Help, I’m Mentally Ill
February 13, 2010 by Robert
Filed under Gaming Blog
I am mentally ill. I am.
I can’t stop buying games. Last week it was Hive. This week it was Court of the Medici, Chaos Marauders and Cosmic Incursion.
I even bought a Risk game. I hate Risk. Why did I buy Risk? It was that two-player Risk: Balance of Power effort. It was only a tenner. I thought I would maybe give it another chance, having heard some positive things about it. But I hate Risk! What am I thinking?
Too. Many. Games.
And there are more games I want. How do you stop it? Any tips?
No idea mate, since i started getting into the hobby i’ve been unable to pull my self away from the geek and every time i do i find something new (or old) which takes my fancy!
I buy so many board games that i have no time for friends which means i now how no time to play said board games! My world is a mess… get out while you still can!
What’s better than opening a new game, though?
Bagging the components and stuff. MAN!
ZoZ
Wait… is this actually a problem?
Just think if a game is REALLY something you’ll want to play. If not, no matter how cheap it is, skip it (Risk).
I try to avoid similar games, for example, I won’t buy Shadows over Camelot because I already have Battlestar Galactica. I won’t buy Pandemia because I already have Arkham Horror.
Of course the real reason for my limited game collection is that I’m a poor student.
I can’t help you, I’ve got my own mental problems.
Since DTT stopped I keep calling games with “Robots” in the title “Roberts” so I’m playing Ricochet Roberts and I’m there imagining all these wee Scottish guys bouncing around the place.
It’s WITHDRAWAL!
It’s a problem when a lot of these games average out at £45-50 a pop.
Rab, didn’t you have to wean yourself off of buying expensive, indecipherable Japanese Sega Saturn games? Couldn’t you apply a similar approach here? I mean, ask yourself, “Do I really need every Memoir ‘44 or Descent expansion? Do I need another dungeon crawler or light wargame when I have multiple examples of each already? Am I collecting games just for the sake of it?”
Though, I suppose when you’ve got a website dedicated to boardgames the question becomes academic. You could bring in contributors to ease the load off, of course. Downtime Town, Bleeding Cool and Rock, Paper, Shotgun could form some kind of Brit nerd trifecta.
Robert, I’ve recently had the same problem. In the last week, I bought Neuroshima Hex!, Tobago, The King in Yellow (Arkham Horror expansion), and even some Arkham Horror dice.
I know your pain (but such sweet pleasure), my friend.
Poor guy. You’ve just done a series with the BBC. When the work and money slows down, you’ll stop buying these and start playing them.
I spent a year and a half unemploy
*I spent a year and a half unemployed. In that time I got through some of the most fantastic video games I’ve played (God Hand, Grand Theft Auto IV, Metal Gear Solid 4, No More Heroes…). Would have been a bad thing to most, but I really loved it.
Love your blog!
I say celebrate your hobby and embrace your mental illness. Some people compulsively buy shoes, or books, or crack even.
At least boardgames are healthy, social and fun.
*I just got American Rails in the mail today, BTW.
Well, it’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it? It seems no matter how extreme you may be, if you look a little you’ll find someone that makes your own behaviour seem tame. In the past week or so I’ve purchased Carolus Magnus, Tobago, Valdora, La Citta, Pillars of the Earth (with expansion) and Traders of Carthage. For the past month add Blue Moon City, Krysis, Carcassonne the Castle, Carcassonne Hunters & Gatherers, Thunderstone, Revolution, Witches Brew and Cuba. Pretty crazy, but I know people that buy a lot more than I do, and I’m sure they know people who buy even more than they do. I guess my point is if you aren’t spending money you haven’t got don’t worry about it, and never compare yourself to anyone but who you want to be. Buy games, play games, learn games and even sort games. Of all the things we could be doing with our money I think this particular hobby is pretty benign.
And of the fourteen games I’ve recently bought how many have I managed to play? Eleven. Pretty good ratio I think.
Board games, video games, miniatures… the nerdy gamer hobby has led me to compulsively buy vast quantities of all of these things. It’s an epidemic!
Hi,
Um, whereabouts did you get Risk from for a tenner?
I’m addicted to that new game smell…
I’m always looking for that next hit.
I’ve made a vow that I will foreswear the purchase of any new board games until I’ve replayed every one in my collection at least once. The collection is only 30-ish but it should keep me occupied for a while. Especially when trying to schedule those difficult 5-6 player games.
And after that Runewars shall be mine! To hell with any potential spousal disapproval
Panic not, it will pass. I went crazy for a while, but now with about 300 games I think the desperate urge to get the latest Fantasy Flight release has finally eased. Not only did I run out of room in my office (what were once shelves lined with design books are now lined with games), but I found myself looking at some of my older games and realising there was still a lot of enjoyment to be had there – not only by playing them, but by expanding them. For example I played a couple of games of Necromunda the other night and I’d forgotten how much fun it was – so I might buy and paint another gang for that game. And the problem with getting new games all the time is that you only every experience them on a shallow, played-one-or-two-times level.
My advice is rediscover some of the oldies.
I think I’m just a little further ahead in the cycle than you are and my game buying has calmed down. I’ve even managed to resist a shiny new game and put it back on the shop shelf. It was tough though.
On the other hand I can’t help but say that if you’ve got Hive then you have to get Army of Frogs by the same designer. It has bakelite frogs! You’ve got to have it. Oh and it plays up to 4 which is nice for an abstract.
I think we need another video review, as cool as your blog is …
Stop buying them. Seriously; it really isn’t that hard. I mean, I managed quite successfully not to buy the new Runewars game by FFG. I also have no intention of buying their remake of The Horus Heresy. Just look at the vast collection of games that you own, then consider how much you actually play them. I realised recently that I probably have more than I’ll ever need (much to the delight of the wife). Hell, I have a few that I havn’t actually played. I was definately worse with RPGs for this than boardgames though…
I definately will be buying the new Talisman Highlands expansion though; and possibly the gold edition of Frag… possibly.
WAR OF THE RING-COLLECTORS EDITION
LOL i asssume your copies in the post?.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4hoi45ZVLw
Rab,
Buy and play Ghost Stories. It is awesome.
Bet you can’t beat it on Hell difficulty, even with an esteemed Kenny.
Sorry if its a bit of a noob question but is downtime town still running?
good question!
is it still running?
i’m starting to think maybe not, I think it must be hard for Rob to fit this in with the BBC stuff he does. I hope this is not the end, but i’m starting to think that it may well be
It is a bloody shame to say the least. I think Robert is the best game reviewer I’ve ever known, but I understand if his BBC work takes priority, of course it should. Let’s all hope he finds time for more entertainment in this area. We miss you!