The Struggles of a Video Game Completionist

David Plamondon • Jun 13, 2011 • Comments ()

Probably the single biggest struggle I face in my video game playing, aside from making enough time to play, is the constant drive I have to "complete" games. Back in the early years of video games, finishing a game earned you considerable bragging rights. Often times there was really no way to confirm that someone had actually done what they were claiming to do, unless there was someone else around who had also finished the game in question. If this were the case then it would spark an extensive interrogation regarding the layout, enemies, strategies, etc. involved in the "endgame" sequence.

In these wonderfully modern times you have a level of transparency in your gaming habits, thanks to the advent of trophies and achievements, as well as the integration of social media. It's very easy for your friends, family and complete strangers to monitor your progress in any given game that you happen to be playing. What this means for me is that when I find a game that isn't particularly engaging, beyond the challenge level that I'm willing to allow for, or just plain isn't fun, I always have to stop and wonder who is looking at my inability to finish it.

Gaming "cred" is really compounded with Xbox's achievements and Playstation's trophies. Now I'm not only competing to finish the game for my personal satisfaction, I'm also trying to get as many achievements or trophies as I can, and build up the gamerscore so I can show everyone how committed to this hobby I am. I've struggled recently with the desire to stop playing games, for a number of reasons. In some cases my desire to quit was out of my hands. Either the game is entirely too bad or dated, or I've somehow hit a game breaking glitch or lost my save game that will cause me to need to start over from scratch. In those cases, I'm usually happy to let sleeping dogs lie.

Sometimes however the game just doesn't hit the right notes with me. A lot of times, in these particular cases I'm left wondering what's wrong with me. This game was made by professional game designers, mass marketed and bought in great numbers. Why don't I like it? In the past my instinct in these cases is to push myself ever onwards towards completing the game, before I move on, but I'm starting to realize that my gaming time is becoming more and more scarce and that the quality titles are rapidly building up a backlog. Clearly I can't afford to waste anymore time playing titles that I'm not enjoying, and get back to the roots of why I started playing games in the first place. Fun..

What are some of the games you've forced yourself to finish, and why?

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Probably the single biggest struggle I face in my video game playing, aside from making enough time to play, is the constant drive I have to \"complete\" games. Back in the early years of video games, finishing a game earned you considerable bragging rights. Often times there was really no way to confirm that someone had actually done what they were claiming to do, unless there was someone else around who had also finished the game in question. If this were the case then it would spark an extensive interrogation regarding the layout, enemies, strategies, etc. involved in the \"endgame\" sequence.\n\nIn these wonderfully modern times you have a level of transparency in your gaming habits, thanks to the advent of trophies and achievements, as well as the integration of social media. It's very easy for your friends, family and complete strangers to monitor your progress in any given game that you happen to be playing. What this means for me is that when I find a game that isn't particularly engaging, beyond the challenge level that I'm willing to allow for, or just plain isn't fun, I always have to stop and wonder who is looking at my inability to finish it.\n\n $\"achunlocked-ss-1.jpg\"$ \n\nGaming \"cred\" is really compounded with Xbox's achievements and Playstation's trophies. Now I'm not only competing to finish the game for my personal satisfaction, I'm also trying to get as many achievements or trophies as I can, and build up the gamerscore so I can show everyone how committed to this hobby I am. I've struggled recently with the desire to stop playing games, for a number of reasons. In some cases my desire to quit was out of my hands. Either the game is entirely too bad or dated, or I've somehow hit a game breaking glitch or lost my save game that will cause me to need to start over from scratch. In those cases, I'm usually happy to let sleeping dogs lie. \n\nSometimes however the game just doesn't hit the right notes with me. A lot of times, in these particular cases I'm left wondering what's wrong with me. This game was made by professional game designers, mass marketed and bought in great numbers. Why don't I like it? In the past my instinct in these cases is to push myself ever onwards towards completing the game, before I move on, but I'm starting to realize that my gaming time is becoming more and more scarce and that the quality titles are rapidly building up a backlog. Clearly I can't afford to waste anymore time playing titles that I'm not enjoying, and get back to the roots of why I started playing games in the first place. Fun..\n\nWhat are some of the games you've forced yourself to finish, and why?