I want to play ______ but I end up playing _______.

[panzerde]

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!

[Pinetree]

I want to play scenario building in FCRS but I end up playing House Buying instead.

[RooksBailey]

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.   :(

[sandman2575]

but I end up playing House Buying instead.

Maybe the least relaxing game ever devised.... second only to Total War: Child-rearing.

[Pinetree]

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

[republic]

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.  :(

[Stryker07]

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.

[sandman2575]

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.

[Anguille]

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.

[Bison]

Whoa Anguille that's pretty amazing that you have a spreadsheet to plan and track your games.

[Anguille]

Whoa Anguille that's pretty amazing that you have a spreadsheet to plan and track your games.

Yep...going back to...2003  :D

[Bison]

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

[Anguille]

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  . 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  ).

This is something i try to slow down but it's difficult with so many good games.

[spelk]

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.

[Anguille]

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...

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.