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Feeling FOMO (fear of missing out) used to put a real damper on gaming, but trends, hobbies, and a different perspective have broken me. I can say, with confidence, that I no longer feel FOMO, but JOMOโthe joy of missing out. Itโs a strange feeling, one I hope more gamers adopt, at least to some degree. I donโt enjoy video games any less; in fact, when I do sit down to game, Iโm having more fun than ever!
It Was Putting Too Much Pressure On Me
One of the biggest reasons for my JOMO is the gaming industryโs incessant need to grab my attention. โHey, have you played the new season? Donโt forget to buy the new season pass and the 400 DLC for the full experience! Oh, you were gone for weeks? Good luck catching up!โ
Iโm mostly speaking to multiplayer games and especially live-service garbage. These games want to hold my attention with sparkly lights and โcontentโ but it ends up feeling like glass to the brain. And if you do opt into those games, you have to play it like a second job, or the community passes you by and then you have no one.
Iโve always cherished single-player games more than anything, and JOMO has made me love them even more. It has me appreciating the endpoint of a game as opposed to something unraveling over time. I haveย Baldurโs Gate 3ย to thank for that!
Iโm Tired of Seeing Microtransaction Everywhere
Nothing tips the scale against a gameโs favor like microtransactions. It gets so bad I wonโt give games the time of day, even if I get a whiff of MTXs. Iโm just tired of feeling like Iโm not getting the full experience, especially if said microtransactions are costing as much as a streaming subscription.
Do you realize a skin that costs 800 V-bucks on Fortnite could pay for a month of Netflix? Itโs the ad-supported tier, but hey, thatโs a whole month of movies and TV shows for the cost of a skin that you might use a handful of times. And most of the time youโre seeing the backside of your character anyway.
Tell you what: try taking aย coupleย months off from buying microtransactions. Letโs say two or three months. Any time you get the itch to buy something, put it on a list, along with its price. Tally them up at the end, and youโll quickly realize how muchย youโd haveย wasted. Thatโll cure your gaming FOMO real fast!
Thereโs More to Life Than Gaming
Maybe it sounds obvious, but sometimes you need someone to draw attention to it. Case in point: itโs good to take a break from gaming. Go outside, touch grass, read a book, try painting, drawing, or pick up any number of hobbies and skills.
I started playing guitar again, drawing, and even started D&D sessions with my family. I got so busy doing other stuff that by the time I felt like playing something, my PS5 had a layer of dust, of which Iโm usually quite fastidious about keeping clean.
Whatever you do, try involving your friends, too. Be social! After some time away or, at the very least, reducing your game time, youโll ascend to JOMOism like me and gaming FOMO will feel like a thing of the past.
