Giving up on a game.

[Retronomy]

I'm not joking, at all, but I am being a bit humorous/exaggerating a bit. I think I really do have an addiction. Although it's mild from what it used to be, my life has significantly improved.

I remember when I was 16 working at gamestop, every paycheck I would come home with some 200$ worth of games (which were usually JRPGs, as that was what I was mostly into) so yeah, I gave up on a lot of games, I simply just had way too many.

There is an incredibly fine line between being a collector and being an addict, and I'm almost certain I've crossed that line a few times. I figure the second adding to your collection creates complications later (like buying food and bills) you have a serious issue, and I've been there once or twice before.

[Montivagant]

I used to force myself to beat any game I began playing, even if I began to hate the game at some point. Over time I realized this was a masochistic and frivolous thing to do. Nowadays I have a simple rule about finishing a game. If I'm not looking forward to playing it all day, but rather I have to force myself to boot up the game when it's time to play... that's the death-knoll. It's time for a new game. A video game should be entertaining and fun forth-most, if it fails at that, the rest of its merits automatically dwindle.

[SpoonyBard]

Oh, another thing that can make me quit a game is getting completely lost because the game doesn't give enough direction.

The last game I quit was Dead Island. Despite being disappointed in it, I was determined to beat it. Get stuck with a few long shifts at work, and next time I get to play it I realize that i'm in a sewer system with no map and no idea where to go. I was only 8 hours in, but I felt like if I picked it up from scratch I was throwing those 8 hours away. You know, as opposed to just never playing the game again and losing those 8 hours anyway.

Anyone who makes games a higher priority than work, social life and keeping their living space in order needs their head examined. And anyone who dedicates all their time to being good at games is dedicating all their time to a useless skill, unless you're one of the very people who actually make a living being "professional" gamers.

I like getting really good at the games I play. When I picked up Marvel Vs Capcom 3, I got good enough to play through normal mode and set it down. When I realized other people I knew were playing, I got a bit excited. I normally don't get a lot of mileage out of fighting games if i'm only playing against the computer.

I got wrecked by everyone. Every time. But it was fun. The people I was playing against weren't great by any means, but it was enough competition to keep the game interesting. For a couple of months I went home every day after work and played that game for hours on end. After awhile, we all got a lot better at playing it. Beating someone at a game who used to stomp you every time is always far more rewarding to me than any single player accomplishment.

And sure, now we've all stopped playing and have a fairly useless skill, but it made the purchase of that game a lot more worthwhile. Getting a few hundred hours out of it with friends instead of probably 10-15 by myself.

[coburn]

I used to force myself to beat any game I began playing, even if I began to hate the game at some point.

I used to do this also, but since I got a kid two years back I now have to spend my gaming time more wisely. Last game I stopped playing was Resident Evil 6, it's not a bad game but from the moment I popped it in it didn't feel right and it didn't grow on me as I played for a few hours. I´ll maybe try it again in some months but for now I´m happily playing Super Mario on the Wii U.

Sometimes a game that you rejected at first can surprise you if you give it another go though. One of those games for me was Dark Souls which I did not get at first, and it took a while before I really played it. Now it's in my top 10 list of the best games of all time.

[Montivagant]

I agree that sometimes a game you do not enjoy at first, upon revisiting sometime later, you might be surprised to find you enjoy it on the second try. This has been the case for me with the first Tenchu, Parasite Eve, and even the original Metroid Prime (temporary insanity obviously).

Another angle to this is the sheer amount of games available today, even if you're just considering the freeware realm. It's hard to justify forcing yourself to finish a game of questionable merit, when there's so many other titles potentially worth your time. Merit is a relative term of course... so one has to trust their instinct. After nearly thirty years of gaming, I give my instinct the benefit of a doubt, and just move on to better pastures when a game starts to stink.