How do you boost your moral to finish a game?

well, I could elaborate a huge answer but it's not the right time of the night and my brain is a little bit slow now.. slower than the usual.. xD
anyways, I took huge lessons from my teen years in the '90s, when we had few games and finishing those games DOZENS of times was amazing under many aspects..
and most of all I've been initiated to JRPGs, FEW of them, because in Europe we were so limited in importing US cartridges and with the available games..
so, I learned to understand every single line I read and, as a kid, I was definitely thrown into the stories.. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy characters, when the chapters 7 and 8 came out most of all due to my age too.. it was impossible for me to put down a game before finishing it!
I chose always great stories that kept me focused. And I always went back to RPGs.. no games in which you just keep on shooting other guys in their faces or similar things.. but games with lots of text.
I had to learn English in order to play games with huge texts, backstories, walkthroughs and such rather than any other purpose.. and it was awesome!
All those RPGs were so entertaining and well-made that kept me focused, I wanted, alone or with my friend(s), to explore everything, 100% FF7, 100% all my party in pokemon blue, I could go on forever..
And everything reflected to the games we had before and we kept - the platformers! Donkey Kong Country, the Mario series and so on.. Yoshi's Island, Wario on the GB.. it was impossible for me not to end every level of Wario (the 3rd Mario well that one you know xD).. getting all the bonuses, everything that could be achieved..
This is due to my teen ages and to the games we had when we were kids.. the arcade games and those like mortal kombat or street fighter, we loved them but we used them to have fun between us or to make like one match per friend, the bulk was made by platformers and jrpgs, there were few of them, they were pricey (a LOT, no Euro at those times but you can imagine prices such as 200$, so you.. had to finish them and put 200 300 hours into them with gamefaqs and little else if there was no internet before the 56k..)..
Now? It's all different.. there are new games every day, of every genre, you can play everything everywhere.. so well, I'd suggest you to abandon the games you don't like playing and focus on games you like for what concerns the genre, and that on the other side HAVE a huge part of story.. the likes of Transistor, Banner Saga and all these new awesome games for me belong to this small section.. when I played them I wanted so bad to know all the story..
Even if growing old and having more than 30 years now, I really can't enjoy anything as I did as a teenager, but I lived those years in the best way and I'm so happy I learned so much thanks to those games I spent years on =)
I can really tell you that when I started games such as Transistor or even the newest Final Fantasy, like 13 and 13-2 (newest to me, I stopped playing those games for a decade or more for various reasons xD) I was always like, can't wait to go home and see what's next =)
Probably this is the magic of role playing games =P every other genre though has its own positive sides that can keep you there for months XD

I only enter for games I am interested in playing, but I specifically stay away from any groups or giveaways that want you to play the game within a certain time because it will make gaming unenjoyable. Gaming should be a relaxing, enjoyable, stress relieving, escape from reality, not a chore that you must force yourself to complete on someone elses schedule.

I like to complete every game I start and I know exactly what you are talking about with not being able to complete a game. Sometimes it is best to just put it down and come back to it at a later time. Play something smaller that you are in the mood to play for now or just take a break from gaming. I try to play one major story based game at a time and I will play some other smaller games that are not heavily story based at the same time so I don't burn myself out just playing one game for countless hours.

I am currently playing The Witcher, but I started playing this game 4 months ago. I am really enjoying the game a lot and I played a lot when I first started, but then I got into a slump and had trouble getting motivated to play the game even though every time I did play, I had a lot of fun and enjoyed it. I don't know why, I just fell out of the mood for a while to play it even though it was enjoyable, so I stopped and played some other smaller games for around a month. Recently I started playing the game again and now I am enjoying it again like when I first started and look forward to playing it every day.

I don't know exactly why this happens, I just fall out of the mood to play a certain game sometimes and I don't think it is a good idea to force yourself to play the game. If you force yourself to play the game, you are turning gaming into a chore and you are going to ruin gaming for yourself.

I feel the same way about people that try and get all the achievements when they play. Playing like that would ruin gaming for me. I like to sit down and enjoy the experience, not force myself to do things that aren't enjoyable so I can get a +1 on my Steam account to try and compare myself or impress other random people on the internet.

