What is minimalist gaming?
Minimalists focus on the essentials in life to reach a happier and more fulfilling state of mind. In general, this means a minimalist only spends money and time on things that hold true value for him or her. When it comes to minimalist gaming this means you only spend time and money on games you truly love and value. There are so many video games available in the market nowadays that it is hard to decide which video games are true gems to you. When you are part of a gaming community or have a lot of friends who love to play video games as well, the social pressure to buy and play more games and posses more gaming devices increases. You certainly heard the phrase, “You really have to play this or that game, it is the most amazing game ever!”. The problem is that almost everyone has a different “most amazing game ever” you really need to play. And many people change their “most amazing game ever” once in a while too. Gamers can feel overwhelmed with the games they feel they have to play. You just jump from game to game without really enjoying a video game anymore. You just try to keep up with the crowd, fear of missing out and social pressure. Certainly, this is not the reason why you fell in love with video games in the first place. Besides the mental stress gamers can feel, it also costs you a lot of extra money. What can you do about this problem?
What does minimalist gaming mean to different people?
Although the definition of minimalist gaming is quite clear, what you deem essential, non-excessive, and fulfilling can take many different forms. To use minimalist gaming to boost your feelings of happiness and fulfillment it is important to understand what minimalist gaming means to you. I will give some illustrations of different interpretations of minimalist gaming to fully understand this concept.
Story-driven gamers love to play games with interesting storylines. They usually want to get immersed in the story through great storytelling and unique elements. The gaming industry has become a mature industry and many story-driven video games can fulfill this love and passion to experience amazing, well-written stories. When you turn to minimalist gaming this means you should do research on the games with the best stories of the industry. Focus on the games that present the type of stories you love in particular. There are many types of stories you can indulge yourself in. Fantasy, thriller, detective, horror, and science-fiction stories are all available to enjoy but you certainly have your favorite genre.
Competitive online gamers just want to become the best of the best. But you will never become the best of the best if you switch games often. The only way to master an online video game and become one of the best is to practice a lot. To get to the top of the rankings requires a lot of time and grinding anyway. As a minimalist gamer of this type make sure you choose the very best competitive game in its respective genre and put all your gaming time in this video game until you mastered it and proudly became part of the top players. By the time you feel it is time to move on to a new game, you will feel pride and fulfillment about your achievements.
The completionist loves to discover every little aspect of the game they play. Every achievement in the game has to be unlocked, any secret cave explored, every race has to be won, and all cars have to be part of your collection. A completionist feels fulfillment when they know the game has no secrets or collectibles left for them to acquire. This gaming style costs a lot of time per game just like the competitive online gamer. If you feel the pressure to buy and play all games and complete them for 100% you will always feel time pressure and it becomes more of a chore you have to finish quickly.
It is clear a minimalist gaming lifestyle means something different for every gamer.
How to achieve a minimalist gaming life-style to experience enjoyment and satisfaction?
The starting point is to figure out which aspect of gaming you always enjoyed the most. Which video game titles satisfied you the most in terms of fulfillment, pride, and happiness? Making a list of the 5-10 titles that you played in the past that bring back the best memories will already give you most of the info you need. Furthermore, figure out what type of gamer you are, although most gamers know this very well already.
You probably already have a very clear idea by now what to do. All the games that did not make your 5-10 most valuable games can be sold or given away to people who will value it more than the dust on your shelf. You dealt with the past but you did not deal with the present and the future yet. It is easy to stuff your home with new video games rather quickly but you are prepared this time. Media and social media can be cut to the games and franchises that you value. A possibility would be to figure out the 3 upcoming games you would love to play. Stick with these games in terms of following the news and then your purchases as well. Buying the games you researched and look forward to will be much more exciting than buying a new mediocre game that you just play for a bit. This system will also give you the time and peace to fully enjoy the few games that you buy.
Important to note is that you don’t have to use a certain system or restrict yourself severely. It is the goal that counts. And the goal is to only spend your time and money on the games that are mesmerizing, magical, or outright challenging. Whatever it is that you personally love so much about gaming and the games you possess. Minimalist gaming can help you to get back to your personal values and essentials when it comes to video games.
