How to beat pirate's syndrome?

[pokefloote]

For anyone who doesn't know, PS is when you download lots of games, yet don't have the motivation or will to play them all the way through, or even half-way.

It's happened to me, I've purchased Nintendo games most of my life, and I played the hell out of them. But when I bought my first flashcart, the only games I can fully complete are Pokemon main-series games. I am always putting a bunch of games on my 4GB, then when I turn on my DS I only play one dungeon/mission/chapter and turn it off (usually), sometimes never coming back to the game again.

Without turning into a huge debate over whether or not piracy is wrong, how can you kick Pirate's Syndrome? Put one game on your card and force yourself to beat it before anything else is played?

And "Buy games" isn't really a valuable answer in this case, since most people wouldn't throw away a DSTWO and start buying again, and that's not what the topic is about.

 

[Presto99]

Ooh, I think you're making sense...I sorta have this. :\
What I did when I was younger and hardly pirated, I mainly played one game at a time in hard-core mode.

Now I kinda jump between games and so I have some half-finished games/never played games on my slowly-filling 8GB.

 

[Deleted-247497]

Buy games. You might be screwed PS wise on your ds, but maybe decide not to pirate on your next system. I experienced this on my wii a bunch, and now never play wii games but play my 360 all the time.

 

[machomuu]

Well what I did was threw away all but 5% of the pirated games I had, excluding the ones never released in the US or hacked ones. On the DS I simply deleted them from my flashcart. And I still have about the same amount of games because of this.

Oh, and buying games. The reason I gave up piracy for the most part was I loved the feeling of buying games, and that was gone when I simply DL'd them.

 

[Forstride]

There really is no other option other than to start buying games.

If you don't want to buy games, or can't, maybe find a way to limit your ability to download games.

 

[godreborn]

I don't have much motivation to play games either. I suppose it's primarily because when u buy a game u feel obligated to beat it. With piracy, u can play at lot of games u might not had otherwise rented or bought. With so many games to choose from, I find it best to stick with one game at a time. That, at least, might give the impression of a purchased game.

 

[GeekyGuy]

For me, I wouldn't say it's a matter of "pirate's syndrome," or having too much of a good thing. I just don't bother with mediocre and/or poor titles as much (unless they, for some reason, happen to tickle my fancy). I still put hours and hours into certain DS games. I have a Gamefly account, so free or paid-for isn't really the issue for me. It's like having cable TV. I grew up in the 70s, so I know what it was like before the advent of the medium. You took what you could get. Now I have hundreds of channels and trouble finding something I am willing to settle for. Spoiled? You bet. Nature of the beast, though. Just gotta wait for the cream to rise to the top. There's no way to "beat it," really, except to try and maintain a sense of appreciation if you can.

 

[Recorderdude]

Ahh, pirate's syndrome. I know it well. I have probably about 215 DS games and thousands of emulated games on my DSTWO. I've probably played less than twenty on it for more than five minutes. The real trouble with PS for me is that I usually end up spending more time choosing what game I want to play than actually playing it.

The best way to "beat" PS, I've found, is to have TWO games on your flashcard at all times - one that's deep, like an RPG like phoenix wright or final fantasy, and one that's a quick, on-the-go kind of game, like a contra or pac man or something arcade-stlyed that you can easily quit if need be. This gives you one game to play through when you have more time on your hands and one game to play in quick bursts when you have a little time and want to satisfy your boredom. Switch out the long one once you've completed it and switch out the quick one when you get bored with it.

 

[KingAsix]

I guess you can say I have PS as well, but this year I made it a goal to actually beat games. The actual resolutions I made hasn't been met and probably never will, but the intended result is there. In these five months I've finished quite a few games....If you choice to pirate and don't want to have PS, you just have to discipline yourself or buy them

 

[darkreaperofdrea]

Buy games. You might be screwed PS wise on your ds, but maybe decide not to pirate on your next system. I experienced this on my wii a bunch, and now never play wii games but play my 360 all the time.

same thing bro...with my Wii and my DS...since i bought the 360...i only play that
original,high reply value with the achievements system

 

[Schlupi]

I know how you feel. It's so different when you actually buy it... it MOTIVATES YOU to play it!

