I’m a separated dad with a demanding job and a fiancé. I only have the kids when I’m not working but I want to be fully available for them.
Recently, I’ve noticed that it would be difficult for me to play more than a story/ambiance game (next one is gonna be either Dead Space Remake or Aliens Dark Descent) and forever playable game (Gran Turismo 7 since its launch).
If I played more games with the time I have, I would forget the story or the controls. I haven’t tried but I’m pretty sure of it.
The problem with such a system is that I’m almost a aralyzed when I have to chose which story/ambiance game I’m gonna play.
So what’s your system and what are your time limitations?
If you get paralyzed picking which story game to play next, maybe getting really picky about which ones make the list and then literally roll the dice or use an RNG generator to pick one. If they are all good, and your gameplay spread across a long time with work and kids, then any “mood” you are in, in the moment, will be averaged out over time. If you get into a game and find it really just isn’t for you, give yourself permission to move on.
In short, make the decision less consequential to avoid paralysis. That was my method anyway, being in similar situation with life time constraints.