Minimalist Gamer 101: 9 Tips to Follow to Master Minimalist Gaming
With the recent announcement on the Xbox Series S, and the upcoming one on the PlayStation 5, it’s a good time to learn how to be a minimalist gamer.
Video games can be a fun activity. I can remember spending hours playing my collection of them growing up. Practicing minimalist gaming will make your playing time more meaningful, while also still allowing you to enjoy other things in life.
Minimalist Gamer 101
1. Get the type of games you enjoy most
We all have a favorite type of game we enjoyed most growing. Perhaps typical of most guys, I enjoyed a lot of fighting games. One of my favorite videogames growing up was Mortal Kombat.
Maybe you enjoy a lot of RPG games or sports games. These games that you enjoy most should be the ones that you have around to play as a part of your minimalist video game collection.
2. Sell the games you don’t play much
Sometimes we buy a game and we realize we don’t really like it that much. Other times we like the game when we start playing, but eventually we get bored with it.
Most of us probably have a pile of those games just lying around gathering dust. Minimalism involves trying to minimize the things that aren’t useful or meaningful.
If you haven’t played a game you bought for more than a few weeks, it’s a good to idea sell it, or give it away to someone.
Don’t be too concerned about whether you’ll want to play it again in the future. Remember all of the games that you really like which you’re still going to have.
3. Play brain games
This reflects a point that was discussed in my article on digital minimalism. One of the principles of practicing digital minimalism is using technology in a way that benefits you most of the time.
As an example, your laptop is a device that you can use to inform you of helpful things to know related to living well, or it can be mostly used to distract you with social media nonsense.
Similarly, with games, it doesn’t always have to be just a distraction you spend a couple hours doing. You can choose to play brain games occasionally that help make you smarter.
You should also choose games that are really hard, and make you have to develop your problem-solving skills. Perhaps you can do a search for the most difficult games to play on whichever console you have.
That way, the game is not only a fun distraction, but also one that makes you better able to manage in the world.
4. Use gaming as a stress reliver
As alluded to in the previous section, gaming is often a fun distraction for people, which is great. In the times you may be most stressed, it’s good to use gaming as a way to relieve it.
If you have them on your phone, it can be something you do when you’re feeling really angry or down about something.
Once you feel less angry or relieved of the stress you were feeling, you can stop and try to continue your day getting things done and being happy.
5. Minimize your hardware
Back when I played video games often, gaming consoles could be really huge. I remember when the first Xbox came out, and it was about big as an old VCR.
Nowadays, gaming has become much more portable. The consoles and the controllers are all getting smaller.
As a matter of fact, you can even play most console games online now. Try finding a way to access most of your games online to save on shelf space in your home.
Though maybe you’re an old school gamer, and really find meaning in the nostalgia of playing a vintage N64.
If that’s the case, maybe you should sell the newer consoles and games you have, and choose to buy one of the old school consoles you like.
6. Spend time doing other things you enjoy
We all know that with a lot of activities in life, too much time spent on them may have negative impact on our lives.
Life is not just finding one thing we enjoy. Life is more about finding all of the things we enjoy. There are probably lots of other activities that make you happy besides playing video games.
Spending all of your time only playing games deprives you of those other things that make you happy.
Strive to live a balanced life through finding meaning in multiple things. Take joy in a variety of activities that make you feel good.
7. Set a time limit for gaming
The way you can make sure you’re not spending too much time gaming is by setting a time limit. Perhaps the ideal time would be one or two hours a day.
Maybe even just 30 minutes might be enough for some of you. It may seem hard at first if you’re a hardcore gamer, but just try it.
Use your spare time on trying new activities or learning a new skill. Develop yourself as a person in a way that may help you gain more wealth, and with more wealth, more time to do whatever you want.
8. Invite people over to play with you
Sometimes video games can deprive people of a social life, but it doesn’t have to be that way. While you can play with other players online, do your best to invite people over to play with you.
No level of technology can ever replace that feeling of live physical human interaction.
I can remember many of the best times of my childhood were when me, my brother, my cousins were gathered around the TV making noises as we were playing Super Smash Bros.
9. Put your games and consoles away
A good way to resist the temptation to keep playing after you’ve reached your time limit is to disconnect everything and put it away.
Knowing you have that extra barrier of having to pull everything out and plug everything up again may make you less tempted to play again that day.
Minimalism is designed to help us enjoy more of the things that matter to us in life. Video games may be one meaningful aspect of your life, but it doesn’t have to be the only one.
All of these tips will help you be better able to practice minimalism as a gamer and have more of the joy in life that you desire.