In a way I sort of miss when I didn't have access to a lot of games.

[Musubi]

So I'm sitting here tonight bored out of my mind. I want to play something but I dont' know what and frankly I got thinking about how much choice paralysis I have when it comes to playing games these days. I easily have 300+ titles on PS4 probably another 70+ on PS3 some switch games a library of at least 300 or so steam games and access to PS Now which has like 750 games on it. So I easily have access to literally hundreds of games. It should be an embarrassment of riches and yet I'm still bored.

I remember though when I was a kid I'd maybe receive games for Christmas and my birthday and even that wasn't guaranteed. So those handful of 4-5 N64 or NES games I'd have i'd play again and again and again. I'd find new ways to approach them. Make my own fun. There is really not a whole lot of point to this thread other than maybe seeing if anyone else frequently has this"problem" and I use the most sneeriest of sneer quotes for that because it is the most first world problem to have.

Its just interesting to me that just by human nature the more we have of something the more disposable things start seeming to us.

 

[Bricktop]

Almost everyone has this problem to some extent. As much as having hundreds of games at your fingertips can be a blessing it can also be a curse. I've been cutting down on my purchases to try and lessen it, but every once in a while I'll get the feeling you are having. I usually just end up picking a game and once I get into it the feeling will go away. Another good way is to play a really short game every once in a while. That usually has me wanting to play something with more meat afterwards and it's easier to choose afterwards, at least it works for me.

 

[Deleted member 42]

I know what you mean, it's akin to having choice overload

 

[Gabbo]

I had this the last couple of days, couldnt really get into anything for more than a few minutes or I would simply give up and end up back here on ERA. I too, like bricktop have been holding off buying anything I cannot fully justify to myself as I want to clear out more of my backlog before adding to the sense of hopeless that being unable to choose comes with.

I just took up Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus and that has thankfully gotten me past the paralysis of choice as it's keeping my gaming time attention.It's also from the backlog, so to two birds on tis one thankfully.

 

[Datajoy]

I agree. What happens is I end up starting a game and playing for two hours then putting it down after being distracted by something else. Its a choice overload that has led to me having a tiny attention span :(

 

[nomemorial]

I feel this a lot. I'm a longtime collector and it's just gotten overwhelming. Trying to rid my life of the stuff I don't get use out of because I can't afford to just let stuff sit, but I also feel like I enjoy what I do have more when I'm not constantly even just a bit distracted by other stuff.

 

[Kaguya]

I went through few of the past years picking like 2 or 3 new games a year. I've yet to buy a game I didn't finish this generation which I'm really proud of, though started picking up more games last year(MHW, GoW, DQXI, DBFZ, Cuphead, Iconoclast) and I'm already up to 3 games in 3 months this year.

I still regret picking up some games this gen(DBFZ, Tekken 7, Destiny 2 and Uncharted 4) but that's still a huge improvement over last gen.

 

[Deleted member 24079]

I only buy a game I will immediately play. I've wiped my entire library down to 90 games I'll ever play/re-play. I start a game I've always wanted to play. If I get the gist of the game play in a few hours and the story doesn't hook me, I just add a long play to my YouTube playlist and uninstall. Works for me so I get to see all the moments in game

 

[Deleted member 8752]

I stopped buying games for the most part. After collecting a bunch over the years, I realized I have enough to play to last me for the rest of my life. The rest is going to be a waste of money and time.

I cut my buying down to about 2-4 games per year that I really really love, usually from Nintendo. And I ignore the rest.

 

[emb]

Totally agree. It's a very different experience now.

But there are other factors too. A lot of it is that I already have played lots of games; I can't go back and be mystified any more, so often it just feels like the same sorts of patterns. Having less access would help narrow focus, but even beyond being forced into a choice, I need to find reasons to care about any one title at any one time. In that aspect, it can be kinda nice to be part of the zeitgeist around a game's release, or to set some kind of goals (play through a series, etc).

 

[Optional Objectives]

.

