While at work I want to go home and play Europa Universalis IV, Command Air/Naval, (insert cerebral game) but I'm so tired I end up playing Elite or Planetside 2.
Do you want to play certain games but end up going to fallbacks?
Yes all the time. EU IV is one of the ones I want to play but when I get to my home PC I can't be bothered trying to wrap my head around it and play Tropico 5 or some other form of brain candy instead. :P
One of the reasons why I am stuck in world of tanks....it so easy to play and no deep thinking or time reservation needed.
I want to play CK2, Endless Legend, Flashpoint, Sails of Glory, Nimitz, but I end up playing World of Tanks.
Like Flickjax said, it is just so easy to start and play without thinking too much. I should really uninstall it again.
I want to play any of a dozen titles I've bought through Steam and never played, but I end up playing 7 Days to Die.
republic....I suspect many, if not most of us here suffer this same syndrome. I know I do. I start out intending to play Battles from the Bulge but end up playing Skyrim.
i want to play Wargame Red Dragon AoW III, FE:LH, Endless Legend, more Rome II, i end up playing Elite because its awesome and the others dont have a big enough pull yet
I want to play a board wargame but wind up doing mindless clicking in a pc wargame.
Quote from: republic on January 14, 2015, 07:56:28 AM
While at work I want to go home and play Europa Universalis IV, Command Air/Naval, (insert cerebral game) but I'm so tired I end up playing Elite or Planetside 2.
Do you want to play certain games but end up going to fallbacks?
What happens to me is more insidious: I want to play X, but I end up reading up on the real actions being simulated and I end up changing the rules. Flying Colors is the worst case of this (boardgame), but no game is immune. For Pc games the result is something like instead of playing CMANO, I play small scenarios basically in the editor. Currently I'm trapped in the CMFI editor. In the worst cases (where there are no accounts of any actual actions) I've just played in the editor for decades (all of the ARMAs since about 2004, for example and DCS)
Want to start getting into Elite and Battle of Stalingrad, but don't have the mental energy to reconfigure countless flightstick bindings... So I just wind up playing CM Red Thunder.
Want to play: OOTP15. Wind up playing: Red Thunder.
Want to play: Divinity Original Sin. Wind up playing: Red Thunder.
Want to play: Distant Worlds. Wind up playing: Red Thunder.
Obsession or gaming rut? you decide.
I want to play War in the West, Decisive Campaigns: Case Blue, Distant Worlds Universe but I end up playing Dungeonmans, Dungeon of the Endless, Heroes and Legends: Conquest of Koldar, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
I think its a time thing. All the games I want to play require time and effort to play - major investments - whereas all the ones I end up playing are small bites of tactical/roguelike rpg abstractions that I can get a fix out of them for half an hour without much mental or time investment.
I'm a shallow bastard who pretends to call himself a wargamer. :(
I often gear myself up to play the big games, and I reckon if I pop on Youtube watch a few Lets plays I'll get the gist of what is involved and can start the game running, rather than having to plod/crawl through the manual. Usually after one or two Lets Play videos of the game I want to play, I'm fatigued of the game and haven't the minerals to start it up myself! Madness!
Quote from: spelk on January 14, 2015, 02:01:35 PM
I want to play War in the Weat, Decisive Campaigns: Case Blue, Distant Worlds Universe but I end up playing Dungeonmans, Dungeon of the Endless, Heroes and Legends: Conquest of Koldar, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
I think its a time thing. All the games I want to play require time and effort to play - major investments - whereas all the ones I end up playing are small bites of tactical/roguelike rpg abstractions that I can get a fix out of them for half an hour without much mental or time investment.
I'm a shallow bastard who pretends to call himself a wargamer. :(
Sometimes war gaming is more of an aspiration than an experience. Just as well -- for example, reading End Game at Stalingrad was a lot more rewarding than playing Wittergewitter, though probably one would not have been as rewarding (or even comprehensible) without the other.
What I try to do if and when I ever get going in the likes of Command Ops and CMBN is make sure I save and quit at a point where I've a definite idea about what I want to do next, or want to see what happens next. The idea being that I then have an impetus to get going again. Of course, you've got to get going in the first place...
Quote from: spelk on January 14, 2015, 02:01:35 PM
I'm a shallow bastard who pretends to call himself a wargamer. :(
Not at all -- what you're describing is an experience most of us have all the time, myself very much included.
