I was reading that System Shock 2 about if (when!!) it was released here the site would explode and I after reading comments like because of it's nostalgic hype or what one should call it there's a high chance many people who didn't play it won't enjoy it because of expactions.

Now to expectations.

I for one hate expections as many others do but my tactics so far is to avoid hype, hype that comes from external sources like trailers, creators, other people.. etc will only mask the actual game as much as a name mask what kind of person one could be. I don't mind hearing words that the game is good or a very short but accurate description of the game core mechanics but that's it.

I also have noticed that timing matters a lot which is annoying as hell. For example, I consider myself fairly organized (or at least in my own way) so I tend to plan ahead and set things in a logical and orderly fashion to make the best of it. Now this all goes to hell if I at that moment I have planned to play a great game but really isn't in the mood for it. I got struck with this during the middle of Planescape Torment unfortunately that I began playing recently. I had been thinking of playing this for about a year or so and then I bought it at Christmas sale. While initially when I began to play (beginning of mars) I enjoyed the game a lot even though there was a lot of hope that I had actually read but it didn't matter so much. Anyway, in the middle (even though I still liked the game) I just got hit with this gaming boredom. When I look back I should have taken a break even though it's very, very inconvenient especially for an immersive RPG where you might forget things but still, I wasn't in the right mood. Overall I loved the experience and I actually learned things from it not to mention this mood mistake as well. :)

If I combine and balance time, having the mood, technical preparation (goes almost automatically here as the games are old, updated and a great source of information about the game if you need help) and avoid too much hype I usually end up with a great experience even sometimes if the game isn't that well designed.

In my opinion, you are putting way too much thought into matters that are clear anyway.

It's clear that hype often detracts from the actual value of a game. It's hardly worth mentioning that playing requires time and technical preparations. Mood is only a factor if you're over-planning things (which seems to be the case, according to your description).

What I'm not seeing in your post is the psychology aspect that your title hinted at.

Well, as I said, I think you're seriously over-planning your spare time. You don't need to be an "impulsive" person to pick up a game and play it when you feel like it and have the time. Doing so is pretty much the norm, as long as the circumstances allow it. If you are unable to do that, then the question would be why, especially when your over-planning leads to unenjoyable experiences like the one you described. To me, it seems that you're trying to force your spare time into a prison of plans, are sometimes unhappy about the result, and are now trying to develop even more elaborate plans, covering even more variables, instead of simply doing the things you'll enjoy at that given time. Usually people simply don't try playing a game they are not in the mood for. Someone who freed up some time and originally wanted to play Civilization, but feels that he's more in the mood for a shooter, will simply pick up a shooter, and then have an enjoyable experience. People usually select the game that they are in the mood to play, so their mood is not much of a factor for their enjoyment of the game. It only becomes a major factor if you're actually trying to force yourself to play a game that you don't want to play at that moment in order to fulfill some "plan" - and that's an approach that so few gamers take that it's pretty much negligible imho. It's not "tricky", it's impossible. "Mood" is a variable that's much too volatile to be planned for in the way you try to. I think your approach is fundamentally flawed by trying to force emotions into plans. Why do you even want to do that, what's the benefit?

I played System Shock 2 recently. It's as amazing as ever. No hype or anti-hype can change that ;)

Good to hear. I have yet to play System Shock, I've been waiting to see if it would arrive here but it seems it will take some time before that happens.

Psyrine@ I think I'm bad to express myself. I don't force myself or put a up gaming schedule. It's more like if I know that I have limited time, let's say a few hours before something important (school, work, family, friends, sleep..etc) I prefer to avoid playing because I've sort of a small gaming addiction. While I can control it's annoying if I have a small time window like an hour or two and have to squeeze gaming into there.

Again, this isn't an issue. It was more of a topic to discuss.

The first game is aged much more. But it's still fun to play, If you don't mind rusty mechanics.

But System Shock 2? Man, I'm in love with Shodan since the game was released.

Yeah, these are the "circumstances" that I alluded to in my previous post. :) Setting some time for gaming, and some time for more important stuff, is definitely not a bad approach. :)

What struck me as odd though was the attempt to plan for playing a specific game, and then playing it even though you might not be in the mood for it, and only realizing later that the experience wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been.

In my experience, people ...

a) do not knowingly pick games that they aren't in the mood to play, even if they originally may have intended to play them; instead they simply pick a game that suits their mood better.

b) stop playing a specific game if they find out midway that they aren't in the mood to play it.

Therefore, if you find out in hindsight that your enjoyment of a game has been marred by not having been in a good mood to play it, I think that either ...

a) If the mood impact was considerable, then you should probably pay more attention to your emotions during playing, and switch sooner to doing something else if you notice that you're not enjoying what you're doing, or ...

b) If the mood impact was small, then it probably isn't worth worrying about it, as mood changes are hard to predict or prevent anyway.

