Gaming Goals for 2017

Well I figured I'd update. It's funny, my goals were to play the Dragon Age series which I already owned, so that I would let myself buy and play the Witcher 3 which I really wanted.

About mid July, I just picked up the Witcher 3, and had a blast with it for a few months. I haven't fully finished it, life has gotten in the way, but I feel like I've pushed through some of the overwhelming feelings I get from many RPG's of having to many things to do and there being just a huge task list

So, while I didn't accomplish any of the short term tasks I created to help get me to my goal, I do feel like I was somewhat successful in my goal of playing, and enjoying a gigantic RPG again.

Uff. This can be painful to look back upon. I was doing so well and then "Squirrel!" and hey look it's the end of the year.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Stele wrote:
jdzappa wrote:

Also, stop wasting time fiddling with dumb FTP mobile games.

This.

I wasted way too much time in early 2016 playing that dumb Star Wars game.

Trying to avoid those in the future, no matter how interesting they seem, because they are always MMO-ish time sinks.

I don't think there's anything wrong worth playing those games. The secret to enjoying them is knowing when to quit (the same is true of MMOs). They're explicitly designed to give you a nearly limitless volume of content, but so is an all you can eat buffet. When you're satiated, stop. You won't have done or seen or acquired everything there is to do, but you'll have stopped before playing became a chore.

Welp.

Thanks Nintendo.

Spent countless hours on Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing this year.

At least with AC my wife and I play together so that's not really time wasted.

Sadly I also had a stint with Marvel Future Fight around the summer when Spider-Man released. That one was a big grinder but I finally walked away.

cheeze_pavilion wrote:

Use the winter to kind of say goodbye to console games by getting to the pile that's built up the last ten years or so since I got back into gaming. With Persona 5 and the new Mass Effect being pushed towards the spring, it seems like a good timeline for that sort of thing. Then in the spring, move on to the PC. With Civ VI and Stellaris out for a while by then, it seems like a good time to move on to games that don't have real 'endings'.

Oh wow, totally forgot about this. Um...I only played one of these games, the new Mass Effect, and didn't get very far in it at all. I think I may have put P5 in the PS3 just to have it updated and ready to play. No thought given to getting a PC capable of any of that.

That post feels like a lifetime ago.

I was prepared to be sad about how I missed my goal but then I found I didn't put anything down for goals so yeah?

I did... passably on my goal of not buying games I won't actually play, at least relative to past years I guess. I bought far, far, far fewer games this year than I have in past, but I did just never actually play at least two or three.

Not a total success, but the "Don't buy games you won't play" thing was always in the back of my head and it did stop me from buying a lot of games over the course of the year.

Antichulius wrote:

Steam favorites could serve the same purpose and is automatically at the top.

As for my goal, I'm going to start by reducing the number of nights I spend on multiplayer games. Right now it's just my default and I never play my single player games despite itching to get to them. Then I spend all night trying to get in a little of everything, some Rocket League, Overwatch, Dota, which keeps me up far too late.

So, goal in short: only play multiplayer 2 nights a week, and only focus on one mp game per night. Hopefully this will help me turn to some other games I've wanted to play and haven't and also keep me from being up far too late. Overwatch will probably be the first casualty, but that's okay because I'll be playing some Xcom 2 and Sattelite Reign and Endless Legend instead. :)

Um. That’d didn’t really happen. But I did buy a Switch which got me more into SP games for a while there.

Bubblefuzz wrote:

Will be participating in the 2017 pile thread, for me I think of it more as pile management, than a pile reduction tool. Through 2016 kind of worked out that way as I maybe only purchased as many games as I completed or traded... But I can't be sure, which leads me onto my general 2017 goals...

1. To complete a small gaming diary. Keep track of purchases, games played, completed, dropped and traded. Plus maybe a few notes on titles particularly enjoyed that may make my goty 2017.

2. To decide on a reasonable amount can afford to spend on this hobby through 2017.... And stick to it!
Edit: Amount decided... £5 a week seems a reasonable amount... So £260 for the year.

3. To pick up, play and hopefully complete Fallout 4 + DLC ... AND .... Witcher 3 goty edition.

Middling for me.

