2007 Gaming Resolutions

by Susan Rozmiarek

Yes, it's time to put in writing my gaming resolutions for the New Year, even if it is the last day of January. I know this is a rather dull subject for any blog readers, but I need to be able to reference this post during the year to remind myself of my goals and hold myself accountable.

 

 
First, a look at how I did with my 2006 resolutions:

1. I listed 17 unplayed games on our shelves that I wanted to play but I only managed to knock off 6 of them. Not so good, but I did make a decent effort. Time constraints and my group's fondness for the endless new and shiny games were the main factors in my failure to get these to the table.

2. We did hold a neighborhood game night earlier in the year that was a big success. Everyone showed a lot of enthusiasm to do it again but we found it hard to find a night that worked for everyone. Kiddie sport practices are the main barrier it seems and oh, do we understand completely! My motivation to persist kind of died after John from our regular gaming group started a monthly Meetup game group a mere 15 miles away. (Yes, this a short distance for those of us who live in the sticks!) This group may go to twice a month and is on the one day of the week that is consistently available for us. My desire for starting a closer group was entirely selfish. I wasn't trying to evangelize; I just wanted to play more often.

Okay, enough of the past and on to the future.

My 2007 Gaming Resolutions

1. I have a printed list of about 80 unplayed games that we own. My plan is to try to play at least three of these games every month. This won't get to nearly all of them by year's end, of course, but some are not even ones that I want to play. These are ones that Ed likes, or are 3rd and 4th prize table picks from conventions and such. I'll be doing a little session report on these games at the end of each month.

2. This one involves curtailing game purchases. While I admire the Iron Gamers, I really think this is too strict for us. Our main problem is that we get most of our games online with a credit card which makes it way too easy for orders to get out of hand. We'll just pay it off later, right? We try to cut back too much and deprive ourselves, but if we go without too long we have a weak moment and go REALLY crazy. So, we are going to try small monthly orders this year. Small, because we'll be paying with a debit card instead of credit. If the money isn't in our account, we can't get it. This will help us cut down in other areas as well. Dinner out? That's the same cost as a game!

3. And now we get to our storage problem. Even with all our bookcases, stacks of games are still sprouting up on the floor of our bedroom like weeds. Yes, we could do without so many, but we aren't ready to trim our collection enough to solve the problem. We like our games. A lot. I'm not totally sure what we are going to do, but I want a solution by the end of the year. It might involve a large shelving purchase (with cash, more saving to do) from our new IKEA store.

Whew, that's it. These are the same old, boring resolutions that all gamers make about buying too many games and not playing them but I needed to get them in writing.

Now, does anybody have any weight loss tips? :-)

Posted by Susan Rozmiarek at January 30, 2007 5:36 PM