Flitting - The Bear and Badger

acemuzzy

I'm really struggling to get stuck into any single game at the moment. Â So I keep doing half an hour of one and moving onto another (not helped by previous Steam sales boosting my pile of shame).

Does anyone else suffer from the same thing? Â Any suggest cures (beyond "finding a really good game")? Â

I remember the good old days of having buying about one new game everything three months, meaning you'd obviously play it to death. Â People talk about piracy having a similar impact - too many games spoiling the enjoyment of each. Â So should I just buy less (even when they're irritatingly cheap)? Â Or have e.g. alphabetical approaches worked for you, to give some logic to getting through backlogs without allowing yourself to jump between games prematurely?

Hopefully I'm not alone!

WorKid

Sellotape up the disk flap.

Yossarian

Is that what Noxy ran into?

Hulka T

I have a similar problem except I buy lots of games but never actually play them at all.
Not really what you would call advice but there you go.

Hodge360

I'm going the alphabetical route but being free to change between two or three games in the order.Â
This is helping me get through my pile. If I'm not feeling a game after giving it a reasonable chance,I stick it on eBay and move on.Â
Having two or three to pick between gives freedom to suit whatever mood I'm in and means if I'm feeling bogged down in a game,I won't just get rid of it out of frustration.

Lord_Griff

I collect unplayed games.

It is a joyless hobby.

hylian_elf

Better than collecting unplayable games.

Lord_Griff

I wouldn't know... Obviously.

Bollockoff

Flitting is pretty much how i've always gamed. The notable exceptions I can think of are Dark/Demon's Souls and Team Fortress 2 where I played them exclusively for a couple of weeks before switching back to my old habits.

This month i've had Anarchy Reigns, League of Legends, Amnesia, HotD: Overkill and the Revengeance demo all taking up chunks of gaming time.

Tempy

Me too, but I don't think I have a single game that I haven't played anything of at all.

Lord_Griff

Life.

Tempy

It's just that I don't buy games when I know I won't be able to play them.

metagonzo

I'd say that at least 50% of my steam library has never even been installed. I also think to myself "Well that's just too good a deal to miss out on."

I find I have so little time to game these days that I tend to go to what I know I'll enjoy, even if its just a quick blat on a level/circuit/area I've played countless times.Â

I did finish Dishonored in record (by my standards) time and ill certainly polish off FC3 soonish.Â

In terms of cure, I'd say stop buying games. If the prices are this good now, imagine what they'll be like in 3 years when you've completed everything in your library.

Lord_Griff

The game of life.

MattyJ

Due to limited gaming time and money these days, I tend to play one game through to completion before moving onto something else. I had Far Cry 3 and Sleeping Dogs, but didn't open the latter till I'd finished the former.

There are loads of games I want to play but if I don't have the time I don't bother, and usually pick up something cheap when I want something new to play but nothing is being released.

JonB

I sometimes buy more than 1 game at a time - the Xmas XBLA sale, for example - but even then I pick 1, play it until I've had enough/finished, then move on. I should probably still buy fewer than I do, because there's some I would like to play through again but have never got around to it.

I don't get why anyone would buy more games than they have time to play at all. What can you possibly get out of that?

Skerret

Yossarian wrote:

Is that what Noxy ran into?

Quite the opposite problem. Keep an eye on the love thread, I have a feeling things are about to go pear shaped (not BBWs).

Do not buy more than one game at a time. Â Accept that you will miss out on some of the finest gaming each generation has to offer and finish that game you're playing before moving on. Â Humanity's attention span has become something of an onion which are delicious when sautÃ©ed til translucent, not overdone though. Â The trick is to sweat them before adding other ingredients as no-one likes a burned onion.

Lord_Griff

I like a burned onion.

Skerret

yeah well get fucked

mistercrayon

I only played a bit of dishonored and binary domain for this reason. Its difficult to properly game in a house with one telly.

MattyJ

Do you have a computer monitor you can connect a console to? Helps me no end.

Skerret

Second telly.

Woodimari

I'm probably the worst for this. I have about 50 games that are still sealed that I just buy on the cheap. I figure I will get round to them all one day, I did start trying them in alphabetical order but only got to B!

Same with my film collection and Steam.

mrsmr2

Completely guilty of this. Â I can get tired of a game very quickly and move on to something else. Â

I do tend to finish things eventually, just takes a long time.

Lord_Griff

Woodimari wrote:

I'm probably the worst for this. I have about 50 games that are still sealed that I just buy on the cheap. I figure I will get round to them all one day, I did start trying them in alphabetical order but only got to B! Same with my film collection and Steam.

You should be careful, the cds/dvds slowly degrade with time and your console may not be able to read all the data and it won't play.

Blocks100

Also, all that unwrapped cellophane is a potential fire hazard.

Curtis

It's dead simple: Good games grab you and don't let go. Just a shame they are so few and far between.

JonB

Yeah, but nothing's so good it can grab you before it's out the wrapper.

acemuzzy

Curtis wrote:

It's dead simple: Good games grab you and don't let go. Just a shame they are so few and far between.

I think this is the main issue. Â I got sucked into Dark Souls, Demons Souls and FC3 happily enough. Â Since then, nothing! Â Hopefully Ni No Kuni will revert the rut.

Everything I buy I think I'll play when I buy it. Â I think I've just not quite got used to having so little free time too (kids, eh!). Â Hopefully Steam will still be working when I retire, I'm kind of viewing it as a long-term investment vehicle.

RamSteelwood

i try to deal with it by convincing myself that all modern games are rubbish and that i don't want any of them, and this at least has meant i no longer buy any 'full price' games that sit around rotting...i still buy more than i ever play in the steam sales etc, but it doesn't seem so bad spending Â£20 on 6 games that sit in digital space waiting to be played, rather than full price boxed games sat on a shelf.
it's also meant that this gen i've traded in a lot more than i used to...this at least keeps my pile of shame fairly small, but it also means it has rather more shame per inch of space since i just have a few amazing games sat waiting to be played properly - mario galaxy 2, skyward souls, demon souls, okami wii (which hasn't even made it out of the wrapper in about 4 years!)

Vastik

My 'problem' is being a game reviewer. I have to review a game every two weeks but have a full time job and a life which makes it difficult to spend enough time as it is on the game I need to review, let alone the ones I want to play.Â

The constant shuffle onto something new means i've currently got XCOM, Demons Souls, Far Cry 3, Dishonored, Anarchy Reigns, Borderlands 2 and Ni No Kuni all on the go (while Halo 4 multiplayer and Street Fighter IV keep calling too). I'm not complaining about the constant flow of free games but it does make it hard to savour just the one!

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