 

[Deleted member 39353]

Yeah I have the problem where even when I'm excited about a game and I get it, it's hard for me to commit because I'm like, what if I'd be having even more fun with this game. But it's almost ALWAYS the case that when I just sit down and commit to a game I like I have so much more fun than bouncing from game to game. Or just sitting there trying to choose what to play haha

 

[GarrettB]

This is why I'm not interested in Netflix style game services.

 

[Deleted member 40102]

Well you are doing the wrong way tbh... The way I see it you play games as some sort job that has to be done. Just focus on one game that you will ACTUALLY ENJOY and finish it before shifting to next title even then you need to take break between games to not have the burn out feeling. It has nothing to do with more choices rather than how you approach it.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Was just thinking about this this morning. I miss the days of going to Blockbuster and renting what looked good based off the back of the box.

But there's up and downs to things. I think I play a lot less shitty games now that I can pick and choose so freely.

 

[Strangelove_77]

Have you tried being poor? Works pretty well for me.

 

[Mauricio_Magus]

Just focus on what you REALLY REALLY want to play and don't buy everything, I've been doing that for like 2 years and gaming instantly became better for me.

 

[SturokBGD]

Freedom of choice is what you've got. Freedom from choice is what you need.

 

[Hulohot]

This is true. I try and focus on one or two games at a time, but with so much coming out and so much to catch up on, I end up rushing through a game as quick as possible to move on to the next.

 

[meph]

If there's nothing specifically pulling you, just start working through the backlog of things you already have and never really got around to playing. Maybe something will keep your attention. Give it an hour or two and work through the list until you find something that does hold your interest.

 

[Deleted member 9857]

I know what you mean, it's akin to having choice overload

Click to shrink...

I definitely suffer from this thanks to having autism, ADHD, and depression

so much I can choose from that I end up being paralyzed by indecision & instead of watching a certain movie/tv show or playing a certain game, I instead end up watching random Youtube videos & then wonder where the time went

 

[FreddeGredde]

That's why I only buy a game once I'm finished with what I have. It makes it more of an event too, like: "Alright, what game on my wishlist am I the most excited about trying out today?!", and then I get that one game.

 

[Brazil]

I've actually managed to mitigate this problem by keeping a list of the games I've completed and the ones I'm currently going through. It's easier to focus on a single or a few games at a a time and avoid deviating from them too much that way - as dumb as it may sound.

 

[MonadL]

Used to get this BAD during undergrad and grad school. What made it even worse is that were times where I would pick up a game that looked mildly interesting, only to completely fall in love with it once I played it. It made the feeling of "What else am I missing?" ten times worse.

 

[raketenrolf]

Totally agree. It's a very different experience now.

But there are other factors too. A lot of it is that I already have played lots of games; I can't go back and be mystified any more, so often it just feels like the same sorts of patterns. Having less access would help narrow focus, but even beyond being forced into a choice, I need to find reasons to care about any one title at any one time. In that aspect, it can be kinda nice to be part of the zeitgeist around a game's release, or to set some kind of goals (play through a series, etc).

Click to shrink...

Yeah this. For example, after playing. ist platformers for a few hours I just think "why don't you just replay Mario?" because it's a better game in my eyes. I don't know how many times I just went back to SMW and replayed it really quick. That's also the case for a lot of RPGs or shooters. I just tend to go back to my favorites because they seem to give me a much better experience. Even if it's only a replay.

I figured it's best for me to keep a rather small collection of favorites than hoarding everything I ever bought/played.

 

[Redcrayon]

I tend to keep my collection largely out of sight, but have a small 'now playing' pile of games that I want to play next sitting on the shelf, or as a list on my phone, just to avoid choice paralysis. A handful of titles is enough to offer me the short-term choice I want (Usually a long RPG, something more action orientated and a couple of relatively short indies). I sold off most of my gaming stuff years ago so it's only a box of a couple of dozen favourites now, but even then when I've often only got an hour or so to play, I don't want to waste time staring at boxes!

I'm the same with books too, there's a hundred titles I picked up cheap on a kindle but if there's a couple of paperbacks next to my bedside table I'll always pick one up or throw it in my bag first.

 

[Lunchbox]

Everytime this happens to me I always find a game I end up playing a lot of old recently it's been Horizon: Zero Dawn. I just dabble in shit until something sticks.

