The ramblings of an avrege gamer with a passion for anime

[bogdankl]

The following post is probably gonna be me rambling about things in most likely a very inconsistent and nonsensical way in an attempt to figure out wtf is wrong with me

 

I consider myself a gamer, not a very hardcore one but I probably play more than most others <I doubt that the average gamer plays hundreds upon hundreds of hours of monster hunter and dark souls like I do> and I do very much enjoy myself a good visual novel or a good anime but for some god dam reason I just don't seam to be playing them. For instance I spent about 2 hours last night doing literally nothing. All I did was open up 9gag, youtube and facebook over and over again like a crazy person and I don't know why. It's not like I don't have anything to play, ffs I have probably at least 200 gigs of hard disk space with games and I have a couple of vn's ready to go but for some reason all I did was just clicking around doing nothing. I haven't read any vn in freaking months but when I do start a reading session I spend hours reading and I really enjoy reading vn's even if maybe I don't consider them masterpieces. I have a crapload of games installed that I started and I wanna finish but for some reason the only things I seam to do are grinding in dark souls, grinding in mount and blade, or grinding in monster hunter. I started disgaea hour of darkness on ps2, played it for 43 hours <most of it just grinding> and for some reason I'm just not playing it. Today I returned to finishing Soejima's route in comyu, had a blast but the problem is I started that route months ago and for some reason just kept putting it off for no good reason. As for anime... I could probably fill a whole book just with the titles of the animes I wanna watch but the last time I watched one was when My pc broke down and literally the only worth while thing I could do was watch things on my phone. Haven't watched game of thrones or breaking bad but for some reason I watched house md and csi miami TWICE. I know it seams like I am lazy but when I think of lazy people I think of people who skip work not fun stuff.

 

Do any of you ever have these kind of issues or am I just a weird messed up special kind of stupid snowflake?

[Funnerific]

Uninstall all grinding games.

[bogdankl]

Just now, Funnerific said:

Uninstall all grinding games.

 

 

but but... that's my comfort zone... who's gonna hold me when I iz sadz if dark souls is not there?

[Codesterz]

I feel your pain man. I have this issue as well. I finally got myself to do something productive yesterday and started playing Rune Factory Tides of Destiny. I've been putting the game off for years. Otherwise I've been pointlessly browsing forums, reddits, and youtube for the last week. I still have a dozen or so games I haven't finished yet and I'm not really sure why I stopped playing them. Tales of Zestiria, Fairy Fencer F, Dragon Quest Heroes, Stardew Valley to name a few. Hell I got the new patch for Dracu-riot and started playing through Azusa's route on April 1st. Still haven't gone back to complete the route or play the others. I go through phases where I just can't bring myself to watch a new anime series and end up rewatching old favorites. The dumb thing is I know if I just force myself to continue playing one of the half completed games I'll most likely get hooked to it again. But what do I end up doing? I start playing a game that has been sitting on the back burner for a long time which will probably end up only half completed. You're not the only one with this issue. The only advice I can really give is to do your best to force yourself to do something. If it manages to grab you then enjoy it, if not then try to force yourself to do something else.

[Chronopolis]

Quote

All I did was open up 9gag, youtube and facebook over and over again like a crazy person and I don't know why

Don't worry, I do that all the time too.

I think there's a part of human psychology that see's something and says "Oh, I know what to do! Let's do that!" 
See website, browse.
Not sure what to do, play familiar game.
It's a familiar comforting task, there's little reason (in one's mind) not to, and occasionally you get some real satisfaction/excitement/endorphins.

I think it's also important not to stress over getting to EVERYTHING. Just because something sounds interesting doesn't mean you should be flipping your mind out because you haven't gotten to it. Anime, and especially games take a long time. More selection should be a good thing, not a burden you impose on yourself.

 

[Fred the Barber]

I have the same problem as well. If anybody does have a good solution, I'm all ears.

The best suggestion I can offer right now is to be aware of it, and try to catch yourself putting things off. Then, when you notice you're in the middle of an hour-long internet binge, just start mentally berating yourself for wasting time until you instead go dust off whatever other thing you really want to be doing. It works for me, sometimes, but not all the time.

[FrozenRaven]

I get like this a lot too, In my case it's usually a lack of motivation to do anything at all (probably because I am constantly sleep deprived)  and just being overwhelmed because there is so much shit i would like to get done. Like @Chronopolis said it's important not to stress over not getting to everything. I also found that getting a new hobby and focusing on that for sometime helps me feel more motivated to do the stuff I have been putting off.

