Accidentally Dropping Games

[WhiteShark]

How long can you go without playing a game you were in the middle of before you've de facto dropped it and the likelihood of returning approaches nil? Or, if that's not how it works for you, how often do you return to a game you stopped playing a long time ago and finish it?

I've 'dropped' games I was enjoying because life got in the way and then my interest moved on in the interim. It's rare for me to return to them even if I really liked them. I've become sufficiently aware of this phenomenon to sometimes go out of my way to play something before it reaches the point of no return, but I usually don't make it in time. I have two different games with saves right before the final boss and a thoroughly modded Enderal sitting on my hard drive that I've been 'meaning to get back to' for literally years now, but I despair of it ever happening. How about you?

[Vaako]

I rarely go back to a singleplayer game save, I havent played in a week. Often the idea playing something is more fun than actually doing it. I catch myself more often just watching a few gameplay videos on youtube to get my fix. Which results in me only playing like 4-5 games a year. But it mostly applies to games I have to get to work on an emulator or bethesda games where I need a lot of mods.

[Kolgrim]

Depends on the genre and how narrative focused a game is but it usually takes a couple of weeks of not playing for me to start losing interest in completing a game. If I get the craving to return to a dropped game I start a new playthrough because it's easier for me to get back in the groove that way.

[TND]

I usually get bored of a game before I even drop it, never dropped a game I actually like.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I sometimes resume a game that I dropped months or even over a year ago. It happened to me with Zwei 1 and Aselia off of the top of my head. I have the same experience with books where I might be reading something, then put it done, and then resume it months or even years later.

[DemoGraph]

Several months or more. Though I often prefer to start anew, especially if I want to be "in character" and that gets lost after all that time.

[Irenaeus]

Yes, this has happened to me a lot. When the game was genuinely good, there's a chance that I'll remember it and return sometimes many years later.

[WhiteShark]

If I get the craving to return to a dropped game I start a new playthrough because it's easier for me to get back in the groove that way.

Though I often prefer to start anew, especially if I want to be "in character" and that gets lost after all that time.

I think this is part of why I end up dropping them: I feel I should do this to get the flow back, but I am almost violently averse to repeating content, so I end up leaving it on hold.

[rusty_shackleford]

I can never resume a game like that, even when a series has a new entry with import I have to go back and play the older games again first

[WhiteShark]

I can never resume a game like that, even when a series has a new entry with import I have to go back and play the older games again first

I did that with Mass Effect 1 before playing 2. Come to think of it, Mass Effect 3 is another game I accidentally dropped. That's why I asked you about the LE however many months/years ago: I was thinking about starting from 1 and playing through 3. It's been long enough now that I remember little besides the major story points, so I think I could handle the repetition.

[Roguey]

I only drop something if I'm not having fun, otherwise I'm pretty determined to finish which is rather abnormal given that most people don't bother to complete anything, even if they do enjoy them.

[Tangerine]

If I don't get back into something within a couple of months, I'm most likely not going to touch it for years.

[DagothGeas5]

I myself put games on hold but get back to them in time, though "in time" can mean years in some cases, but never just drop something unless it gives me a reason to. Some games, like ATOM, Crystals of Arborea and, which surprised me as it wasn't too much a favourite before, Baldur's Gate (1), I keep installed no matter what as I mean to do another run, but that usually never, or very rarely, happens or ends if it starts.

I have had some games where I get to near the end but, after or right before one of the major moments, I am unsure what happens but I simply lose all interest in continuing. I often have to force my way through that to finish them when this happens but I couldn't be able to say what the reason might be.

[Oyster Sauce]

I used to have a folder. Within this folder were text files named after games on my backlog. I would check to see how many files were in this folder and use Random.org to pick one for me to play for a bit - replacing the text file with a shortcut after installing it to simplify things. My rule was that I'd have to make at least some progress in the game before playing something else. My backlog expanded over time with every game I'd see and be a little bit interested in, so it became more and more rare for me to get the same game twice within the span of a few months. After the list grew to over 600 games (I didn't list every sequel so the real backlog was much larger), I noticed that I was pretty often launching games and seeing that my last save was from more than a year ago. Eventually, I had a hard drive failure and lost 100s of save files for incomplete games. Now I try to just stick to one at a time until I beat it



This is why I've played so many games without finishing them

[J1M]

I don't drop games.
I don't quit games.

I complete games or reject them.

[methoxetamine]

For me it's somewhere between a week and a few months. I really struggle jumping back into something without starting over. My "accidental drops" tend to be early in the game so it's not a big deal to re-start. Same for my actual drops, if I make it 4 or 5 hours into a game, chances are I'm going to finish it except in rare instances

[OnTilt]

I regularly start games only to drop them from getting distracted by some other game or hobby. Then I'll remember the game was fun and come back to it months later. I have to start a new save though, and then I get distracted . . .