Of course, if your post was meant as an academic discussion of variables outside of the game itself that influence the players# enjoyment, then I misunderstood your intention; sorry for that. To me it seemed more like you were on a quest to secure the "perfect" gaming experience through detailed planning, which I wouldn't consider a very useful approach due to the unpredictability of emotions, hence my reaction.

Ah, the last part cleared it up. While it would have been a bonus that someone else could have brought up their experiences during gaming and that could have let to a positive outcome for my own gaming was not the point of the thread.

I see what you're getting at but I still think that a part of me still wants to continue a game that I actually want to focus on even though I temporarily lost the mood. The key reason for this is inconvenience as I mentioned with my example during Planescape Torment. When I think about it I actually have a decent memory that taking a break from a game I really want to focus on isn't a big of deal. An underlying reason to avoid taking break or focus on another game probably stems from fear. I fear that I finally found a really interactive game and is therefor afraid to lose my pleasure playing it. It's partly ridiculous but for me it makes sense.

Enough of me now though. I can see you have a keen sense about gaming and people. What are your thoughts on my initial post that isn't connected to my backstory? :)

About your options, I think I'm going to reflect on your part about switching sooner to something else.

On the subject of the mood, in my case usually involves games with a very long duration (RPGs would be the perfect example). If for some reason I quit the game for a period of more than a couple of weeks is quite likely that I feel more and more lazy to retake it (even though the play has been great fun). In fact, I have several games left half I left so long ago that when I return I'll have to play them right from the start, since I do not remember the mechanics.

One option that I used sometimes as a cure for that boredom you mention is to have two or three games completely opposite each other (deep and very long RPG or RTS versus casual action game) and switch from one to another, depending on the mood of each day.

Hype is just that. Of course companies are going to try to make their games seem like the greatest in the world. I don't consider personal reviews hype, though; those are just opinions, and there are a myriad of reasons why people like or don't like something and it's all subjective.

Mood plays into just about everything in life, and it certainly does for me when it comes to gaming. For example: a little over a year ago I got "Guild Wars". Loved it and played it for months until one day I realized I was tired of it. I then set it aside for about four months. Now I'm back into it.

I have games on GoG and Steam that I haven't touched in over a year.

I usually have three or four games that I rotate through regularly. When I have time and peace and quiet, it's usually something more involved.

If it's a drinking night, I usually go for in-depth rpg's for a few hours, and then when I'm buzzed and don't want to think too much, I switch to Warlords III.

Yesterday I re-installed "Vampire - The Masquerade: Bloodlines". I don't know why, something in my head was just saying "You must be a vampire!" I haven't played that in a long time, but for now it will probably move into my regular rotation.

Of course, life gets in the way, too; I can play a lot more when my girlfriend manages to keep herself occupied elsewhere. :-)

Ignoring the psychology of things, I think the gist is that extremely dated games tend to be avoided like the plague by newcomers to the IP. That is why MOST (I said MOST) of the folks that played Thief 3 first, don't like T1 and T2. T3 is purty, T1 and 2 are not (per the new crowd).

That said, I played SS2 for the first time just a few years ago. I KNEW it was old. I KNEW it was ugly. It turned out to be quite fun.

The only issue I see, is getting new comers the info for patching/textures/mods, etc... to help the game look and play as fresh as possible. (I think I had problems with a texture mod that would have helped exponentially with look & feel, so I just played vanilla). If you sit down to play an OLD game and you get errors, or you have to tweek too much, or you get killed because the graphics are so bad you thought that monster was a vending machine... you aren't going to have fun and will opt for something newer that isn't so difficult to get into.

If GOG can secure the rights and make the game playable... I think this community can help with the rest.

The "hype" part is your body producing happy drugs to make you feel funfun and in anticipation. Probably some evolutionary byproduct from the days we had to really want to get that reindeer if we wanted to eat supper.

Obviously, knowing this psychological mood people can get into, retailers and marketing departments make it a point to capitalize on it since it's the best way to get people to buy without first carefully weighting in on the qualities and needs.

Indeed, that's what I'm afraid of as well not to mention when I actually come back and ready to learn everything again the game isn't as fun as I had hoped or as fun as I had the first time I tried.

Haha, I had the same thought with the same game a few years ago. Unfortunately I never got around to finish it. When I joined GOG I expected that game to arrive here so I thought I might as well wait.

I forgot to mention that the problem with hype isn't hype itself but when it comes with expectations. I for one welcome some hype when I am about to play a game as it works like a kickstarter to make feel good about what you're going to before you do it, like Titanium mentioned.

About the RPG or long, deep interactive games. I think the next one (Baldur's Gate 1 & 2 EE on the horizon and Ultima 7) I will play as my mood strikes more often and keep some more casual game on rotation. I recently bought Diablo 3 and it's quite good as a breaker.