Problems only gamers understand

Features

November 23, 2015

As gamers, we have our own very particular set of problems that we live with every day of our lives.

It’s rather stressful, and the sad thing is, no one outside of the gaming world will ever really understand our issues, which is why no one at work is all that sympathetic that you’re tired because of a midnight launch event you just “had” to attend.

What follows is more than just a list of everyday issues and frustrations; instead, it’s a list that sums up our lives in a few salient, if a little frustrating, points.

Having lent a game to a friend, we immediately feel the need to play it

A friend just came over and robbed you of all your games; after all, you haven’t played them in a good while and he’s been hankering to play them for sometime now.

“Sure, take GTA V; I’m not playing it.” More dishonest words could not have been spoken

What happens next is your friend’s name and their new activity, your game, pops up on Xbox Live, Steam or PSN and you immediately feel the need to play it once more.

All of your friends are doing a heist and you’d love to join in. Only the biggest heist victim is you and the thing stolen, your game. Now, more than ever, you want to do a heist.

Being a good friend sucks at times.

The Pile of Shame

The downside to reviewing games is very rarely having the time to sit down and truly enjoy something you’ve just told everyone else you’ve loved and that they will undoubtedly enjoy.

But everyone has their gaming pile of shame; it in no way applies to just us. We’ve all still got hundreds of things to do in Mad Max, locations to explore in Fallout 4 and items to collect in The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth, but Star Wars Battlefront has just released and we need to get our Jedi on.

The need to buy every game, just like the cool kids, is something we all share, and just so that we can play the latest games as they release.

In doing so, we completely ignore the 3 games we just picked up on a sale, the already lofty pile of games yet to be played and the things we’ve yet to do in the ones we’ve actually dedicated time to.

The un-skippable cut scene you’ve seen 30 times

RPGs, especially JRPGs, are the primary culprit here.

You’ve reached a boss fight and it’s the hardest thing you’ve faced in a good while. So, sure, you’re going to die every 20 minutes, but a nearby saved game has made that a non-factor.

The issue here is that before you can actually start the fight against this increasingly frustrating and over-powered boss is having to watch a 10 minute cinematic. EVERY. DAMN. TIME.

Watching him turn into a dragon lost its charm 27 times in, and you’ve started to breathe smoke as well.

“I’ll just play for an hour or so”

It’s 11AM, and you’ve got an hour before having to attend a prior arrangement.

An hour is plenty of time as you can get so much done in Fallout 4 in 60 minutes. And just like that, your phone rings and it’s your mom asking if everything is okay because it’s now 2PM and you’ve not arrived for lunch.

The same goes for late night gaming. You think you have all the time in the world to play, and then you look again and it suddenly hits you, it’s 5 in the morning and waking up for work is going to be hell.

The overburdened backpack

Heading out into the world in an RPG requires much preparation before you truly get going. You need to make sure you have the right equipment, potions and, most important of all, make sure you can carry anything that you will pick up along the way.

We often forget to do this and it causes havoc in our lives.

We’ve just killed a legendary Super Mutant in Fallout 4, who’s just dropped the most epic minigun; instantly, we pick it up without a second thought.

We then realize that we are over our carry weight by 30 and now cannot run away from the suicide mutant that is chasing you down.

As you hear you the beeping sound coming up from behind you, you then accept that you should have planned this trip better, and get blown to pieces, dying with regret.

“I have nothing to play”

Sitting in front of your PC screen, looking at your Steam Library and trying to find something to play. Standing in front of your cupboard looking at your PS4 games, trying to find something to play.

We’ve all looked at our trophy and achievements lists to see if there is anything we’ve missed, and of course there are. But in the end, we turn our consoles off and watch an episode of The Walking Dead instead.

We’ve all been through it; the need to play a game, but no clue exactly what it is.

We have all the latest games, and we’re not even half way through any of them, but still, we have nothing to play.

We don’t know about you, but we often get this feeling when a new game is about to release we’re excited about. We lose the desire to play anything until the game releases. It’s that new fad.

What video game problems do you face every day that we can relate to? Let us know in the comments and forum.