As you may be aware, July is Shameless Gaming month here at Kotaku. Since there seems to be a dearth of new, interesting releases we’re inviting you to join us as we attempt to make our own personal pile of shame a more manageable heap. I will be documenting my progress here, every Tuesday, but think of this as a place to discuss your own progress…
“I don’t have time to play games,” says my faceless, nameless, collective, mostly imaginary nemesis. Tone derisory. “I have a life.”
As I dot through a list of people I hate, I can totally imagine 20 terrible examples of humanity saying these exact words – and it makes me want to spoon out their eyeballs with an ice-cream scoop. In high school I seem to remember a number of ‘too cool for school’ (even though they were in school) folks saying this and it would constantly wind me up into a fiery fury that would quell a thousand suns.
But even the largest pools of verbal diarrhea have a sliver of truth hiding within – you just have to go wrist deep, Trainspotting style, to find it.
Because, sadly, these folks have a point – sometimes life gets in the way of video games.
Shameless Gaming was an utter bust for me last weekend. Despite the fact that my wife was gone for the weekend, it just seemed like an endless series of obligatory commitments conspired to drag me away from video games and sweet, sweet progression. Birthday parties, engagement parties, family, even work – it all coagulated into this lumpy Akira-esque, sentient mush of blergh which resulted in me logging precisely zero minutes of gaming over my weekend.
Yep. Life gets in the way of video games. Tragic.
It has suddenly occurred to me that, if I want to truly make a dent in my pile of shame I’ll have to properly set aside time for gaming and stick to that schedule – but for gaming, which is supposed to the prime example of a leisure activity one does in their spare time, it feels a bit strange. But it seems as though that’s what I must do.
But there are other issues – procrastination. Writing and talking about video games as a job can drain any enthusiasm you have for gaming in your spare time – particularly when it comes to a number of games you passed on for good reason to begin with. I’m enjoying Bulletstorm, but I’m also enjoying the book I’m trying to finish at the moment, and Mad Men Season 4. I’m also really enjoying reading through Slam Dunk, and I want to go exercise. I have so many choices when it comes to entertainment and sometimes that means that gaming slides down the priority list.
It’s crazy. To watch myself procrastinate the hobby I’ve always been most passionate about in my life. To feel the enthusiasm drain from my stomach as I find yet another reason to not play video games.
Sometime life just gets in the way of gaming.
Leave a Reply