Topic: Too much to play and not enough time to play it

I found myself in a certain situation, and I wonder if you caught yourself thinking the same thing as me. In the gameboy and even the DS era, my personal experience with gaming was playing a single main gaming platform with a game cart inside it. I had another carts nearby if I wanted to swap but thats about it.
In the 3DS era, and even more now that I own a NEW 3DS XL, my gaming style has been changed. I have a game cart inside my 3DS slot as well as another few ones in a case, but the console itself has lots of other games inside it. when I enter my 3DS home menu I have like 6 different folders with so many games I downloaded along the years- virtual console ones, other little games, full retail games and apps.

My question to you is- how do you managa to organize your play time around so many games? from the point of view of a gamer that used to play only one game for weeks, I find this to be very promising yet tiring. so many games when you just open one little console...

what do you think?

Play them game that interest you at that moment, especially if they aren't story heavy games. If they are story heavy games then play the game that interests you the most until you are done with it. I have come to the realization that "completing" games isn't what is most fun for me. There are some games that I only played 30 minutes of, but I still enjoyed them and might one day go back to, but I consider myself done with them. But there are other games I have put hundreds of hours into and I still play them, because I have fun playing them. For me it isn't about completing the games, it is about getting enjoyment out of them.

For every game I complete there's like three new ones I feel like starting. Since tackling them one at a time has long been out of the question I just play several at once and eventually start another as soon as one of the first bunch is over.

Completionism also doesn't help to make this smooth sailing, heh.

I normally juggle two games at a time between my Wii U and 3DS (or other legacy handhelds): One is normally a story-heavy action/adventure or RPG type game, and the other is less story-intensive, like a platformer.

I try to at least complete the main story or main game mode, unless I really dislike what I'm playing. I used to be a completionist, but I rarely 100% a game now unless it's a Zelda game (and I'm thinking of breaking this rule with TFH) or if I like it enough to actually bother trying. It used to be no problem at all to keep up with every new game release, but these days I'm having to manage a backlog and prevent myself from picking up new releases day 1 unless I just HAVE to have it.

It's called growing up, unfortunately. Back in the N64 / Gamecube days I could go to work, get home and do nothing but play games in the evening. Now it's as if I get up, go to work, come home, do chores, and then I have an hour at best to play a game, maybe 10 mins in the morning while I eat breakfast.

I collect stuff more these days, so a lot of games have gone unplayed. I'm currently playing TPHD at home on Wii U, and I'll be playing Hyrule Warriors on my N3DSXL but I doubt I'll finish them because the next game will be out. If I don't play that next game, I'll lose the desire to play it at all.

I guess I could not buy a new game until I'm ready for a new one but then I'd only ever buy two games a year and my bookshelves would be rather bare. Ha!

@ROBLOGNICK: In my case, I have plenty- well not plenty but enough I guess- time, but the problem comes from the opposite direction. the games. even when I minimize my library the best I can, I have like 2 main games plus another 4 digitally on my console, its richer that way, not playing just one game but having something more like a set of games which you can call your gaming zone, but its hard to focus on just one or two XD
And I admit I recently tend to give up on games before I finish them XD but the ones I really liked- ill finish no matter what. there are games like pokemon white 2, soul silver, bravely default and fantasy life which I want to explore every corner of the world and collect every single item. with some of them I can even repeat the proccess over and over again XD

My suggestion is do what I did. Drop everyone in your life, and in your off time just play games. Oh... but I forgot to mention part of that is because my job wants me to know what's going on with stuff like that. Maybe find a video game job! Or play everything on easy mode so you finish it faster, but still experience the stories and stuff.

Do not get a Video Game job if you want to play more Video Games. It will be an overload and you won't want to play as many games lol. I barely play compared to how much I use to... probably more than most people still lol.

Well I guess it just depends on the person and the job. I don't have an overload at all officially, I can pretty much do what I want as long as I make sure I dabble in a little bit of everything. The only overload I have is because I buy too many games But that's my own fault.
Although I always thought if you worked for one of those companies/websites/whatever that do game ratings or write up video game guides, where they play through entire games as fast as you can no matter how good or bad they are, that'd be terribly boring. LOL Kinda like this website, only I was thinking of IGN or that god awful 1Up.com which I think is dead now anyway.

I guess it could depend on what type of "Video Game" job you get. lol

I feel the same way. I have so many games that I never finished. I feel like I'm not going to finish Fire Embelm Fates, and there is so much to do in the game and I lost touch.

Little free time + tendency to impulse buy digital games + completionist mindset = a bad situation for VelvetElvis.

You and me both lol

I like how you think.

I just stick with playing one game at a time on Wii U and 3DS and it works well with me. Though, I won't deny my backlog has grown in the last two years.

As a 30 year old working gal with something vaguely resembling a social life, this thread really comes close to home for me.
I feel like in the past few years, I've spent more time looking at games, and reading about games, and talking about games, than actually playing them.

As I've gotten older, I've found I've developed more affection for games that I can pop in and out for quick sessions with (Smash Bros, Splatoon, Hyrule Warriors), and spent a lot less with games that require more dedication (Bravely Default, Bayonetta, Earthbound Beginnings [which is an absolute CHORE to get through, btw]).
I guess as I get older, I like to use my gaming time to play something that I can just pick up real quick, enjoy, and then not scratch my head asking "what was I doing again?" the next time I play. But even then, I find myself catching up on Hulu and comic books more often than popping in for an hour or two of Smash Bros.

Maybe I'm just becoming an old hag.

I certainly fit the criteria here. I have 99 unbeaten and/or unplayed games. I don't think I can live long enough to finish them all! D:

"Only play games that you absolutely adore, and make a genuine attempt to adore every game that you play."

That sounded so good in my head that I think I'm going to actually try properly following it.

I think it genuinely addressed a few core issues though. With downloads and the like, we have instantaneous access to SO MUCH STUFF compared to 5-10 years ago. That obviously needs adapting to, and I think it's going to be necessary to both limit intake, and also really appreciate what experiences the games you do have time to play actually give you. If you're really involved in or satisfied by one game, you likely won't mind how many others you're not playing, and be less inclined to purchase more. A content gamer is a happy gamer, after all.

Now back to Pokemon Green for me. Goodbye, forum.

Actually, even with all the potential distractions digital games provide (since you have many of them on your system at the same time as your cart/disc game), I find they don't distract me.

I usually have two different games going at a time, one on a home console, & one on a portable (currently, thats Tales of Vesperia & FE Fates: Birthright).

As a guy in his (early) 30s, I have noticed how my taste in games has changed drammatically. Ten years ago I would have loved long and convoluted adventures that I could sink my teeth into for 300+ hours. Also, I used to feel like I was missing out on games, so I bought a lot more than I could play. End results = most game remained unplayed.
Nowadays, I just don't give a damn. The idea of playing a game for 70+ hours and going absolutely nowhere, achieving nothing - is terrifying. I got back to games that I can play for half an hour and still do something worthwhile in them, like arcade style games and the likes, which coincidentally were the reason I fell in love with games to begin with when I was a child.
I stopped buying so many games when I noticed that "buying them" was the exciting part and "playing them" was becoming the chore. I'd definitely say my "gaming life" is much more satisfying now that I spend only a fraction (of money and time) of what I used to spend back in the day.