Think in the mindset of me when I was a young'n. Pretend... that you just rented this game. Every weekend your Dad rents you ONE game, and you can play it for a weekend. No school, no work, you get a new game to play! You got the game with your hard earned allowance and it took forever to sweep out those pesky dead rat fetuses from your drain. So you are DETERMINED to play this game!

No matter how crappy it is, no matter how fun it is, try playing it all the way through. get your money's worth (Blockbuster AIN'T CHEAP BRO!). If you get tired of it so be it, but if you don't play it then all that time washing your Dad's leopard print G-string (coated in Hooker Sweat and Trace amounts of cocaine) BY HAND would have been for naught.

 

[person66]

I have that problem with games I buy. I hardly pirate any games, but I have bought a ton (for different consoles). The problem is, that I only play about half way through them before switching to a different game, and completely forgetting about the last one. I really should just try to finish the games I own before going out and buying a new one.

I also have the problem that after getting my PS3, I harldly ever play my wii anymore (except for the past few weeks), and I hardly ever use my DS since I got my iPod touch.

 

[Taleweaver]

Without turning into a huge debate over whether or not piracy is wrong, how can you kick Pirate's Syndrome?

I'm perhaps a bit alternative on this front, but...

why try to beat the Pirate's Syndrome? It's a syndrome, mind you. Not an illness. So it's not as if it can be "cured" with a decent dose of gaming.



The reason that you don't feel motivated may very well be that you just don't feel like it. I read the "buy your games" argument others bring not so much as a requirement in order to get rid of that syndrome, but rather as a suggestion, as you should only download or buy something if you plan on doing something with it.


Also...
I'd say the danger in pirating games is that your gaming time won't change, but the expected gaming time does. If I play one game for a week and finish it in the end, I'm pretty happy about my progress. If I download 100 games, I'm not so happy, as I know that there is no way that I can finish all those games in the same time. so the motivation to do so lessens (why bother? I won't be able to finish it anyhow!). At the same time, I feel kinda bad about it because I have 100 games and I'm not playing them to the fullest.

 

[machomuu]

I know how you feel. It's so different when you actually buy it... it MOTIVATES YOU to play it!

Think in the mindset of me when I was a young'n. Pretend... that you just rented this game. Every weekend your Dad rents you ONE game, and you can play it for a weekend. No school, no work, you get a new game to play! You got the game with your hard earned allowance and it took forever to sweep out those pesky dead rat fetuses from your drain. So you are DETERMINED to play this game!

No matter how crappy it is, no matter how fun it is, try playing it all the way through. get your money's worth (Blockbuster AIN'T CHEAP BRO!). If you get tired of it so be it, but if you don't play it then all that time washing your Dad's leopard print G-string (coated in Hooker Sweat and Trace amounts of cocaine) BY HAND would have been for naught.

Even though what you said indicates you've been watching a little too much Gurren Lagann...
...That image you presented was very nostalgic, as I was in almost the same position when I was younger.

 

[LunaWofl]

Pirate's syndrome huh? Most interesting.

Ive similar... "symptoms"... as it were... I dont have much motivation to play anything until i start playing, then i cant stop. Though my case seems more akin to knowing your addicted and trying to avoid the substance >_

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Find a game that's truly compelling. It seems hard, and trust me, I've searched long and hard for a game like this, but once you find it, it'll keep you hooked for a while. There's some mind-numbingly addictive games like Puzzle Quest and N+ (which are available almost everywhere) or some really compelling RPG games (currently I'm on Legend of Heroes: TitS and FFXIII).

Also, if you have friends (hurr hurr), it's nice to just hold a game night, provided your friends aren't stoner douchebags. Usually my friends and I will get together and just play a lot of games, actually a lot of single player ones. We played through the entirety of Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, we're almost done with Silent Hill 2, and we've still got Devil May Cry 3, MGS3, and I'm trying to get them to do FFX with me. We just all sit around and talk about the game while it's playing or talk about other things or play Magic. It's a lot of fun.