1. Kind of. I kept a diary, but rarely wrote more than vaguely keeping track of what I was playing, what I traded and how much I was spending on games.

2. Here I've done pretty well. I have £13 remaining of my £260 budget.

3. I picked up both. I put in 20ish hours of Fallout at the start of the year and put it to one side. I have just picked it up and started from scratch this week. I am enjoying and want to stick with it.

Witcher 3, not the right time, under two hours with it and put on hold for now...

Gravey wrote:

my primary goal this year is to play the games I already own.

I knocked off two and started a third. I bought many more games this year, but all most of them got a play.

Gravey wrote:

Board games are the same deal: I have too many un(der)played games and want to fix that this year, accrue fewer new games, and be more aggressive about thinning my collection.

Very satisfying success here, I'm almost done my 10x10 challenge—not all the games I originally planned, but ten nonetheless—and I sold/traded enough board games in the spring to pay for a racing wheel.

Gravey wrote:

I also want to have a playable board game prototype. I've made more progress on my current game design than I have on any other, but it's still only part of the way, and all just notes in a notebook. The paper has to hit the table this year.

Nope, it's still in the ideas phase, and the ideas keep changing. I have progressed to different ideas.

Gravey wrote:

Finally, I don't want any of this to feel like an obligation, and want to dispel the guilt that comes with hobbies intertwined with consumerism, or learn how to accept it.

Definitely didn't feel like an obligation since I forgot about this thread until it popped up today.

Will we start one of these for 2018?

Despite my failure, I'd like to rise again, like a Phoenix from the ashes.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Will we start one of these for 2018?

Despite my failure, I'd like to rise again, like a Phoenix from the ashes.

Sure. Create away.

farley3k wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Will we start one of these for 2018?

Despite my failure, I'd like to rise again, like a Phoenix from the ashes.

Sure. Create away. :)

I feel like it'd be protocol to give skraut (the original creator) a few days to get a new thread started. If nothing pops up after a week or so, I'll start one up.

RnRClown wrote:

*SNIP*

So, I have a goal to spend more time with gaming and be more positive when talking about it.

I failed to spend more time with video games. I also talked about video games less. That's disappointing.

I did uncover that it's okay to discuss negatives as well as positives. I sought a better balance, though, as I tend to explore the negative at the drop of a hat.

So here is what I did and did not accomplish:

1. I started a gaming blog but haven’t done much with it. On the plus side, I did help launch the Gamers With Hope campaign.

2. Played most of the way through ME Andromeda and am almost finished with my ME 1 playthrough as male Shep.

3. Played but did not beat big rpgs like Pillars Eternity and Fallout 4.

4. Working on learning Stellaris now.

5. I spent a lot more time playing multiplayer with my son and extended family. Mostly walked away from my MMO obsession.

6. Definitely grazed more and mixed in shorter titles.

7. Santa is bringing a Switch so I’m finally making my first console gaming jump in decades (I didn’t really count Wii U).

Stretch goal - Still suck at PVP and probably will for foreseeable future.

Antichulius wrote:
Antichulius wrote:

Steam favorites could serve the same purpose and is automatically at the top.

As for my goal, I'm going to start by reducing the number of nights I spend on multiplayer games. Right now it's just my default and I never play my single player games despite itching to get to them. Then I spend all night trying to get in a little of everything, some Rocket League, Overwatch, Dota, which keeps me up far too late.

So, goal in short: only play multiplayer 2 nights a week, and only focus on one mp game per night. Hopefully this will help me turn to some other games I've wanted to play and haven't and also keep me from being up far too late. Overwatch will probably be the first casualty, but that's okay because I'll be playing some Xcom 2 and Sattelite Reign and Endless Legend instead. :)

Um. That’d didn’t really happen. But I did buy a Switch which got me more into SP games for a while there.

I have that problem too. Rocket League over and over and then the night is gone and the pile remains

Godzilla Blitz wrote:
farley3k wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Will we start one of these for 2018?

Despite my failure, I'd like to rise again, like a Phoenix from the ashes.

Sure. Create away. :)

I feel like it'd be protocol to give skraut (the original creator) a few days to get a new thread started. If nothing pops up after a week or so, I'll start one up.

