Familiarity and Forever
Looting and shooting have me hooked and I want more.
“With a bit of luck, his life was ruined forever.”
― Hunter S. Thompson
I struggle to stick with one game and constantly bounce between different single-player games, as well as the occasional online shooter. At the start of the year, I tried to optimize and create a strict schedule to play only one game at a time and get through my backlog. I spoke about this last week, but realized that if I treated games like a task that needed to get done, rather than something fun, I wouldn’t want play anything anymore.
I pushed all those weird optimization plans to the side and just started playing what I wanted, hopping between games and seeing what sticks. What I noticed was that certain games were the ones I latched onto the most, those being The Division 2, Destiny 2, Deadlink, and Diablo IV. Other than the odd (and totally coincidental) fact that they all start with the letter ‘D,’ these are all some sort of loot-centric, run-based games.
If I’m bored, I’ll do a quick run in Deadlink and see how far I get. If friends are online, Destiny 2 is almost always on the table. I’m not intentionally seeking these games out, but they always seem like the right things to play on any given night. This coincides, funnily enough, with some thoughts I’ve had on the prospect of finding a “forever game.”
Basically, I want an MMO or some sort of long-term game I can sink my teeth into and invest some serious time in. It might be counterproductive to find something that I can treat as a second job, but the idea of living in another world and interacting with it consistently is just such a cool one to consider.
The closest things I’ve had to true “forever” games were online shooters like Call of Duty, which I would constantly log into every day to do whatever daily missions were available and get a quick dopamine hit.
My most consistently played game, however, has been The Crew Motorfest. I don’t do the live-service check-in thing that often, but every new season of this specific game has me checking in to unlock whatever new car or play a new playlist. The fact that the game also allows me to earn old rewards I may have missed is a cool prospect, and I enjoy going back every so often.
Still, I want more. I’ve found that strange satisfaction in loot-based games like Diablo IV, where the prospect of putting in a little bit more time would net me huge rewards. Seeing how people have put thousands of hours into the likes of Diablo 2-4 has me strangely intrigued, and I want a piece of that.
I have come to enjoy the constant and somewhatnatural nature of logging into a game, shooting or mowing my way through mobs of enemies, and collecting whatever rewards might fall. That repetitiveness is somewhat calming, and the drive to keep trying for better rewards hasn’t ceased to motivate me. That short dopamine hit I used to get out of playing Call of Duty has now turned into a long-term search for even more stimuli.
My main issue stems from the fact that I don’t stick with games for a long time, or a lot of the games I am interested in are way too established already, meaning I missed out on their best elements, or I am playing catch-up with others.
I am aware that this desire to keep grinding away and giving into the FOMO when it comes to loot is unhealthy, and is further complicated by my own desire to explore MMOs. Thankfully, I don’t have a super-powerful computer that would justify me playing something like World of Warcraft or Old Republic, but that desire to simply grind away at a game is there.
I’ve been eyeing things like The Elder Scrolls Online and Fallout 76 since they’re both on console, but haven’t taken the plunge yet. Path of Exile and Path of Exile 2 also look like a great time, but they also look intimidating.
What I’ll be playing:
I started The Division 2 recently, after pouring about 12 hours into the first game. The combat and movement already feel so much better, and the prospect of much better loot is definitely what I am looking for. I also like the idea of playing this right before The Division 3 gets announced formally, allowing me ot experience a brand new online game.
Destiny 2 seems like a constant for me at this point, and I just started a new character that I intend to grind with for the foreseeable future. I am in the process of replaying all the old campaigns and building them up.
Deadlink is a masterful roguelike FPS; it’s such a brilliant “I got time to kill” kind of game.
I need to start Hades soon.
Diablo IV is so damn good, but there are a few other ARPGs I wanna try, like Diablo II and the two Warhammer ones.
Maybe this is the year I finally dive into Warframe?
Anyway, I also reinstalled Overwatch, and I feel a strong urge to immerse myself in that for a bit, so who knows what I really want anymore.