Sometimes when I write a game review, I include an aspirational line that goes something like, “I had a great time playing this game, and I can’t wait to finish this review so I can go and play some more.” You know that line, you’ve read it in a thousand positive reviews. My problem is that I almost never live up to the things I say I’ll do in my review. At this point, I’m wondering if I should come up with a more realistic assessment, maybe something like, “I had a great time playing this game and I’m sure I would have a good time playing some more if I wasn’t fundamentally broken.”
The Fire Emoji Has Spoken
As soon as I hit credits, a switch goes off in my brain. I keep a list of the games I’ve started in any given year in my Notes app, and as soon as I finish one I put a 🔥 next to it. That fire emoji, though symbolic, burns up any will I have to return to a game.
Take, for example,Braid: Anniversary Editionwhich I reviewed last month. I finished that game and listened to a few hours of the new developer commentaries included with the release before I wrote the review. I genuinely wanted to go back to it and listen to the rest, discovering the new levels and secrets hidden away in the great behind-the-scenes features. But what actually happened is that I turned in my review and haven’t gone back since.
If you’re wondering: no, I have never platinumed a game.
Knowing this about myself, when I recently played throughLittle Kitty, Big City, I thought that the game was probably short enough that I could force myself to stick with it after rolling credits and get all the achievements. But when I saw the hour or two of tedious work needed to accomplish just one optional objective that required you to find 100 pop cans and recycle them in the blue bins around the city, I didn’t have it in me to keep going.
Are Games Just Tasks To Complete?
I’m a goal-oriented person, and I think that makes it difficult for me to do anything that I see as extraneous. I like to give myself lists of movies to watch, books to read, and games to play. WhenIGN publishes a new version of the Top 100 Games of All Time list, I skim through it to see how many of the games I’ve played to completion, then start thinking about which ones I should play next. If completing new games is the goal, sticking with ones that I’ve already finished becomes a waste of time.
The thing is: wasting time is okay. Being productive all the time is bad for your long-term mental health and sometimes you just need to kick back and chill out. I find myself able to relax in the moment, but the activities I pick for relaxation often have a meta goal that they’ve been chosen to accomplish. Like, I really like Balatro, but I’m also trying to finish at least one successful run so I can add that fire emoji to my list.
Being goal-oriented is what caused this problem, so maybe it’s also what can fix it. One way that I’ve found success at getting things done is by making New Year’s Resolutions and planning out how I’ll accomplish them over the course of the year. I think next year, getting a Platinum in a game needs to be a goal. Or, maybe just spending at least ten hours more than I need to with a game. Somehow, I’ll convince myself that having fun is actually productive.
