these series that I once played so obsessively simply because they were series (Nintendo series, to be specific). I want to learn to live for myself first and foremost. That doesn't mean that I'll never play these games again, just that if I welcome them back into my life I'll be more conscientious of the joy I get from them, and I won't let obsessive gaming tendencies interfere with the other joys in life.😊
I've rolled credits on maybe 10% of the games I have ever played, and I'm totally okay with that. I try to keep a mindset that I am satisfied with a game so long as I got an hour of enjoyment per 1-2 dollars spent. A dollar an hour is a very good deal, and anything more than that is bonus. Two dollars an hour is less good, but if I really enjoyed those hours it's worth it. If I give up or run out of content before that, then I'll feel like I made a bad investment. If I spent 40 bucks on a game, then I'll keep playing even if I'm not loving it up to the 20 hour mark just to feel like I got my minimum dollar's worth. This also gives the game the opportunity to win me over if it is just an acquired taste.
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Hello everyone, thank you all so much for watching the video and leaving your thoughts about it! This is the first time I've had trouble keeping up with my comments section, so apologies if I missed yours- I've been trying to reply to all of them! It's been very nice to see you share your experiences with what I talked about in the video. I've also noticed many people share they've never really felt that way about playing games, and I wanna thank you all as well. One of the most important things to for people struggling with this sort of pressure is to see others saying, "hey yeah, I don't do that thing, you don't have to either! It's all good." I appreciate you all so much, and I'm happy we've kept the discussion mostly civilized!
😁
Millennial cringe self-love psychobabble liberal nonsense. Just finish the game or don't, talk about what you know and clarify what you don't. You're overthinking it.
Partly disagree - because the ending of a game (or any piece of media or even fiction) can really complete/round out an experience. Especially when the latter half or final act really ramps up. Or imagine not getting to the final scene of some of the harry potter movies and missing the train leaving for home sections. Or dropping LotR and missing out on everyone bowing to Frodo & co. Plus I say this as someone who's got multiple games on hiatus right at the end or numerous other points.
Watching someone else or reading a synopsis only does so much, it's not YOUR experience. Which is also why watching a stream/walkthrough/let's play is nowhere near the same as you playing it.
You need to finish a game
Unless your a TH-camr making thousands of videos with a ton of money. You need to finish a game and see the full work and art of thousands of people rather than ignoring the art people bust their butt to make
I always feel vaguely bad about not finishing games, so this is nice to hear.
You're not alone! It's a common feeling, one I wanted to express in this video.
I was the same for awhile then I realized I can still enjoy the time i spent with a game without feeling the need to finish it. If I’m satisfied with my time and don’t feel like playing the game anymore, that’s completely fine.
Vaguely? I hate myself when I don’t.
Same dude! However I’ve got into a thing where I’m ok as long as I’ve seen most everything, unless I spent like the full 60, which I never do, there’s no need for that imposition I put in myself.
Personally I only push through to completion if I reallly enjoy it (since enjoyment is the goal at the end of the day) otherwise I play till ot isnt fun anymore. This way I have fun when I play and if I want to go back to the game theres still some stuff left for me to do
more and more I've found myself asking the same questions while playing games
"Are you still having fun?"
"Do you find yourself thinking about the game when you aren't playing it?"
"Are you excited to sit down and start a gaming session with the game?"
"Is the game holding your attention?"
"How long into your session do you find your interest waning and how soon after you stop playing do you want to start playing again?"
If the answers to these questions don't line up in the game's favor, I'll stop. I have too many games that I could be playing and too little time to waste it on something. It was totally acceptable to do it when I was in school and had all the time in the world and only like 5 games to choose from. Adulting really shifts your perspective
Those questions are why I'm still obsessed with Payday 2.
no shame in putting a game (especially a long one) down and coming back to it later with fresh eyes. I've done this with like every final fantasy I've played, Persona 5 and Cyberpunk.
It's why I quit playing Destiny 2 and started playing Monster Hunter
@@basshead160 Did that with Mario 64 and Little Nightmares. Can't recommend enough. Makes it so much more fun when you come back.
i play games in a very "nomadic" way, where i play for a week or two, then take a break and play something else, and come back to it months later, sometimes years, unless it's a new release or animal crossing or splatoon, which i play semi-consistently, but i take breaks with even those.
"This isn't the nature of recreation, it's the nature of business"
*polite applause*
That hit so hard.
Business works its greedy little tendrils into every aspect of our lives. We need to actively and aggressively "un-business" our personal lives before we go insane.
@@ArcangelZero7We need the French Revolution, towards capitalists
@@mr.x2567 We don't need a revolution. Do you know why it's called a "revolution"? Because they just keep coming around ...
We need an *evolution* heh
Really powerful thesis, such a good video
I am loving the most recent push these days of "Shorter Games, Please!" People turn up their nose at an eight hour playtime but the game is more likely to focus on quality control rather than endless padding and fetch quests to keep you there Forever. They demand less of your time and I feel more accomplished for finishing it and keeping my life healthy.
8 hour games for $70?? No thanks.
Shorter games are fine just not at current Gen pricing. It's not worth it
@@Shadowwing1994 An 8 hour game that's so good I can replay it 10 times is far better than a mediocre game that takes 80 hours due to excessive grinding requirements.
Short games have become so much more accessible now that there's gamepass and psplus extra. You can't use the full game price excuse anymore. Time is now more important than cost. At a certain point the long games start to feel like a job and a resentment creeps in.
@@OliveOcelotwell but those subscriptions again force you into finishing games. You pay I don’t know 15$ a month or so (don’t know about the current prices to be fair) and this at least makes you feel like you need to start a new game every month so the money pays out. If I buy a game I own it and no further money is charged from me if I don’t finish it in time. But as always all things have their pros and cons.
@@SouLP196 I understand where your coming from but it costs like 80 bucks for the whole year. The price of a lot of new games. Most games stay there for at least a year. So it's either buy one game or have access to hundreds for the same price.
It's kinda like movies. Most people watch a movie once and move on but some people like collecting them while they collect dust.
Either way short games don't take much commitment. Some take as long as a long movie would. A single sitting and it's over. No need to buy, no need to replay. 7/month well spent. It's kinda like the same price as blockbuster used to be for one 3 days rental but now you get it for the whole month plus access to the entire store as a bonus.
This is a fantastically delivered anti-FOMO lecture on the habit of compulsive completionism and impulse purchases. Kudos.
I don't play any games that do FOMO purely because it begins to feel like a job, I have to play 5 more hours this week or I won't get the weekly item and it'll be gone forever thing, it's makes the experience frustrating when I have to choose between something important in the real world and grinding for that weapon skin that will be gone forever if I don't get it now.
I just don't see the need to play them when I have so many games that I can complete at my own pace, on my own schedule and put down whenever I get bored and know it will still be there when I want to play it again, games like final fantasy, Skyrim, and the older halo games are solid examples of this.
FOMO = [F]ear [O]f [M]issing [O]ut
Just putting this here to save some people a few clicks and keyboard presses lol.
@@TealComet you my hero
I love how the kid saying "my uncle works at Nintendo" is a universal childhood memory within the gaming community
My friend's uncle works at Rockstar. 😐
@@MrMan-7703 My aunts brothers nephews daughter in laws child works at Ljn....wait...
That's because Nintendo only hires uncles.
My childhood friend's "uncle" worked at Sony (was at the height of Playstation 1 popularity).
Its funnier when all of them were just lying.
