[Superpredator]

The last game I completed was Homeworld: Cataclysm. Perhaps five years ago? Longer? Before and since I've played a quite number of games, but it's rare that I finish them anymore. These days I hardly play games at all. The last recent game I purchased was Guild Wars, which was a total snore so I can hardly fault myself for not sticking with it. But prior to that it was Half Life 2. I was four levels from the end and I stopped playing. Before that it was Homeworld 2. Fallout 2. Homeworld. Baldur's Gate 2. Morrowind. Wizardry 8. Deus Ex. The list makes me want to cry cold tears of failure.

I've had Vista installed for nearly six months without playing a single game. Well, I want that to change. I need to dedicate myself to doing this. I need to remember Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, Syndicate Wars. I need to search back into my youth and pull out Final Fantasy and Metal Gear. I need to pray to the god of Doritos, Mountain Dew and abject sloth. I know that I can do this. It will be a thorny, narrow path of many sacrifices lined with goat corpses and lit by an ash-blotted sun, but I believe I can prevail.

I have installed Planescape: Torment, and I pledge here and now to my Head-Fi brethren and sisters of ever triumphant hottness that I shall prevail. Even at the cost of life, limb, employment, friends, family and the chance to one day propagate, I will finish this game. Tonight I shall sacrifice a can of Mountain Dew and make a Dew oath to the sloth god. Let no man stand in my path, lest he be crushed by the pressure of my dedication to keyboard and mouse. So say we all.

 

[Jon118]

I have a lot of free time so I find it easy to get time for games, mostly Halo 2 online since I still haven't bought Bioshock, but I can sympathize with a few on your list for different reasons. I never beat Homeworld because I couldn't get past the Garden of Kadesh, and then I didn't beat Homeworld 2 because I could never build up enough of fleet to take on basically any enemies. But I did beat Cataclysm, a lot shorter and easier than the others.

 

[Nugget]

Well, why exactly don't you finish the games? Boredom or some other complicating factor?

I used to spend a fair amount of time with computer games right through college, but then I went to law school and got married. Now I get home and find that my wife, for reason I cannot fathom, considers watching TV (which I loathe) "spending time together," but not playing games, even if I'm sitting on the same couch.

 

[Mrvile]

I hate finishing single player games. They all get boring...even the best ones. I couldn't finish HL2, I couldn't finish Oblivion...hell, the last game I finished was the original Lost Kingdoms for the Gamecube. I'm just not a single-player kind of gamer.

I do play CS:S sometimes though not a lot. It's like the only game left that I still play. And right now I have a lot of free time, so I don't know. I guess I'm not really into games anymore.

 

[Superpredator]

It may be boredom or something along those lines. I think the issue is one of motivation. I need to motivate myself to waste hours at a time playing games.

Here's why. I've noticed that while playing games time seems to advance rapidly, much more rapidly than while reading, watching a DVD or doing pretty much any other activity. When I only have a few free hours a night and my weekends are all I can cling to, I like that time to pass slowly. I like to enjoy myself, but if have too much fun I lose my grip on the flow of time. If I can't feel it going by, it's going by too fast. I played an hour of Planescape last night and it felt like I was playing for 12 minutes. Somehow that sensation is very depressing.

At the same time I don't like the feeling of having so many unfinished games out in the universe. I need to tie up loose ends.

Hey man, that's what wives are for.

 

[Mrvile]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Superpredator /img/forum/go_quote.gif It may be boredom or something along those lines. I think the issue is one of motivation. I need to motivate myself to waste hours at a time playing games. Here's why. I've noticed that while playing games time seems to advance rapidly, much more rapidly than while reading, watching a DVD or doing pretty much any other activity. When I only have a few free hours a night and my weekends are all I can cling to, I like that time to pass slowly. I like to enjoy myself, but if have too much fun I lose my grip on the flow of time. If I can't feel it going by, it's going by too fast. I played an hour of Planescape last night and it felt like I was playing for 12 minutes. Somehow that sensation is very depressing. At the same time I don't like the feeling of having so many unfinished games out in the universe. I need to tie up loose ends. Hey man, that's what wives are for.

Well how do you spend your free time then? Whenever I play games, although I have fun, I always feel like I'm wasting so much time. I used to play Diablo II: LOD religiously and now when I look back at it, I don't even remember anything else that happened during my middle school years. Now I spend more time foruming, looking things up on le intreweb, I take pictures, play the guitar...I do things much more productive than honing my wrist flicking reflexes with Unreal Tournament.

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrvile /img/forum/go_quote.gif I hate finishing single player games. They all get boring...even the best ones. I couldn't finish HL2, I couldn't finish Oblivion...hell, the last game I finished was the original Lost Kingdoms for the Gamecube. I'm just not a single-player kind of gamer. I do play CS:S sometimes though not a lot. It's like the only game left that I still play. And right now I have a lot of free time, so I don't know. I guess I'm not really into games anymore.

I could get back into CS:S with ease, but I find I play too long. Right now I think I need the accomplishment factor of a single player game with an overarching objective. At some point I want to be able to say, "I finished this game, I'm done with it."

 

[Superpredator]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrvile /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well how do you spend your free time then? Whenever I play games, although I have fun, I always feel like I'm wasting so much time. I used to play Diablo II: LOD religiously and now when I look back at it, I don't even remember anything else that happened during my middle school years. Now I spend more time foruming, looking things up on le intreweb, I take pictures, play the guitar...I do things much more productive than honing my wrist flicking reflexes with Unreal Tournament.

Yes that's one of the problems! It feels like a total waste of time. I'd rather read, listen to music, go for a walk, run an errand. Even watching DVDs feels more productive. It's hard to unlearn the discipline of not gaming. But I want to. I feel like I must complete these unfinished games. Part of it is also playing the RPGs from 1998-2003 that I never got around to playing. I'm not really interested in new games at all. The bottom line seems to be that I must motivate myself to waste time so that I can finally have a sense of accomplishment.

 

[McNubbins]

Back in grade 10 and 11 I used to play CS:S for at least two or three hours a day. It got to the point where gaming was no longer recreation, but a required part of my daily schedule. At that point I was starting to have a few more responsibilities due to my part-time job and the greater volume of homework associated with the latter half of high school.

Playing single player games always felt like more of a time-waster for me than multiplayer because I'd always play multiplayer games with my brother. That was some awesome brother to brother bonding time, and I will never forget it.

Now that I'm in university (even if it is just the first week) I know I'm not going to have the free time I did when I lived at home. I still enjoy playing games (I just finished the Bioshock demo the other day) but they're no longer the reason for my existence.

Oh, crap. I think I'm growing up.

 

[Jigglybootch]

I used to play video games a lot. But a few years into college, my gaming dropped off dramatically. It wasn't until Guitar Hero that I started using my consoles again. Since then, the only game I've really played was Metroid Prime 3. I have a feeling I'll be gaming a lot more, though, because I really don't have anything to do on the weekends (just moved to a new state, don't know anyone, don't know anywhere to really go, etc.) so until I find some new friends I'll be happily gaming away...