How do y'all deal with indecisiveness in gaming?

[Dweller Dark]

I know indecisiveness is part of a larger issue for me personally, but right now, I've been unable to really choose or commit to a playthrough of my installed games because I'm concerned I might not like playing one or be ill-prepared for *XYZ* game. Even worse with RPG's as character creation is always full of choices that I tend to overanalyze, even if the RPG in question isn't strict on how you should play it. FPS games are typically better, but not always. 

 

I suppose I'm looking for things I can do to overcome this, whether it's something common or uncommon. I could really use the advice, if anyone is willing to share some.

[Kinsie]

17 minutes ago, Dweller Dark said:

I've been unable to really choose or commit to a playthrough of my installed games because I'm concerned I might not like playing one

That's a problem for future you to deal with. Pick one, play it for an hour or two, and if you're not enjoying it, move on to another.

[Daytime Waitress]

1 hour ago, Dweller Dark said:

 I've been unable to really choose or commit to a playthrough of my installed games because I'm concerned I might not like playing one or be ill-prepared for *XYZ* game.

 

Look at this chump playing regular old XYZ instead of the superior Super XYX!

 

Naw, I feel you, OP. My buddies and I often joke about how our most played game is Stare at The GabeSoft Library and Not Play A Damn Thing. That's magnified by finding something for co-op across all our collections, sure, but I still feel it on an individual level.

 

There are probably actual books you could be reading on executive dysfunction and the management of choice paralysis, but for the time being Kinsie's got pretty good advice: boot up anything and play until it's no longer fun.

[Kinsie]

I mean, I definitely get the whole decision paralysis thing. I have the same giant backlog as everyone else. But there’s only two ways to deal with it: either play random stuff, or uninstall random stuff and kick those particular fans a bit further down the road.

[Firedust]

Just play whatever you feel like playing, and if you aren't enjoying yourself, then move on to something else.

[hybridial]

In truth; really fucking poorly :D

 

I'm an absolute victim to my whims constantly when it comes to what to play, what not to play, sudden mood swings making me not enjoy stuff, I'm all over the place. I install and uninstall stuff constantly. My only advice on this is don't follow my example if you can avoid it. 

[Laocoön]

I only play Doom. Easy decision. I own a PS4, but after abandoning God of War 2 halfway through I only use it for watching films.

[Cruduxy Pegg]

Play what you feel like playing instead of trying to pressure yourself into games boring. For me if I can't nothing I just go to default games like darkest dungeon, age of wonders 4, Doom/Heretic and diablo.

[vyruss]

I used to have this problem all of the time!  I don't really have much to add in the way of advice that others haven't already stated except to add that for me, while I had this issue, it really helped to just pick something and commit to it.  Did I enjoy it 100% of the time? No, but it helped me to pick something from the pile and just burn through it so that backlog had some to-do item crossed off.

 

And who knows, maybe you might even find a new favorite.

[yakfak]

indecisiveness leads me to uh
play doom once every few months and then start a map i won't finish

then start making my own game in something like pico-8 which i won't finish

then start modding an rpg? like ff7 or grimrock (i won't finish the mod)

then replay celeste (or replay until the final room of Farewell and decide i already remember the ending and don't need to win lol) and look up how that ahorn mapper works (i will bounce off the modding tool in this case, brain already full)
also has anyone seen my drink? i don't think i finished it

 

i kinda
don't think of just playing whatever game that's new as a hobby

hobby is where you obsess about a particular subset in an unconstructive manner \o/

[Stupid Bunny]

I like building computers, installing operating systems, configuring AUTOEXEC.BAT type shit, tooling around with memory management and window managers, and installing and configuring games and software way more than I enjoy actually using any of it.  Spent hours trying to get Space Quest IV working on a home build and when it finally ran I was like "shit what now :( "

 

There's nothing wrong with not being immediately hooked by a game.  I sometimes feel the same weird guilt of "why do I buy a thing and then not play it", but sometimes I'll revisit it years later and discover I love it.  There's no obligation to finish everything, at once, which is why I keep bouncing between 3 or 4 different creative projects without actually finishing any of them lol

[Naarok0fkor]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-ooq3h-XC4&ab_channel=PatrickDenis

 

[MrFlibble]

I've noticed recently that I'm getting reluctant to try out new games, but this seems to come from not having a lot of time to play. I don't want to fire up something and then have to turn it off after an hour because I have other things to do. So I keep postponing this to when I have more time to familiarise myself with a new game without a rush. In the meantime I choose other diversions for shorter periods of leisure time.

 

Sure thing, 10 years ago I had more free time on my hands.

[whybmonotacrab]

I found removing any subscription services I have helped. Gamepass ain't worth shit if all it does is add to the choice paralysis. 

With RPGs I feel ya. The amount of games I've restarted because "that other class might be better" is ridiculous. ARPGs like Diablo are the worst because I want to know I'm having the most fun with my playthrough as possible. Stuff like Dragon's Dogma 2 letting me swap class at any moment is honestly a godsend. 