I guess the issue with pirate's syndrome for me is that once I hit a difficulty wall, I stop playing the game for the longest time. Try choosing a game that isn't inherently that hard (FFXIII is proving to be pretty easy) but still fun.

Also, buy into the hype machine of some people here. I wouldn't say to go with the fantards but I've gotten hooked on tons of PSP games because of the PSP base here. Like Legend of Heroes right now. I thought it'd be trash until a bunch of the PSP people here said it looked really promising. I downloaded it and loved it. Same goes with Dissidia 012 (which is currently eating away at my life with Labyrinth Mode still).

 

[Panzer Tacticer]

It's much deeper than just 'pirate's syndrome'.

Ever seen the spot of town, called 'the slum area' where everyone is predictably on some form of assistance. It looks like no one really appreciates anything that is just given to them. Their homes, their possessions, even themselves.

Same thing at work.

You only appreciate the things you have to work to get.

It's a brutal truth, and I have been around long enough to KNOW it's a fact.

I never took care of my bike as a kid. No kid does. The first bike I bought myself was a great deal difference eh.
You will find, people won't take care of their room as a kid, but the moment it's YOUR place, it often makes a difference 'hey guys lose the shoes I just washed the damned floors eh'.

I have hundreds of models, and my most valuable, is the one I bought with money I got from picking strawberries one summer from my early 20s when I was so completely out of work. Just an ordinary tank, but man that thing cost me a lot of sore back muscles.

There is a good reason to download games, as you get maybe 6 months to buy it and then it is off the shelf, as it is now old news and not about to get re printed/stocked.
Buy it if you can, but I don't mind having copies if I am merely very slow in getting around to it.

But yeah, the idea of forget how many games your card will hold, just load one, and play it till done with it and then delete it and move to the next one. Might not make you finish them, but it at least keeps you focused till you conclude you no longer care about it.

Not all games were ever worth buying eh. Just because someone else liked it, doesn't mean YOU will.

 

[Cyan]

For me pirate syndrome could be applied for my bought games (yes, I've bought a lot of games I've never played or completed

).

When I was young/at school, in the Snes era, a game was very expansive and I could afford a new one only every 1.5 to 2 years.
Between each new games I had a lot of time to play and replay them, I've completed zelda/chrono/ff6/mana/etc. a lot of time.

I wanted new games, but I didn't have enough money

Then came the time I got a job, I could finally buy all the games I wanted

but in counterpart I didn't have any more time to play as much as I wanted

Time and money are my syndrome, not piracy.

Before I got a job, I used to play all day and nights, near 18-20H per days, really addicted.
But, sometime, for particular games, I start one and don't leave it until I finish it. (zelda, castlevania, metroid..)

 

[Deleted member 473940]

For me pirate syndrome could be applied for my bought games (yes, I've bought a lot of games I've never played or completed

).

When I was young/at school, in the Snes era, a game was very expansive and I could afford a new one only every 1.5 to 2 years.
Between each new games I had a lot of time to play and replay them, I've completed zelda/chrono/ff6/mana/etc. a lot of time.

I wanted new games, but I didn't have enough money

Then came the time I got a job, I could finally buy all the games I wanted

but in counterpart I didn't have any more time to play as much as I wanted

Time and money are my syndrome, not piracy.

Same problem here, lol. I pirate and buy sort of equally, now the problem is, even if I have the time I have too many to choose from and end up going back and forth these days

 

[The Catboy]

Honestly I started buying my games, downgraded from 16gigs to 2gigs, and then from my Supercard Two to an R4. Pretty much I limited my rom limit to the games I was playing and then deleted all the games I owned and started buying games again which means now I am slowly losing roms on my card and I proud of that fact

. Now I am back to gaming again compared to just pirating games for the sake of having them.