The amazing thing about the amazing abundance of games cheaply available (and so easily bought during Steam sales and the like), is that I probably only regularly play about 1-5% of the games in my library. I occasionally look at my Steam stats and see that i have "7 minutes played" on Tropico 4 and "12 minutes played" on Silent Hunter 5" and so it goes, down the line. There are only a handful of games that I've logged 50+ hours on (and only one that I've broken the 100 hour mark -- "Sword of the Stars II" --!!--surprises me too).
Bottom line is, most of the games that interest folks who frequent grog sites like this one take a major investment of time to learn. 99% of the time, after a long day of work and making dinner and getting the kids to bed, you just don't have the mental or physical energy left to start learning a new, complex game.
The best case, for me, is the rich, complex games that you've mastered and are second nature to play, so that you can enjoy them even when you're pretty tired. These are my core games, and it's a small, small core, a handful at most.
@FatherTed -- interesting, I have just the opposite, especially with CMx2 -- I quit when I realize I'm too tired to figure out what to do next. The times I try to muddle through even though I know I'm tired, just because I want to see what will happen, invariably lead to disaster...
I want to play Elite but end up playing ATC3.
I want to play Elite, but I'm so hopeless at it I can't get past the docking tutorial and play a wargame instead!
I want to play scenario building in FCRS but I end up playing House Buying instead.
Quote from: GJK on January 14, 2015, 08:42:04 AM
I want to play a board wargame but wind up doing mindless clicking in a pc wargame.
Similar to me. I want to play more board games but the ease of sitting in front of a PC keeps pulling me away. :(
Quote from: Pinetree on January 14, 2015, 05:38:51 PM
but I end up playing House Buying instead.
Maybe the least relaxing game ever devised.... second only to Total War: Child-rearing.
Quote from: sandman2575 on January 14, 2015, 07:42:39 PM
Quote from: Pinetree on January 14, 2015, 05:38:51 PM
but I end up playing House Buying instead.
Maybe the least relaxing game ever devised.... second only to Total War: Child-rearing.
Especially when it 3:2 odds. That's in-between sessions of House Buying
Quote from: sandman2575 on January 14, 2015, 07:42:39 PM
Total War: Child-rearing.
That's awesome. Though, I always feel like I'm losing when I play that. I'm constantly running in a deficit and my villagers are continually in revolt. :(
Buhaha, this has happened to me twice just today. First I wanted to play/test CMANO....then ended up in Star Trek Online cause I couldn't get inspired enough for the former.
Then started a Falklands scenario in WinSPMBT, and ended up quitting that and playing STO again. LoL, STO is so easy it's my default game when I don't really feel like gaming.
Quote from: republic on January 14, 2015, 07:56:39 PM
Quote from: sandman2575 on January 14, 2015, 07:42:39 PM
Total War: Child-rearing.
That's awesome. Though, I always feel like I'm losing when I play that. I'm constantly running in a deficit and my villagers are continually in revolt. :(
There's no winning in this game. The goal is mere survival. I'll be able to play the upcoming Attila game like a seasoned veteran after my relentless campaigns against the true Huns -- toddlers.
Quote from: sandman2575 on January 14, 2015, 02:52:19 PM
The amazing thing about the amazing abundance of games cheaply available (and so easily bought during Steam sales and the like), is that I probably only regularly play about 1-5% of the games in my library. I occasionally look at my Steam stats and see that i have "7 minutes played" on Tropico 4 and "12 minutes played" on Silent Hunter 5" and so it goes, down the line. There are only a handful of games that I've logged 50+ hours on (and only one that I've broken the 100 hour mark -- "Sword of the Stars II" --!!--surprises me too).
Bottom line is, most of the games that interest folks who frequent grog sites like this one take a major investment of time to learn. 99% of the time, after a long day of work and making dinner and getting the kids to bed, you just don't have the mental or physical energy left to start learning a new, complex game.
The best case, for me, is the rich, complex games that you've mastered and are second nature to play, so that you can enjoy them even when you're pretty tired. These are my core games, and it's a small, small core, a handful at most.
So true....
So many games, so little time. I have to say that i have been doing "yearly plans" for the games i haven't completed yet for many years now (for example Omerta has been in my plan since last october) and i try to stick to it. I do change it from time to time to include new games or ones that i feel the wish to play....and then i try to complete these games. (see below). Thanks to these plans, i complete more games than i did before and it's rare that i want to play one game and end-up playing something else.
Whoa Anguille that's pretty amazing that you have a spreadsheet to plan and track your games.
Quote from: Bison on January 15, 2015, 04:50:32 AM
Whoa Anguille that's pretty amazing that you have a spreadsheet to plan and track your games.
