But why?
I think it is important to experiment, but it is also important to think about what works and doesn't work for you. It is important to figure out what you get out of gaming. Do you enjoy organizing things, playing dress up, smashing things, being covert? Do you play for interaction with others, or are you playing to get the hell away from others. Do you like being part of a team, or do you like destroying the hopes and dreams of others. For each person for gaming to be useful you need to be able to get something out of it.
Play some games, figure out a couple you like, then maybe sit down and think about, write about, why you liked it. You may find you learn something about yourself. Likewise maybe think about a few of the failed experiments and write out what you don't like about them. Doing this, if you look at the similarities, and themes, you can find out why you game.
I for instance am an escapist gamer. I game to be somewhere someone that I am not. As such I tend to enjoy relatively immersive RPG type games.
I am also a collector, I like the challenge of figuring out the system, and getting all the things I want. Finding more efficient ways to do it. I want to have the matching set, I want to catch them all, I want to find ways to get what I want. So games that have collections, drops, or a range of items to get work for me. For instance the Diablo series, CCGs (collectible card games [both real and electronic]), and those silly little games like Dragonvale, Farmville, etc.
I like to take quick breaks. I enjoy games that I can pick up and so something with whenever, but don't require a huge time sink to be productive. Mobile platform games, phone/Ipad games fit this well. I can be sitting in a train play Zombie Jombie till the next stop. Or I can be waiting for food at a restaurant, and go hatch my next little monster in my little monster shop game. Some read on the toilet, I hatch dragons.
Simulation games bore me once I have everything I want, games that developers walk away from cease to grow and get stagnant for me. Games that require loooong patches of time to continue on in, Like World of Warcraft.... Well while I enjoy them they aren't good for me.
To maximize your gaming experience you have to figure out what makes you tick. Games are only fun if well they are fun. And fun believe it or not is a relative issue. Here is an example, someone writing about where Blizzard went wrong with Diablo III Why Diablo 3 is less addictive then Diablo 2. While I totally understand their logic, it doesn't seem to hold true for my urges to play or not. This is exactly why you have to figure it out for yourself... What kind of gamer are you, and why do you play?
