Completion

When I think about how my gaming habits have changed over the years, one thing that strikes me is that I no longer complete all the games I play. It used to be that I would almost always finish a game (that is, a game with a definitive end) but now I only finish a majority of them. I think the main reason for this is that I have more time constraints now than when I was younger. With less free time, I am now much more willing to stop playing a game that either doesn’t hold my interest or that I judge to be lacking. I also do not complete games as much in the sense that I no longer try to do everything. It used to be that I would complete every side quest and find every secret or collectible. These days I still complete most secondary tasks but I no longer feel bad for not doing every one of them. My younger self would probably mock and bemoan this change in my gaming life, but my younger self also didn’t have nearly as many commitments and responsibilities as my older self now does.