games problem yet again :

[kossai]

many games which kossai own to play , and which want to play , as well as plenty already on wishlist to buy . but for some reason , feel compel to look for more , new games instead .
why is this ? what is up with this ?

main factor which stop is of course money . but sometimes that compulsion lead to just ignore current games instead . like what ?

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> but for some reason , feel compel to look for more , new games instead .
why is this ? what is up with this ? <<

Many people like new things just because they are new. For gamers, sometimes the mechanics are interesting, or the story, or some other particular thing they like to explore and maybe collect. And some games are fun to pick up even if you never intend to play them. You have to know yourself. Frex, I would expect you would at least pick up and examine any faery-themed game you saw, whether or not you found it to your taste -- the theme would make you want to check what's in it.

My partner and I have a sizable, closet-size collection of games. We don't even play at high frequency. But we still enjoy looking at new ones. We probably have a dozen iterations of Fluxx (e.g. original, Firefly, Looney Tunes). I love stacking-block games; we have several and it doesn't stop me from looking at new ones. I love roleplaying handbooks and will read them as books, even though it's been several years since I had a group to play with.

>>main factor which stop is of course money . but sometimes that compulsion lead to just ignore current games instead . like what ?<<

Overwhelm can lead to disengagement. This is more likely the higher the volume gets -- and can be activated by a large personal collection of games and/or a rapid stream of new games coming out.

One thing we find useful in deciding whether to buy a game is to think through various aspects.

* How affordable is it?

(I have a serious fondness for small, affordable, usually quick-playing games in the $10-20 range, and one of our local game stores has a rack of those that I always check. In fact, more than around $30, I'm likely to go home and research it on Boardgamegeek before deciding whether to buy. Our game store will special order if they sold the shelf copy.)

* Do we actually have anyone / enough people to play this? If not, can it be enjoyed other than by playing it?

(We've bought more than one just for the art or theme, and I've backed Kickstarter projects I couldn't even use because I simply wanted them to exist.)

* Is it a game we ourselves could imagine playing?

(My partner Doug asked me about 3 board games today, and I bounced all of them for different reasons. One was mostly pop culture references that are meaningless to me, and the others had different mechanics that only made vague sense.)

* Is it similar to other games we already own? If so, would we rather play one of those or this one? Or is it suitable for adding into a chain of short, similar games to be played sequentially?

(We often go through several different stacking-block games or card games.)

* If it is bulky, do we have room to store it?

(Technically yes, we have a huge house, but it's mostly full of stuff and we really don't need more clutter.)

* Does it appeal to a particular thing we like to collect?

(I love unusual dice and sometimes buy them as freestanding artifacts. Similarly I am intrigued by games with unusual randomizers; we have one where you throw 2-sided runes instead of polyhedral dice, and what that does to probability is riveting even though I suck at math. My partner Doug loves strategy and 3D puzzles.)

I hope this helps.

Re: Thoughts

[kossai]

... yeah , honestly that is very very true . not only play strictly faerie and faerie like games ( video games in specific here ) , and will not always enjoy because some games just do not have right factors , but . for sure , one of most common things which look for in games .
some genres turn away - not really look for more colony builders , tactics games , or romantic visual novels , but still can be fun to see . and then also music collection obsession ! new games make for new music ...

meanwhile have several games with active save files that say please come and play ! back in 2013 when first get minecraft , was able to keep focus for so so long - months of play everyday , and then still frequent play for 3 or 4 years after . sort of wonder how was able to do that , but then kind of also answer self - did not have anything but minecraft for most of that time .
if really did want to play something , then answer was minecraft . was jealous of people with pokemons and splatoons and zeldas , for sure , but just did not have money for anything else . and to be fair , that minecraft money did give several years worth , and still pop occasionally !

but now , like ... yeah . kossai collection is not even that big , but now have to think about which game to choose . each one have goals , merits , fun parts , and not so fun parts . feel so much harder to hunker down and focus on just one after excitement of new game or new update pass , because there is more out there , so easy to find . and sometimes updates require - or at least suggest - to start on new file , which means need replay all of old before even reach new …

and yeah , if was able to factor board and card games in this ... would not survive ! at least TTRPGs can come solo or adapt with GEMulator , and just write digital files .

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> meanwhile have several games with active save files that say please come and play ! back in 2013 when first get minecraft , was able to keep focus for so so long - months of play everyday , and then still frequent play for 3 or 4 years after . sort of wonder how was able to do that , but then kind of also answer self - did not have anything but minecraft for most of that time .<<

Yeah. The more you have, the more distracting it can get, and the harder to choose. That makes it harder to concentrate, especially over the long term.

>> sometimes updates require - or at least suggest - to start on new file , which means need replay all of old before even reach new … <<

Ugh, that sounds so tedious.

When I was little, there was a very simple computer game called Worm -- really just a cursor with a tail that got longer. You had to keep it moving, and keep from hitting the tail and dying. I think there might've been a couple of extra things that popped up for more points or to make the tail a bit shorter. But mostly, it was a simple and dumb little game, kind of boring and annoying ... except for one thing. It's the absolutely best way I have ever seen for teaching people how baggage can screw you.

So if a game requires you to rehash old activity before reaching the new, that could really suppress the desire to play the new one, because it's just so much work. 0_o

>> at least TTRPGs can come solo or adapt with GEMulator , and just write digital files .<<

I've noticed more and more games that are either solo or have a solo mode. I think it's because people are so scattered nowadays, and many live alone. I do admire games that have multiple modes; it's hard to build but very useful. The more ways you can play a game, the more use you can get out of it.

Wander Witch is like that. You can play it as a solo journaling game, or as a more typical roleplaying game for a group. I got it off Kickstarter and I bought it as much for the adorable fey artwork as for the game part.