Gaming Goals for 2019

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Skraut has offered up the reins on starting the annual version of the Gaming Goals thread so I took the liberty of kicking this off.

For reference, here are the previous years' versions of the conversations.
Gaming Goals for 2018
Gaming Goals for 2017

So...

What are your gaming goals for 2019?
Spend less money? Spend no money on games? Reduce the pile? Have more fun? Build a game? Play more games of a certain type? Finish more games? Play fewer games? Get 1,000 Steam Achievements?

Anything goes, and I'll try to nudge the thread back into memory a few times as the year goes along!

I've thought a lot over the last year about why I keep buying new games, and I came upon an important realization:

I forget about the games I already own.

Like, I'll buy an FPS literally forgetting about the FPS I bought a week earlier and played for thirty minutes.

So my big goal is to remind myself of the games I own and play them more often, and also remember that I own them when I have an impulse to buy some similar game (unless it's on like a super deep sale, I'm not a monster).

Veloxi wrote:

I've thought a lot over the last year about why I keep buying new games, and I came upon an important realization:

I forget about the games I already own.

I'm come to the conclusion that this is by design, as far as Steam goes. The architecture of the Steam experience leads you to games you don't own yet. It's horrible at helping you find and sort and learn about games you already own.

I was looking at some third party tools for organizing and finding good content I already own on Steam. I found a couple that looked promising, but offhand I forget which ones they were.

Last year's goals were formed with the intent of reducing guilt about the pile, saving money, encouraging the replaying of games, and to stop buying games that I feel pressure to play. A lot of this has been pushing towards another new move: stop caring so much about what I'm going to write about. For a variety of reasons, I've decided that I like my blog and I like making videos, but I'm never going to get paid for either and for the most part, not a lot of people care about what I gotta say, at least not enough to follow those official means. So rather than tear my hair out over updating the blog, pushing a video out on time, and worrying about what people will think of me, I am basically going to play what I want to play and figure out the rest later.

With that in mind, here are my revised goals of 2019.

1. Don't buy a full-priced game unless I know I want to play it.

2. Don't buy a game at any price if I have any misgivings about it.

3. Don't buy a game because others are praising it to high heaven.

4. Don't buy a game on sale unless I know I want to play it, I don't have any misgivings about it, and I have a clear gaming schedule coming up.

Rule 4 is basically an emphasis of the first three (wait, are these rules or goals?), as I've padded my sales games a bit. I bought Hob for a cheap price on PSN, but I haven't even looked at it. Though it could prove to be a worthwhile impulse purchase and discovery later down the line, right now it's sitting there taking up hard drive space and caused a loss of cash from my wallet. This happens to me quite a bit, though not as bad as with Steam sales. Nevertheless, there's a lot of games I'd like to own, but time and money are both finite.

My goal is simple:
Don't buy a game until I'm ready to really play it (not just the first hour or so).

This is regardless of how irresistible a sale may make a game seem. Example: I bought Hitman 2 for $23.99 because that just seemed like too great of a deal on a brand new game to pass up. Problem: I haven't even played Hitman 1 and doubt I will any time soon.

With a 3 month old, gaming time and budget is short. My only goal is to start secretly planting the seeds for her to like my hobby when she’s old enough.

I'd like to put as big of a dent into this list as possible. 19 more games to go!

And I'd like to start putting a dent into this list, which has sadly fallen a bit by the wayside since I started it. 8 games left!

I'd also like to pick up again from last year that goal to finish a Western RPG. I want to play more of them, but I rarely carve out the time to do so.

Don't jump on the bandwagon, but have a game you're already excited about and buy it early.

More RPGs, but try the "odd" title too.

Knock out a bunch of short, interesting titles, but don't be afraid of the epic title either.

Wait for the -66% sale, but if you're really interested in a title go ahead and get it.

Finish Assassin's Creed: Unity, AC: Syndicate, Batman: Arkham Knight, and finally dive into that Baldur's Gate run you've been putting off.

This is all going out the door in January.

My main goal for 2019 is to buy no game, except Monster Hunter World Iceborne (mostly because it's a game I play with friends once in a while). Otherwise:

  • Play the games selected in the JRPG GWJ Game Club (I somehow feel that this is part of my responsibilities as co-overlord). This will be hard, as we're currently playing Dragon Quest VII (which is between 70 and 100 hours long), and the next one is Persona 5 (which is also between 70 and 100 hours long).
  • If a game I own comes up in one of the Game Clubs, play it
  • Play the few games I've put in my priority list, which are mostly RPGs with some shorter games thrown in
  • Sell a whole bunch of games on eBay. And probably get rid of some of my consoles as well. I'm never going to use a PS2 again. (Let's be realistic: If I want to play a PS2 game, I'll use PCSX2 on my PC.)

