I stopped playing video games that didn’t respect my time (you should too)

Have you ever found yourself spending 100s of hours in a game without accessing the actual content? Games that revolve around grinding can feel like a waste of time, especially when there are so many other games you could be playing instead. Here’s how I learned to spot them early so I can avoid them.

Please, games, stop wasting my time

If, like me, you have a large game backlog, it’s especially frustrating to encounter a game that doesn’t respect the time you put into it. I’ve been reducing my backlog efficiently, but some outliers still drive me crazy. I’ve made it my personal mission to avoid buying and playing these games.

I’m sure you’ve encountered some of these time-sucking mechanisms. These can add hours of gameplay without adding anything of value to the experience. I’m talking pointless fetch quests, power-limited systems, daily logins, and grinding for very rare loot. They can all feel like they’re wasting time, and you’re done with them.

If I like playing the game, what’s the big deal, anyway?

You might enjoy logging in Destiny 2 or Genshin Impact And play the game every day. Fun should be the primary motivation behind why you want to turn it on and play in the first place. But it’s important to ask yourself: Are you actually doing this? He loves The game, or are you Air conditioned To love the game? The modern gaming industry relies heavily on psychological conditioning to attract players to their games.

One of the psychological tools used in game design today is the Skinner Box. B. F. Skinner designed this experiment When I was a student at Harvard, animals were taught how to respond to light and sound stimuli, and to receive a reward when they performed well. He learned that if you train animals properly, you can make them do what you want them to do.

Game designers have integrated Skinner Boxes into their development systems. Now, when you log in Clash of clans Every day you get a reward. The bonus keeps increasing until you log in for a week, and you don’t want to break your streak, right? This is a Skinner box.

They’re common in free-to-play games to encourage players to come back and purchase in-game items. It also preys on the player Fear of missing out, or FOMO.

Skinner boxes are just one way that games kill your time by providing a dopamine boost for performing a task. But that’s not the only malicious way games manipulate you into wasting your time.

The in-game time wasters make me sad

Let’s say you’re playing a game that’s not connected to the live service, such as an older game Final fantasy games. There are no daily login bonuses, so you should be fine, right? Well… maybe? If you don’t experience the games 100%, they can be more fun, but sometimes those games aren’t optional. This is where the problem arises.

In some games, you’ll eventually encounter obstacles like an enemy you can’t defeat, especially if you’re trying to optimize your time in the game. The only way to pass the difficult section is to obtain better weapons, armor, equipment or materials. Welcome to milling.

Grinding can be fun in some cases. Part of the fun of playing World of Warcraft In the past, you would connect with friends and build your relationship through the shock of a shared boss battle. The problem is that some games apply artificial difficulty and busy action to force players to explore the world or spend hours farming loot and gear to take on a specific boss. I’m not sure about you, but I’m not looking to escape the real world to get stuck in in-game action!

Some games implement these sections as optional bonuses. takes Monster Hunter Small game fishing, for example. in Monster Hunter: World (One of those games I could play forever) and Monster Hunter: RiseFishing is an optional subgame that can give you resources to use in battle or return to the center to do certain things. However, identical items can easily be obtained elsewhere if you don’t want to waste your time hunting. I want more games to do this.

The worst offenders of time-wasting games are those that force you to wait to do something. I’ve never liked the “Energy” mechanic since it was introduced farmvilleAnd I still don’t do it. Mechanics like this are often used to frustrate players into caving in and making optional in-app purchases.

Forget the grind, I have money

In the past, I’ve spent money on some in-game items that helped me get through difficulties. I’m not proud of it, but I realize that this is the outcome the developer wanted from me.

From purchasing in-game currency to obtaining “booster packs” that help players progress faster, these are the foundation of live service games. It’s how they make money from you. But some things cannot be purchased with cash. It’s time-gatedYou can only get it on special occasions. If you want to frustrate people and make them spend more time in a game, this is how you do it.

There is no reason for this simulated scarcity other than the desire to artificially push players to show up in their games for events. I’ve done it before, and I probably will again because this particular system has its hooks in me. But I try not to fall victim to this tactic.

Find games that respect my time

Throughout my time playing these games, I’ve realized a few “green flags” that highlight a game that respects my time:

• Minimal grinding or skipping
• There are no time-gated systems or daily login bonuses
• Visible progress in short sessions
• Respect the player’s choice
• There are no systems or quests designed to suck up my time to progress through the main story

It’s a relatively short list, but it’s surprising how few games meet all the requirements. But if we want to influence how games are made, we must reward developers who do these things and spare those who don’t.

No more time-wasting games

At the individual level, we can do little to convince companies to change their monetization methods. Microtransactions are a key part of many of these games, and have trained players to press the button and get the reward.

Do you feel the same? If you don’t have a lot of time to play, you may want to try some games that work best during quick sessions.