Every year inevitably brings with it some well-intentioned New Year’s Resolutions. The chance for a “clean slate” is wildly tempting, and each year we promise ourselves that “this year will be different.” But sadly, not a week goes by and you’re stuffing your face with chocolate, smoking a pack a day or sword-fighting in your Wookie costume. Perhaps that last one only applies to me, but you get the point; resolutions are fantastic until we actually have to stick to them.
This year, I’ve decided to toss out the resolutions about diets and relationships and family and world domination, and focus on something far more important. Gaming. So without further commit-o-phobic procrastination, here are my New Year’s Resolutions for 2011.
Attack the backlog
This is a syndrome a lot of serious gamers suffer from. With so many AAA titles being churned out at an alarming rate, the list of “games to play” gets increasingly longer. Unfortunately, some games are inevitably passed over and forgotten, forever damned to purgatory in the dark recesses of your Steam account.
Everyone has their list of shame, and many of us who call ourselves gamers will have to reluctantly admit that there are some highly acclaimed titles of the last few years that we just have not touched. Time constraints be damned, this is the year to go back and power through those greats. The best part is, they’ll be cheaper now as well! (Barbie – Horse Adventures now only R346.46 at Kalahari.net!).
Finish the Job
Another problem which can be attributed to a constant stream of fantastic games, is a tendency to leave some of these games unfinished when a new big release steals your attention. They were awesome at the time, but are quickly forgotten; like being the 3rd guy on Apollo 11 (bet you can’t remember his name, can you?). I have a shamefully big stack of games abandoned halfway through, left with nothing but empty promises and false hopes. Well no more will I avoid Bioshock 2’s sad, reproachful eyes; 2011 is the year to get the job done.
Don’t give me that look, baby. I’m coming back, I promise.
Single player Lovin’
I’ve fallen into a trap in the last couple of years whereby I have been devoting almost all my gaming time to online multiplayer experiences. I would buy games almost for their Multiplayer components alone, depriving myself of rich, rewarding single player experiences. This year I’m rocking my games “unplugged” and giving campaigns the lovin’ they deserve.
Quit Trophy Hunting
Video game developers have become smart over the years. As the industry has grown, and competition within it, developers have become more cunning in their methods of putting their games at the top of the heap. This gave rise to games that reward you for playing them.
This can be through achievements, rankings, items, levels; any number of gambits designed to make you hunger for them, to want to have them all, to have more than your friends do. Achievements are the Pokemon of the gaming world. From Black Ops weapon achievements to that elusive Diamond icon in Starcraft 2, everybody loves to hunt trophies, myself included. However, sometimes I find I’m so intent on reaching some achievement goal, that it’s sucking the actual enjoyment out of the game. I want to be playing for fun, not to grind out achievements.
Drop Platform Loyalties
I’ll admit it. I’m a bit of a PC fanboy. I’ll defend a mouse and keyboard ferociously over any other controller. I would probably get all my games on PC if I had the chance. But if take the time to stop flailing my mouse around my head, I actually really enjoy consoles.
Okay, I said it. I’m a closet console gamer, and my resolution for this year is to drop all the fanboy nonsense, and get my games for console, games that I could have played on PC.
Do you trophy hunt? Leave games unfinished? Have a growing backlog of must-plays? Share your resolutions with us on the MyGaming forum.
Loading ...