This is literally what has been dragging me down for years and what ruined my gaming experience. Thank you for making this. You’re blowing a huge hole into the industry and showing thing I never even saw.
I felt it needed to be said, and I'm glad so many people feel the same way!
lmao what a clown
I'm late to the party but this completionist mindset can be detrimental in ways I didn't think was this widespread. My anxiety is lifted abit now
I feel this. Growing up, you only get a small hand full of games. As an adult I have bought so many games, some I never even touch just because I finally have the money to buy them.
I've found that I now have the money for games, but not the time to play them, at least not the way I used to. There are people complaining about games "only" being 10ish hours long, meanwhile I'm barely putting 3-5 hours into any given game before I stop playing it.
@@ShyBoy6ty9I feel so sad knowing my job exploited me into working 60+ average hours works during the year of 2020. That felt like the final time I would have had to simply play games and not stress over working or life. I still want my own personal lockdown. We all know that will not happen again
Yeah. And they have us paying for a service with infinite game for free, not really free, but it's like scrolling through Netflix for a hours looking for something to watch.
@jalene150 If it makes you feel better I worked through the entire lockdown as well.
Also, when growing up, finishing more and more of the game let you talk more about it with your friends at school. But as an adult, it's pretty rare that you play the same games or see people with as much regularity anymore. I can finish the game but if there's no one to share that with, there's less incentive to do it.
Developers havent been finishing games for the last 10 years
lmao well put
FACTS!
For real though
Who are you to decide what constituts as a finished game?
@@keslerjenkins9683 Because im someone that plays them
One thing I've learned at forty years old is that the point of playing all these games is that you occasionally find that one game you want to finish. Now, Imagine if I had never tried No More Heroes 3: I would've missed one of the most fun game finishing experiences of last year.
Imo, you can't be wrong about how you feel about a game, no matter what point in the game you're at. If you start a game and it has the best opening couple of hours, you can love the first couple of hours. If it gets boring after, you weren't wrong about those first couple hours, just what follows didn't hold up.
Excellent point. Not all games can sustain high quality for numerous hours. I find that a lot of games have too much filler, which is why I tend to ignore a lot of the extra content if possible. Some of my favorite games are relatively short for that reason.
Conkers bad furday
@@josephbrown9685 I also always felt bad when I was skipping dialogues in games, especially free to play games. All because the dialogue feels like being dragged on and not too important or exciting at all. But in some other games I am so heavily invested in them that I go out of my way to interact with characters to read even more.
@@Asakedia I understand. Certain games have good stories where more dialog adds to the experience but never feel bad about skipping excessive dialog in games with uninteresting stories.
@@Asakedia that's me currently skipping most of the dialogue for the final hours of fallout 4 because I need to get to the ending. I have to beat the game before I start the next one in my backlog.
As someone with ADHD, finishing games has always been a struggle for me. It’s nice to be reminded that beating a game isn’t everything, and shouldn’t be a responsibility. If a game isn’t good enough to finish, we don’t have to.
Same!
I also have ADHD, and its also hard for me to finish games. Only the ones I really like will I beaten
Same. I got so many games. Lol I haven’t even completed the new god of war. Got right to about the end and just haven’t felt the want to turn it on.
Same,couldn't even finish this video tbh😂💔
100% same. I will beat a game I absolutely love, and cannot force myself through anything less
Damn if this aint some real shit I needed to hear, I say as someone who made a fucking spread sheet to track the games I'm playing this year with the express purpose of beating more games
I have a spreadsheet to track my collection and have a column to mark of it's been beat.
+1 to the spreadsheet crew 🤦♂️🥴
There are a few sites that make the process a bit easier. I personally use backloggery, but I know there's others.
Small tip for others who like keeping track of stuff.
@@AirRideMaster I keep a copy of my google doc spreadsheet saved for offline viewing. I garage sale and go to rural places to hunt for.games where there isnt always a cell signal or wifi.
What school did you go to where playing the latest video game = popular? It’s never bad to wait weeks after release due to bugs that gets patched up.
Another insecurity I have is also the fear of stopping, even if you're burned out on a game. Either because there's so much stuff to do it becomes a laundry list, or because your attention is pulled elsewhere and you don't wanna abandon it. It's painful leaving behind a game you love, but you can't continue because you've gorged so much on it. You keep going because you fear if you stop, you'll never come back to it. And then it feels like unfinished business if you do abandon it.
Skyrim in a nutshell.
I'm starting to burn up more often with games, but the way I see it it's a good thing. This way I can focus on my social life, my books, my art, and when I'm ready to come back I get a lot more enjoyment from it
@@UKB2056 Yeah, that's a good perspective.
This is called sunk cost fallacy, you’ve put so much time into something you feel like giving it up is a waste of all that time you’ve put into it on a subconscious level
The video game backlog is so real. I was always a fan of video games as a kid but never had my own console or games, I had to watch playthroughs on TH-cam. When I got my first job I went crazy. I bought my very own PlayStation and all the games I had ever wanted to play as a kid. I keep jumping between games and find myself unable to complete them due to the fact there is *so* much media I had yearned to have at my fingertips since I was a kid. It gets overwhelming, especially the thought that I was somehow wasting my money by not squeezing games for everything they have. Thank you for this very refreshing take!
I never owned any games I rented them
The month when I signed up for GamePass I felt horrible because I felt obligated to play and finish so many great games because I paid for it. Even the fee being so small. It's a weird feeling.
Take it differently. Personally my rule if thumb is 1€ for 1 hours of fun, 5€ for 1 hours of absolute fun. I compare it directly to watching a movie.
Man. Screw sub fees period!
@@Justacheese $15/month for a dozen games is great, sooo...no thanks
honestly every time i desperately WANT to play a game, i question myself if i’m gonna still be playing it in a month. if probably not, i just buy game pass to play for a little while
@@PrimarchRoboleonFrenchyman haha, I pretty much do the same thing, xD. 1 to 2 € for each hour of fun feels is what feels fair to me, xD.
my biggest problem, is that there are so many games I've bought that I do want to play, not out of obligation from peers or for paying money, but purely because it was a game I wanted to play. The issue I run into the most is choice paralysis - which of these many games do I want to play? The fact that there's so little free-time in adult life makes each time a lot more stressful than it really needs to be - during Covid, since I had no work and had to make sure I saved money, I finally went back and played a bunch of those games, from Dragon Quest XI to Astral Chain, and I fell in love with almost every one I tried. I guess that's my biggest problem - I know I'm gonna love these games when I play them, but I don't have enough time to dedicate to them as I'd want, especially when there are also new releases to account for that I am anticipating.
I struggle with this too, and as dumb as it may sound, my boyfriend's advice is always simply - just pick one, any one. This is specifically because I will just watch TH-cam (hi, haha) or do anything else rather than make a decision, and then wish I'd put some time into a game instead of wasting time in indecision. On the days you really can't decide though, a random number generator and a numbered list of your games could honestly work too! If you're excited for all of them, it'll give you somewhere to start, and if you aren't, maybe take the title you roll off your list (or put it on a secondary list if it makes you feel better) and accept that sometimes you feel like a certain vibe. Good luck :)
@@amyb2589I'm glad to see someone suggested it cus I was honestly about to say hey just use a site that will generate some random result 😆 i don't personally do it but if I were ever THAT indecisive I think I prolly would
Same here, sometimes I’ll catch myself forcing myself to finish tho even if I’ve lost interest or am no longer enjoying it
Buy games only physically, put them on a physical pile of shame and only play from top to bottom. When you buy a new game this forces you to decide which place on the pile it will occupy. You can still reshuffle it whenever you want, but you always have a clear understanding of what is up next. If you buy a new game that you REALLY want to play now, put it on the top, but finish the game you currently play first before starting with the new one.
