I find myself in the curious situation that I have a vast library of video games I bought, but sometimes find myself bored and unsure what to play. And if anything, this is getting worse with time, as cheap iOS games and Steam sales make me impulse-buy more games than I can play. But ultimately the problem is one of two psychological effects: A barrier to entry into a new game, and a barrier to exit from an old game.

The barrier to exit from a video game is well described here, as the Zeigarnik Effect: The human mind is programmed to remember tasks we started but didn't finish. Not finishing a video game thus leaves a nagging feeling in our mind, even if we are already past the "are you still having fun?" point. Although it is known that most people do not finish video games, it is a long way from just stopping to play to actually deciding that you are finished with that game and uninstalling it from your hard drive. Sometimes you install a game, play for some hours, and in spite of the game not grabbing you very much, you somehow feel that you will continue playing it. Only then you never actually do.

The barrier to entry into a new game is a different story, one which also in part explains why we have so many sequels on the market. If you start a completely new game, at first by definition you are a n00b. There is a certain effort required to learn how the game works, and how to play it well. Sequels and clone games help, because if you played some games from FIFA 95 to FIFA 12, chances are you don't have to learn much to play FIFA 13. But if you never played let's say a Paradox game and then start a game from the Europa Universalis series, you're likely to be put off by a steep learning curve for a very complex game. The more you switch between platforms and genres, the more you need to readjust every time, because the conventions on how a strategy game is controlled are different from an RPG or a shooter, and they are different on a PC, a console, and a tablet.

Syp has a project currently running in which he plays 10 games in 10 days. The games all being PC MMORPG, and Syp being an expert of that genre, lowers the barrier to entry. But still I am not sure if such an exercise is psychologically satisfying, or whether it leaves you with a lot of regrets of not having explored each game more. Plus constant problems because keybinds are different in each game, or similar issues of adjustment to a new game every day.

Me, I ended up not playing any new game this weekend. I played a bit of Anno Online, which is a game with a slow rhythm, one you log into a few times a day to play 10 minutes each time. And I played many hours of Ni No Kuni, which is a huge game in which sometimes you just hunt Pokemon familiars for several hours and grind levels in the process, and still have fun. But as I also bought some games in last week's Steam sale, and an iOS game or two, my list of un-played games is getting ever larger. How about you?