I don't actually finish most of the games I play.

[Manny V]

so many unfinished games...

anyway back to my fix of Monster Hunter/WoW/Total War Warhammer for the 10 billionth time

[Havitner]

I've started keeping a text file with a list of games that I
1. Haven't played before, but should
2. Have played before, and probably will again at some point
3. Have played before, and probably won't play again (either because they sucked, or because they have no replayability, I always leave myself a microreview explaining why)

The games in group 2 have bullet point lists detailing default mods and houserules I always use, ideas for new mods or gimmicks I should try next time, and whether there is an unfinished save I should return to (with info explaining what the run was about ('Rimworld SCP run'), and where and why I stopped playing).

[Rumbles]

The games in group 2 have bullet point lists detailing default mods and houserules I always use, ideas for new mods or gimmicks I should try next time, and whether there is an unfinished save I should return to (with info explaining what the run was about ('Rimworld SCP run'), and where and why I stopped playing).

With this you reminded me, Rimworld for me is exactly this sort of game, finding the mods and making them work after a wretched 20 minute loading screen is almost better than the actual game. I pick it up once a month to discover my mod sorting tool has blown up the order or made half the stuff go missing. Then I get clapped by manhunting animals because I forget to minmax armor or not even make it/equip it, making me take a break again.

[Gastrick]

Have no limit on this, makes the experience more unique if you barely remember the spells and details and are mostly going off a rough review of the story up until that point. A downside is that it can lead to the game feeling like it ended too early.

[WhiteShark]

I've started keeping a text file with a list of games that I
1. Haven't played before, but should
2. Have played before, and probably will again at some point
3. Have played before, and probably won't play again (either because they sucked, or because they have no replayability, I always leave myself a microreview explaining why)

The games in group 2 have bullet point lists detailing default mods and houserules I always use, ideas for new mods or gimmicks I should try next time, and whether there is an unfinished save I should return to (with info explaining what the run was about ('Rimworld SCP run'), and where and why I stopped playing).

Hey, I do this too, except I keep mine as a table in Obsidian with internal links to a file for each game. The format is like this:

| Name | Genre | Playstate | Start Date | Completion Date | Website |

Playstate refers to level of completion, e.g. zero, waiting for release/updates/mods, on hold, dropped, currently playing, completed (once, twice, etc.).

Clicking on the name of the game links to a file with these headers:

Impressions
Memo
Mods
Typos and Errors
Bugs

So I'd put your microreview in my Impressions section, mods and houserules in Mods, and the details about the save in Memo.

[DemoGraph]

I've started keeping a text file

I keep mine as a table in Obsidian

I have an excel spreadsheet with name, quality rating (bad, meh, good, cool), genre, play year, and short notes.

[Lord of Riva]

If I stop playing there was a reason for it, I normally do not pick it up again

[NotAI]

Well, I dropped Skyrim at some point. Around halfway. Never finished it. What's the ending? Tell me, somebody. The story is so amazing, I must finally learn of the ending!

[Tweed]

Sometimes I drop things by accident. I never actually finished Realms of Antiquity. I remember what I was doing when I stopped, but for some reason I got drawn away from it.

Although I do have heaps of recorded footage, maybe I could play it back to get reoriented.

[AmericanMonarchist]

I've started keeping a text file with a list of games that I
1. Haven't played before, but should
2. Have played before, and probably will again at some point
3. Have played before, and probably won't play again (either because they sucked, or because they have no replayability, I always leave myself a microreview explaining why)

The games in group 2 have bullet point lists detailing default mods and houserules I always use, ideas for new mods or gimmicks I should try next time, and whether there is an unfinished save I should return to (with info explaining what the run was about ('Rimworld SCP run'), and where and why I stopped playing).

Hey, I do this too, except I keep mine as a table in Obsidian with internal links to a file for each game. The format is like this:

| Name | Genre | Playstate | Start Date | Completion Date | Website |

Playstate refers to level of completion, e.g. zero, waiting for release/updates/mods, on hold, dropped, currently playing, completed (once, twice, etc.).

Clicking on the name of the game links to a file with these headers:

Impressions
Memo
Mods
Typos and Errors
Bugs

So I'd put your microreview in my Impressions section, mods and houserules in Mods, and the details about the save in Memo.

That is a unique way of using Obsidian, and I am going to have to copy it. Is the website field for MMO/browser games?

[WhiteShark]

Is the website field for MMO/browser games?

It was mainly for obscure games to make finding their homepages again easier. Anything on a major digital storefront doesn't really need it, so I leave it blank most of the time, but it's nice for keeping track of little indie and freeware games.

[DecadeRiptide]

I can't even stick to a single game for more than an hour these days. I think I'm losing interest in them :/

[Demonic Fate]

Thread title reminded me of this antediluvian meme: