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COLLECTING COLLECTABLES
Unlike a movie or a book, video games tend to provide a lot more content where we can spend hours and hours having fun, especially when it comes to collectathons and open world games. Collectathons are games whose main objective is collecting (you don’t say) different sorts of items, MacGuffins (not a McDonald's burger) and other things scattered around the virtual world, all with the purpose of progressing through the game. One of the earliest and most influential examples of a collectathon is Super Mario 64 and even today we can feel it’s influence with games like Yooka-Laylee (from the people who worked on Banjo-Kazooie, another collectathon) and A Hat in Time.
As time went by the games got bigger and bigger being able to contain whole worlds inside of them which resulted with the open-world genre. With one-world the name of the game is missions and side-missions with a healthy dose of collectibles sprinkled around. More often than not side-missions would distract us from the main goal but we could hardly complain - when we get hooked on a game we will try to take advantage of everything it has to offer until, finally, we reach 100%.
But why do we go for 100% in games? What is the point?
THE COMPLETE EXPERIENCE
Other than making the game longer reaching 100% is the ultimate challenge. It means you’ve explored every nook and cranny, got to see everything the game had to offer. Yes, you can beat the game by collecting the minimum amount needed to reach the last stage or stick to the main story missions but that would be like ordering a burger and only eating lettuce (hey, another burger reference, I must be hungry).
Some games even offer an in-game reward for your efforts like (insert example here) while some award you with the golden poop, but I would hate to spoil which game is that.
IT IS NOT ABOUT THE GOAL
There is something about collecting and completing the collection that can’t be really explained, but it is not about collecting, rather it’s about the journey we went through to complete that collection, be it in-game items or real life objects like stamps.
There is, however, one tincy wincy first world problem - too many games!
Completing a game 100% requires a good chunk of your time and if you like playing video games there is no doubt you have a bunch of them, some that you haven’t even tried. Heck, sometimes we spend more time choosing the games than actually playing them. So, which game deserves your time and dedication?
DILEMMA
Choosing which game to dedicate your time to is like washing dishes (stay with me now).
When dishes pile up it is hard to look at that mess and you know that sooner or later you will have to wash it. The problem is it is hard to make yourself do it, but here is the thing, once you finally start with it, it will be hard to stop until every single plate and glass is cleaned, 100%.
The same principle goes for the video games, once you choose the game and stick to it, it will be hard to stop. When something is done, let’s say 57%, it motivates us to go for that 100 %. Just like half washed dishes a half completed game is “hard to look at”.
THAT SPECIAL FEELING
Not everyone will go for 100%, some will be satisfied just following the main story and others might not like the game that much to go the distance, but the majority of us, gamers, will complete at least one game. For me, it was Spyro - Ripto’s Rage, and let me tell you, getting all the gems and orbs and getting rewarded with a special section of the game that was all about relaxing fun... It was hard, time-consuming and so much fun, and once you go through that it pushes you to complete more and more games.
Get in the Game ! 
