After 20 gamer years I still haven't learned an important lesson

Gaming has been one of my favorite hobbies for around 20 years. Since then I have learned a lot - but a lesson has still not burned down after all this time. And that ensures a lot of frustration at regular intervals.

• if I start something, I have to finish it too
• Fallout 4: After 24 hours I didn't feel like it anymore
• just play something else? That doesn't work!

I Comment from Robert Kohlick.

if I start something, I have to finish it too

Keep up! Stay tuned! Don't give up now! Already in childhood we are taught that we simply have to "pull through" some things. This may be completely correct in some situations - with Games, on the other hand, this is not the case. However, my subconscious seems to see it differently.

I tend to a kind of weakened form of the "Completionism". While real complaints can only put a game aside when you do every challenge, collected every collectible and earned each trophy, it is sufficient for me to simply play through a game to have completed it. The problem: I still have the feeling when a game is no longer fun after a few hours.

Fallout 4: After 24 hours I didn't feel like it anymore

An example pleasant? A few years ago I got up to finally play Fallout 4. In my first few hours I really had fun playing. I did excessive exploration tours that sometimes rewarded me with brilliant loot. I improved my character with a few cool perks and, due to the increased level of difficulty, had really exciting battles at the beginning that always brought me to the brink of death.

But this fascination continues to flatten every level-up of my character. I became more and more powerful, at some point even unstoppable. And since the dialog system in Fallout 4 completely disappointed me, many situations ended in blunt balls that dragged on for several minutes. I burned out - and that after around 24 hours of play. But I couldn't stop. I had to finish Fallout 4 - even if I didn't give it a pleasure.

_In our video test for Fallout 4 the role-playing game was much better off at the time: _

Fallout 4 - Game of the Year Edition (PS4) at Amazon

And so I tortured myself through the story for another 24 hours and some side quests until I finally saw the credits flicker after almost 50 hours. Then - and only then - could I get through to end the game via Alt+F4 and throw it out of my hard drive. I was redeemed!

_ Above all in huge open world and role-playing games, you can sink countless hours: _

just play something else? That doesn't work!

Actually, at the latest since then I should have learned my lesson once and for all: if you don't enjoy a game at some point, you don't have to come to the end of hell. That just doesn't make sense! And yet I find myself in the same mess several times a year. Doom, Watch Dogs 2 and Life is Strange 2 - all games that were able to inspire me at first - all games that I would remember much better if I had broken them off halfway up.

Again and again I come up with the thought:““ It is no longer fun. Why don't you stop and prefer to free the storage space for a few other games? ” And again and again I catch how I am nice speech myself: “ This will definitely be better, you will see! This is definitely just a small sag! Stay on the ball, the game will definitely not go that long! ”_

And while I am sitting here and failing to finally internalize this important player lesson, a little call to everyone who has to deal with the same problem: don't let games to be captured that are no longer fun- If your time is not worth it, point! There are tens of thousands of other ingenious games out there, who can hardly wait to finally escape from your Pile of Shame.

Reading tip

Our Pile of Shame lets us despair: What do we actually need all these games for?

Alexander Gehlsdorf

In the meantime, I try to banish Kingdom Come: Deliverance from my PC. But before that I play in briefly - maybe this time it grabs me! That will definitely be even better, you will already see...