Yep...going back to...2003 :D
Quote from: Anguille on January 15, 2015, 05:00:45 AM
Quote from: Bison on January 15, 2015, 04:50:32 AM
Whoa Anguille that's pretty amazing that you have a spreadsheet to plan and track your games.
Yep...going back to...2003 :D
I am both amazed and frightened by your levels of gaming OCD. :o
Quote from: Bison on January 15, 2015, 05:03:31 AM
Quote from: Anguille on January 15, 2015, 05:00:45 AM
Quote from: Bison on January 15, 2015, 04:50:32 AM
Whoa Anguille that's pretty amazing that you have a spreadsheet to plan and track your games.
Yep...going back to...2003 :D
I am both amazed and frightened by your levels of gaming OCD. :o
Lol...you shouldn't be....it's really just a help tool as i had noticed then that i wasn't finishing the majority of the games i had and was giving up at some point. It was just like if i was starting to read 5 books but wasn't finishing any. I ended up not being satisfied.
My true problem (and i think i am not the only one here) is that i buy too many games and that, as a matter of fact, i am just not that good at gaming :buck2:. Either i lose to often or i finish games too slowly (watching people playing Omerta on youtube made me realise that i need 2 or 3 more time than others to complete a chapter :uglystupid2:).
This is something i try to slow down but it's difficult with so many good games.
Quote from: Bison on January 15, 2015, 05:03:31 AM
Quote from: Anguille on January 15, 2015, 05:00:45 AM
Quote from: Bison on January 15, 2015, 04:50:32 AM
Whoa Anguille that's pretty amazing that you have a spreadsheet to plan and track your games.
Yep...going back to...2003 :D
I am both amazed and frightened by your levels of gaming OCD. :o
Such organisation surrounding your gaming is indeed amazing. I'm not sure my impulsive nature regarding my free time could be tamed as easily as a spreadsheet with my intentions over time. My intentions are the thing that is out of control most of the time.
Perhaps a plan would focus things. But usually, if its released by Matrix, or pushed out to Steam, it suddenly elevates immediately to the top of the to do list anyways!
I'm led like a harnessed animal to the next shiny baubel of gaming excitement.
Quote from: spelk on January 15, 2015, 05:17:12 AM
Perhaps a plan would focus things.
That's the general idea. Also to keep an overview (which is less need with the statistics in steam) of what i have played, still haven't played etc...
Quote from: spelk on January 15, 2015, 05:17:12 AM
But usually, if its released by Matrix, or pushed out to Steam, it suddenly elevates immediately to the top of the to do list anyways!
I keep my plan flexible and change it from time to time. If there's a brand new game i really want to play, i will change the plan accordingly.
Quote from: Anguille on January 15, 2015, 05:22:25 AM
Quote from: spelk on January 15, 2015, 05:17:12 AM
But usually, if its released by Matrix, or pushed out to Steam, it suddenly elevates immediately to the top of the to do list anyways!
I keep my plan flexible and change it from time to time. If there's a brand new game i really want to play, i will change the plan accordingly.
Will you plan and organise my gaming schedule please!? ;)
Quote from: spelk on January 15, 2015, 05:24:58 AM
Quote from: Anguille on January 15, 2015, 05:22:25 AM
Quote from: spelk on January 15, 2015, 05:17:12 AM
But usually, if its released by Matrix, or pushed out to Steam, it suddenly elevates immediately to the top of the to do list anyways!
I keep my plan flexible and change it from time to time. If there's a brand new game i really want to play, i will change the plan accordingly.
Will you plan and organise my gaming schedule please!? ;)
Lol....sure! ;)
You guys should just skip the un-winnable TW Children and go strait to the TW Grandchildren, where you can't loose. O0
Got a time machine I could borrow, Slash? :)
I think Anguille is onto something here. Maybe it's time to start getting Stalinist (or, if you prefer, Maoist) about our absurd gaming backlogs. 5-Year Plans! 3-Year Plans! A Great Leap Forward! It is time to bring some order to the suffocating overproduction of the digital-distributing capitalists! We must centralize our activities through a planned economy of gaming labor, with clear Quotas to be filled, clear Milestones to be reached. Then, and only then, can we hope to curtail the wasteful expenditure on games never played -- such games, of ideologically questionable character, will be sent to the gulag, never to return. Gamers of the world, unite!
Anguille is hereby awarded the Order of Newell, First Class, and denominated a Hero of Gaming Labor. Your dacha on the Caspian awaits, comrade.
I made myself open up EU4 last night even though I was so tired... I was greeted with almost a new game lol Its been so long since I've played and so many patches have been applied, it is quite different.