One thing I would like to do is finish all the SNES and PSOne games I have in my backlog. Those have been there long enough, it's time for me to beat them (or at least give them a good try before deciding to remove them from the list).

I will probably go over the complete backlog at some point in January and make a conscious decision on whether I will ever play a specific game or not. I suspect that in most cases, the answer will be 'no'.

I also want to do code and write a visual novel in Unity, so I need to spend some time figuring out how to make games. Easy peasy, right?

Phades wrote:

My goal is simple:
Don't buy a game until I'm ready to really play it (not just the first hour or so).

This is regardless of how irresistible a sale may make a game seem. Example: I bought Hitman 2 for $23.99 because that just seemed like too great of a deal on a brand new game to pass up. Problem: I haven't even played Hitman 1 and doubt I will any time soon.

100% this. Actually I already started doing this in 2018 and it's improved my (gaming) life immensely. It's not the money, but the feeling that I don't have to hurry through whatever I'm playing to get to the next thing on the list. I can take my time and savour what's in front of me.

It does mean that I've played far fewer games this year than in 2017 (my 2018 GOTY list is not very exciting) and there are quite a few 2018 games I know I'll like that I haven't got around to yet. But that's OK.

A related goal for me is to think and write more about the games I play. To appreciate the games more but also to make my hobby a bit more social. When I was younger I would talk with RL friends about games quite a bit, and I want to try to recapture some of that.

- Read more

- Try not to get "stuck" on games. 2018 was a year where I had a couple of long stretches where I felt like all I wanted to do was play X, where X was Factorio and Path of Exile at various stretches. While these are fine games and provide long-lasting entertainment, I felt like I got to the point where I was just hitting "default" all the time. Which leads me to...

- Play some games out of my comfort zone. I picked up Yakuza 0 on sale sometime in October, a game I would never have imagined getting. Now that I own it, I have played the first 30 minutes and let it sit. I would like to play more of it, I just need to step away from my comfort zone and do it. And then go on to play other things I normally would not play. And yet, keep true to...

- Don't listen to the hype. I usually don't, but sometimes I still fall prey. Slay the Spire is a 2018 example of this. I knew it was not my thing but I listened to it being highly praised and caved. I tried to get into it but I just don't like card-based games all that much - I can tell it is good but just really not my bag. I need to walk a tightrope because I want to try things outside my comfort zone while still getting games I will (eventually) enjoy.

I need to accept that trying stuff that is new to me will also involve getting some stuff that I will end up not caring for. Exploration is a risky business after all.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

I've thought a lot over the last year about why I keep buying new games, and I came upon an important realization:

I forget about the games I already own.

I'm come to the conclusion that this is by design, as far as Steam goes. The architecture of the Steam experience leads you to games you don't own yet. It's horrible at helping you find and sort and learn about games you already own.

I was looking at some third party tools for organizing and finding good content I already own on Steam. I found a couple that looked promising, but offhand I forget which ones they were.

If you recall please let us know. I'm thinking of creating some sort of playlist thing.

tboon wrote:

Play some games out of my comfort zone.

Ironically, one of the things I want to work on in the coming year is staying in my comfort zone, and one of my big inspirations for that has been you.

You and I have chatted a lot over the years about games and gaming, and while our tastes are pretty much diametrically opposed, I've always been impressed by how happy and content you seem to be with what you play. I'm over here like a starved rabbit trying to take little nibbles off of everything and not enjoying any of it, and you're over there knowing what you like and enjoying it and being okay with that.

It's admirable, and one of my goals for the year has been, quite literally, "Be more like tboon": don't stress the pile, and don't feel like I need to expand my horizons. If I'm playing what I know I like and I'm happy, is there anything at all wrong with that?

ClockworkHouse wrote:
tboon wrote:

Play some games out of my comfort zone.

Ironically, one of the things I want to work on in the coming year is staying in my comfort zone, and one of my big inspirations for that has been you.

