Giving Up Is Underrated | Semi-Ramblomatic

I got my personal philosophy with games to play them to the point of my satisfaction. No more, no less.

I loved Final Fantasy XIV when it relaunched in 2013. I went to a pre-launch event at PAX West. I went to the Fan Festivals in Las Vegas. I got collector's editions of the game and its expansions. I got art and lore books. I streamed for charity and gave away Santa hats during the holidays to sprouts. But over time, I was only just clocking in during holiday events for the free swag. I cancelled my subscription last year. I don't want to say I quit FFXIV, I retired.

I went cold turkey on all GaaS features for several years, after some point at which I realized a slow creep of Marvel Snap, MTG Arena, Genshin Impact, and Honkai Star Rail daily habits had become shackles of daily routine. I still engage with the NYT app, but only on bathroom breaks, as God intended. This year, after a very bad week, I fell off the wagon and downloaded Arknights: Endfield and Reverse 1999. I'm trying to scale them back to some kind of healthy engagement, but I might need to just cut myself off again.

I had to learn this many years ago and still struggle with it. Especially with movies and books, once I've started I feel like I have to stick with it. Like I'm not allowed to give up. I've gotten better over the years, but it still takes conscious effort to just give up, and not feel any negative emotion about walking away.

Thanks Yahtz, this was important. Having a tiny human around will definitely help put value on your time. I had to buy a Retroid handheld for PC streaming just for the convenience of fitting in a smidgen of leisure time.

I actually just did this with MIO. I've really enjoyed the game, but I reached a certain boss pair and after multiple days of trying to defeat them I finally just gave up and watched a video to see the rest of the story. I felt guilty about it at first but honestly, yeah, it wasn't fun anymore so whats the point?

I get Game Pass free with my phone plan and not having that up-front investment in games really does make it easier to play a game as long as I can enjoy it and then just drop it and move on without any regrets. I've done it several times with Farming Simulator over the years. Whether it's good financial value is beside the point for me, I do get it incredibly cheap though.

Hi Yahtzee, I'll take you up on the last message on how to get over caring over current events in global politics, albeit with half-measures I've heard from elsewhere. Fundamentally, the issue comes down to recognising which of the multiple concerns you have and to which degree you're willing to work on them, and thereby care about them. While it's somewhat limiting, one way is to create a 'circle of competence' on things you can affect and work on with some competency. Although in reality this is limiting, since if you put your mind to it most things are possible, it's a useful tool for distinguishing what you can somewhat steadily achieve results in (without further experience/training). Another trick is death visualisation, where basically you visualise you've somehow died and are seeing your funeral. It's a pretty good way to clarify what exactly your priorities are. I've attached a related snippet quoted from a book for this at the end. And lastly, it helps being a little self-centred and being sure of yourself. For the latter, reflecting regularly on what you've done can help. Conversely, if you really care about something enough to work towards it, it's good to note possible steps to achieve that or achieve progress towards. If you try your best to live each day, fulfilling your priorities, then you really have no reason to feel upset with yourself. There's only so much we can work towards in a given day, and ultimately life. Admittedly, this is a bit rushed and amateur as this is off the top of my somewhat inebriated head. But oh well, might as well stop caring about that... “LET’S DO A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT. Clear your mind. Imagine you’re eighty years old and nearing the end of your life. Maybe you have a couple years left, maybe just a couple hours. You’re sitting on a park bench on a beautiful fall day overlooking a river. You hear the birds migrating above, the water flowing in the river, and the leaves falling off trees and gliding gently to the ground. Families are walking by, with parents holding the hands of their toddlers. Take as long as you want. There is no rush. Now think deeply. What’s going on in the life you’re imagining? Who are the people in it? In what ways have you influenced them? What have you done for them? How have you made them feel? What are the things you’ve accomplished? What possessions do you have? What matters most as you approach your final days? What seems unimportant? What memories do you cherish? What are the things you regret? What do your friends say about you? What about your family?” - 'Clear Thinking' by Shane Parrish

Here is how I like to put it: There are a lot of things in life that are worth doing over and over again, even if you aren't enjoying yourself, until you get them right. Video games are not one of them.

This is well timed as I have been preparing a light presentation for my colleagues about consciously deciding not to do things (as opposed to just avoiding them and feeling guilty). Still, my pointless 1442 day Duolingo streak suggests I have much to learn myself... Re: gaming, I tend to avoid games that encourage daily log-ins and the like. Still, I am a sucker for being dragged into grinding for achievements. Might be a controversial opinion, but kudos to Nier: Automata for allowing me to BUY those last remaining achievements, thus ensuring that I didn't get dragged into hating the game because of my inability to move on. Yeah, kinda goes against the definition of what an 'achievement' should be, but it was a life-saver for me.

I've largely started avoiding MMOs and live service games because they always seem to devolve into a daily grind which is more work than fun. I'd rather put my time into a game which STAYS fun. For much the same reason I've only completed a game from the Civilization franchise a few times. The end game just tends to be an incredible grind as you're micromanaging some ridiculous number of cities.

If it sucks, hit da bricks.

I played WoW every day for six years straight. One day I woke up, deleted all my characters and canceled my subscription. It was absolutely the best thing I ever did for my physical and mental health. It even made me love video games more because I explored new experiences instead of grinding out the same stuff day after day.

I dropped trying to keep up a daily achievement streak - I saw it upsetting my spouse how I'd prioritise knocking out a half an hour gaming session rather than spend time with her. I also dropped a mobile game after my base got utter wiped out after a month or so of progress... That was an opportunity for a hard 'out' and I'm glad I took it

Re: avoiding global politics, I recommend taking off one’s glasses at that gym so you can’t read the tv news.

I love the early and mid game of factory games, but get frustrated making the huge repetitive setups for end-game stuff. So i quit. It leaves mixed feelings of "unfinished" and "relief".

I dropped a gacha game a few years ago by realizing that going through each new event every few months felt more like work and less like something fun to do. I was pulling it up on my emulator because I didn't want to lose everything I had built up. But as soon as I realized that I wasn't having fun anymore and it felt tedious to go through the story, I uninstalled the emulator and stopped playing it entirely. I still think about it and I occasionally drop into the community again to see what's new but I haven't touched the game since I came to this revelation. Even disregarding the strain on my wallet, it's freeing to not have any obligations to something so demanding.

Quitting! It's like trying, but easier.

I haven’t found a way to stop being interested in current events. If anything, my interest is about as high as it’s ever been. The times we live in now are GENUINELY fascinating. America is just doing fascism. You could argue the Trump administration was only fascist-adjacent last time but it’s just gone full fascist. You’ve got competing sociopolitical movements as people with fundamental disagreements on reality argue with little to no progress being made due to either information asymmetry or axiomatic differences. I guess my low empathy and the fact I’m not all that affected helps. I guess try being more of a bastard?

Also in this video, a review of the New York Times games app. This was not in my bingo card for 2026 lol But yeah, you can absolutely stop. I put 3 years of my life in gacha games, not just money but enormous time sinks grinding. It felt like I had a responsibility to my guild (people who I don't even know their first names). One day I just stopped, and felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders. I hate, but I also love streaks. I hate streaks for the reasons given, "number go up". I do like them in educational apps though, it's what has kept me going back to Duolingo and learn French every day lol.

Decino's corollary for most fights in DOOM (1993): you can just leave.

great topic! thanks for doing this