[Funnerific]

I can get madly addicted to video games. Staying up until 4 AM when I have college the following day, repeating that several times in a row, skipping meals, all that. Pretty much the only way I can stop that is by deleting the game in question, hence my suggestion.

Visual novels are nice in the sense that they have an ending (or several), though a really good one can be just as destructive (but since it's usually just one or two routes that are good, things aren't as bad).

[littleshogun]

To OP, yes I had this kind of issue too right now. Well, I'd have more than 200 GB of VN in my hardisk at my laptop, and yet somehow I was more addicted to browsing instead of getting around to play it. I think it's quite normal problem here if you distracted and find yourself addicted to browsing so much that you forgotten to playing the game you want to play. Also sometimes from watching anime people could get distracted to playing the game (I also experienced that by the way). To be more precise and clear, I think it's quite normal if OP feel like that and good luck to find out the solution (I couldn't offer any advice to be honest, since each people circumstance might be different).

[Nakajou]

I'll tell u something guys... not a solution though, more of a rule I set for myself.

If u stopped playing one game/vn after playing for consecutive hours/days, (say for 3 days almost without sleep) there are only two reasons:

1. you never got interested in it(playing/reading for the sake of playing/reading), or
2. you haven't reached the hook (interesting part/event/climax) of the game.

Most of the time, the former would be your reason. The latter is uncommon, but still it happens.

Let's get to the main thing... the what to do's.

• Never start another game/vn unless you finish the one you're currently playing/reading.
• If you didn't like the first main event, stop playing it. (seriously) (like = interest... something like this)
• For VNs... if you don't like any of the heroines, stop and try to look at reviews to see if there's anything remarkable with the story. If there is, then it is your choice. If not, move on mate.
• For games... I prefer playing anything I could go with because I consider everything and anything as training for something. (did u get that?)

I made it so that it would look like as if I was talking to you guys but... I was really talking to myself regarding this^ the rule... thingy... and all... you got it.

• One last thing, TRY to close your browser when playing or reading... unless you're keeping watch on the forums or your irc channels... or consulting an online dictionary for translating or... downloading something. (emphasis on TRY, since it' really hard to do for some)

PS. This rule are for average people with average life. Including all the people above, I guess? Extreme hardcore guys should just do everything they want to.

(This is what you guys were talking about right? If I'm wrong then just ignore lol)

[Gaijin]

3 hours ago, bogdankl said:

Do any of you ever have these kind of issues or am I just a weird messed up special kind of stupid snowflake?

CRAAAAWLING IN MY SKIIIIN.

Seriously though, either do this:

3 hours ago, Funnerific said:

Uninstall all grinding games.

 

Or you could try ranking your games in a list, in the order of which you think will be best or the order you want to play them in. I think it's natural to become overwhelmed when there're a lot of things to do - even when it comes to doing fun stuff. Hell, I once knew a toddler who absolutely freak out and start crying if he was given too many toys or treats at once, because the little guy had no idea where to start. Putting everything in a list format will not only take your mind off of it, it'll also take away the burden of deciding on the spot when you want to play something.

[SilverLi]

This is most likely a problem all of us have at some point. I am the same. But I have realized what my problem is. It is that I have too much on my hands. I got too many games, animes and VNs available and I am a human being which functions better if I don't got that many things to choose between. For example I was much better at doing anything when I was limited in what I could watch or play. When I was young and lived at home I was always anticipating Christmas and birthday. Because I would get something new I could immerse myself in for several months without getting anything new. In some rare cases I would get a game on release but I had to beg on my knees for it. But since Steam/Internet and credit cards was implemented in my life I got unlimited access whenever I want. I also learned how to get things the "shady" way which gave me endless possibilities. Just reading summaries of a game/VN or anime could be enough to add it on a backlog. That's a big problem.