You and I have chatted a lot over the years about games and gaming, and while our tastes are pretty much diametrically opposed, I've always been impressed by how happy and content you seem to be with what you play. I'm over here like a starved rabbit trying to take little nibbles off of everything and not enjoying any of it, and you're over there knowing what you like and enjoying it and being okay with that.

It's admirable, and one of my goals for the year has been, quite literally, "Be more like tboon": don't stress the pile, and don't feel like I need to expand my horizons. If I'm playing what I know I like and I'm happy, is there anything at all wrong with that?

That is a very nice thing to say, thank you! Don't worry, I will still play my bug dumb grand strategy games, I am not looking to play 40 JRPGs in 2019. I am just looking to shake things up a little and be a teensy bit less parochial. I will still only buy what I plan on playing right now, will never stress about a hypothetical pile ("hypothetical" since I don't recognize the concept, I just have some games I may or may not get around to sometime ), and always enjoy what I play as best I know how. Because, at the end of the day, that's what this is all supposed to be about: having fun!

With so many incredible games I haven't gotten to both in my library and just out I think I will resolve

Not to buy a game released in 2019

I have dozens of games on my backlog and I can have a great year playing them. I am sure it will be hard because there will undoubtedly be a release I hadn't ever heard about which just looks incredible but I hope I will remain strong and not buy it.

(of course if Cyberpunk 2077 actually comes out this year I reserve the right to say screw this resolution and buy it)

1. Buy/acquire fewer games
I want to focus on the backlog even more this year. I have so many things to play! I'd like to save some money and work on them. In addition, I want to avoid getting games for gifts, or requesting keys when people offer them. Lately, getting more games even for free gives me a weird anxiety about "how much stuff I have to play" and I want to avoid that sensation (weirdly, free games from Twitch Prime, PS+, etc., don't give me that problem). I'd like to get the upcoming expansions for Civ 6 and FF14, and I think I can keep things down to a minimum otherwise.

2. Cut my play time down
I have what is likely to be a more physically demanding trip to Iceland planned this coming summer. I need to make sure I'm in better physical shape for it so I don't collapse after 3 days. I'd also like to get smarter when it comes to my job, and be more social. All of these things take time. I don't need to spend 3-4 hours on weeknights playing. Perhaps greater playtime can be used to reward other gains in those areas. I also don't plan to guilt trip myself on holidays and such. I just want more moderation in general.

I think those two goals preclude any others for 2019. I'll likely re-evaluate them when July hits, but they're a good starting point for now.

My gaming goals in 2019 are....
The same as in 2018. And 2017.

Eleima wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

6 - Concentrate on having fun with all of this.

That's pretty much my only goal.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
tboon wrote:

Play some games out of my comfort zone.

Ironically, one of the things I want to work on in the coming year is staying in my comfort zone, and one of my big inspirations for that has been you.

You and I have chatted a lot over the years about games and gaming, and while our tastes are pretty much diametrically opposed, I've always been impressed by how happy and content you seem to be with what you play. I'm over here like a starved rabbit trying to take little nibbles off of everything and not enjoying any of it, and you're over there knowing what you like and enjoying it and being okay with that.

It's admirable, and one of my goals for the year has been, quite literally, "Be more like tboon": don't stress the pile, and don't feel like I need to expand my horizons. If I'm playing what I know I like and I'm happy, is there anything at all wrong with that?

I'm still trying to navigate this tension myself.

I dumped my console spurs a few years ago for a PC sheriff's star, and definitely went the "new genre" route. Particularly genres that haven't historically had much of a console presence.

It was definitely a learning process, insomuchas I learned that a lot of genres contained very little fun for me. I'm still undecided if that's because of my ingrained console-y proclivities, and am left wondering that if I reinstalled Crusader Kings 2 just one more time, maybe I'll find that gold core that's hidden behind the many layers of impenetrable UI and vaguely explained ruleset.

Don't get me wrong, there's been unmitigated successes to the whole project that make it all worthwhile (sim racing and turn based strategy being the poster children). I'm just aware of the opportunity cost involved.

Play what you feel like in the moment only for as long as you are enjoying it and abolish the concept of the “pile” entirely, in my opinion. Giving the concept of the pile solidity makes gaming into a todo list with a focus on a future goal to the detriment of being in the moment when you play.

For extra spice, I recommend buying few to zero games and picking from what you already have for the year, but as the thread title says, I’m not the boss of you.

Veloxi wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

I've thought a lot over the last year about why I keep buying new games, and I came upon an important realization:

I forget about the games I already own.

