Play the games you want to play this 2020, not the games you feel you should play
Games are a hobby that, like any other hobby, can divide fans. That was apparent to anyone with eyes when communities clashed over frivolous things such as ‘Death Stranding should have won the Game Awards’ or ‘only try-hards played Sekiro’. It all boiled down to preference, of course. But it made me think: shouldn’t you just play games you want to play and leave the ones out of it?
But it seems that lately, in order to have an opinion on a game, you have to had played it all the way through at least twice, blindfolded and in record time. Otherwise, did you really experience it at all?
While that may have been – somewhat – true in the past, in this age of YouTube, Mixer and Twitch, people are able to access games before they’ve even decided whether they want to play it or not. After all, if you don’t have the time or money you need, you’re going to want to spend it on games you want to play, rather on games you feel you should play.
As someone who likes to keep up with her friends, I’ve come under fire from this kind of thinking too. It was actually this past Christmas that I decided to grab Pokemon Shield for myself, determined to try and get into this community and understand what all the hype was truly about.
The results have been mixed and it’s somewhat thanks to my obsessive playstyle, where I spend most of my time scouring over every last detail and wading through wild areas like my life depends on it, and mostly ignoring the main storyline. After a while it gets a little tedious. Yes, my Pokemon are cute and cooking curry for them is the bees knees, but I don’t think I can appreciate the series as much as older fans can. Or, maybe I just don’t like Pokemon that much?
So, with that in mind, I might be dropping Pokemon after spending 15 hours on it and instead moving on to plow through the mountain that is my backlog. It feels terrifying to say that, especially as it was brought at Christmas – the time where each gift you get must be cherished forever. But hey, I just don’t feel like I want to play anymore.
And that’s fine. It’s a lesson I’m going to be taking with me this year because if there’s one thing that I and everyone else doesn’t have, it’s time.
So play the games you want to play and don’t fret over feeling like you need to sink hundreds of hours into a game you don’t think you’ll like. The only one losing out is you.
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