Forcing yourself to play

Have you ever 'forced yourself' to play or to continue to play game

and why?

I have heard of people doing this but i didnt get the opportunity to explore why they would do such a thing

Try and broaden my horizons and play games outside my comfort-zone. And considering I started gaming casually on dance mats in the arcades; it shows how much that open minded mentality paid-off_

Usually if I think a game isn't for me, I will throw it like a bad habit.

Have a personal rule called the hour(s) system. And works well, my time for gaming is special to me so I don't want to play praised garbage. It's only if friends convince me to give it another go that it even enters my mind. And even then I ponder on the idea while playing something else.

The latter is the only time I've "forced myself to continue playing a game", and the last example of that was Dragon's Age: Inquisition back in 2014. And at least I learned never to take Bioware fans taste into consideration.

all awesome right there.

very reasonable

Just chill, dude!

I'll do if it's a REALLY long game that I initially enjoyed but burned me out, either by being repetitive or by being too long (or both in some cases). The Witcher 3 (repetitive) and Persona 5 (too long) come to mind as instances where I had to force myself to finish.

I forced myself to play bioshock infinite to me it was just a drag to get through it.

??

why?

Because of the time that was already invested in the game... not finishing it would be like starting a movie and turning it off with only 15 minutes left.

ah ok fair enough.

Yes I did in the last few miles in Persona 5. The last guy that we change his heart until the end of Memento did felt so stupid long.

It also feel like a drag when I replay a game. I don't feel games are worth a second playthrough anymore. You go through the game, got some trophies and well ... this is it pretty much it.

So far the Switch has been a breath of fresh air in that regard.

If I don't finish a game I feel it's a waste of money.

Ultimately depends if one thinks the expense of a game is worth the value of free time.

In my experience, time is more important than a bad/ mediocre game.

@robert_sparkes said: I forced myself to play bioshock infinite to me it was just a drag to get through it.

Yeah, wasn't a fan of Bioshock Infinite either. Which is a shame because the original is one of the few FPS games I enjoy. Never finished Infinite myself, three hours in and was bored out my mind.

I played Ocarina of Time. And I really didn’t “like” the game. But I can see why it’s rated as a great game. At least it is very innovative. Plus as a gamer, it’s important to know about what’s considered the greatest game of all time. Important to know something about it. If you talk to someone about OOT, you really can’t do that if you don’t know the topic.

Agreed. I have a thing about finishing things I start, so I always try to finish every game I play, and sometimes that means forcing myself even after I get bored with it. But that's why I always milk the games by doing all the side stuff until I get bored and just finish the story when I feel like I'm done with it.

I've kinda forced my way through a few games... reasons would be:

* being able to properly review and discuss with others

* knowing that you've really given it a chance just in case it gets better (though that is rarely the case!)

* getting money's worth - because if I just bought a new game every time my current games got boring it'd be very expensive!

I've never really forced myself to play, unless I'm giving a game a good chance like dying light, I just didn't like the story or game play. I'll return it, tho I recently move to the middle of no where and can't do that but I can always sell for an extra $10 profit due to no one being able to get games on disc unless you get it posted.

@warmblur: Why don't you return it?

Well most of the time I'm past the two hour mark on Steam and can't get a refund other times I can refund it right away if I know I'm not going to like it. But most of the time I know enough what I like it's just sometimes the game will throw a unexpected grind or repetitive missions like the case with Mafia 3. The game started awesome then later the those tedious missions came out and it was to late to refund it.

If I find myself forcing into a game to play that's usually when I quit, because the game to me isn't enjoyable anymore.

I really liked Persona 5 but after 12 hours and it still being a tutorial, I just couldn't play it anymore. I do think I'll go back to it though

Yeah, sometimes. If I think I'm close then I'll do what I can to finish it off just for the sake of completing it. Other times the story might be delivering on a game even if the gameplay doesn't, so I'll keep playing it to find out what happens. I don't care about achievements so that's never a motivating factor.

-Byshop

@tryit: neh, there gave been a couple games i’ve forced myself to play, after laying money on them and not feeling completely satisfied.

Dragon age comes to mind (pretty sure that’ll make some rpg fans cringe).

I don't get the Dragon Age love either, or even Bioware for that matter

Played a few hours of Origin and finished Inquisition. They've got terrible gameplay and level design. With a story far too bloated and political for my taste. And let's not even go into how terrible the camera control is.

Plus it's one of those games fans tell you "it's better if you read the books"

. . .

If you need to read a book to enjoy a video game, that video game has failed.

