It's an addiction

Not the playing, but the buying. I've been gaming since I was 4 but in the last couple of years things have taken a sour turn. It seems that I can't pass a game shop without popping in to see what bargains they have and most often I emerge with something too. The raft of online stores that want to give out new games for bargain amounts doesn't help much to limit purchases either. Gaming seems to have stopped being about enjoying what I'm playing and instead it's turned into a collecting habit.

At the moment I have well in excess of 30 games for various formats sat on my shelves. I've finished maybe two of them, which is weird given that when I play them through I'm enjoying them more than ever. I've decided this has to stop and so I'm instigating a self-imposed ban on new games.

Throughout the entirety of 2006 I'm not going to buy or download any games at all. Instead I'll be attempting to actually play through and appreciate the titles I already own. It's not a financial thing; this will only save me around £15-£20 a month, instead it's to do with avoiding consumerism for its own sake. I want to be buying these entertainment products because I actually want to enjoy them, not because I want to be part of some larger community or because I feel that I ought to own certain games to reflect the type of person I am.

So, the aim of this blog is to track my progress in this task. I'll be detailing games I'm playing, with opinions and mini-reviews, and I'll be expressing my feelings about any difficulties I encounter.