The Downside Of Having So Many Games To Play

Every gamer has their list of games that they “totally” intend on playing at some point. A lot of those games are ones that we’ve bought or downloaded over the years. Ones that have sat there in our Steam library or on our hard drive. You know, the “list of shame”? It’s the gamer version of going to the bookstore before you’ve even finished that last stack of books you bought.

I know our intentions are good. We really do mean to play those games. But let’s face it. There are a lot of games out there. And, well…if you’re playing ongoing live-service games like MMOs, you’re probably pretty invested in at least one of them and feel the need to keep up. If you’re into more competitive games like shooters and MOBAs, you’re working to stay competitive. In both cases, that means time spent in those games that can’t be allocated elsewhere.

Like a lot of people, I have that list of shame. There are several games that come up every time I’m talking to friends, and the inevitable, “Oh, yeah. I need to finish/play that. It’s in my Steam library.” Those are typically single-player games with actual endings, however.

But there are other, ongoing games that really stick in my head as “I should play this. I should have started a long time ago,” and for whatever reason, I haven’t. Me being me, what typically causes that is games that I know have an interesting story. Even if it’s not a genre I’d typically play, story can pull me in. (That’s how I played the original Bioshock all the way through despite the whole motion-sickness issue – 15 minutes at a time.)

Not surprisingly, one of the MMOs that sticks in my brain as something I really need to play, despite it not exactly being my genre of choice, is Warframe. The game looks cool. All my friends have been playing it forever. And, most importantly, I know it has an amazing story. And then there’s that soundtrack. Basically, aside from the whole shooter thing, it should be completely in my wheelhouse. And yet, despite the fact that it’s sitting on my PS5, I’ve yet to start it up.

Why? Because I keep telling myself that as soon as I get things done in all these other games, I can add it to the roster. I’ll get to it eventually. Right? Just need a bit of a lull. That’s all.

That’s the problem with ongoing games, though. If you’re like me, you need to see your way through and see how the story ends. And, of course, we never know when or if the story will end. But then again, isn’t that half the fun?

Meanwhile, Warframe’s story continues, and the prospect of jumping into it becomes more daunting as time goes on. Though, that’s great news for those playing Warframe.

In the end, I guess that’s what it means to have so many great games to play. Choices must be made. But at least we’re still enjoying ourselves.