@@RCL89 Expensive and a bit impractical in the modern age isn't it? Many games don't come in physical copies, and sales are more common for digital copies. And if anything people I know who have many physical copies of games tend to not play any of them, compared to a steam library where they're all available to download.
Thank you I needed someone to give me this permission.
You're welcome!
I have been having a hard time completing my favorite games pass 30 hrs or so for years lol
It's okay to not finish a game!
Here you go, now two people have granted you permission! If you had fun even a little bit of time, that's important. If it just wasn't your cup of tea, then you learned a genre, a mechanic, whatever that you don't really like in games, and that's helpful in order to avoid spending $60 on more games that you won' play.
@@papageorge4852 I just have a nasty habit of playing to the middle of the game then stopping. Then someday possibly years down the line I'll pick one of my half finished games and finish it up.
@@JerryTerrifying I have 200 games on steam.. Most of them I downloaded them played 2 to 5 hours and never came back. I just now organised it into "backlog", "finished", "dont really like it", "multiplayer" and "maaaaaybe some day".
If I like the game, I won't allow myself to download sth else until I reach to the point of not enjoying play it because I dont like it or im not in the mood so I'll move it to maaaaaybe some day. I ended up finishing BDSM (Big Drunk Satanic Massacre), Resident Evil 3 Remake, Tomb Raider (2013), Bioshock Infinite, GTA 3 and GTA Vice City.
"No one expects you to cash optimize when you go bowling" - what a powerful point
It can actually be a really great measure of enjoyment to say that you did or did not finish a game. As in an endorsement of how engaging it is
I realized this a few years ago and changed my perspective. I used to keep spreadsheets of games listing them in order of priority to complete. Now I just play what I feel like playing for fun.
I feel you man, I had that too. I even had the lists separated out to different consoles lol, with the goal of basically moving those lists of games into a “completed” list. Didn’t realize how miserable gaming can become until I broke free of that.
Your old method is way better, lol
lol. Well my Steam Wishlist is very long hahaha@@Ireee702
@@Ireee702video games are meant to be fun so no it wasn’t, his new method is better 😂
Dude, this was awesome. Super well put together. It definitely speaks to what A LOT of us feel. Games are becoming a second job these days.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Last part rang so true... The milking incentive of companies has ruined so many games. Giving us grind and filler and chores instead of letting us move on and do what we feel like.
It's counterproductive too because it burns us out on something then why would we buy the sequel?
I think the saddest bit for me as an adult is looking around at "Western society" and seeing that everything models a job anymore. Everything assumes you're "homo-economicus" and everything is a business transaction, attention==currency dynamics just make it 10x more complicated.
Dating is viewed like job interviews cycling through "applicants" and tossing them when they "no longer fit with your vision."
Gaming is all some kind of "value analysis" and you feel guilty for not keeping up.
Self-improvement isn't for your own satisfaction, everything is to make you a "more attractive applicant" to either show off online, get a job, or find a mate, or all of the above.
Neoliberalism is a cancerous tumor I hope we're not too late to excise and eject into space.
I've been struggling with all of these feelings for a while now. This year I finally did a lot of thinking and soul-searching, and figured out I was using video games for escapism. It came to a point I was not even having fun anymore, as other aspects of my life were falling behind. This combined with the weird guilt of abandoning games unfinished, was impacting my mental health. I drastically reduced the amount of time I spend gaming and started a manual hobby (miniature painting) and singing lessons (plus daily practice) in my free time instead. It was the best decision I made in a while.
Now I know from where my completionist obsession same from 😂 still struggle to accept that I did not complete all the games even though I hated those 😂
you just don't love video games anymore, that's all
There's been this disconnect between what gamers want and what developers want. They seem to push onto us huge open worlds, 100+ hour experiences full of chores that don't make the game fun anymore but gives us a feeling that we at least got our moneys worth.
Short games are becoming the unsung heroes to counter this. It's where the risk taking is happening (instead of repeating the tried and true formula year after year) and we get really unique and fun experiences as a result.
The best part of getting over how one feels others judge you, is playing games that you think they won't approve of. RDR just ported to the switch and it one can get past the no online multiplayer aspect and the fact that the are two games in the bundle for $50, it's really a good game. Or how Nexomon is the best Pokemon game I've ever played just at his the characters can emote and how the game creates humor by using pop culture references and the world works within itself and it's universe, yet since it's ripping off Pokemon "stop the world". Don't worry about others, worry about yourself and how you want to feel. Let God help you. Acknowledge first, God's grace, of course and he will gladly help.
I think often times we, as gamers also don't know what we want.
To me a game with thousand of hours sounds like a good deal but...then when I'm actually playing it, I realize I don't have all that time and patience anymore as I did when I was 8.
I think it's because of how some of us grew up, I always thought a good game was one you had to sink hours and hours in, I often think back to many old JRPGS like FF7, for example...but now I'm not sure if those games are worth my time really. Maybe they never really were my thing but I somehow forced myself to think I should be playing them anyway.
I have Monster Hunter World for PS4 sitting on a shelf and the thought of grinding for armor pieces just doesn't sound appealing to me anymore...tbh it stopped being appealing as I grew older, thank god I had friends in HS that would help me grind for materials in MH4U, lol. THAT was fun.
Honestly, I like to spend my day doing so many things (when I can) that the time for playing games isn't much anymore.
Well I happen to love huge long games you can loose yourself in. Maybe you should start retro gaming instead?
Brother, I didn't even finish this video.
@@mitchfindergeneral lol
@@mitchfindergeneralyou need discipline
Well said. I’ve learned to put a title down the moment I get disinterested. I enjoy most titles but get burned out sometimes. So, I put it down, grab something new/ different and play. I always have the option to return, I just need a break at times.
Plus I’m a grown ass man with grown man responsibilities. The last thing I want to do is “grind” through a title that sucks up my time and not enjoy it. I play to relax and have fun after all.
Exactly!
It's these open world dumpster fires responsible for this. They create 4 side quests....and then duplicate each one 50 times.
I played AC Origins - which means I've also played - AC oddesy, AC Valhalla and the Witcher 3 ( seriously - what is up with that overrated trash? ) .... Fuck that game
The classic "I'm an adult now so I just play to relax" really wish they'd stop catering games to your ilk. Bet you want the Souls series to have an easy mode too huh ?
@@paz1514 That's not all what was just said - READ MY POST, instead.
It's the lazy, repetitive crap people are getting burned out on.... Again - when a developer creates 4 side quests and then duplicates each one 50 times. This has been a problem for a decade now.... Every single open world game is trash....
Including Elden Ring - What kind of a masochist wants to fight the same boss 55 times??!!! .... Those games are for nut jobs.
@@paz1514 Low effort bait.
