Is It Possible To Be Addicted To Games And Yet Not Play Them?

Reader Josh H, a uni student, says he’s been gaming and making videos for years, so he sent us this one. It’s alright — I’m not sure it says anything we didn’t know already, as the Pile of Shame is a commonly understood concept for most any serious video gamer.

What struck a nerve with me, though, was this comment, sent along with the video link in an email.

“When I look at one game I think about another and so forth and so on. Then I end up playing Facebook for five hours accomplishing nothing.”

Playing Facebook for five hours, I assume means frittering away your time looking at what everyone else is up to, not necessarily playing Facebook games. That’s the loop I find myself getting into, especially after I’ve completed a review and can get back into any game I wish to play.

The problem is the review has shut off all momentum. I haven’t played NCAA Football 13, usually my most favourite series, in a month. So I sit at my computer, checking the New York Times, Yahoo! Sports, Reddit, my company’s other sites — and then back again. And eventually I muster up the determination to reacquaint myself with where I last left off. Worse yet, I find that I’m completely intimidated to start something new, like Mark of the Ninja, because I know I’ll have to leave it again for something else very soon — in this case, NBA 2K13.

Like Josh, I have an impressive wall of games. It is one of the perks of this business, and I am fortunate to have the job I do and to receive all of these games without paying for any of them. I’m real proud of how big and varied that collection is, and sometimes imagine that if I was trapped on desert island with that console and a generator and a TV, I’d really not ever worry about being rescued.

But at some point, I do think I’m a hoarder. I do like playing games, but some games, I like having them more. I don’t have a Steam library that full but I do have plenty of titles I’ve never finished or never even touched.

How about yourselves? Do you find yourselves drawn to having games more than playing them? Is it certain types of games? Do you have some games on your shelf the way some people have great books on their shelves — there’s an obligation to be familiar with them as the major works of the genre, even if you’re not interested in really completing them?

Or am I just navel-gazing, and playing Kotaku for five hours, when I — when we should all be playing games?

YouTube video uploaded by Josh H


The Cheapest NBN 1000 Plans

Looking to bump up your internet connection and save a few bucks? Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Kotaku, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.

Comments


37 responses to “Is It Possible To Be Addicted To Games And Yet Not Play Them?”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *