Internet consumption through OTT platforms like Netflix isn’t uncommon among the masses in 2024. With more disposable income, gaming is also becoming more accessible to the common man.
A common occurrence for most gamers and binge-watchers is the paradox of choice. It is a pain to constantly go through hordes of titles and not be able to find one that appeals to oneself. Enough to make one realize that having a lot of choices does more harm than good.
Simply put, the term ‘Netflix Problem‘ refers to a scenario in which the consumer has too many choices. If you have been keeping up with the industry, you will nod when I say it is what modern gaming is about. This is also called the paradox of choice.
To explain in laypeople’s terms, the paradox of choice entails that a greater number of alternatives is great, until a threshold. After that threshold, adding more alternatives only backfires for the producer and the consumer.
Once the consumer is given more than the required amount of choices, it only results in decision fatigue. Sadly, the video game market is flooded with titles of every scale, from every genre for every video game platform.
Even if one were to pick a gem of a title to play, for instance, Baldur’s Gate 3 from Larian Studios, the opportunity costs of not choosing other titles decrease the satisfaction we experience.
Moreover, many gamers even report getting gaming backlog blues due to so many choices and eventually experience a waning interest in gaming. If you too are struggling with decision fatigue, understanding these two fundamental ideas can get you out of it.
Unless one has taken up playing video games as a career choice or is a time management ninja, there is limited time for gaming. The exact time could differ but it is usually less than 15% of one’s waking hours.
Once again, thanks to technology, at any given moment you have at least 3-4 games installed on your system. Knowing that this precious hour of gaming is all you have, you need to make the most out of it.
But it’s difficult to choose between playing Minecraft with friends, getting a victory royale in Fortnite, or beating that wretched boss in Black Myth Wukong. In the end, decision fatigue makes you laze around, watch YouTube, and engage in low-density fun.
While there is nothing wrong with low-density fun as long as you regulate it, your precious gaming hour is gone and you feel horrible. To fix this, choose as if there is no right and wrong when it comes to harmless fun.
If you have ever played a game that demands quick responses, you know that you need to make a choice. And the worst outcome is not choosing at all. You might not pick the right one, but if you don’t choose, you are guaranteed to fail. In the real world, the situation is similar, but lucky for you, the stakes are a lot lower.
Yes, I know that you only have an hour to game at most, or you are flustered with choices. But the only way to beat this analysis paralysis is to make a choice, any choice.
Whether it’s the right choice or not doesn’t matter. That is because every minute you spend thinking of which game to play, you are inching closer to your next commitment.
Make a choice, any choice, and most importantly, stick with it. It might not be the best one. Take a decision and once you have, the only thing left is forgetting everything and focusing on the game. This brings me to my next point.
You only have so many hours in a day and so many years in this life. If you want to play a game, you can blindfold yourself and launch any game whatsoever and it still wouldn’t be a wrong choice.
You will only boot a game that you have installed that you want to play. As per my previous analogy, it doesn’t matter if it is Baldur’s Gate 3, Minecraft, Fortnite, or Black Myth: Wukong. Maybe you didn’t pick the arbitrarily defined perfect choice. So what?
You still transported yourself into a different dimension, forgetting the numerous vicissitudes of life. You still have some time to yourself, to recharge, temporarily escape, retain your sanity, and cloak yourself from the world. That’s priceless.
Because at the end of the day, when you go back and think about your day, not picking the ‘right game‘ to play will be the least of your concerns. Life’s stressful enough.
Treat yourself like someone you’re responsible for helping, be nicer to yourself, and trust me, you need to hear this: you’re doing great. And go back to a comfort game if you want. Or if you’d rather binge-watch YouTube, by all means, do that.
As I said, there is nothing wrong with any hobby. As long as you’re fulfilling your work commitments, you are free to do quite literally anything you want with your free time.
Go ahead and play something, refresh, recharge, and let us know what game you will play in the comment section below!
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