Sorry I couldn't help you complete the game like you wanted, but maybe this will help in another way.

Actually the Play a game you won on SG helped me a lot to finally start playing games and trying to finish them. I totally know that I will never be able to play all my Steam games or even all my wins but it always makes me happy when I finish a game. I started adding some normal backlog games fitting the challenge this month so I get some of them done too =)

The most important thing is that you enjoy the game. If you notice that you just don't like the game or can't make any progress don't push you to finish it. Be honest to you, leave it and go on with something you enjoy.

Three main issues I've found with myself for why I don't finish games:

ones that require a decent amount of time for each game session - i.e. you have to play a certain amount of time to finish a chapter, or to progress the story far enough to make it feel like you've gotten further in the game (I find a lot of RPGs, Turn-based/Strategy and Open-world games can be like this) and you can't just play for 30 mins or an hour each day, and this can either wear you out, or you neglect the game altogether cos you (keep telling yourself) don't have the time to play it (but you just wasted 2hrs on youtube watching stupid cat videos).
Achievement hunting - sometimes I get so caught up in getting achievements that I actually ruin the game experience.
The game is just not fun/tasty, or is needlessly difficult for my low skill-level, or bugs/gameplay issues force me to stop playing.
I motivate myself mainly by:

removing distractions - close that chat window, move that tablet or laptop away from my gaming machine while I'm playing.
trying to concentrate on JUST playing the game - ignore those achievements if I can, and playing with headphones on to immerse myself into the game more.
If I'm on the fence as to whether I want to complete a game, I ask myself why I stopped playing it, and logically figure whether I can complete the game given enough time and effort, or if the game is indeed just a crappy waste of a time or experience.
Hope that helps. I recommend starting with smaller games, and try to complete a few before you consider tackling longer games. For me, I've committed myself to going back and completing at least one game a month that I started and didn't complete. I hope to go back and complete more than that this year, but one has to start somewhere, and the distractions of new games is hard to resist ;)

Playing appreciated helps, and only buy games that I'm really interested at the moment.

Nothing to be honest, usually I leave them unfinished or push myself to finish for the sake of finishing. If the game up to the point is not enough to keep you going, nothing really can do it.

I have more of a problem starting a game then finishing one.

I just try to focus on playing games I feel I will actually enjoy. I also focus on completing shorter games nowadays due to a feeling of lack of time. If it's a game I'm unsure of, I don't feel I have any obligation to finish the game in the first place. So a lot of times I stopped playing a game, but it was pretty early on and not due to lack of motivation.

I think out of all things though, school definitely makes me feel the least likely to finish a game. There was a really long game I was playing during summer break, and then I waited a year later (the next Summer) just to finish it. It does help it is one of my favourite games to this day though.

I have a list of the games I've finished, so I think that's one of my major motivators in completing a game (other than just the pure love for the game itself). Part of the fun is being able to put a game on that list. And especially if it's a game I'm really enjoying, and one that I want others to know about, I go out of my way to complete the game. If I don't complete the game, then I can't put it on the list, and show others that I played it.

well, wanting to know how the story (if there is any) ends helps a lot for me!

I play so many darn games, I just flip flop to stave off burnout unless I find something that really resonates with me. If you're in a game that you are enjoying and are getting burnt out, just take a break and play something else in the meantime, knowing that you can come back to the "main" game in a bit.

*morale
But motivation fits better.

I just switch games until either I have space issues or feel like finishing it. If the game is good enough I tend to go through it in relatively little time.

i think if you cant find the motivation to finish the game, then youre not enjoying the game and arent all that interested in finishing it (we may try, but ultimately we cant lie to ourselves and losing motivation to do a thing we've started is the ultimate indication of this :D). cut your losses, dont waste time playing something that cant hold your attention.

I had a (horror) game I was having trouble finishing. I got my boyfriend to promise to buy me something if I finish the game. And then I finished it in a day. xD

Groups like BLAEO and Play or Pay have helped a lot. Also entering or buying games that I want only. I think the biggest thing is just to take the pressure off yourself. If you're having fun then keep playing. If you lose interest, switch games then come back to it. I've had games I really liked that I couldn't play straight through. It's normal :)

Gaming is supposed to be fun. I have joined the BLAEO group to encourage myself to play games a little more. It has worked some. And I kinda feel obliged to play some of my wins from here now rather than later, so been doing some of that too.

