timppu: Some suggested that simply stop playing anything you don't really enjoy, and move to the next game.
As a general rule, that sounds sensible, but still:
- Some games may not be that fun until you really learn how to play and survive in the game. I'd say this happened to me recently with e.g. KKND Extreme (an old RTS game). Many of its missions were irritatingly challenging that I'd say I didn't enjoy it that much even for the challenge, but much later I started to get the gist of it, and frankly I got most out of the game after I had completed the base missions, and I was playing the "expansion pack". At that point I felt I had finally learned how to tackle the game, even though it is a mere simplistic C&C clone. Maybe I had not concentrated to it enough before (playing it only occasionally), why it is I never really learned the game.
Now I am happy that I didn't drop the game when it didn't feel that much fun, but endured to finish it. Also while I keep complaining about Diablo 2 + LoD, I still feel happy I didn't drop it before. I am enjoying it now a bit more than before.
This is also the reason I'm going to give another chance to games like UFO Enemy Unknown, Master of Orion 1-2 and Civilization series.
- Sometimes there's a fine line between pain and enjoyment, especially if you are up to a challenge. It may hurt while you are playing, but you might get a big sense of accomplishment afterwards. To take another old game, many missions in e.g. X-Wing and Tie Fighter games, especially the add-on packs, were maddeningly hard, yet in the end I'd say I enjoyed the games and I'm happy I finished them.
- Then there's the nagging feeling of not playing or finishing games you have paid good money for, especially with digital games which you can't even sell second-hand, or give to your friend in case he enjoys it more.
But that does not mean one should try to force oneself to play all shitty games one has, of course.
EDIT: The good thing about DRM services like Steam and Origin is that I will definitely not buy games from them until I am sure I will start playing the said game (in the near future). Sure they have nice promos, but it is not like the price of the games I'm eyeing are going up in the long run, vice versa. There will be more promos in the future, I'm sure.
So they kinda make sure that my backlog does not increase at least with Steam/Origin games. Too bad there are still GOG and non-DRM indie games I intent to buy, they may still increase the backlog.
But the question still remains: How do you decide if the game is good but frustrating or just bad and should be left behind? How do you know when to push forward and when to quit?
Recently one of my favourite Youtubers who reviewed games died and it made me think about if he would rather remember his last game being a mediocre game that he finished or should it have been a GREAT game that he played after quitting the mediocre one? We all assume we have many years left to live and play and finish our entire backlog but maybe we don't - maybe we only have a few months left to live and what games do we want to play in that time? It's an honest question that I don't know the answer for.