I'm come to the conclusion that this is by design, as far as Steam goes. The architecture of the Steam experience leads you to games you don't own yet. It's horrible at helping you find and sort and learn about games you already own.

I was looking at some third party tools for organizing and finding good content I already own on Steam. I found a couple that looked promising, but offhand I forget which ones they were.

If you recall please let us know. I'm thinking of creating some sort of playlist thing.

Will do. I spent a few minutes yesterday trying to refind them, with no success. Which is odd, because the first time I looked for them a few months ago I found some promising things right away. I thought, "Oh, I'll come back to these. These looks good." And because I found them so easily I didn't even bookmark them.

Either my Google fu was strong that day, or weak yesterday, but whatever the reason I haven't found them again yet. I'll try again shortly, though. I might be able to hunt them down via my Google history too.

Thanks Godzilla.

I'm obviously not alone in saying buy fewer games in 2019. I tell you what the games industry is in big trouble if we all stick to our plans

But seriously, I've mentioned it in other threads, but I've been unhappy with how much I've spent on games this year and one of my goals is to address that. (After the steam sale though, okay?)

I have a big long pile of games that I feel like I should play, but I'm starting to wonder if I ever will. If I haven't felt like finishing Pillars of Eternity by now, what set of circumstances are going to make me feel differently in the future? To avoid it in future, I think the only choice is to buy smarter. Look at what I've enjoyed in the past, because I've been gaming for 35 years and I should know by now! Go outside my comfort zone by all means but thoroughly research it first and watch some let's plays.

I think I managed to complete the first three of my goals from last year. I'm particularly pleased with Goal 1 about Last Gen Games - because I think i'm now done with the PS3. This leads to my first goal for 2019.

(1) In a similar vein to what Warriorpoet897 said, let go of my long-term pile-related guilt. I've have a stack of PS3 (e.g. Borderlands 2, Crisis 3), PSP (e.g. the Metal Gear card games), and PS Vita games that I am unlikely even to unwrap, let alone play. I'm going to learn to be content with that.

I will, however, continue to battle the short-term pile (i.e. games bought in-year).

(2) I'll carry over the create a gaming room goal. I'll be redecorating at some point this year, which will provide a perfect opportunity to do this.

(3) Adopt ccesarano's principles for buying games in 2019.

Blind_Evil wrote:

With a 3 month old, gaming time and budget is short. My only goal is to start secretly planting the seeds for her to like my hobby when she’s old enough.

Ho there, wanderer! Stay thy course to indulge an old man.

I did exactly like you want to. So now my

Ninja PC is taken by the youngest playing fortnite
Mom's PC is taken by his bigger sister playing the Sims
The Xbox is taken by the oldest playing GTA V for the umteemth time
Number four just oozes the last drain of the internet playing Doki Doki Literature club while chatting with her friends who play it too...

Me, I sit with my ol' iPad confined to offline games.

If I could do this over....

Hi!

In 2019 I will,as I've done with some success in 2018:

1. Stick to a set monthly "no shame" budget for content (games/books etc).
-- Want that big, nice AAA game? No credit in the game budget, I need to save up.

1b. Don't buy more from a sale than I can reasonably play until next sale.
-- If that shiny [game I want to try] is on sale for 50% in the spring sale, it will be in the summer sale as well.

2. Enjoy games, and put them aside with no shame when they no longer entertain.
-- I combat the shame by allowing myself to walk away. Life is to short to finish un-fun stuff.

(bravely sticking my toe in the den of the people with TAGS! edit: )

Same as it is every year.

Guilt-free grazing with no strings attached.

I find bouncing around and dipping in and out of random titles on a whim works best for me. Just feels like work when I guilt trip myself over having to actually finish every game I install.

tormodh wrote:

(bravely sticking my toe in the den of the people with TAGS!)

Are we really so scary

I hope to be posting in your tagging thread very soon!

tormodh wrote:

2. Enjoy games, and put them aside with no shame when they no longer entertain.

This is the hard part for me. I feel the need to get value out of that £40 monster hunter purchase. So many people like it, I must be able to enjoy it somehow...

The funny thing is I'll probably try it again at least once, even after acknowledging that the game just isn't for me.

kergguz wrote:
tormodh wrote:

2. Enjoy games, and put them aside with no shame when they no longer entertain.

This is the hard part for me. I feel the need to get value out of that £40 monster hunter purchase. So many people like it, I must be able to enjoy it somehow...

