I like thinking about some games more than playing them
I don't consider myself a gamer.
That might sound strange coming from someone who has spent countless hours playing JRPGs, military simulators, strategy games and tactical shooters. I own multiple consoles, a decent collection of games and an embarrassingly large backlog. Still, I have never cared much about achievements, I have never platinumed a game and I rarely follow new releases closely.
I just like playing games.
Over the last few years, however, I noticed something interesting. There are games that I genuinely enjoy playing, and there are games that I enjoy thinking about playing. The two are not always the same thing.
Factorio is a good example. Dwarf Fortress too. EVE Online definitely belongs on that list. Dota is another one, both the original mod and Dota 2. I have spent hours reading about these games, watching videos, learning their systems and listening to people tell stories about them. Sometimes I even install them. More often than not, I end up playing for a few hours before moving on to something else.
The problem is not that these games are bad. Most of them are masterpieces. The problem is that I enjoy the fantasy surrounding them more than the actual experience of sitting down and playing them.
That realization made me rethink the way I organize gaming as a hobby.
A while ago I wrote about how hobbies are something we have to actively defend from work, chores and everyday responsibilities. Games are one of those hobbies for me. I want to keep them in my life, but as my free time became more limited, I found myself spending more time choosing games than actually playing them.
Looking at my backlog, I realized I was treating every game as if it served the same purpose. They don't. Some games are there to tell a story. Some are there to relax me. Some are there to challenge me. Some are there simply because I enjoy being part of their communities.
Eventually I stopped thinking in genres and started thinking in roles.
The Main Game
A game to grind. The one you keep coming back to, not because you have to, but because you genuinely enjoy it. For some people it's Counter-Strike. For others it's League of Legends, Fifa even Football Manager.
The important thing is that there should only be one. Trying to maintain multiple Main Games at the same time is a great way to turn a hobby into homework.
The most complex category for me, i always struggle and hop between different titles.
The Journey Game
These are the games with a beginning, a middle and an end. The goal is simple: experience the journey and move on.
I used to leave these games sitting in my backlog for months, playing them just enough to forget what was happening. They work much better when given a bit of focus. My current one being Death Stranding since 2025.
The Comfort Game
The digital equivalent of comfort food.
No pressure, no goals, no expectations. You open it because spending time there feels nice.
For me, games like Tomodachi Life fit perfectly into this category. I can play for ten minutes or an hour and leave equally satisfied.
The Laboratory Game
To me some games are more interesting than they are fun.
Factorio, Dwarf Fortress and EVE Online fall into this category for me. I love learning about their systems, reading stories and watching videos about them. The actual act of playing them is often secondary.
Once I accepted that, I stopped feeling guilty for not committing hundreds of hours to every game I admired.
The Community Game
This role is all about people. Counter-Strike, Squad and old community servers are good examples. The game itself matters, but what keeps you coming back are the interactions, the stories and the unpredictability that emerge from playing with others.
You are not logging in to complete content.
You are logging in because something interesting (even stressful) might happen.
Final Thoughts
In the end, this is less about organizing games and more about understanding what you want from your hobby. These roles are personal, and they are far from rigid. Some games can occupy multiple roles at the same time, while others may move between them depending on where you are in life. The goal is not to build a perfect classification system, but to stop expecting every game to satisfy every need. Once I started thinking this way, my backlog felt less like a list of unfinished obligations and more like a collection of experiences, each serving a different purpose.
Sometimes we want Coca-Cola, other times we want orange juice.