 

[giallo]

I know what you mean.

I have a boatload of AAA games (Rise of the Tomb Raider, Hitman, AC:Odyssey, Watch Dogs 2, Yakuza 0, The Last Guardian to name a few), and yet, I'll sit on front of my TV, and not know what to play. I think of big part of it is the time commitment these games take and deserve. I just can't pull the trigger.

So you know what I do? I play games I've already completed like DOOM or UC: The Lost Legacy. Or I'll play a game I had zero hype for, but know it's an easy "turn your brain off" type of game like Knack 2.

 

[Type422]

I know that feeling. I think it also has something to do with getting older, at least for me. Oftentimes I have so many other worries at a time, that I overthink what to play or to watch. In combination with many many choices, it can get quite hard to actually start something instead of surfing aimlessly on Era.
But if I finally start something, I usually get hooked almost exactly like in the past.

 

[BrokenFiction]

I've been there too. It's all part of the sunk cost fallacy - you've acquired things and can't beat to get rid of them, even if they were free. I finally had to splash cold water on my face and let go. I had about 100 steam games, I've whittled that down to 8 that still need finishing. I've stopped taking the free PS4 and Xbox Gold games and trimmed those two down to about 5 total. Switch has about 9-10. GOG maybe 5? The worst was Twitch Prime. There was a time they just shoveled games at you in the beginning. I deleted it and haven't looked back. It's tough, but you can let go too.

 

[Revolsin]

Exactly why I only keep a few games I'm playing at a time. I still drop games and stop fairly often, but there's a fair few I outright commit to and keep going with, so there's always like 3 going on at once.

 

[Spaltazar]

I miss not having easy online guides at my hands. every time i get stuck for a while in a game its very tempting to just look it up and move on... always have to fight that urge and try to figure it out on my own

 

[MrKlaw]

I get this with Netflix - I wonder if the thought of a large catalog means I expect to find something perfect so I reject perfectly good things - and may be less willing to risk something unknown (although that probably Depends on your free time - I don't have so much)

With games it should be different if you've actually purchased them - so they should all be over a 'good enough' threshold

 

[Maternal Heart]

The worst genre for this overload of entertainment versus available time is the JRPG genre. Literally 50-90 hours required just for one game.

 

[DonMigs85]

I miss the old days when I only got a few SNES and N64 games per year and had to extract maximum funnitude from them

 

[milkyway]

I think it's very much part of growing up really. Games used to be gifts, now they aren't. Removes some of the sense of wonder - perhaps it just takes longer to sink in though.

 

[Imitatio]

I've been there too. It's all part of the sunk cost fallacy - you've acquired things and can't beat to get rid of them, even if they were free. I finally had to splash cold water on my face and let go. I had about 100 steam games, I've whittled that down to 8 that still need finishing. I've stopped taking the free PS4 and Xbox Gold games and trimmed those two down to about 5 total. Switch has about 9-10. GOG maybe 5? The worst was Twitch Prime. There was a time they just shoveled games at you in the beginning. I deleted it and haven't looked back. It's tough, but you can let go too.

Click to shrink...

I'm sometimes thinking about just letting go of the backlog and starting all over with nothing waiting for me to be played.
The only thing hurting is the money I spent. On the other hand I hope it'd free my mind and help me just having fun while gaming.

Don't know what to do, really. OP, I'm with you regarding this topic.

 

[BrokenFiction]

I'm sometimes thinking about just letting go of the backlog and starting all over with nothing waiting for me to be played.
The only thing hurting is the money I spent. On the other hand I hope it'd free my mind and help me just having fun while gaming.

Don't know what to do, really. OP, I'm with you regarding this topic.

Click to shrink...

That money feeling is the sunk cost fallacy I was talking about. If you can get past it, you'll be able to feel free.

 

[Deleted member 8752]

Have you tried being poor? Works pretty well for me.

Click to shrink...

You joke, but everyone would probably be happier with spending less.

Remember, every game you buy is at least another X amount of time longer until you can retire.

