Re:Omegle founder shuts down site forever?
by eru on Saturday November 11, 2023 @05:19AM
(#38229000)
> A mistake I made in the past was buying games just because there was a really good sale. At a certain point, I realized that the time investment in learning new game mechanics is more important than the cash investment in buying the game. Investing your time in learning the mechanics of a mediocre-but-cheap game isn't a great way to relax.
I'm weirdly happy for you that this is your failure mode. For most people, buying games on sale just leads to a bigger and bigger backlog of unplayed games.
Re:Omegle founder shuts down site forever?
by 0xDEAFBEAD on Saturday November 11, 2023 @06:19AM
(#38229302)
Oh I've got that too :-)
The backlog thing is part of why I think we're in a golden age. I remember when I was a kid, it was common for my friends to own a game console (Gamecube, Gameboy, etc.) with less than 5 games for it. We're in an age of abundance now compared to those days.
I try to view my backlog as an asset, not a liability. Think of it as a garden of unexplored delights. It's just a matter of giving a new game 5-10 hours to prove itself to you as you master its mechanics, instead of skipping on to the next game if you aren't immediately hooked.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/646570/Slay_the_Spire/
https://www.gog.com/game/sid_meiers_alpha_centauri
https://store.steampowered.com/app/219740/Dont_Starve/ (would recommend going into this game as blind as possible)
https://store.steampowered.com/app/368230/Kingdom_Classic/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/107100/Bastion/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/662540/Haque/
If you like puzzles, my roommate (also an engineer) was a huge fan of https://store.steampowered.com/app/736260/Baba_Is_You/
Usually I try to monitor prices using a site like isthereanydeal.com and wait until it's discounted at least 50%.
A mistake I made in the past was buying games just because there was a really good sale. At a certain point, I realized that the time investment in learning new game mechanics is more important than the cash investment in buying the game. Investing your time in learning the mechanics of a mediocre-but-cheap game isn't a great way to relax.
Another strategy is to use a site like ifttt.com to get alerts for free games on the /r/GameDeals subreddit. You can accumulate a large game library for no cost at all if you're patient enough.
I always like to play on an HDMI TV with a gamepad if possible; hunching over a laptop isn't very relaxing. Almost all the games I recommended above have good gamepad support. Steam has a nifty Big Picture mode that makes it easy to browse your library with a gamepad.
Beware: Having a game library that's too large may cause decision fatigue which makes gaming less fun! :-P