The funny thing is I'll probably try it again at least once, even after acknowledging that the game just isn't for me.

That is hard, it took me a long time to make my peace with that attitude. Once I did though, it has been liberating!

For me, the first question to ask is why do I play? And not the pat "to have fun" answer. Because if the answer really is "to have fun" then why do I feel guilty about not getting all the "value" out of something? Because guilt is not fun. So, maybe I am playing for other reasons?

Exploring that led me eventually to a place where I could have fun with games with no guilt. It changed how I view and consume games. But it was a journey and a very introspective one at that.

It's a good time to look ahead! Most of what I write here is done with 2018 in mind, and these were my gaming goals for the past year. Here are my goals for 2019:

1) Have fun with all of this.

Can't let this get lost in the desire to finish a game that isn't bringing me joy, or worrying too much about my backlog. When something else conflicts with #1, reconsider those other priorities. And everything else is listed in descending order of importance.

2) Play games with the CRPG and JRPG Clubs.

Not only am I glad I found this site in 2018, but these clubs were such good discoveries! The social aspect definitely encouraged me to stick with and finish things that I might not have, otherwise, and I had a great time talking about games.

3) Play more current games -- but be selective about what I buy.

Finally owning a current-gen console has made me thirsty for more modern games, as have the GWJ Podcast and the discussions here. And, I've absolutely loved the time I spent this year with some relatively new games. I don't need the newest hotness, but I do want to experience some of what's current, especially when people rave about it. Here's a not-so-short list of the games I have my eye on:

Spoiler:

Celeste
Dead Cells
Dragon Age: Inquisition
FF XII: The Zodiac Age
God of War
Gorogoa
Guacamelee 2
Marvel's Spider-Man
Mutant Year Zero
Ni No Kuni 2
Pyre
Slay the Spire (I generally refuse to buy anything in Early Access, but might make an exception here)
Subnautica
Valkyria Chronicles 4
Vampyr
The Witcher Tales: Thronebreaker

4) Only keep two to three games on rotation, and be cautious about what I keep in rotation.

Keeping a few games active has helped me stay more focused and finish more things, but there have been times when I bounce between two many things and lose focus on the games where I want to make progress. My playthrough and enjoyment of Hollow Knight, for example, suffered from this.

5) Clear my NES backlog

A good number of games on this part of my backlog come from things that I found in a used game store, had read about in Nintendo Power, and thought, "ooh, this would be fun to play!" Then I never played them, or only barely touched them. This year, I'd like to do something about that. And, none of these games should be too long, so finishing them should be an achievable goal.

The list:

Spoiler:

The unplayed:
8 Eyes
Legacy of the Wizard
The Guardian Legend
Willow
Wrath of the Black Manta

The played-but-unfinished:
Blaster Master - too mazelike for my young mind
Faxanadu - couldn't clear the final dungeon
StarTropics - controls too wooden, a la old Castlevania games; final dungeon too hard
Strider - played multiple times, couldn't make it past the second-to-last boss. Looked it up recently; apparently you need to use a specific skill to disarm him before you can hit him.

6) Reduce my backlog by 30

30 is the exact number needed to get my backlog under 100! I doubt I'll finish 30 games, but between finishing games and deciding that I am not going to revisit (or try) certain things, I think I can make this happen.

Aaron D. wrote:

Same as it is every year.

Guilt-free grazing with no strings attached.

I find bouncing around and dipping in and out of random titles on a whim works best for me. Just feels like work when I guilt trip myself over having to actually finish every game I install.

Boom! Headshot!

tormodh wrote:

2. Enjoy games, and put them aside with no shame when they no longer entertain.

This is the biggest struggle for me. Part of it is being able to distinguish between games I'm not enjoying because I haven't quite figured them out yet and games I'm not enjoying because I just don't like them. On paper, Darkest Dungeon is a game I should love. In practice, I find it tedious, boring, and oppressive, but I stilled played 10 hours of it because WHAT AM I MISSING??!?!

The other part is my tendency to finish the things I like even if I am no longer enjoying them. I had a good time with my first 3 hours in Pyre, but then the game opened up and my interest started to wane. Rather than playing for another 30-60 minutes and stopping, I slogged through for 6 more hours until I finished. I really don't like this game now.

So yeah, my main gaming goal for 2019 is to do less of that.

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