Why do I never seem able to finish a game?

Let's say you've been playing for like a month this cool new card game. You have enjoyed it quite a bit, but the novelty starts wearing off. Then, in a spark of creativity, you come up with what seems to be a brilliant idea: you could make your own card game! Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

That's because everybody and his dog has had that same idea at some moment in his gaming life. The vast majority of those games never materialize, though. Why is that so? It doesn't seem to be that hard.

The main reason those games are abandoned is because most people makes the mistake of comparing the experience of creating a game with the one of playing it, when they're completely different. They think about the final product, but not about the long process that precedes it. As it's a lot of hard work, and most people don't find it fun, the game is abandoned long before they have a chance of playing it. Ironically, playtesting is a very tedious step: you have to print tons of proxies, play a dozen of mostly broken games, and then making changes to the initial design that will make all the previously printed proxies useless. Let's not enter in details if the game allows players to build their own decks...

Another reason these games never get done, is because the lack of long-term motivation. See, the excitement of starting a new project is strong enough to get you moving, but also short enough that it becomes satisfied pretty soon. Once satisfied, you lose all interest on the project (much like you stop drinking when you are no longer thirsty). If you want to finish a game, you need a motivation that lasts up till it's done. Money and love are strong ones, but can't be used for everything, so find one that suits you.

There's one last reason I want to mention: disappointment. The game is shafted because it's not up to the expectatives, has a major flaw somewhere, or it's just not fun. That could be expected if the designer was testing new things (which don't always deliver), but also by working with no clear direction. Before starting a project, you should have a good idea of what are you looking for, and more importantly, what are you trying to accomplish. But that's a matter for another post.