Apex Legends
Gaming can be a great way to have fun and relieve some stress, but over time you may find yourself getting into some various bad habits while playing your favorite games. Everyone has at least one, regardless of genre, and you may not even realize you’re doing it.
Most of these bad gaming habits are minor, and even funny once you realize you’re doing them, but if they get in the way of you having fun, you may want to find ways around them. Here are some bad video game habits you may have, and even a few tips about how to get rid of them.
8 Save Scumming
Don't Want To Miss Anything
Fans of RPGs everywhere will know the tension you feel before you find yourself save scumming. With games with so many branching paths it can be an easy way to see every different option your character has.
Whether it’s exploration in Skyrim, the dialogue choices of Mass Effect, or the combat of Baldur’s Gate 3, there are definitely reasons you may find yourself saving more often. But, multiple custom saves in an hour may mean you are too focused on your choices and less on enjoying the experience.
Granted, with games like Skyrim that can unexpectedly crash, it may be a good idea to save a little more often than not.
7 Spending Too Long In Character Creation
Time To Make Handsome Squidward
Character customization in games can be an incredibly fun time, and allow you to connect with the character in an RPG or adventure game by making them look like you. However, it can be easy to accidentally sink hours into customization just making random weird characters.
Handsome Squidward, the J.D. Vance memes, and random goblins are all constants that might be fun, but you may feel bad after realizing how much time you’ve spent on it. Or, it may finally hit you after you’ve seen the abominable character in your first cutscene. Either way, remember there’s a whole game ahead of you.
6 Forgetting What You Were Doing Last Save
Where Am I?
One thing that is easier to do in longer games is to return to them, days to months later, and have no idea where you are or what you were doing. It can be a startling thing to come back to a game and be bombarded with NPCs, enemies, and quests that you don’t remember interacting with.
It’s not a bad idea to make a note of what you are doing in a game, especially if you’re going to switch to another game for a while. Especially if you’re playing something that will let you save in combat or other crucial moments of the story. Better that than having to restart a game from the beginning.
5 Hoarding Loot
Might Need That Later
Every RPG fan knows what it’s like to get that once-in-a-game item that you have to hold onto forever. The part that makes it a bad habit is when you’re holding onto items that you don’t need or that would help you to use, and you never end up using them.
Keeping that Rusty Shortsword when you have the one Godkilling Blade is a little silly. Granted, health potions and revives in your favorite game are another thing entirely. It never hurts to go through your inventory and shed some weight here and there, maybe even asking yourself if that item is useful when looking at it. Or risk moving slower and not being able to fast-travel.
4 Staying Up Too Late
Seeing The Sunrise
It probably started when you were a teen, but staying up too late playing your favorite game is practically a rite of passage in the community at this point.
Whether it’s grinding your favorite roguelike, finally getting your hands on the latest release, or just playing multiplayer matches with your friends for too long, it’s easy to not notice how fast the hours pass by. Whether you have work in the morning, or you just need a solid sleep schedule, you should probably set a night alarm if you find yourself staying up too late, too often.
3 Buying DLC Before Playing The Game
What A Deal
Everyone has logged on to their console or PC and seen a game they’ve added to their wishlist on sale (on Steam especially). Not just the game, but the entire game and collection of DLC too. It’s hard to pass up a sale, which can lead to you buying a lot of content that you may not even enjoy.
We’ve all been fooled by a particularly good-looking teaser trailer, which makes it so much more frustrating when you finally get around to buying the game, and it’s not what you hoped it would be. Buying the entire DLC for a game you don’t like before you try it only compounds that. Usually these sales repeat sooner or later, so be strong, and take a breath before entering your card info.
2 Reloading Too Much
Need A Full Mag
First and third-person shooter fans will know this one. It can be easy to get into a firefight in one of these games, both single-player and multiplayer, and find yourself spamming the reload button anytime you get the chance.
Sure, a full magazine on your favorite weapon is a better chance at survival, but it’s not always necessary. Plus, the time it takes to reload can be enough to find yourself caught defenseless, as many of the Call of Duty games can teach you. Play a game with realistic ammo counters, where half-full mags are lost when reloaded, and you’ll find out how fast you break that habit.
1 Obscure (And Bad) Callouts
He's One Shot
Squad-based and multiplayer gamers know how important a teammate using good callouts can be. That’s why it’s terribly frustrating to find yourself giving callouts that are too undescriptive
«Over there,» «that one,» and «no go that way» are all examples of vocal advice to your teammates that really aren’t much advice. Take your time and give detailed callouts about the locations, enemies, and important objects you are seeing in your next multiplayer game, and you might be surprised how high up on the leaderboards you end up.
