simpleek

July is nearly over and by now most of my followers know to expect a video game challenge report at the end of each month. It’s my way of keeping track of my own personal progress while discussing impressions I have had on the game I chose to play from my hill of a backlog. Despite my dogged determination to play and experience every game I ever bought or received as a gift, going as far as turning it into a challenge, even fatigue and lack of motivation can sometimes strike the best and most ardent of gamers.

You can probably tell that this post would have been progress report number eight since the last time I wrote a proper one for Spirit of Justice. This time there’s no report closing out the month for one simple reason—I’ve lost my motivation to play any video game right now. I’m not saying I’m not playing any video games at all. I’ve been playing Overwatch or Far Cry 5 with my friend in our regularly scheduled game night that’s every other weekend. What I mean is I need a break from the challenge I vowed four years ago I would do for myself and this blog.

Focus and structure are good when you need to concentrate on one game to play and finish, instead of playing multiple games at once and not getting any closer to completing the ones you started. Before my video game challenge I simply chose a game to play on a whim. I never really cared nor thought about if I was actually going to finish the game I was playing at the time. If a game was new and unplayed, I wanted a taste of it. I had to know what the opening of a game would be like, how well the controls played, and how crisp and beautiful the graphics were going to be. I played video games as if I were eating off of a tasting menu that never led to a full and hearty meal. Only morsels that whetted my appetite enough to satisfy my curiosity about a game in my possession.

Eventually, I didn’t want to choose and play games based on what I felt like at every fleeting moment. It didn’t help with my attention span or completing a game I had every intention of experiencing from start to finish. This is why setting up these challenges helped me stay on track with one game, and it pushed me to more or less succeed at the goal I created. After doing these challenges since 2014, through all the obstacles and struggles I encountered along the way, I’m losing a bit of steam lately.

The structure built from these simple challenges have now become a bit rigid and it feels as if I hit a wall. Don’t get me wrong, I like structure and order. In fact, I thrive in it. However, there comes a time when you want to be more loose and spontaneous with things and the same goes for the games we play. I guess the more organized, stick to the plan gamer in me is taking a little vacation to let her free-spirit, go with the flow other half come in and take over things for a little while.

I’ll be tabling my video game challenges for now. Not giving up on it, but taking a much needed break from it. I’m not sure how long I’ll need to take. Maybe a month? Two or three at most? Who knows for sure? All I know is I need to take a step back from them and do whatever feels good to me. If it means I’m playing Fire Emblem instead of Spirit of Justice, I’m going to indulge that desire. I’m not ruling out playing Spirit of Justice during this break, if my heart wants that too. I can still further my progress with the game without dedicating any one month to a particular game. It’s time I let the free-spirit gamer have their turn in the driver’s seat. It may just be what I need to kick start my video game challenges with renewed vigor.