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StaceyPowers

What underlies completionism?

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It's OCD and/or fear of the unknown. Fear not knowing what treasure you can miss out on, or that special weapon, gear, or blueprint. That fear itself can be an obsession. Or fear of regret. Fear of not getting the whole experience, which corresponds to curiosity. Completionism getting all the trophies, unlocking every ability, researching everything, finding all plants or animals, do all special moves, are all candy to the OCD. Tastes so good till you get a tooth ache, which becomes frustrating. 

Pride could be geared towards your peers. If you know other gamers that discovered something, or did all this or all that, then a person will feel the need to compete. Solo players are probably less inclined to feel any pride. 

Accomplishment I can agree that comes with having a really favorite game that you can feel a sense of ease that you can finally set it aside knowing you did all you can. But to get a sense of accomplishment from any other game is OCD, fear, or peer pressured pride. 

Then there is access. Someone with only 2 games and has to wait for a birthday to get another, will tend to be a completionist for the game simply because they can't move on to another. 

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26 minutes ago, Reality vs Adventure said:

It's OCD and/or fear of the unknown. Fear not knowing what treasure you can miss out on, or that special weapon, gear, or blueprint. That fear itself can be an obsession. Or fear of regret. Fear of not getting the whole experience, which corresponds to curiosity. Completionism getting all the trophies, unlocking every ability, researching everything, finding all plants or animals, do all special moves, are all candy to the OCD. Tastes so good till you get a tooth ache, which becomes frustrating. 

Pride could be geared towards your peers. If you know other gamers that discovered something, or did all this or all that, then a person will feel the need to compete. Solo players are probably less inclined to feel any pride. 

Accomplishment I can agree that comes with having a really favorite game that you can feel a sense of ease that you can finally set it aside knowing you did all you can. But to get a sense of accomplishment from any other game is OCD, fear, or peer pressured pride. 

Then there is access. Someone with only 2 games and has to wait for a birthday to get another, will tend to be a completionist for the game simply because they can't move on to another. 

 

You're not wrong, but why do I get the feeling you've thought just a little too hard about this?

Edited by Shagger
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It's like medals of honor. In wow when they added achievements you have some special ones that prove to the server that you are or did something great. Personally I am not one, but I do enjoy to show off some things sometimes 😄

 

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On 1/9/2021 at 8:34 PM, StaceyPowers said:

What do you think are the causes of completionist behaviours in gaming? @Shagger mentioned pride and accomplishment in another thread, and for myself, it is a mix of curiosity and OCD. Anyone have other theories?

Personally, I would add curiosity to the mix as well because I don't think that I would ever be relaxed knowing that there's an unfinished gaming task that I'm supposed to complete. 

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