Paralyzed by choice: how it happens and what gamers can do about it
It’s Friday night and you’ve just gotten home from work or school. You decide that you’re going to play a few games to unwind, but as you look at your large library of game and are not sure what to play. Eventually you spend more time picking something to play than actually playing a game. For gamers who have a large backlog or collection of games, this can be a problem when it comes to taking full advantage of one’s free time. The ability to make choices is important to our well being. It gives us agency and a feeling of control over our lives, but as we are given more choices, the more problematic decision making can become.With the way games are distributed today, as well as the amount of income that a gamer can bring in monthly, games can quickly build a decent library of games relatively quickly. This has allowed us to have access to many more options when it comes to finding games to play. Before the days of smart phones, tablets, and digital distribution, kids would have to settle with playing what they already had until birthdays or Christmas rolled around. It was a lot more rare to have games that you haven’t already finished laying around, giving gamers an opportunity to focus on beating one game at a time. But as the average age of gamers gets higher every year, now sitting in the late 30s, the majority of us don't have these restrictions anymore. We can just buy whatever we want at anytime. Even though this newfound freedom is liberating, it also comes with problems. As new games are added to the collection the more options there are to choose between.
It’s Friday night and you’ve just gotten home from work or school. You decide that you’re going to play a few games to unwind, but as you look at your large library of game and are not sure what to play. Eventually you spend more time picking something to play than actually playing a game. For gamers who have a large backlog or collection of games, this can be a problem when it comes to taking full advantage of one’s free time. The ability to make choices is important to our well being. It gives us agency and a feeling of control over our lives, but as we are given more choices, the more problematic decision making can become.
With the way games are distributed today, as well as the amount of income that a gamer can bring in monthly, games can quickly build a decent library of games relatively quickly. This has allowed us to have access to many more options when it comes to finding games to play. Before the days of smart phones, tablets, and digital distribution, kids would have to settle with playing what they already had until birthdays or Christmas rolled around. It was a lot more rare to have games that you haven’t already finished laying around, giving gamers an opportunity to focus on beating one game at a time. But as the average age of gamers gets higher every year, now sitting in the late 30s, the majority of us don’t have these restrictions anymore. We can just buy whatever we want at anytime. Even though this newfound freedom is liberating, it also comes with problems. As new games are added to the collection the more options there are to choose between.
When you take into account that a gamer’s time is also limited by work and other responsibilities, the amount of time dedicated to gaming can be considered precious. And even that alone can lead to gamers being undeceive when choosing which game they should be playing at that time. Even though this situation can be problematic, there are solutions to the issue.
The best course of action to limit the chance of choice-paralysis would be to first tackle your backlog of game. By limiting the amount of games that are bought, this will give a gamer enough time to focus on the collection they already have. Sure there will be sales on games that will be too hard to pass up, but if you limit the amount that are purchased, it’s your first step to managing the collection as a whole.
What this issue comes down to is how you manage your decision making. It’s best to understand that the choices that are being made aren’t set in stone. Even if they decide on a game, they can decide to play something else the next day. If you start on a game and decide you like it, they should continue to play it until completion. And better yet, hide the rest of your collection away. You should try not to look back at your collection to avoid falling back into indecision. This not only helps provide focus when it comes to finishing up, but a little more piece of mind while you play.
Being paralysized by choice is something that happens when we have a large number of options laid out in front of us, but through careful planning this situation can be avoided. By limiting the amount of games that are added to one’s collection, the number or games that still need to be finished decreases. Gamers who still want to purchase games can avoid the problem as well. By focusing on one game at a time without switching up, you can persevere.