This is exactly how I felt about writing papers at university. I wouldn't start writing until I was sure I had all the facts right. Why? Because it's been engraved in my brain that everything I say needs to be backed up by evidence. And while that's true in an academic setting, it also sets up this vicious circle of having an idea, researching a topic, finding more ideas, and doing more research in order to build a solid foundation to base argument upon. It just never ends. I often found myself stricken by fear and anxiety because no matter what I did or how many hours I'd invested in doing it, it'd never be good enough. I'd read these fensy journal articles and wonder when or how I could ever achieve that level of smartness. I kept hearing lecturers say, this is what you should aspire to. As a result, I'd lose motivation even if I liked the topic. And when the results came, I'd realize that I could've done better. More often than not, I'd think that I didn't do enough. But sometimes there'd be that voice in my head that would say, no, you could've achieved better results if you weren't so darn focused on doing too much. And of course, there's the eternal competition between students. I tried to tell myself that I didn't care about others and that I'd do my own thing. But it hurts to not be the best. That's just how it is. We're being "encouraged" to be perfectionist to make us look smart. Because the more research you put into your work, the better, y'know. You can't make a solid argument if you don't know everything. You have to absorb an encyclopedias content and become the Encyclopedia. But I feel like that's a fool's errand. I've noticed the difference between over researching and doing research, setting limits and learning to be satisfied with it. My ideas are more coherent and comprehensible when I don't try to sound smart or when I let it go and just write the paper with what few but meaningful evidence I've ghathered. I've always had low self confidence when it comes to writing, especially because I'm not a native speaker. So I always get pleasantly surprised when someone says they like my writing. I'm slowly learning to be kinder to myself. But old habits die hard. All this to say that this doesn't only apply to video games, but to any and every aspect of our lives, especially if it's remotely fun. You have to like what you're doing or you won't feel satisfied or fulfilled.
As a student, I needed to hear this. I'm definitely falling into the rabbit hole of over researching. I know this comment is a year old but thank you for typing this.
@@HaircombMan Aah I'm glad if it helps somehow. Over researching is such a hard habit to kick off. Good luck in your studies ♥️
I work in academia and I've also experienced this a lot - to the point that my work gets slower as I discover an ever-increasing body of literature that I feel I need to digest before I can say anything with any legitimacy. Knowing your limits and knowing what's "good enough" is a very important life skill that I wish I had developed much earlier.
This is such a fucking mood!
% 100 agree with you as someone who spends all my time researching the best strategies to be the best at games, life, and work instead of actually just enjoying, and learning organically from experiencing the game, life, or work. Great insight
This hits so close to home with me, playing games has turned more into a chore than actually sitting down and enjoying the actual game itself. This video was something I've been needing to hear for a couple of years now, thank you!!!
Close to home* I think that's what you meant right?
@@anonymousdonkey. Yeah, thanks.
My god...dude this spoke to me on a deeply, DEEPLY personal level. We not only are of a very close age but had a similar upbringing when it came to financial restrictions. Everything you talk about in this from wanting to beat the games you very seldom got to rent as a kid to feeling left out by the console wars in high school, this video took me through a journey through my gaming past. Thank you so much for putting the effort into this. You've got a sub in me mate 👍
This is so true. Now i got a job and fast internet. Steam sales, humble bundles, epic free claims. So many games to play and no time.
This is not a video I personally need, but holy hell it's a topic I've literally never seen discussed that definitely deserves discussion
It's a stigma we gamers have inherited. It's no different being told to finish watching this TV series, anime, or movie franchises. Sure, he have to finish our interaction with it, but nobody should tell you to so you can avoid being antagonized for it in any capacity. Tell any responsible adult to finish a game or show when his responsibilities lie elsewhere.
Take your time with what you need. You can finish it, but you don't HAVE to right away.
Great discussion, GC. This is kinda inspiring me to make something similar.
Thank you! Dishing out inspiration is one of my favorites pasttimes.
This is something I knew as a kid. I don’t think I finished a single game I owned, not by myself anyway. The Spyro games, Pokémon White and Heartgold, Fossil Fighters, and lots of online games too. I’d often start new save files and overwrite old ones, usually by accident, but I never really had an issue with it, and with Pokémon I’d usually just mess around with other activities once I got to the elite four, I wasn’t skilled enough to beat them.
Now I’m grown. When I get a game, I either don’t enjoy it enough to play it at all, or I enjoy it and beat the hell out of myself trying to do as much as I possibly can. I was happier playing games as a kid. I have so much nostalgia for the first portions of the games I played because they were the parts I played the most. I think I need to relearn how to have fun with the medium I love so much
Hey a fossil fighters fan!
Described my current situation perfectly
I didn't think I enjoyed games, until I played actually really good games
And not games everyone loves, but games that are almost like made for me specifically
This video, man. This video hits.
I've been trying to get myself back to gaming like I used to do in my childhood and teens, but it's been hard.
Trying to engage in a boring ass Assassin's Creed wasn't making it.
Then I downloaded and met a little cute baby game named Celeste and GOD DAMMIT I had fun (still trying to finish C sides a whole year later).
And it ignited the passion I needed to get back to it.
I went at it and finished Tomb Raider which I know is accessible and not too long with fun moments and a decent story.
And now I met that beautiful thing named Hollow Knight, it's been kicking my ass painfully every time I start it but the art style, the music and the really difficult yet fair combat got me hooked and I accepted the challenge.
TLDR: play games to have fun and find what works for you; super gigantic open worlds or 2D linear platformers, ultra mega insanely realistic graphics or indie original different art styles. Just find your jam and have a lot of fun with it!
This video kinda made me feel a certain way. I genuinely thought I was the weird kid at school for actually beating games, literally everyone I grew up with got everything they asked for so they never actually beat anything they just moved onto the next game. I always got made fun of for still playing a game from the previous year while everyone around me had moved on to the newest game. Its kinda nice to know that I wasn't the only one who actually beat games as a kid
Being a completionist takes dedication. And it serves as proof that you can see things through even beyond gaming.
I usually refuse myself the access to other games until I have finished the campaign of the one I am currently playing. I have over 500 games on steam, a subscription to GamePass and I buy games faster than I can finish them. Last week, I stopped playing Outer Worlds, even if I liked it. I uninstalled it to remove the guilt feeling I would get when booting another game. The GamePass subscription gave me the opportunity to try games ''for free'' and learn to not finish them because I value my time and I shouldn't shame myself for not finishing a game. What I want is to have fun and I shouldn't put game completion in front of the fun factor.
I have just wanted to hear this. No, more like I have just NEEDED to hear this. I've spent a lot collecting games but they have never been installed or played. I spent my time playing a few games in particular, because I am still having fun playing those few, but I also have some kind of guilt not playing other purchased games. Thank you so much for the discussion.
Glad I could help!
@@PlearnGaming พี่! มาทำอะไรที่นี้!
I had the opposite issue in High School. I didn't WANT the games everyone my friends included had. I wanted them to play what I was. They played on PC online, shooters, etc a lot of the trendy stuff I had zero interest in and was playing KH3 and BOTW on my Switch and PS4, lol.
I'm a doctor. Im a dad. I don't game as much anymore. I hate that about myself but I do my best to keep my hobbie alive. But when I don't have the energy to do so I go to TH-cam. And you my dude are of my best discoveries of year. Thank you so much for your effort in this video. It hits home so perfectly. Thanks man.
I've been the same way for awhile. I even had some friends gate keep me just because I couldn't finish a game. As a young Adult responsibilities start becoming more of a priority for me and i wish my friends would understand that finishing games should not become a stressful job they're made to be an escape and have fun. Currently now I feel a lot better and i have now been able to finish games but im glad this video exists because as a kid I used to only get games on special occasions like Christmas, birthdays, and school grades but now as a young adult with a minimum wage paying job i spent most of my money since 2020 on games and i have a huge backlog.
