The Mastery Of Closed Spaces

Between 2013 and 2014, I played something in the district of a hundred and fifty videogames. In many cases, these were games I played a little, I finished – if I felt the finish was worth it – and then wrote about. I took a whirlwind tour of games during this period, and I found myself prioritising games that I knew I could fit in a schedule around other games.

This year, it’s been fewer games. Thanks to the DLC Podcast, I’ve been mindful of mentioning all the games I play in a week, if I think there’s anything interesting to say about them, and what I’ve noticed is that being able to take more than a week on a game has meant I spend more time on games. Without anything pulling me to a particular game, though, what I’ve found myself doing is playing the games that let me share with my friends.

There is a very small Mass Effect 3 multiplayer community. I’m in it, though. I, and two or three friends, log in every little while, shoot things, and log out and laugh about what we did. I don’t ever think I’ll play Heroes of the Storm in general pick-up matches, either: It’s a game where I play it to socialise with a friend and look at the mechanics and beat up enemy robots.

Essentially, because mastery is important to me, I have made the spaces I am in small enough that I can master them.

This is not a bad thing.