2018 Thread

robc wrote:

My goal isn't as creative and productive as some others here, but I'm trying to crack down on how much money I spend on games. The first quarter is nearing an end and so far so good. Here is my average amount of money spent on games per month since I've been keeping records:

2017 28
2016 89
2015 59
2014 68
2013 70
2012 54
2011 53

If I can keep it under $50 per month I'll be pretty happy with myself. Under $40 and I'll be ecstatic.

My monthly average for the year ... $51.18. I'm very close to my goal.

Skraut wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:
farley3k wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Will we start one of these for 2018?

Despite my failure, I'd like to rise again, like a Phoenix from the ashes.

Sure. Create away. :)

I feel like it'd be protocol to give skraut (the original creator) a few days to get a new thread started. If nothing pops up after a week or so, I'll start one up.

2018 Thread

Yes! Thanks.

Eleima wrote:
Godzilla Blitz wrote:

6 - Concentrate on having fun with all of this.

That's pretty much my only goal. Although I know I'll be getting Mass Effect: Andromeda day one. And I do plan to try and finish more games than I added to the Pile.

I really admire that some of you fine folks plan to actually *make* games, I don't know where I'd find the time to do it. :)

Soooooo, checking back on my gaming goals of 2017. I *did* get ME: Andromeda day one, but I didn't get to play it day one because of work. That was probably a good thing.

shoptroll circa 2016 wrote:

1. Spend less time following the business side of things
2. Play more stuff from Wadjet Eye
3. Play more "chill" games
4. Worry less about the games I'm not playing from the pile and enjoy whatever I'm currently playing at the time

1. I think I did about the same, maybe slightly less? I generally stayed out of a lot of the more heated discussions this year largely due to most of them not currently impacting the games/genres/publishers I like. I did start paying more attention to Japanese sales numbers due to curiosity in how the Switch and a handful of JRPGs were performing.

2. Played and beat Blackwell Convergence. A good time was had

3. 3.5 "Adventure" games were played this year. And most of the stuff I've played on Switch has been pretty chill and full of just exploring and poking and prodding around a digital world. Success!

4. Don't really have any specifics but I've pretty much feel like this goal was met. Spent a lot more time this year focusing on the new games I bought and didn't really clean much out of the pile aside from maybe 2 titles.

BNice wrote:

To get Gold in Street Fighter V. I need to primarily improve on general execution, throw teching, defense and match ups.

I accomplished mine

ClockworkHouse on Jan. 2nd wrote:

One of my gaming goals for this year is adaptation.

Last year, I had a lot of success when I found ways to enjoy games even when I wasn't playing them "right". I muted annoying narrators even in games where narrators were kind of the whole point. I played through a 50 hour RPG with combat encounters disabled. I played DLC packs before playing the games they were tied to. And usually when I did that, it worked.

This year, I want to continue that effort to find ways to play games that suits me best. I want to fiddle with options, shift my focus, toggle difficulty levels, and just do what I want or need to do to adapt games for me.

I belly flopped on my pile goals for the year, but I'd say that I did pretty well with this goal. I found the fun in a lot of games where I don't think I would have before.

It didn't work every time. I didn't connect with some games no matter what I tried, and I'm okay with that. (I also started writing a gaming manifesto somewhat based on all this, but that's neither here nor there.)

My 2018 goal is to complete all the games I just bought for the new Pro and do it in this order to alternate between linear and open world.

Ghost Recon Wildlands
Resident Evil 7
Metal Gear Solid V Definitive
The Last of Us Remastered
Fallout 4 GOTY Edition
Rise of the Tomb Raider
The Witcher 3 Complete
Uncharted Lost Legacy

Then next BF, I'll load up AGAIN (on the cheap) with Far Cry 5, Red Dead Redemption II, Metal Gear Survive, God of War, Shadow of the Colossus and The Last of Us II.

farley3k wrote:

I was prepared to be sad about how I missed my goal but then I found I didn't put anything down for goals so yeah?

Might have to sig this!

So let's see...