Few years late, but 11:41. This moment was pretty damn strong for me as you slowly piece together your point/thought. Hearing "A game... is an investment? I think?" genuinely struck me because I've said those exact words half-jokingly. Hearing it echoed through that lens made me realize just the kind of unfortunate relationship I've stumbled into with gaming. Looks like it's time for me to break that and rediscover what made me love games so much...
Backlog encourages me to think very carefully before each game purchase. I use to buy many new game on release day, but now I buy a game once, maybe twice a year.
This might be one of the most important videos on youtube about videogames. I have been feeling like this for a while now. Watching the video and looking at the comments, I see I'm not the only one. I even tried to organize my games list and then went back to only highlight games that I wanted to play that week, but I didn't know how to put this sensation into words, and I feel your video hepled me view this issue in a more general way. I'm sure it's going to help a lot of people.
Thank you so much for making it
The part where you talk about the mental aspect of making TH-cam videos, and wether the effort was worth it. That hit home for me.
I stopped making TH-cam videos because nobody was watching. (Left Earth - Bad Ads 1, 2, and 3)
100+ hours of work for a 10 minute video.
It became a job that didn't pay.
_Don't let your dreams die, Bro._
This one showed up on my recommendations just in time. Not to mention how close to home the intro was.❤
There’s a reason only a specific amount of people beat games. It’s not because a game is too hard or challenging; if you enjoy a game then you won’t notice it as challenging. It’ll seem fun, not hard. A game with a higher completion percentage is most likely a game that is highly praised and loved by many.
It's strange that in a way that never till recently I got the social pressure of playing games. As a kid I was an only child and a very lonely kid all the way through high school, I was the only gamer in my friend group even in senior year, so only now at 21 do I feel that pressure but I still knew I had to beat games as a kid, as a teen that pressure lightened slightly, more just habit from my childhood but then adulthood happened. Mainly from elitism from fanbases along with the fact that games go out seemingly faster than ever. I've been playing through the SMT games and I've played through SMT 2 three separate times now just for fun, just to see everything, sure I'm still beating the game but it's cause I want to now.
You don't have to beat games cool people, you beat games when you want to, it's okay to not play whatever everyone is playing, what your friends know, or what you missed, do that cause YOU want to, do it cause you feel happy doing it.
I like this video essay, and all of your points are right, but I feel like pointing out how childish feeling obligated to finish a game takes some of the child-like joy away from video games. As a film student I see games as stories, even if the main story created for the game is bad or non-existent I still feel like my value comes from the journey that the game took me through and how I grew as a person. I have nearly all the important games of the last 20 years and have only played a fraction of them, but I am still proud of my collection not because it says something about me, but it gives me the sense of being a part of something that develops through time I have reference points for new games and can find comfort in knowing when allusions are being made and homage is being payed to great games of the past.
This is so good. The only games you need to finish are the ones you want to. There are plenty of games that I have gotten to busy to finish, but I want to, those are worth going back to. There are other games I don't super want to finish so I don't. Right now I have the most amount of unfinished games in my library, but the mindset of going back only when I want to is freeing. It's a fun hobby. That's what it should be.
More videos like this need to exist! Thank you! I don't always complete some of the games I've played because not 100% completion is not worth getting. More to life than video games coming from a gamer myself.
This is so spot on! I've been working through this guilt the last couple years. What a breath of fresh air with this honesty.
Glad it helped! :D
"Game completion is so obsessed nowadays, people gate-keep and invalidate each other’s opinions based on how far they made it while playing them."
Being up-to-date on a long-running series seems to be more important than caring about its trajectory, its quality, and the conditions it was made in." seems right on, because I'm way better about quitting one-off games than I am a game in a series. Games like Amnesia Dark Descent and I Am Alive bored me so much that I didn't even want to start them up again to continue playing, so I just didn't. And after a few days of that, I realized I was just done, and uninstalled them.
The best way to describe how I felt during the video:
HIMYM *glass shattering", but realizing my own flaws.
Man I really needed this. I have so many different games on multiple platforms (on my PS5, Switch, Xbox and Steam) that I haven’t completed. So many games, so much money spent, and I just couldn’t finish them. Then it makes me feel like I’m a fake fan of said franchises. I really want to consider myself a fan, but I just can’t complete it. Sometimes it’s either cause it’s too hard, too long or just both. Whenever a game doesn’t interest me enough, it feels wrong. There’s only a select few video game franchises I’ve ever felt truly invested in to the point of playing and completing every game (multiple times even) but I guess that really says something then, because it means I’ve found the series for me.
Sometimes I’m just not too invested in a game even from a series I like. For example I’ve been a Sonic fan for like 10 years and yet I struggled to complete the new game Sonic Frontiers, and a friend of mine who is new to the Sonic series was able to complete it, even though I actually owned the game for even longer. And that just made me feel like such a fake fan, because while I enjoyed previous Sonic games, and while I still loved this one, I just couldn’t complete it. Once again, it felt so wrong.
But after watching this video, I definitely did start to feel a little better. So thank you so much for that! It did help me with comfort.
It is not necessary to finish games the important thing is you have fun
@@Vergil1233x agreed. That’s what gaming is all about, and I realise that now. Besides, if you’re not enjoying something it’s probably best to just stop. That’s what I do now
I've been struggling a lot lately with this same thing, particularly the idea that if I buy a game and don't finish it, I've wasted money and time. Even when I get most of my games on sale and they end up being around $10 each. I try to tell myself that if I went to the movies I'd spend like $15 for ~2 hours of content that I might not like, so if that happens with a game that I spent $10 on, is it really that different?
This is honestly a good way to manage it! Keep things in perspective.
I've been trying to avoid buying games unless they have a demo I can try. Which not a lot of games have on Steam, but more than I expected. Sometimes I'll try to find a copy online and if I like it, I'll buy it.
I find that I bounce off of games pretty hard nowadays so buying them is often a waste. But I've also been going through my library for games I got in bundles and stuff that I thought I'd never like/play but actually ended up loving. Like Steamworld Dig. Goddamn, I owned both games for years but never played them. So yeah it's pretty fun to just try random games in my libraries just to see if I like them. Having decent internet definitely helps, but indie games are relatively small so that also helps a lot.
i think this is partly a problem with how we consume games. going to the movies is different in that you can't 'impulse' buy a movie ticket and save it for a later time.
with digital game libraries literally just a click away, i think we're a lot more susceptible to marketing. it's hard work resisting all those flashy sales.. and digital storefronts / publishers know and exploit this.
EXACTLY it. I try to do that but still feeling pressured of finishing a game. Hope it will pass.
To be fair you are keeping the game. That's why you can go back to it and play it later. Gaming should be fun. You should be able to play how you want to play. If you don't want to play a game anymore then that's cool man, you do you. Just have fun. People turn gaming to a chore and forget that it's supposed to be for fun.
Great video man, glad to see you're getting more active with the uploads
Appreciate it! There's gonna be more. >:D
Can't relate. I am rather picky with the games I play and tend to finish them. However, nobody I know cares about the crap I play so there is no way to show off.
As a kid I was very rarely finishing games. I was even satisfied with just playing one level over and over again. Part of that is obviously because I was too bad at them and I also didn't understand english, but I genuinely wasn't getting bored of doing it over and over again.
It's only now, as an adult, where I feel the need to finish the game because otherwise I feel like I didn't get my money's worth. Of course I don't have that problem with games that I got for free. If I didn't spend money on it, then I don't feel like I have an obligation to even open it, I can safely let those gather dust.
