New year, new month, new challenge! Happy first Monday of 2016, friends!

I had been thinking about my game challenges for 2016 for several of the last few months. For the first half of last year, I did pretty well on completing my challenges, but then, as the onslaught of open world games was released, my successes were fewer and further between. I also just wasn’t doing well with completing what I set out to do.

So this year, my challenges are going to change a bit.

I have a couple of goals this year as far as gaming is concerned, but the overarching one is to have more (and varied) experiences in general. I want to be fearless with diving in to new games, whether I believe I will like them or not. I’ve found myself pleasantly surprised in the past when I edged out of my comfort zone (the tiny sliver that it is) and tried something unexpected. And even if I start a new game and I don’t like it, I want to feel like I can put it down and not feel guilty for doing so.

These are games after all and they are meant to be enjoyed!

So here it is. I have a year challenge and will also have monthly challenges. My year challenge is to complete more than 50 games by December 31st. That’s less than one game per week. And I feel like if I simply focus on play (and not on metrics), I can achieve this.

And if it doesn’t happen, that’s okay, too.

As for this month’s challenge, it is simply to play and enjoy. I’m in a neat space currently where I am enjoying simply playing and I want to turn that into a habit. I’m literally right at the end of Rise of the Tomb Raider (and I’m ready to be done with it), and I’m ready to move on to other digital pastures. I looked through some of my digital libraries the other day and holy good gravy do I have a lot of interesting experiences waiting for me! I’m still looking forward to Undertale, and I’m looking forward to diving back in to The Witcher and having that epic experience.

This, my friends, is one challenge I can’t fail.

So with that, I bid you a happy first Monday, first week, and first month of the new year. Cheers!