The new year… many of us feel the this is the time to start with a clean slate. To make New Years resolutions, make a promise to the year to come to change something in your life. Mostly turning around bad habits, like stop smoking, exercising more or dieting.
Janus: Looking Back and Forward
Did you know this isn’t something that’s tied to modern day times? I looked it up, and found this on Wonderopolis:
“The tradition of New Year’s resolutions dates all the way back to 153 B.C. January is named after Janus, a mythical god of early Rome. Janus had two faces — one looking forward, one looking backward. This allowed him to look back on the past and forward toward the future.
On December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking backward into the old year and forward into the new year. This became a symbolic time for Romans to make resolutions for the new year and forgive enemies for troubles in the past.
The Romans also believed Janus could forgive them for their wrongdoings in the previous year. The Romans would give gifts and make promises, believing Janus would see this and bless them in the year ahead. And thus the New Year’s resolution was born!”
New Years Resolutions in Gaming
I’ve made them too in the past, resolutions. Most for me were centred around trying to lose weight in combination with exercising. Wishing to go through life as a thinner version of myself. In hindsight, it never worked for me, losing weight seems to be an uphill battle the older I get.
But before I lose this narrative in a lament about dieting and it being a life long struggle, I’ll get back on the topic that I wanted to discuss with you.
On the last day of 2020 one of our writers, Paige, asked if we had any New Years resolutions in gaming. Looking at my game collection, one potential resolution easily comes to mind: actually finish all the games I buy. Or maybe even work on my backlog on older devices, like on the 3DS.
And that backlog is huge. There are a few games I bought and never even played because the first impression left me a bit disappointed. Or because I bought them in a sale and never got around to play them. But most of my backlog is for games that I never finished. That would be a great way to start the new year: stop buying new games, first finish the ones I already have even if it’s just limited to Switch games.
Gaming Where the Mood Takes Me
Knowing myself, I won’t make any resolutions about my gaming at all. You see, I have a motto when it comes to games I buy myself and am not reviewing for the site: I go where the mood takes me. I only play games that I really want to play. Not because it’s new or because everyone is playing that game. Nor is it because of another self imposed rule. I have experienced that if I’m not in the mood for a game, playing it can start to feel like wading through mud trying to get ahead.
This explains why many of my games have around 25 hours on the clock! In an RPG that’s the moment that some grinding is needed to get ahead. In farming games that’s long enough to play all the seasons. Animal Crossing of course is the exception to the rule, and there are other games I’ll happily abandon and come back to later when the mood grips me. Like Breath of the Wild or Civilization VI.
I realize this is a habit that I can only sustain based on luxury, as it can be quite costly. For me, the amount of games I can play isn’t limited by my funds, it’s limited by the gaming time I have available. And to make the circle complete: my spare gaming time is far too precious for not playing what I really like! So, no gaming resolution for me!
But how about you? Do you make resolutions when it comes to playing video games?