I have a lot to say about this.... First of all, letting go of everything you discussed has made me able to play games with more enjoyment instead of this OCD feverish attachment I had with games that put a bunch of weird rules on how I should play a game and enjoy my leisure time.
Ironically it's joining a community of backloggers and watching youtube videos of finishing my backlog that helped me get to that point. It made me get over my analysis paralysis and has turned me into the type of gamer that's willing to expand and play a multitude of different types of games and I enjoy them without that feverish attachment.
Unfortunately it also made me amplify that feverish attachment during that backlog process from treating games like it's my job to complete them and being hyper analytical of flaws, just so I can move on to another game I want to play instead of just taking the risk of playing games calmly and possibly not getting the best experience out of it.
I graduated last year and got my Diploma of Counselling. I have every reason not to finish games but I managed to finish at least 3 to 4 games. I did it by letting go of this OCD rule in my head of: "I haven't played this game for two years, therefore I won't play my original save file and start the game again". Letting go of that rule helped me finish those games and let me enjoy playing those games more and enjoy replaying them. This was done ironically by letting go of trying to finish the game and just play imperfectly.
What helped me enjoy games more, is letting go of this feverish attachment to finish games and just take the time to enjoy them. Doing the backlog challenge that you see gamers post videos about was fun for me only when I took off the yearly time limit expectation off and made my only goal to just start a new game and play. Great Video 10/10.
I actually thought this would be about tears of the kingdom (not seeing the date of the video), since both creators and some of my friends have already dumped hundreds of hours into the game, alongside completing it. It surprised me you talked about this culture in general, and I think it's very telling, to furthering your point, that I expected that. I think this video was overall fantastic, and I'm excited to see what's next for your channel ❤
For me it was lol, I'm struggling to come back to it to finish and came across this video. Been playing totk for nearly 2 months trying to do EVERYTHING. I'm literally at the end(have been for 2weeks now)and have about 30 sidequests still left and am completely burned out! I think it's overstimulating me with all the content!
Heck, with this video you expressed every emotion and concern I felt about the need to complete every game. But now, I always try to focus on a title that really interests me, but the need to complete each game is always lurking there.
Good luck! I think as long as you're having fun doing it, play for as long as you want! But once it starts to feel like a chore or something on a to-do list, it may be time to stop!
Damn. I didn’t think this was going to be the video I needed today. Thanks for making this!
Thank you for watching! Glad I could fill a need!
"People are afraid of missing put on the sequel that they'll prevent themselves from playing it until they beat the preceding game"
This hits home with me and Tears Of The Kingdom. Haven't finished Breath Of The Wild
at the same time, i feel like not finishing botw kind of muted my desire to play totk. like, botw is a game i'll pick up every few months, try to remember what i was working towards last time, and just hang out in for a while, then put away until next time. i don't really need another game for that as well, so i'm probably just not going to pick up totk. i respect what it's got going on, love all the costumes, and am glad for the people who were excited for it, i just don't see ever playing it myself.
Honestly man, I love zelda more than most and even I never got around to botw, and here I am damn near non stop on totk, like I know I would appreciate it more (or maybe less since a fair bit of it can be sorta same samey) but with how little story there actually was in botw far as I'm aware, I just didn't mind it.
From what I've heard too there's very little callback or mention of events in botw outside of quick little "hey I remember when you did such and such" in a vague manner from side quest characters, hell even the guardians from botw and the towers that unlocked the map on there are just entirely gone, far as sequels go? It might be one of the worst for acting like the previous one existed, and its BECAUSE they wanted to let people like you or me play, for better or for worse. So watch a quick recap video or some longer lore one if you want, but don't feel bad for skipping out, you can always go back to it if you want too, tho I doubt you'll want to go back 😂
@@SSlash fr man. I suddenly got busy with school after the pandemic and just didn't know what to do anymore to go back to the game. It's like I don't remember what I was doing, what I was going after. Maybe I'll try a recap and go at it again, but for the time being I can't see myself finishing it. Botw will still be one of my favourites no matter
I haven't started Breath of the wild because I'm trying to finish Twilight princess
Thank you for making this video. It helped a lot to hear someone talking through this topic, especially how you covered the different reasons we feel pressure to finish everything (from recreational gaming to content creation), and how you were open with your own current state of being caught in the loop.
Glad it was helpful!
Im having a hard time going back to games i started and I dont even know why
If they're games you played a few hours into and just don't have the desire to go back to that's okay! If you're struggling to get into video games in general, but you LOVE video games, it may be something you should talk to a professional about.
@@GCVazquez Back in the day I was In a very bad place in life. and video games were my only reason to keep going. but in the last year or so many things happened to me and I'm happier than I've ever been.
maybe I don't NEED video games anymore..... I don't find the world so bad that I need to escape to someplace else.
Holy fuck, what the fuck. This really drove a feeling into me that I was absolutely not expecting. I came expecting some simple validation, and ended on an emotional and self-critiquing cliffhanger. I've gotta say I appreciate how much this video ended up feeling just the voice in my head, but now I have too many questions and not enough answers
The answer is to let go of whatever guilt you might have for not finishing a video game, and maybe treat the act of playing games with a little less reverence!
This is genuinely eye opening for me. I had no clue that people go through this. Thanks for making a video on it.
I'll admit that at some parts of your video, I definitely cried. You've described well the feeling and it's hard to think about that. Thank you.
Bruh.....
Lmfao tf
I feel the comment on how game completion isn't a matter of personal fault, but a gauge of how much you enjoyed the game. I have games in my steam library that I've completed several times over, and games that I've never touched after only playing them for a few hours. Ad an adult, I've realized buying a game is not an obligation to finish it. At the end of the day, gaming is a hobby, not a job. Play whatever is most enjoyable for you.
You know I've kinda started to feel this way with several aspects of life.
I didn't think I needed to watch this video as the topic seemed obvious,
but your personal perspective really makes me reflect on my own experiences.
I feel that I have thought in similar ways and have hit a point where I'm trying to squeeze everything for what its worth.
But I don't need to. I get my fun or value out of something, and when it stops doing that for me, I just move on.
Older you get, more exp you have and it allows to see how hollow many games are.
I've realized I can't play games that don't have an end to them because then I won't stop playing them. Amazing video on a subject I haven't heard anyone talk about yet!
Personally, I see that as a win. I don't have a ton of money so if I enjoy a game enough to spend hundreds or thousands of hours in it, its a win. I don't need all the newest games. I don't need tobe constantly jumping to the next thing. As long as I'm having fun, its all good. Conversely, if I'm not having fun I'll drop a game. I only played about 5 hours of Tomb Raider because its just not fun to me.
Well hey! Great job pushing against the industry trends then!
I'm 25 years old, and have a job from 6 to 2pm so I have a lot of free time, at work, I'm excited about the thought of playing video games, but when i come home I always have trouble picking what game to play I inevitably end up surfing youtube or doing something else altogether, but I still do wanna play.
Such a weird feeling and it honestly bothers me so much lmao
I relate so much, I always push myself to finish any game I buy, but I also have finishing anxiety so it takes me 6 months or more to finish something...Especially as a new TH-camr, I definitely feel the "how can I run a successful channel" part.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. For the first 8 months of the pandemic, I was unemployed and video games were my job. I was beating them, discussing them online, etc. I felt everything you said in the video, especially the parts about money and imposter syndrome. Now that I'm in grad school and my time for playing games has significantly decreased, I'm trying to focus on having fun when I'm playing the games. Because I am supposed to be PLAYING them, right? Not WORKING my way through them.
