I have a sizable collection of games across retro and current platforms, as well as a Steam Library and a huge itch.io bundle of software. I have opportunities abound for games that I could play. But some days, I get stuck trying to figure out
- Which game to play
- How long do I have to play it
- What about other stuff I need to do
- How can I turn this into something meaningful
And it only gets compounded when I try to factor in streaming or writing for a website that I’m a part of. I dunno how many other Twitch/YouTube/TikTok streamers are here but once you reach Affiliate or have a consistent audience it sure seems easy to feel like your gaming time should only happen when you’re streaming. And as a hobbyist writer I feel like I then have to tie in writing about my gaming experiences.
I don’t have anything closely resembling success with these ventures but it feels like if I stop, then I’ll never have that success, like, it feels obtainable when I’m turning my hobby into digestible content for others.
I’ve been trying to break out of this self-defeating cycle by starting a new island in Animal Crossing. Just making small progress, an hour a day, by myself. No distractions, no mental hangups, no “side hustles”.
Just wondering if I’m alone in this or if anyone else has similar experiences, whether or not you stream or whatever :)
I stopped playing games that try to monopolize my time with battle passes and dailies, as well as games that take 60+ hours to complete. For me that included not playing Animal Crossing.
Since I started working from home I’ve had a hard time motivating myself to play Steam games on my PC. I bought a Steam deck and a dock for it and it really changed my approach. I install 2-3 games from my backlog at a time, play them for about 2 hours before deciding if I’ll finish them or move on and uninstall to make room for a new one.
I’ve been meaning to stream and review games but kept putting it off because I didn’t have time and energy, and this meant there’s a bunch of games I’ve stopped myself from playing because I wanted to make vids for them. But I’ve realized that nothing forces me to record gameplay to talk about games. Zero Punctuation gets his impressions across in 5 minute videos with no footage whatsoever. So playing tons of short games in succession kind of renewed my motivation.
Also, putting stuff out there is success in and of itself. Don’t let your motivation be driven by views or income, or you won’t be doing it for the right reasons and you’ll burn yourself out.