[EraserheadBaby]

coin flips help me with lots of decisions.

 

I don't necessarily go with the results of the flip, I just pay attention to how it makes me feel.  If I like the result I take it and if I don't I reject it.

The coin flip goes through the motions of making a decision and I think it gives my brain the impression that the decision is made, which changes my perspective on the situation.  Idk, but it works for me. 

["JL" was too short]

Something that I don't think anyone has asked yet is, are there any games that would actually grab you and go "yes, I unequivocally want to play this game"?  Perhaps ones that you don't actually feel that way about now since you've already played them, but would have when they were offering new experiences?

As I think one or two other people have mentioned or at least alluded to, there do seem to be a large amount of uninspiring games out there today, in part because there are a lot of games out there today period, and also because AAA games—regardless of their "quality" or lack thereof—are sometimes actually disincentivized to invest resources in going for well-developed, engaging systems rather than the overall cinematic experience, so it's easy to come up with mentally prominent examples of games where you looked at the splashy trailer and went "why would I ever want to invest myself into engaging with this?"  That's my own experience, at least.

You mention that decision-making is a larger issue for you personally, so it's unlikely that the fault is 100% with the games in question, but it could still be worth trying to figure out where you can lower the action potential threshold, so to speak.  If you're having trouble climbing over a wall, look for the lowest walls and don't worry about trying to scale the high ones.

[maxmanium]

I've been like this for quite a while now. I recently tried Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance but am already so frustrated with it because they barely explain anything and I don't know what I'm doing wrong. It feels like that with a lot of games for me where I just have no idea what is happening and everything is a slog.

[Wo0p]

5 hours ago, Laocoön said:

I only play Doom. Easy decision. I own a PS4, but after abandoning God of War 2 halfway through I only use it for watching films.

 

Based comment.

 

Also, I do deal with the paralysis demon regularly. I recently finished Wasteland 3 after attempting to play it through for several years and only returning to it after said years with renewed gusto following a BG3 playthrough and wondering "Well now what? I needs muh RPG"

 

I guess... try to pick games from a certain category that you usually enjoy like strategy or action shooters or somesuch and then just play the game for an hour or two to see if it hooks you. If not, go to the next one that seems marginally interesting. There's a growing concern of missing out on content in general and especially when you're on a platform like Steam that literally throws thousands of suggestions at you daily it's not easy to filter out stuff.

 

So focus on a category of games. You can't "optimise" your gaming experience anymore than you can "optimise" what you can achieve in life. You can try, but ultimately you're gonna have to focus on one thing at a time but there will never be enough time to both be a software engineer, a clothing designer, a nurse and a police officer all in one life time (Well maybe you can but I hope you get my meaning... there's too many vocations out there for one to feasibly try out in one life time). 

 

Maybe if you accept that fact and stick with the category that caters the most to your whims and temperament, this will help you accept that you won't ever try everything. I'm fine with this knowledge, but only after spending a considerable amount of time thinking through them. Dunno, I'm rambling. Hope something in all this word salad can help you :)

 

Good luck!

[glu]

Sometimes I look at my game library and browse games, and I'm like "not that one, not that one,..." and in the end I find myself not launching anything. 

 

The thing I do to overcome this is just to force myself to launch a game, and finally, most of the time, I enjoy playing it. If not, I'll just quit and maybe try again later. But even though it can be hard to just hit that "Play" button, I have to do something or I'll waste my time and regret it later.

 

Maybe you could try picking a game randomly, launch it without asking you more questions, and then see how you feel playing it.

Or try focusing on certain (or even one) games for a while and see how it goes.

 

 

And maybe sometimes you just aren't in the mood to play anything?

 

I hope you can get rid of this feelings in the future!

[Dweller Dark]

Thanks for the advice, y'all! I think if I set myself a goal for how many games I want to start and finish and only let myself install another based on the completion of said goal, it might help manage my indecisiveness. I have 12 singleplayer games installed that I've never finished or never really started, so I can just complete those one at a time until I've finished half or more. All I'd have to do is pick 1 out of 12 games and play it until it's completed, then move on to the next. I found an RNG website, so I'll probably use that when I'm having a hard time. 

 

Again, thank y'all for providing input/sympathy/empathy on this, it really helps me. 

[MrFlibble]

On 3/29/2024 at 6:02 PM, jerrysheppy said:

Perhaps ones that you don't actually feel that way about now since you've already played them

BTW, I remembered another factor that contributes to indecisiveness for me: there are very certainly games that I'll gladly come back to and play again, or play them on and off from time to time (sometimes with mods) like Duke Nukem 3D or Daggerfall, but sometimes I start thinking that maybe I should use that time to check out something new instead. But the downside here is what if I don't enjoy the new thing that much?