It's a really easy trap to fall into! Unlearning it is tough.
I have a problem that isn’t completely related to what this video is about, mostly because when I was younger I cared more about me and my own thoughts rather than the thoughts of those around me (a part of that is still with me today). Whenever I buy a game, I tend to buy ones that I have already seen cutscenes or reviews of on TH-cam. There are some exceptions, but I generally never go into a game completely blind nor do I ever want to. If I want to buy a game on day 1 of release I would have already watched every single trailer and promotional material of that game that exists multiple times over. I go out of my way to make sure a game that I purchase is a game that I will like. Sometimes I spoil myself to the entirety of a game’s story and all of it’s secrets without even having the thought of purchasing the game in my mind. That aside, I have a problem with buying a game, playing through a bit of it, enjoying it, and then never doing anything to see everything that the game has to offer. Fire Emblem Three Houses, Dragon Quest 11 S, Octopath Traveller, The Legend of Zelda Age of Calamity, UNDERTALE, Astral Chain, all of these titles are games that I have purchased, played some of, enjoyed, and never bothered going back to to see everything. No matter how many aspects of a game I like or love, if I get bored for too long, I instantly lose my motivation to do anything else in the game. The reason why I stop playing a game is different from case to case. In Astral Chain, the slow pacing combined with my natural instinct to walk slowly rather than run as well as occasionally janky controls turned me off from the game despite me really liking the style, worldbuilding, and overall gameplay. The story of Dragon Quest 11 is very intriguing to me and I want to see more unfold but the gameplay grew old on me way too quickly. I stopped playing UNDERTALE because despite how much I love the story, despite how much I like all of the characters, despite how much I listen to the soundtrack because of how good it is, I stopped playing the game halfway into the story because I have been spoiled of every single aspect you could think of practically a year before I even bought the game. I already know what’s going to happen, I already know that I will like it. If I know that I will like it, what’s the point of going any further? Is what I assume that I think unconsciously. The only game that I have played from start to finish and love to this day was Splatoon 2. I think I liked playing Splatoon 2’s story campaign so much was because on top of the enjoyable story and lovable characters, the gameplay is unique and feels fluid, the soundtrack is absolutely amazing, and because of how involved you are when it comes to finding gameplay levels, the fact that finding them is easy didn’t matter to me. Using the story campaign to get me introduced to Splatoon 2 and then getting better at the game by playing online setup the perfect segue from that into the Octo Expansion, and while yes, some levels are challenging, that didn’t matter since I already knew how the game worked and was well prepared for the twists and turns the DLC threw at me. This allowed me breathing room to appreciate the characters, environment, soundtrack, and lore while still giving me an enjoyable time with the gameplay. Splatoon 2 is a great game in my opinion because of how it eases you into the world and letting you know how it works before effectively sending you to Brazil after nabbing 20 bucks from your pockets. Jokes aside, I think the reason why I get so turned off by games that I know I enjoy is because of how they are presented to me. Astral Chain introduced me to dire situations, characters, and story revelations too fast for me to know what the deal is. Dragon Quest 11 did have one story moment that got me highly invested but that was only after I got through other story moments that didn’t intrigue me at all, and there were more side plot shenanigans that happened after that. Fire Emblem Three Houses gave me the best experience out of everything I think because I was consistently invested in the story all the way through because of how clearly the game shows me all the characters desires, ideals, and flaws. The thing that ruined the experience for me was a difficulty spike near the very end of the Blue Lions route on my first play through which I gave up ever attempting. So I made a new save file and chose Edelgard’s house and got a better experience due to my knowledge of the game I acquired from my first failed play through, which effectively showed me that the game only ever says how certain mechanics work instead of telling me the general idea of what you’re supposed to be doing. Imagine being taught Chess. Another person is explaining to you how all of the pieces move and what the win and lose conditions are, without ever telling you how moving certain pieces in a certain order can drastically change the state of the game despite appearances. The only two games I played that didn’t have this kind of trap was LoZ BotW and Splatoon 2. BotW never overwhelmed me with it’s mechanics and there were interesting aspects of the game which lended itself really well to internal role-playing which felt really really cool. The exploration aspect of the game was also nailed down almost perfectly since you’re always seeing points of interest in the distance which naturally gives you goals to work towards. Along with the fact that there are many environments in the game that feel distinct from each other, it makes you really feel like you’re on an adventure in a fantasy world. The reason why I have a consistently good time with a game like BotW over similar games like Minecraft is because the game gives you the goal of “head to Hyrule Castle and save Princess Zelda”, giving you the liberty of achieving that goal in whatever way you want, making yourself stronger before the final boss. Yes, you can do lots things in Minecraft and be almost infinitely creative with what you can make, but there really isn’t anything that motivates me beside “use block make thing”. Yes, there is the Ender Dragon, but the End Dimension isn’t a compelling goal to work towards mostly because the dimension’s existence is never explained in the game, it’s just there for the sake of being the place where the big boss can fly around in. Minecraft is a mostly community-based game that isn’t really fun to play in just single-player and I’ll respect the game for that, but BotW gives a completely different experience that appeals to me more because of how the game treats you like you are part of the world, limited by it’s rules, whereas you’re an un-compelling omniscient being in Minecraft. And again, this is also why I like Splatoon 2 so much. On top of the characters that feel like they have lives beyond what we see on-screen and the clever ways how the game explains away game-y elements to add to the worldbuilding, Splatoon 2 doesn’t make you feel like you are on a trivial roller coaster, you are an important part of a larger whole. What I am trying to say is that I want less games that assume that you know what you’re supposed to be doing, I want more games that introduce you to a world that you feel like you can be with rules and limitations that don’t feel forced.
TL;DR, I’m bad at videogames
Whaoo dude try short out the text huh, I get bored just lookin at that text bro,,, ps your account name Is hilarious lol
Those opening anecdotes were perfect. I find it really interesting to know the psychology of pressure to finish games - and so much of what you said I massively relate to. It’s kind of weird compared to the mentality of other people who had an early abundance of games, especially younger people these days due to ease of building a huge game collection.
These days I mostly solo game with mods. I made an attempt to try to get new games to play with friends this year, three separate times. Lethal Company, Palworld and Helldivers 2. I had tons of fun and loved all three, and all three times my friends and the greater internet and content creation sphere as a whole moved on after 2 weeks max. I learned my lesson, I'm done with trend games and finally buying Fallout 4 and modding it has been one of my favorite gaming experiences in the last few years
Another point not mentioned here is that finishing games is often anticlimactic. The endings are usually not that interesting IMO, just a cut scene and credits roll. Why bother? Most of the fun is in the first ~75% of a game. Rather than finishing it, I find myself getting more pleasure out of a game by playing most of it and then restarting, using skill and experience to do things more efficiently.
Wow, watching this was like learning about different cultures in school, it's incredible how differently people can view this topic based on their experiences.
I don't remember the first game I beat, but for years in earlier childhood I couldn't beat a single one. It was always them being too hard, too long, or, usually, structurally not based around a "thing that you can beat". I think the last is what shaped my views the most. I've also never seen anything like what you called "video games are kid's job". I never had any incentive to beat games outside of just seeing the ending. No stigma, no reward. So, if I couldn't beat it, I just didn't.
What I find funny is that just like you, I feel opposite to what I felt as a kid. Nowadays I try to finish games even if I see fundumental flaws that make playing them less enjoyable to me. Why I love games is that even doing something that's not as "fun" can feel great just because I can analyze these flaws on the go and confront them with what I would prefer. Obviously I know there is nothing wrong in abandoning a game and I still do it myself, sometimes with an intent to go back.
