I recently noticed a divergence between gaming and my other āmediaā hobbies (reading/watching movies/series/..). I always spent a lot of time curating games: creating wishlists, listening to podcasts, watching YT recommendation videoās, ā¦ I donāt do this as much with my other hobbies and I think it could be related to the fomo I have when gaming: I am constantly thinking about new games to play instead of just enjoying the one Iām currently playing. For some reason I donāt have this when watching a series or reading a book. It could also be related to the fact that starting a game feels like a bigger commitment than reading a book. There is also some more friction involved with gaming (even if you game on Steam Deck).
I also spent a lot time curating which books to read and movies to watch but I completely abandoned it five years ago. I just decide in the moment which book to buy or which DVDs to buy and just watch and read them until the next cycle. I am now doing the same with gaming. I am going to try to consume less gaming related content and I deleted my Steam wishlist. When Iām bored with a game or if I finished it and I want to buy a new game, Iām just going to set myself a timer of 10 minutes for example and select a new game to buy and play.
I wonder if you have any thoughts on this? The fomo part is also discussed a lot in the dual comm podcasts.
2 Likes
Iāve actually been trying to do the same type of thing. I find that one thing that helps is to add some barriers to buying new games, for me that is prioritising physical as much as possible (I have to wait to get the copy and have a finite amount of storage space), but another method could be to not save payment information to your accounts.
When applied with intention, friction can be just as much a useful tool as it can be a hindrance.
Good to hear that youāre taking steps in this already! My biggest help is to just install 1-2, maybe 3, games at a time and hiding all the rest. This is usually a bigger, story-driven game and a smaller session game and sometimes a multiplayer game. When I have some time to game, I decide if Iām in the mood for a more easy session or if Iām down to play the story game.
When Iām finished or tired of the game, I delete it and look at my library to pick a new game. Most of the time, I pick the first thing that comes to mind and install that. Setting a timer for this action seems like a good solution to make a decision. Just make sure you donāt overthink and donāt start comparing, since with gaming there is not wrong choice.
Quitting things like a wishlist, backlog or just gaming content in general is something that also helped for me. I have like this general rule where I donāt watch YT videoās about games I want to play or have not played yet so I donāt get spoiled.
Another one that worked for me is realizing that sometimes Iām not in the mood for gaming. Iāve had these moments that Iāve finished a big story game that blew my mind. The following day I go and look for a new one to play in my library but Iām just not feeling it. It could be that the other game blew my mind too hard and that my expectations are too high, or that the game sucked all my gaming energy out of me because of how big it is, but Iāve also had this feeling on other days. When youāre not feeling it, make sure you donāt force yourself to game. You can try and maybe after 10-15 minutes, the feeling is there, but just donāt force it since this will burn you out. Limiting my gaming time and doing other things like sports, reading, playing guitar, ā¦ after work help me make gaming feel fresh.
So in short I think you should try to limit the choice, limit the consumption of gaming related content and limit your precious game time as well. Setting those 3 limits helped me make gaming feel fresh, fun and like a real hobby instead of a job again
1 Like
IMO a big part of it is just over-indulgence in the hobby (any given hobby). It seems like a fun, magical rabbit hole to go down that thereās no end of #content available for your hobby, interest, whatever, and you can just keep going and going ā but along the way you wind up forgetting to actually do the thing.
It accelerates burnout/loss of interest way faster than if you were just doing the thing.
While it results in a lot of āmissing out,ā the strategy (is it a strategy? I didnāt explicitly choose to be this way, itās just how things happened to go with my ADHD and 2 million interestsā¦) I wind up taking is to just pop in on my different hobbies/interests as they are specifically relevant.
If Iām looking for new indie games, Steam Deck games, handheld games, whatever then Iām obsessing over NoClip videos, NoCaps, etc. finding new ones to try (this is often around Next Fest after Iāve explored by own queue of demos and made my own videos on it). But if Iāve got a few games Iām already obsessed with or stoked to play, thereās no reason to distract myself.
Similar ideas with art, tech, photography, whatever.
A big part of choice paralysis with games is too many options. A crucial step of curation is limiting whatās shown (like at a museum, in a portfolio, etc.) not just amassing as much as possible. If you just keep making the list get bigger, itās only ever going to feel worse. Pruning is a crucial step.
I actually JUST spent time earlier this month pruning our movies/shows, games, and books for stuff I truly just donāt care about, have duplicates of, better copies of, etc. to try to sell to Half Price Books and limit our bulk, make choosing easier, etc.
Itās a very rewarding step in the process and my wife had to kinda intervene when I kept wanting to add more games to it later when I maybe didnāt really wanna get rid of some.
2 Likes
Thanks for the replies and the strategies mentioned. I think Iām going to implement the āhave 2 or 3 games installed and hide all the othersā strategy. Iām currently taking a break from consuming games related content (except for the noclip/dual comm podcast and this forum). Itās been a few weeks now and I notice the fomo is smaller at the moment so this could be the key to tackling this problem in the future.
It also seems a good idea to occasionally watch some YT recommendation videos and other content when Iām in the process of looking for new games in a certain genre. I will probably not be able to keep up this rhythm of completely avoiding YouTube for the rest of my life.
2 Likes