 

Also, more along the lines of rambling than actual "advice" here, I guess it can help to have a schedule of some sort, but I personally never play a game to "finish" it. I know some games are meant to be played from start to finish to learn the whole story, but I'm generally not into those. If a game plays well, I'll want to come back to it, or at least stay immersed for a while, keeping playing on and on. Replay value is a big thing to me as well. On the other hand, I'd probably never push myself to finish a game just for the sake of it, it feels counter-productive and unnecessary to me (but that's just my opinion, mind you). There are games that I have completed several times though, simply because I enjoyed playing them -- in fact, if there were more levels for those I'd happily play them too.

 

On an unrelated note, @Dweller Dark, I'm quite a fan of Farscape, and it's currently airing on YouTube in several languages over at the Shout! Studios channel.

[Dweller Dark]

Well, I don't necessarily play a game to finish it, but I know that if I don't finish XYZ game, I'll never get to the next one and the one after that. And I do my best to finish any game so I can make an informed judgement of what the experience means to me. But I do keep some games around (Doom, Quake, etc) just because they're relaxing and/or easily made to run other things. I try not to reinstall something I've already played in order to avoid distractions.

 

1 hour ago, MrFlibble said:

On an unrelated note, @Dweller Dark, I'm quite a fan of Farscape, and it's currently airing on YouTube in several languages over at the Shout! Studios channel.

 

Farscape + Peacekeeper Wars is also available on YouTube under the "free with ads" category, which is how I watched it. Great show.

 

[MrFlibble]

9 hours ago, Dweller Dark said:

And I do my best to finish any game so I can make an informed judgement of what the experience means to me

Generally I have a very strong feeling that there are distinct types of games that are meant to be played to the end (= the experience will be largely incomplete if you don't), and those that can be played at any time for any amount of time, and from anywhere you want. It's like with books, there are those with a more or less linear story that you'll probably miss out on if you read just some parts of it, and there are story/novella collections and various non-fiction books that you can literally open up at a random page and start reading without having to know what the previous 100 or so pages were about.

 

I think that most adventure games are of the former type and are geared towards a complete story; I also guess that story-driven FPS games like Half-Life are like that too. However, I'm more fond of a self-contained sandbox-esque approach that has less emphasis on storytelling and gives the player more freedom, including the classic era FPS titles from the 90s. Ultimately, such games have a far greater replay value to me. (Maybe I'm just not a big fan of adventure games, generally.) And of course there are also all sorts of puzzles and arcade-ish coffee break games, roguelikes and so forth, which either do not have any ending at all and may be played infinitely if you have the skill, or require a lot of failing and retrying to get through.

[dasho]

 

Edited March 31 by dasho

[Aaron Blain]

Stop looking for the best possible choice and just do something.

 

I was wandering around my EmulationStation setup the other day and I decided to say, what the hell, I'm going to play Dragon Strike on NES. I had it as a kid but didn't really find it satisfying. It has never been part of my standard rotation or Day 1 Install List. Suddenly it's one of my favorite games.

 

Goes double for RPG's. I'm heavily into Daggerfall lately. I have one character going that's a crappy pre-defined class. I decided, you know what, I'm just going to double down on this and create opportunities to use the skills Axe, Climbing and like Spriggan or whatever. So what if it's suboptimal and not a playstyle I would normally do?

Edited April 2 by Aaron Blain

[D4NUK1]

For games like fast paced or action based, i like to set me goalpoints, that would be 1 or 2 levels per sesion, or a time for play, if i want to still play, i'll just extend my time more. That's how i complete various FPS for diverses game devs.

 

For RPG, i'll try to play like this was a old rpg, so like, mostly use a sub class and make that my tier of leveling. that's how my Oblivion character does only combos with dual dagger and little of magic.

[MrFlibble]

1 hour ago, Aaron Blain said:

I'm heavily into Daggerfall lately. I have one character going that's a crappy pre-defined class. I decided, you know what, I'm just going to double down on this and create opportunities to use the skills Axe, Climbing and like Spriggan or whatever. So what if it's suboptimal and not a playstyle I would normally do?

Daggerfall is awesome exactly because it allows you to try out completely different things and succeed if you know what you're doing. I've played default classes multiple times and they all seem to work quite well -- at least, in vanilla. Daggerfall Unity makes the default classes less optimal (I believe this is because of the subtle differences in how the mechanics are implemented), but still workable it you're willing to do some save scumming.

21 minutes ago, D4NUK1 said:

For games like fast paced or action based, i like to set me goalpoints, that would be 1 or 2 levels per sesion, or a time for play, if i want to still play, i'll just extend my time more.

In 2020, I finally got around to play StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and I really liked it how campaign scenarios are designed to not take more than 30-45 minutes to complete. It was very helpful that I could just sit down for about an hour after a day's work and enjoy a whole mission from start to finish without worrying to stay playing after midnight.

[xdarkmasterx]

I decide