I immediately selected Mocovy and began my long journey to creating Mother Russia.
I really wish they'd make a Victoria 3...
This appears to be a common malady among our sort. I find that I can't play anything of any complexity at all during the week. By the end of the work day I'm just too brain-dead. If I'm even going to attempt something complex (Heart of Iron 2 or Dominions 3 for example) I wait until the weekend.
Just the opposite here. Too damn noisy on the weekend for my half-dead brain cells to fire for something like DC: WtP or Case Blue to concentrate on so I defer to something more simple like Skyrim that I can hop into and out again easily. When it's quiet, I go deep. Funny because when I was young, I could play chess in a mental institution without problems concentrating.
Some might consider being in a mental institution to be the bigger problem..... :idiot2:
Ummmm..........I thought THIS place was the mental institution...
Quote from: Barthheart on January 15, 2015, 05:13:33 PM
Some might consider being in a mental institution to be the bigger problem..... :idiot2:
When I was working on my graduate degree as a therapist, I learned that in some of the less economically developed portions of our fair state the locals would often contrive to get their families to commit them for a 30 day observation in the nearest State Hospital. They weren't crazy - if they went to the hospital they got decent food, didn't have to work, were (from their perspective) waited on, there were organized recreation programs, and it was generally peaceful. In other words, it's what you did for a vacation when you couldn't afford an actual vacation.
Origins last year was kind of like that for me. ;D
Right Panzerde. The place I worked was co-ed with a work program where patients could get paid for their jobs. Sometimes more than the staff were paid. Free food and board, relations with the opposite or same sex, drugs provided by the state, and cash money too. Who wouldn't be crazy for a little while for that?
Quote from: sandman2575 on January 15, 2015, 10:57:05 AM
Anguille is hereby awarded the Order of Newell, First Class, and denominated a Hero of Gaming Labor. Your dacha on the Caspian awaits, comrade.
Thanks you comrade! Please send me the keys to my dacha...
Quote from: MengJiao on January 14, 2015, 09:33:37 AM
Quote from: republic on January 14, 2015, 07:56:28 AM
While at work I want to go home and play Europa Universalis IV, Command Air/Naval, (insert cerebral game) but I'm so tired I end up playing Elite or Planetside 2.
Do you want to play certain games but end up going to fallbacks?
What happens to me is more insidious: I want to play X, but I end up reading up on the real actions being simulated and I end up changing the rules. Flying Colors is the worst case of this (boardgame), but no game is immune. For Pc games the result is something like instead of playing CMANO, I play small scenarios basically in the editor. Currently I'm trapped in the CMFI editor. In the worst cases (where there are no accounts of any actual actions) I've just played in the editor for decades (all of the ARMAs since about 2004, for example and DCS)
The fact that some people have been tracking their game-playing reminds me that I often wonder say -- what was I playing in say spring 2013? The only long-term records I have for games are the WitpAE notebooks and the most recent set of those only goes back about a year.
So mostly I have only a pretty selective idea of what I have played over the last say 50 years.
Also, seeing that Paradox has a sale going on 3/4 of the year, why is it that I only really get into their games during the short period between sales? #GrogheadProblems #ImTooOldForHashtags
I too suffer (if that's the word for it) from this phenomenon. Can't tell you the number of times I've sat down in front of my computer with every intention of playing <Title I've barely touched> but ended up playing <Old/longtime favorite game> instead.
In my case, my standard "fall back" games include
Armada 2526 Supernova,
Distant Worlds Universe,
Fallen Enchantress: Legendary Heroes, and
Rome II: Total War. That, or if I'm feeling particularly old school, I'll also fire up
Birth of the Federation,
Shogun Total War/Mongol Invasion,
Medieval Total War/Viking Invasion, and
Commander & Conquer: Red Alert 2.
Quote from: Skwerl on January 15, 2015, 01:45:55 PM
This appears to be a common malady among our sort. I find that I can't play anything of any complexity at all during the week. By the end of the work day I'm just too brain-dead. If I'm even going to attempt something complex (Heart of Iron 2 or Dominions 3 for example) I wait until the weekend.
Same here. Although for me, it's lack of time during the workday as much as lack of energy. By the time I get off work in the morning, run whatever errands I need to do, get home, shower, make myself supper, etc., I generally don't have more than a few hours before I have to go to bed -- and I spend at least some of that surfing the web (including/especially visiting here!). If I'm going to spend any time on a new/unfamiliar game, it has to be on one of my nights off.