TL;DR You don't have to finish games you don't have fun with, but you can still find them enjoyable in a different way.
Legit saw 3 videos before this one on how to clear your backlog and was stressing about it then came across this and brought me back to reality . Thanks mate this video was great
Feeling a need to belong has been a lifelong struggle for me thank you so much for posting this
It's one of the hardest feelings to combat, and if this video can help alleviate some of that weight, I'm glad I made it!
This has bothered me for Years.
I have (what I thought was) an issue where I could never finish my favorite games.
Example. I have been avoiding any and all spoilers for persona 5, and have been for years. I don’t own a PlayStation, so when I heard that it was finally being released on the Xbox made me so incredibly excited. I preordered it, heavily anticipated for one of the best jrpg releases ever, and I was right. I was having tons of fun with it, but of course you eventually have to put the controller down
Now I keep passing it in my game library, thinking “Man I really should go back and complete P5. It’s no longer “Im excited to play” but instead “I should go back and play”
I’m 80 hours into P5 but I don’t feel any closer to finishing it, as much as I love the game, I don’t love the thoughts it gives me as I look at it in my library, and that occasionally bleeds into my playing sessions, leading into a lower overall experience at no fault to the game’s developers.
This video has helped that thought process just a bit.
For me, the problem is not even in finishing the game. But start them.
Ive been going back and forth with this in my head the last few months. Sometimes when you stick with a game you don't enjoy at first you find something about it that is unique and special. Games that dont appeal to you at first can grow on you. This isnt always the case, of course. Sometimes you commit to a game and end up sinking dozens of hours into something extremely boring to you. But maybe there is value in fully experiencing things you dont enjoy in that it makes you better appreciate things you do. It's extremely unlikely that you will go through an entire game without finding some parts that are boring, but you have to force yourself through boring times to get to the good experiences. I feel like the advantages of playing whatever appeals to you at any given time are pretty clear, but overall the advantages seem more short term. In my experience, when I just play whatever seems most interesting at any given time, Im swapping through games far too much, and I just get burned out and disinterested in video games in general. As you mentioned, as kids, we had smaller libraries of games, and I think we were more grateful and more focused on what we had. As adults, it's more difficult to appreciate games because there's so many to choose from, and a lot of ideas presented to us are old news, and not nearly as captivating as they were to us as kids enamoured with the world around us. Based on my experiences, completing games regardless of interest is the best way to approach games, as I think it ultimately leads to more enjoyment, though it often requires sacrifice in the present, which isnt always easy when you're looking for a shot of dopamine at the end of a long day.
I came from Razbuten’s new video!
Also, I love your video style!
Haha, hello! Nice to see you here, thank you for coming by! ^_^
Man, you have described every inch of my feelings. I am loaded with unfinished purchased games and now just started with PS plus with more games😢
Low key felt stressed out listening to you punish yourself for not being good enough, glad you found a way to love yourself, games should be fun, not make u feel like your never going to be enough x
0:53 lol, I’m in high school and just had to do this yesterday when downloading a dead souls rom. Glad to know there were more nerds like me too!
Cyberpunk 2077 was the first game that I’ve never finished, and everything you said made me understand why I didn’t finish it.
This is so dope! Such a great break down of a complex issue that's not often spoken about in gaming discussions. However I do have a positive take on my backlog personally, and some others might relate. When I was young my older cousin gave me a PlayStation as a gift. Along with all of the games that he had and with all of the memory cards with the save data of the games that he beat. There was nothing like the feeling of having instant access to all of these different worlds that I never explored before. If I got bored with one world I can instantly step into another sometimes with the memories of someone else's exploration of those worlds, still in tact; which was very fun.
I intentionally started building my backlog knowing that I had no time to play these games that I was purchasing, or downloading as a part of a monthly subscription. Why? To recreate that feeling. I know that one day when I do get a chance to sit down and do whatever I want with my time I'm going to have a huge library of different worlds to explore, different experiences to be had. And one thing that I noticed as I recollected on my childhood experience with those games my cousin got me: I didn't care how old they were, who was playing them or who wasn't, if they were the latest and greatest or not, I was just enjoying playing video games; experiencing new worlds that I never experienced before. And that's the relationship with games that I strive to maintain; actively strive to maintain; to not judge myself for not playing the latest game when everyone else is playing it; for not playing or beating a game until a year after it's been released and no one is playing it anymore.
Because at the end of the day it's my experience with my hobby, not someone else's, so I should enjoy it comfortably and within the comfort of my own timeframe.
Sounds like u were hangin with a bunch of nerds. I don’t remember ever feeling like I had to buy the newest game just to keep my friends lol
In terms of access and exclusivity, I have the opposite problem. I am always talking about games my irl friends don't know about and nobody around me in my town would know about the stuff I'm playing. I felt like an outcast because I was cursed with knowledge that NOBODY knew about except my internet friends. And so that's when I became an internet dweller primarily.
Before I comment I will say that this video was beautifully written. Idk if I am about to sound like I am mocking the video so I wanted to say that first because mocking it IS NOT MY INTENTION
Its insane how people sometimes need to be reminded of things that should be self explainatory...like for exampel when you have adults who "need to be productive" all the time. No you dont. Its okay to take a break. Its okay to not care about work from time to time. Learn how to keep a good balance.
I am sure I could come up with tons of stuff like this and it's suprising how often we need to have that explained to us
As someone who has had way less time to game because of college, I feel this.
What an incredible video. Your opinions hold some weight to them, and I'm looking forward to more content from you.
Thank you for making this video. Critically analyzing our relationship to video games is important, but it's unpopular to do so because it can trigger all sorts of defensiveness in people.
I really agree with the message of this video, and I have definitely experienced the backlog issue ever since I have gained more ability to buy games. However, in terms of gatekeeping my own ability to watch videos about a game that I started/want to start, I also think that spoilers play a role. As someone who has fallen in love with the stories of various games in the past, I have a slightly subconscious expectation to be moved by the later events of the story, and I fear that watching videos with potential spoilers will ruin everything. As your video points out, however, I think that at some point it is necessary to acknowledge when one's never going to play a game, and to be willing to "spoil" themselves if it will lead to greater enjoyment of the story than the person would otherwise get.
On a side note, my transition to adulthood has been hard, but I feel like I've made progress weaning myself off of an obsessive mindset regarding games. As the series that I cared about for a long time like Zelda and Smash reach a new era on the Switch, I've been trying to find closure with these series that I once played so obsessively simply because they were series (Nintendo series, to be specific). I want to learn to live for myself first and foremost. That doesn't mean that I'll never play these games again, just that if I welcome them back into my life I'll be more conscientious of the joy I get from them, and I won't let obsessive gaming tendencies interfere with the other joys in life.😊
I've rolled credits on maybe 10% of the games I have ever played, and I'm totally okay with that.
I try to keep a mindset that I am satisfied with a game so long as I got an hour of enjoyment per 1-2 dollars spent. A dollar an hour is a very good deal, and anything more than that is bonus. Two dollars an hour is less good, but if I really enjoyed those hours it's worth it. If I give up or run out of content before that, then I'll feel like I made a bad investment.
If I spent 40 bucks on a game, then I'll keep playing even if I'm not loving it up to the 20 hour mark just to feel like I got my minimum dollar's worth. This also gives the game the opportunity to win me over if it is just an acquired taste.