Do you ever play a game because you feel you have to? This is not the “have to” that comes when lusting over this week’s latest and greatest release but the “have to” because you feel obliged to.

I am in that position. After praising a game’s potential for fun I found that three of my friends had nipped out over the weekend and had each acquired a copy. Come Monday the emails went round and after a minor amount of organisation we found ourselves partying up and heading off for an adventure. Now, however, I grow weary of the grind as that potential proved to be nothing but a facade. The game that promised so much has now left me feeling hollow and I am simply going through the motions in a bid to please my friends. Worse still I’ve caught myself mindless booting into it and grinding the odd piece of equipment just to help our cause when I actually want to do nothing more than eject the game and head straight down to GameStation to trade it in.

But I don’t. Because of them, knowing that it was all my doing in the first place.

I am actually writing this as I wait for the rest of the party to come back from lunch. Ironically, only dread fills my stomach.

Article contributed by James Thomas on 29/10/09 in Blog, Features, General

James has written 216 previous posts. Archive viewable here

Bio:" I make my living as a programmer at a British games developer. In my spare time I try and spread myself between writing, gaming, drumming, goalkeeping, rolling dice and keeping my hair blue. Somewhere around that my wife fits in. Disclaimer: the views expressed are my own and do not neccessarily reflect those of my employer. "