I dunno if I'd go as far as joining something like Play or Pay though. For me, that would take the fun out of playing, especially since real life sometimes doesn't permit me to play at times. One of the things that's made me drop out of MMO type games was the commitment. If I have to commit, I get burned out and I just don't feel like playing anymore. It becomes a chore instead of fun. :) I don't want that to happen to my single player games. lol.

Sometimes, if I find myself not wanting to finish a game, I leave it for a few weeks and come back to it. It's a little like listening to a song or short playlist that you love, over and over. You're going to get sick of it. You'll still love it, but you know that you just can't listen to the thing anymore. You need to shelve it for a while. I believe it's the same for a game that you've been playing for hours upon hours.

It's different for everyone. You do what you feel is right for you. It's all going to come down to what kind of time commitments you have in real life, or what your circumstances are.

I usually finish games I started. Most of the time I enjoy this. I focus on one game at a time, for distractions can easily either make me lose interest in what I did before or simply let me forget the details of the previous game. It's hard to get back into a game and the right mood after a break.
There are two times when I broke with that rule and I never finished the games to this day. I started them countless times, but never brought myself to see them through.
And there was Skyrim. The longest game I ever played (especially in one go): 400 hours for a single playthrough. I felt my determination waning more than once and was sometimes so tired that it just wasn't fun anymore. I don't know if it was willpower, stubborness or simply stupidity, but the desire to finish a started project kept me going nonetheless. For giving up would have meant that all the time and effort would have been for nothing.

On a side note, this is neither a healthy, nor a recommendable attitude. I take games way more serious than I should :)

if it's a win, i try to show a minimum of respect towards the giveaway creator by finishing the game. same with a gift.

I don't. I move on to another game I'd enjoy more.
If a game stops being fun, it becomes work, and I work too much already.

Sounds like you are talking about games that you really enjoy but then you get distracted by the next thing. Happens to me too. I'm just bad at finishing things. I got around that by deciding that my backlog would be my wins here on SG. I very rarely buy keys to activate for myself. I just mostly play my wins. That keeps me focused because I feel some obligation to play them through. It probably sounds a little crazy, but it works for me.

One of the biggest challenges for me is the paradox of choice: having so many games, that you can't decide what to play. The best solution for this IMO is to just have a few games installed at a time, and have Steam only show installed games. If you have a bunch of games installed, uninstall all but a few. You can always re-install them later, and if you want to make sure you keep your save files you can use something like GameSave Manager.

As for finishing a game, if you're not enjoying it you can put it down for a while or stop playing. Gaming is supposed to be fun/rewarding, and you only have so much spare time so why force yourself to play a game that you're not enjoying? That's my take, anways.

One does not simply finish Crusader Kings II.

In my opinion this is a fairly new problem and directly related to oversaturation.

I still remember "the good old days" because I was there. I had about 30 games for the C64, about 100 for the C128, about 300 for the Amiga and about 500 for all PCs after the Amiga.
With less games to choose from it was natural to do a complete playthrough of a game (except when the game really sucked). We never got tired of finishing a game because there were so "few" and you had no other game ready to fill in the gap if you aborted one game at the early beginning.

Nowadays, for every game you stop at an early stage there are literally 100s or even 1000s of other games you can fire up in a heartbeat. Which leads to "Meh, this sucks, i have more than enough other games to try out".
Which often times leads to players not being satisfied with anygame because they are always on the hunt for the next big thing.
New games nowadays see most of the playerbase leaving after only 4 weeks, when the next "big" game releases.

I learned that every time I thought: "ah maybe I play something different, I come back to this game the next day", this never happened.
So now if I like the game I tend to finish it, otherwise I abandon it.

I try to play games with engaging story.. For me its like with books or movies. If it has got an awesome story, I need to finish it to know the ending.
When the story isnt that great or gameplay is horrendous I might just give up on it..
But mostly achievements motivate me to finish the game.. I love when I have some kind of achievement that shows if and when I finished the game.

Try to avoid to start playing a long games.