2017 has already been a prolific year for video games across both consoles and PC. No matter where your interests lie, both major publishers and independent game studios have likely released a title within the last month or even the last week that has the potential to keep you busy for the remainder of the year. But the games don’t stop – aside from a brief lull in April, a new, significant video game – whether it be Horizon: Zero Dawn or Snipperclips – is typically just days away from release. It means that those with enough free time on their hands will very rarely find themselves bored, but it also leads to what is most certainly a “first-world” problem. With so many games releasing and generating buzz and discussion, it is becoming increasingly difficult to enjoy what we already have.

This problem, if one can call it that without laughing, only surfaced for me in adulthood. Like most children, my income in my childhood was roughly $0, with occasional birthday presents from my family members helping me to go pick up the latest Fire Emblem game or pay for another year of Xbox Live. This meant that every purchase was of upmost importance – after all, purchasing a bad game meant that I’d have to spend the next few months attempting to enjoy something like Dragon Ball Z: Sagas when I knew deep down that the game was terrible, and that I could have far more fun pretending that I was Trunks or Gohan in my backyard … though my neighbors would likely be annoyed by the prolonged blood-curdling screams.

Most of the time, however, I was more than satisfied with my choice of games. I played countless hours of Call of Duty 2, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Pokémon Ruby, and Madden NFL 2007 not just after they released, but months and years later. Even without purchasing new games, sometimes for months on end, I never got bored replaying the same missions or competing in multiplayer games that had already seen the majority of their communities move onto other, newer titles.

The prevalence of video game marketing and the rise of YouTube gaming channels has made it almost impossible to not know about the latest releases, even those that appeal to a smaller, niche audience. You’d be hard-pressed to find a copy of Nier: Automata sitting on the shelf at Walmart or Target, but its influence and popularity among both professional and amateur personalities online is all but inescapable. Of course, this is largely a positive change. It helps to introduce players to games and even entire genres that they may have otherwise been unfamiliar with, and it allows developers to take greater risks, knowing that new players can learn about their games through more than just simple word-of-mouth.

But it can also be overwhelming. In just January of 2017, players could pick up Gravity Rush 2, Tales of Berseria, Yakuza 0, and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard in addition to a slew of new indie releases. Any one of those games could easily take up weeks of free time, and these are only the games that cost money. Between PlayStation Plus and Xbox Live Gold, subscribers get access to an additional 10 games a month. It’s enough to make your head spin, and knowing that you have so many other games to get to can reduce the sense of escapism and immersion you have with the game you’re currently playing. “As soon as I beat Sniper Elite 4, I can start Mass Effect: Andromeda. Then I can play Halo Wars 2. But I need to finish that before Persona 5 comes out.”

I have never wanted to rush out and see every movie at the theater on opening night. I have no desire to purchase every album. I only watch a couple of television shows. And I’ve found that when I learned to treat video games the same way, I remembered why I’ve loved them since I was only a few years old.

In 2014, Electronic Arts and PopCap released Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, a third-person multiplayer shooter spinoff that parodied games like Call of Duty and Battlefield with surprisingly competent gameplay in its own right. I instantly fell in love with its irreverent tone and the laid back attitude of its community, most of whom were far more interested in having fun with their friends than they were in routing the enemy team or achieving a high score in the game’s take on horde mode. I developed the same attitude, using the game as a way to blow off steam or relax, even if I happened to be doing terribly that particular day.

This is the same year that saw the release of South Park: The Stick of Truth and Dark Souls II, which are considered to be among the best games released for the last generation of consoles. I ignored both and continued blasting peas and sunflowers. Destiny was all anyone talked about for months, but I shelved it just a few weeks after it launched and returned to Garden Warfare again.

Sure, I missed out on some of the biggest games of the year and have even return to play some of the ones I skipped later on, but by allowing myself to fully focus on just one title, I was able to appreciate its finer details. I may have overlooked the multitude of less-popular multiplayer modes and cooperative options in Garden Warfare if I were just playing it to kill time until the “next big thing” released, but I would have missed out on some of the best parts of the game, and I would have lost some of my best experiences and memories of playing it.

Though I’ve certainly still purchased a few games that I simply haven’t had time to enjoy (Just Cause 3 has been sitting in my collection just waiting to be played for nearly two years) by removing my game release binoculars and just allowing myself to get fully enveloped in the thrill of an MLB The Show 17 season or return to Overwatch for the 50th time, it made me more than comfortable missing the latest slew of releases that everyone else had seemingly begun playing instead. This doesn’t mean that I will no longer get excited for the latest games or even stop picking up my most-anticipated releases on launch day, but I no longer feel the need to get them as soon as they release.

When will I finally play Nioh or check out Night in the Woods? When will I move onto the new game that everyone is talking about? When will I heed my friends’ advice that I “need” to drop what I’m doing and pay attention? Whenever I stop enjoying what I’m already playing.

By all means, allow yourself to get excited for video games. The rush of opening the package and trying out the game you’ve been anticipating for months is hard to beat. But remember that the games you miss out on will still be around in a year when you finally run out of other games to play or have enough free time to actually give them the attention they deserve. Until then, there’s no shame in sticking with one of your favorites.

 
Disclaimer : The following article was written freely based on the author's opinion, and it may not necessarily represent Inven Global's editorial stance.