More Money Than Time...

[The_Deleted]

Over the past few days it's occurred to me just how much I spend on games. A lot of my spare cash will go toward games, be it for me or my son Tom, who, at four years old, probably has a few more games than he really needs.
(He has access to the PS2, PS3, XBOX / 360, Wii and his own DS. However, playtime is strictly 30-45 mins. a day at the end of the day if he's earned it.)

Myself, I have an absolute tonne of games. Seriously. As a collector, it's fair enough. But as a gamer... and this is what annoys me, I don't complete any of them. I get a game, be it brand new (Red Dead Redemption) and decide it's a time sink 'I can't get into right now' and it sits on my shelf. This is regardless of the fact I HAD to have it on release! Or, I get a few classics / rarities have a quick play and it gets added to the collection. The 'Recently Completed' thread really makes me realise how few games I get through.

Gamecube games are the latest investment. Never had a GC, so it all passed me by. Now, with a Wii, I can play Eternal Darkness, Rouge Squadron or Pikmin and I have acquired said games and more besides. Have I spent more than an hour on any of them? Have I f!ck!

It's the same for all my systems, I find a few bargains, and they get added to the collection. But, and this is a kicker, what I will do, regardless of having any number of brand new, classic or just too damn many games, is play through games I've already played!!! Wolverine is the latest. Played it not all that long ago... playing it again. I have two Persona games sitting on my PS2 stack!!!

Tell me I'm not alone in this... f@cking stupid affliction. It must have a name. Gaming OCD I called it recently, but if I was obsessive I'd atleast complete a few more often.

(The last game I felt was done was Split/ Second, but that was a game that you could just 'zone out' to. Before that was GoWIII, and that was after a break of some weeks.)

 

[Corpse XxX]

I dont buy a new game until i've finished the last one i bought.. Unless it is extremely shitty, but that has only happened twice..

Just out of curiousity, how many games do you have?

 

[The_Deleted]

I must have around 400-ish by now.
I gave up using my IGN. library because it went to poop.
If anyone knows of another site that allows you to catalogue your games that'd be very helpful.

 

[Judgement101]

HOLY SHIT! 400-ish?!

 

[More Fun To Compute]

Well, all I can say is that you are a good man for propping up the major publishers in these hard times when they are having trouble making games that appeal to people who don't just buy every adequately marketed title then not really play them. If it wasn't for people like you they would have to do something simply awful like trying harder and being more creative.

I have too many unfinished or even unplayed games, a lot of people do. Recently I have been adding to my pile of games that I know I will never get through by buying games that have been reduced or are on sale though. What is the point in buying most games at release when only a few games, like Nintendo titles, stay at full price for any length of time and I already have a large backlog that I would rather play more. It's not like everyone on this forum is waiting for my day one impressions on all the new releases.

 

[The_Deleted]

Well, all I can say is that you are a good man for propping up the major publishers in these hard times when they are having trouble making games that appeal to people who don't just buy every adequately marketed title then not really play them. If it wasn't for people like you they would have to do something simply awful like trying harder and being more creative.

I can't tell if that's a dig or not... It's not like I'm buying all the shovelware they knock out. Or CoD maps for that matter.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

I can't tell if that's a dig or not... It's not like I'm buying all the shovelware they knock out. Or CoD maps for that matter.

Just a general comment about the number of sequels and unoriginal games that are coming out that people buy then only play for a short time. Nothing personal. Actually, I think if games were better then even older games would be tempted to get the most out them and play them for longer and not think about buying the next title. It's actually a disincentive to publishers to create fresher games if people move on faster to the next title if they get bored quickly.

 

[SonicWaffle]

Just a general comment about the number of sequels and unoriginal games that are coming out that people buy then only play for a short time.

This makes them different from original games...how? You can go off any game. Hell, I've never played anything like Red Dead (beyond a few superficial GTA similarities) and I still got bored and took a week or so off. Being a sequel doesn't mean people are less likely to play; often it makes it more likely, since people would rather stick with what they know than try something new.

Nothing personal. Actually, I think if games were better then even older games would be tempted to get the most out them and play them for longer and not think about buying the next title. It's actually a disincentive to publishers to create fresher games if people move on faster to the next title if they get bored quickly.