• You have unlimited access to anything. You got hardrive(s) of games, anime, VNs, movies, TV-series and whatever you may save. That way you don't know what you want because you are content and pleased with what you have and know. You end up playing something familiar because: You are lazy, you can't force yourself to learn something new (can't learn an old dog to sit or what's the saying is) and you don't exactly know what the new thing is because you got hundreds of new things which means you have to research it again before you decide to play it.
• It is the same with anime and VNs. When I had a few series or a few VNs I would immerse myself into it and watch it nonstop and play every route etc. I could nonstop watch the few anime series I begun watching for hours. But my backlog and to do list grew bigger and bigger. Now it is just a list I don't even care about any more. I think it is a mix of me growing up a bit and the stagnation of "good" (subjective!) animes. I am a fan of long going anime series. I am not content or pleased with 1/2 cour animes.
• My list of VNs were very small in the beginning. It only consisted of a few selected and handpicked VNs from Fuwa. I played them thoroughly. I have never done that since my list of VNs grew bigger and longer. I don't know what to play because I got several VNs I want to play at the same time. I can't pick one. I end up doing nothing or pick something I haven't finished yet (which gets stalled again)

I think the problem is the volume and hassle to pick something among the huge volume someone owns. I am not a lazy person but I am unstructured. If I have a few selected favorites and got a new game I would dive into it without hesitation. But today it is more of a commitment because it is easier to play and enjoy something I know than learning something new. And If I don't really know if I should begin game A or B. I end up doing nothing and browsing Reddit, YT or whatever place to pass the time.

My way of solving this is:

1. Remove stuff you aren't interested in. That includes everything. If you don't know if you want to play/watch it yet, remove it. This is something you have to feel. Do I want to play Game X now? No? Remove it. The fewer options the better. And you can always reinstall or acquire stuff later on. If you forgot about some games or so. That's good. You weren't interested from the beginning. I don't know if you own Steam. But that's a curse scrolling through your games even though you sorted them. You see X amount of titles you acquired from HumbleBundle (not interested at all), from Steam sales and I don't know what. Sort them into an undesirable folder. That way you don't see them when you are looking for something to play among the interested titles. Limit what your brain sees. Of course you can visit that undesirable folder later on to find something which is interesting now.
2. Take one thing at a time. About games I decided to do a list I follow until I feel "completed". You force yourself to play stuff in an order. Just so you can't stall the selection and whenever you feel an urge to play something you already got that game picked. Your brain doesn't have to think. See 4 about when you could move on. When you move on you delete it so you can't say "I am just going to play this for a while" or so and then you indefinitely stall it.
3. If it is about anime I pick one anime, watch it and then remove it. I have already removed every anime I don't know if I am gonna watch yet. I have a few selected animes I won't delete but I have saved those on a different location so I can't see them with my eyes whenever I want to watch something new.
4. If you start something you continue until you are finished or feel completed. You don't have to complete it but you shouldn't feel that it was a waste and you have at least TRIED playing the game. If you don't enjoy the game move on. You can't like everything.
5. I know it is so hard finishing something you have begun. But it is a mental thing in my case. You just have to force yourself to finish what you started if you enjoy it. Be it a VN route, the last 4 episodes of an anime or whatever. Just force yourself to watch it. Whenever I force myself to the end I feel a good satisfaction and I am pleased.

Of course you could tweak it in your way. But this is how I try to pass my time during weekends and doing something "productive" on my spare time. How I write this is a bit radical and I am not following this point by point. But it is to give you and everyone else an idea how you perhaps could get motivation back. I am following this to an extent and I did follow this for a month until I felt I had begun playing games/watching anime again. Of course you are allowed to just browse shitposting sites too. But we all know that feeling "I want to do something" but you can't decide what to do. This is how to help with that. Hopefully.

Edit: I never pre order things anymore and I try to limit my buys to a couple each year. For example I am so anticipating Warhammer: Total War. But I am not ordering until summer because I already got a lot of stuff already planned until summer. But because we got Seinarukana coming out soon^tm I am waiting for that game. And that's a game I know is at least 40 hours of dedicated gameplay. Why should I buy something else when I can't spare any time to play it? It is better to wait. The game is perhaps somewhat cheaper and patched later on anyway.

Edited April 8, 2016 by SilverLi
Adding and editing some stuff.

[SilverLi]

17 hours ago, Gaijin said:

Or you could try ranking your games in a list, in the order of which you think will be best or the order you want to play them in. I think it's natural to become overwhelmed when there're a lot of things to do - even when it comes to doing fun stuff. Hell, I once knew a toddler who absolutely freak out and start crying if he was given too many toys or treats at once, because the little guy had no idea where to start. Putting everything in a list format will not only take your mind off of it, it'll also take away the burden of deciding on the spot when you want to play something.

Exactly. I think it was Christmas 2 years ago. My little brother was 4 then and he had presents for several days. He couldn't process all the presents from the whole family and relatives so we gave him 3-5 presents each day. That way he could process it and play with one toy at a time.