Veloxi wrote:

General Goals:

1. Spend less money on games

Definitely did that, though having a wedding kind of forced the issue.

Veloxi wrote:

2. Spend more times enjoying the games I already own.

I have done this a bit, but I need to do it more. I mean this weekend I loaded up games I've owned for years and never played before, so I need to keep at it.

Veloxi wrote:

3. Embrace more multiplayer games I've missed over the years.

Definitely been doing this, as I've enjoyed games like the original Battlefield 2 and others.

Veloxi wrote:

Specific goals (I'll work on one at a time for my own sanity):

1. Learn to play and enjoy Command: Modern Air/Naval Operations.

I couldn't do it. I couldn't. I tried. I read the manual, but when I loaded it up my brain was like "NOOOOOOPE." Shame, as it looks amazing, and I'll keep trying to get into it, but yeahhhh...

Veloxi wrote:

I'll then pick another grognardy game to tackle once I'm comfy with Command, likely Gary Grigsby's Eagle Day to Bombing the Reich.

I actually have played some of this, and I like it quite a bit, but I am terrible at it.

So not tooooooo bad, all things considered.

Not hitting the forum much these days, but glad I saw this thread had popped back up when I was on last. Here's my summary of my loose aims for the year:

I just want to get more out of the gaming time I do have and on the whole, game less as well.

On the whole I have done this, though I spent a little more time than I ought to have with Fortnite Battle Royale, but have taken great steps towards this goal.

change some of the games (genres) I pick up, being a bit more critical and not always trying to be 'part of the conversation' by playing the latest title

Definitely did this, I played very few titles and not many of the 'hot' titles, despite being intrigued by some.

the new Mass Effect will be my only day and date game

Played the demo and really didnt feel the pull so I just ditched it. I'd consider this a good fail?

I'm thinking I'll cut out any form of mobile gaming on my phone

Pretty much did this, except I had a short lived Chess addiction playing with friends, forgiveable.

(cut out) online gaming

Did not follow through on this, have played a LOT of Fortnite: Battle Royale, tweaking this rule to ensure I do this only socially with friends.

nothing with grind, no time wasters

Feel I've fulfilled this one.

Main motivations for all of the above is that I'm in my mid 30s and feel I should be getting more done. I need to spend more time with my wife and children, I need to get more work done on my house (renovation and gardening) and improve money in and reduce money out, we're also moving houses/cities by years end. I also need to get more exercise and generally be healthier. But that's a whole other story, but linked in part.

I'll be retaining this as a basic summary of my focus, going to post in the 2018 thread.

Aaron D. wrote:

1. Less collecting, more playing.

2. Guilt-free grazing.

1. Success! Spent way less this year, focusing primarily on only buying titles I was ready to install and start playing right then and there. Also had my first Steam holiday sale where I didn't buy a single thing. I should get a free t-shirt or Achievement unlock for that one.

2. This one worked out for me as well. I tend to buzz around from one title to the next with no rhyme or reason, sometimes just installing older games in my Steam library on a whim, etc. One of the things that helped this year was being pretty divorced from big popular releases. It helped me focus on whatever/whenever gaming without worrying about being part of the conversation.

Aaron D. wrote:

One of the things that helped this year was being pretty divorced from big popular releases. It helped me focus on whatever/whenever gaming without worrying about being part of the conversation.

I need to do this. I bought Shadow of War because of all the hype and conversation when it released, and sure I had a good time, but I didn't finish it, it's another (expensive) addition to the pile, and it really wasn't a new or meaningful experience, whether I was part of the conversation or not.

Top_Shelf wrote:

Am identifying with a lot of the above talk about competing priorities. Considering planning a day off every once in awhile to binge:

- Gives opportunity to set an agenda and work some games
- Sates the desire to binge
- Reminds me why tons of gaming just isn't in the cards right now (little kids, career, home, wife, etc.)

Hahahaha. Didn't happen once.

I did make a commitment to only play console FPS (needed to do something to prioritize what to play, other than the "scroll through my games list thinking about what to play game") and that's been working really well:

I don't even look at non-FPS games on sale
I actually beat a game (Doom)
I don't waste precious gaming time wondering what to play, I just fire something up and get to it