Games are good. We have a lot of good games on the market currently, sequels included. How exactly do you want them to be "better"?

 

[More Fun To Compute]

People are more likely to buy and play sequels to games they enjoyed but they can never recreate the feelings of playing for the first time. Am I also the only one who has not forgotten the humiliatingly pathetic line up of pixel perfect identical shooter games and unoriginal motion control games at this years E3? They obviously think that someone is going to buy all of that.

It's not up to me to work out how games should be better as there are a group of people who get paid pretty well to work that out.

 

[Wolfram23]

Honestly, that's a bit dumb. You might as well rent them if you're only willing to invest a couple hours. I guess it's some sort of OCD. Like a gamer pack-rat. You should try to let go and sell games on eBay or something. Especially since you only replay your favorites... I dunno... it's pretty odd to me.

I like to buy new games and all, but usually after I've managed to beat or get bored of previous games. Some exceptions, like gettings SC2 yesterday while I'm still thoroughly enjoying STALKER: Call of Pripyat. But yeah, buying a ton of games without even playing games is overboard IMO. These days I can invest only 1 or 2 hours a night into gaming so it takes a lot longer to finish games, but it's good since then I don't have a reason to buy new ones.

 

[The_Deleted]

I think the issue these days is there are a lot of AAA title games released and they seem to be getting bigger. There just isn't enough time for mature gamers, who work, have families or both to put in the dedication required. But still want to keep up with all the latest releases.
Pain in the ass, really.
The release dates, not the kids...


well...

 

[Sephychu]

I make a strict point of making sure I'm only playing about three single-player games at one specific time. Multiplayer games like TF2 stick around, but I don't want to have more than three plotlines to follow, because then I tend to neglect one, which is a waste of moolah.

 

[Robyrt]

I used to be this way. Then I decided I was only playing them once, if that, and gave them all away. Now I have 10 360 games, 3 PS3 games and a Gamefly subscription, while I slowly make my way through the back catalogue of "good games I haven't played yet."

 

[SatanicJesus]

If you want to catalog your collection, try backloggery. I have 85 unfinished games. I love buying cheap games I missed over the years I didn't have a PS2.

Here's my backloggery: http://backloggery.com/consolehandheld

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

I generally fall into the More Money Than Time category. Other than the occasional loss during a move and whatnot, I still have every game I've ever bought (or had purchased on my behalf. That works out to something like 15 NES games, 20 or so SNES games, about the same for N64, 65 games between my PS2 and Xbox, 35 or so for my 360, 8 for my PS3, and around 300 for the PC. There are a great many of them that I've never beaten for one reason or another.

 

[The_Deleted]

If you want to catalog your collection, try backloggery. I have 85 unfinished games. I love buying cheap games I missed over the years I didn't have a PS2.

Here's my backloggery: http://backloggery.com/consolehandheld

Fantastic. Thank you.

 

[Jasper Jeffs]

I don't complete games that often either, I have a crapload of games I've yet to complete. I'll just buy them when they're cheap, like Dead Space for £10, £10 isn't really a lot so I wouldn't miss it, but I've yet to even get my monies worth out of it. I've only done the first level. I think, for me, it's down to MMO's. I play them a lot, so I never really feel the need to conclude a video game. I have no attachment to the majority of video game stories and, as such, I have no desire to complete them. Plus, I get seriously lonely and bored playing single player, even when I'm in a full Xbox Live party, so even if I was enjoying the single player of a game I'd probably stop playing within half an hour. It took me over a year to complete FarCry 2, I imagine it'll be the same for all these other games I have. They're good games too, Mass Effect 2, Bioshock 2, Dead Space, Red Dead Redemption etc.. I just feel no need to play them, weird.

 

[The_Deleted]

I have all the so called classics, too. Mass Effect, Gears of War 1/2, Dragon Age, Bioshock but having skimmed the surface of the games have no real itch to play them. I've gone through Fallout 3 3-4 times but Dragon Age just leaves me cold. I've no aversion to shooters but GeOW seems a bit too earnest and macho and hasn't blown me away.

 

[Funkiest Monkey]

Hold off buying games for a while. You have a lot to catch up on.