Do the math after taxes, after compound interest, after the amount it costs to commute and everything else you need to do, to figure out how much more time you'll have to work to afford each game you buy.

Chances are, games are costing you more than you realize. Now consider how long you plan to spend with the game and figure out if it's really worth it. Sometimes the answer is yes. But for most games, it's a no.

Once I started doing this (about 4 months ago) I started buying way way less. And started investing a higher percentage of my income. And the effect - combined with reduced spending in other areas - has already been impactful to my finances (and I was only buying about 10-20 games a year previously).

I didn't realize it, but I could probably retire at 40 or so by living a less wasteful life rather than 65.

 

[Starlatine]

I really don't. I really don't miss not having enough money to buy the stuff i wanted and having to be content with a lesser alternative or more than often nothing at all. Nor do i miss feeling less important than everyone else because we couldnt afford the same things they could, or seeing the sadness in my parents for not being able to give me stuff i asked for no matter how much i knew they truly wished to be able to.

Most of the times the people i see complaining about "too many choices" and how life would be simpler with less were never forced to actually have less by circumstances of life.

 

[Mansally]

Well you are doing the wrong way tbh... The way I see it you play games as some sort job that has to be done. Just focus on one game that you will ACTUALLY ENJOY and finish it before shifting to next title even then you need to take break between games to not have the burn out feeling. It has nothing to do with more choices rather than how you approach it.

Click to shrink...

Totally. Took 2 months off from a meaty game to move and settle in to a change of life. Came back to the game and it's like a brand new playthrough. I suppose the same method between games would be just as refreshing.

 

[Zealuu]

I thought about this the first time I had more games than I had time to play, the first time I didn't finish a game I'd bought, the first time I realized I just never got around to even starting something I bought, and the first time I bought something in a sale that I knew for a fact I would never install, much less play.

I always land on the same conclusion: Yes, I played every single one of my Mega Drive games absolutely to death. As far as investments go, I got a lot more bang for my buck with those than 90% of modern games. I knew those old games individually like the back of my hand. But were they all.. good? (In retrospect, it turns out my dad was pretty good at picking out games, so they mostly were. But that's not the point!). I would never have spent as much time playing and slowly mastering a decidedly average game like Talespin if I could just swap it out for a constantly growing number of other, unplayed games. And maybe that's actually good?

 

[Blade Wolf]

I literally dropped Nier Automata because there're too many other games to play that's more within my comfort zone.

I also skipped tons of amazing indies games like Undertale, Celeste, Dead Cells and Hollow Knight because there're so many AA/AAA games to play.

 

[Deleted member 49132]

This isn't a "games only" problem either.

We face this in many facets of our everyday lives now. Television, movies, music, fashion, food, dating...everything.

There's so much choice nowadays in everything we have access to, it's increasingly more difficult to be relevant and special.

 

[Kyuuji]

It's one of the reasons I moved from PC to console. Had a Steam library of 500+ games and would install one, play for an hour, uninstall in favour of something I thought I might be enjoying more by that stage. Console games are more expensive and I'd missed the couch experience so bought one and it worked a treat and reinvigorated my love for games.

Even now that I have a large PS4 library I find myself sticking to games more than I did before there. Same for the Switch though I'm a bit more frenetic there in which games I dip into, though I put that more down to playing exclusively in handheld and the games I play depend largely on where I'm playing them.

 

[plngsplsh]

Sell everything and start anew.

 

[Pillock]

I disagree, personally I love the choice and opportunity to play dozens of different games.

 

[nekkid]

This is basically me and my games (thanks to GP and XBL):

 

[Deleted member 135]

Paradox of choice.

Having kids made me realize that buying half a dozen or more games a year was pretty dumb. I was wasting my time with just okay games or never finishing mediocre ones that I bought just because it's a sequel (Far Cry 5).

So I made the choice to only buy the best of the best. I don't have the time or money for just good games, they need to be great.

This makes me appreciate the games more as well, I'll play them more and I different ways, just like when I was a kid and access to games was limited to the few I owned or what I rented that weekend from the video store.

 

[rckvla]

Same with movies, I don't watch movies anymore because of that reason.