@RSM-HQ: LIke FF15 that you need to see the movie and a few episode to get the stupid story that has way too much in common with FF6

What if the game doesnt have a finish?

I ask because 100% of the games I play do not have an ending

I've never personally considered much of the Final Fantasy games either; so my natural assumption is games like Dragon Age and Final Fantasy have a certain dedicated fanbase that like the flaws they dish-out and likely see them as positives.

@tryit said: What if the game doesnt have a finish?

I ask because 100% of the games I play do not have an ending

Games without definitive 'endings' are coined by developers as life-style games, because they're built for replayability with no (key) end goal objective.

I'd state about 20% of games I play work this way, yet I don't mind linear experiences also, so long as they're well crafted and catered to my taste.

For some reason Deus Ex 1's setting and story weren't very interesting for me and after the first mission I was "Forcing myself to play it" until I gave up in the next mission.

but what if a game doesnt have an ending?

do force yourself to continue to play beyond the point of boredom?

Nope. Only continue to play/ return to 'life-style' games if they are enjoyable to play_

Depends on the game certainly, but if I don't enjoy what I'm playing? it's cast aside.

Enjoy gaming too much to consider wasting my time with boring experiences.

great answer, thanks

i ask this question arc because I know of gamers who play and complain as if its the worst experience of their life, which leads me to ask such a question

@tryit:

i ask this question arc because I know of gamers who play and complain as if its the worst experience of their life, which leads me to ask such a question

Which is strange seeing as many successful franchises don't have endings, who complains about Overwatch, Tetris, Monster Hunter, Team Fortress, Fortnite, and the whole Fighting game genres lack of an end-game? (just to name a few)

what I am getting at is that you can select any random game title that is on Steam, go to those forums and likely find at least one post of someone who plays the game regularly is totally raging about the game they are playing

Deus ex's story and setting not interesting?

I was just thinking that that game has one of if not THE most interesting story and setting of any game ever made but everyone's different I suppose.

@thereal25: I didn't like the way everyone looked robotic and the way they were a hybrid between human and robot.

Kinda forcing myself, little by little, to play Witcher 2. Its harder than TW3, and not in a fun way. Doing it to know more about the story and lore. It has its moments but compared to TW3 I feel its more a chore.

@tryit: Well most of the games I play have some kind of a "finish", mostly just meaning story-wise. I rarely play games without an end, and if I do I simply play them till I get bored of it (which is usually pretty fast, I'm a real sucker for narrative). In my experience, I usually get bored somewhere between 40 and 60 hours of game time, depending on the game. It's probably due to my age, I prefer playing 4 different games for 50 hours to playing 1 game for 200. Didn't use to be like that before.

Metroid Prime during the beginning because it was bland. Pikmin 2 towards the end because the game had gotten extremely repetitive.

I don't force myself to play the game, the game will be waiting there for me when I come back. I feel like that with The Witcher 3 and Skyrim

I have most definitely done this!

Most recently I did it with The Witcher 3 and Fallout 4. The latter hurt me the most because I was a fan of the series but this one is just so repetitive I had to force myself to get through it...and even then I havent finished it.

The same goes for TW3, which is a gorgeous game and even with its average action mechanics it is fun to play...but it takes up so much time. An average side quest can take upwards of 90s minutes and I just don't have the time to play through it, although recently I forced myself to spend a solid 4 hours going through it. It was odd because I had forgotten so much of the game, controls and methods.

I did this with divinity 2. Not my game turn based solutions. But honestly i heard such great reviews about it that i just forced myself to play through it for a couple of area's and instantly got hooked.

It's a way for me to get into new type of games and open my horizon to more games.

I 'forced' myself to finish up Demon's Souls when I heard they were shutting down the servers.

Oh hell yeah. Grinding to finish a game I hate, just so I never have to load it up again. Silly really, just bin it off and get something else.

Yes, which feels not so good XD Sometimes I just want to give some genres I don't really play often a try, but when you get to that point when you like not enjoy the game anymore, I probably won't force myself too far XD that's why it's important to make sure you love the game before you buy it, I personally watch gameplay on YouTube.

Not sure if going abit off topic but I'm ok till I die then I force my self to replay it from start as dying in games ruins the immersion especially open world survival.

GTA 4 I felt as though it was a slog to get through found the characters forgettable. Another was an RPG called Alundra on PS1 heard it was the ps Zelda so brought it with my own pocket money. Seemed to go on far too long.

I feel like I do that with Warcraft now.... play like once every month for a few minutes but can't just pull myself to give up my account.