My 2023 Video Game Resolutions

2023 is a year that has potential. Twelve months lie ahead of us. It could be another year where we achieve all our goals or settle into casual routines. We may encounter old faces or meet new ones who develop into new friends. Or perhaps this will be the year where we face our fears and step out of our comfort zones. Perhaps this is the year in which we pursue rest and recovery.

Making gaming resolutions can help with determining your priorities, whether you are playing games for fun or writing about them to find a deeper story. I’ve made a few resolutions for the year about what we can do to make our gaming lives better overall, both general and very specific.

Be Bolder, Be Braver

One of my resolutions is to take charge and not fear the things that appear daunting. I realized that, as a teen, I muted my bravery in order to please others, a goal that ultimately proved futile. When you try pleasing everyone, you end up pleasing no one and giving up bits of yourself at the same time.

How can one be braver and bolder in video games? For one, to call out any nonsense that happens in the gaming world. Being unafraid to recognize and point out when creators are irresponsible or insensitive. Bravely try gaming systems you may not have considered before or step out of one’s comfort zone in the genres of games you pursue. Or perhaps take a step further and begin streaming your gaming sessions.

You don’t want to break the bank in your pursuit of branching out. Spending excessive amounts of money on gaming equipment or systems can be a financial sink, as well as a potential time waster. If you’re interested in taking your gaming moments online, there have been many stories of people that hope to become big streamers, only to realize that it’s not happening. Streaming as a hobby is one thing, but doing it for your career is not necessarily a guarantee.

A brave decision that I recently made was purchasing a Nintendo Switch. I have been hesitating about this purchase for some time. Buying a game console for the sake of branching out (when one already has a game console) is not something my family does. We consider a purchase like this a luxury, especially when we are all over thirty.

How I’ve rearranged my mindset is viewing this as another opportunity for me to write more about what I love. Rather than engaging in speculation about Nintendo-exclusive games like Animal Crossing, I can actually play them. In addition, I can compare Nintendo systems to those used in the PC, determining if the Switch lives up to the hype. This will certainly give me an edge that I will use to my full advantage. I can make more accurate comparisons, while expressing my opinions about how the gaming industry creates these new devices at irregular intervals, making it difficult to determine when we should upgrade our console.

Resist Potential Addictions, Especially After Spelunky

Spelunky has been drawing me in since the holidays started. It has been utterly ridiculous that I am both making a lot of progress while also staying in the same place for days at a time, before finally beating the game this early January. I cannot resist the allure of trying to get further into the levels with a larger amount of supplies than before and goodwill from the shopkeepers as opposed to robbing them blind.

Now that I’ve beaten the game, though, I don’t want to get addicted to another game.

I don’t regret the victory, but putting all those hours in for multiple deaths was exhausting. There was a point where I questioned if the addiction and the hope of making progress were reeling me in more than the actual satisfaction of playing. That certainly was possible the more I kept getting into the spirit.

Spoil Nothing... Unless A Friend Asks For It

I’m actually better about spoilers now than I used to be. These days I always tag my articles if they have spoilers or provide a warning at the start. If I’m sharing an article with my friend, I’ve done better in giving them a heads-up of potential spoilers. One of my good friends helped me with that revelation several years ago.

Sometimes, however, a friend does not care about spoilers. They’re quite open about them not caring. Then you have to decide: will you oversell the story by shilling it or is it better to merely offer an info dump and show off your passions?

I hope this year to understand the answer to that question better — to promote without overselling.