Weekend Reading: Why We Do Not Finish Games

I confess to having not finished Resonance, the interesting indie developed adventure title that we reviewed at the start of the month, and I can also tell you that, from time to time, I feel a little bad for having played the game, writing a review and then abandon the game for so long.

I tell myself that I will surely get back to it and finish the experience but I then remember that, technically, I also have not finished The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim because I failed to actually kill the end of the game enemy (long story short, I got distracted with side quests and then never could get back to the game).

Then a whole list of games that I either still have installed or have long lost the discs for floods into my head and I realize that, as I grow older and get access to more games, I tend to finish a diminishing number of the ones I get to play.

Worse still is the fact that most of my favorite gaming experiences, from Civilization to Sins of a Solar Empire to Football Manager, lack an actual ending and can be played for extensive periods of time with goals created by the player himself.

Of course the “more games” in the third paragraph points to the biggest cause for the “not finishing video games” epidemy.

Big publishers and independent developers tend to release more games than ever, from AAA shooters to small strategy gems and social titles and everything in between.

This happens while the number of seconds in a day remains the same and as there’s more and more entertainment, apart from video games, to be found.

I expect to be finishing even less games in the coming months and years and, while that will make me feel a little bad, I am happy to live in an age when so much worthy titles are swirling around me.