D&D 5E Does anyone else suffers from setting paralysis?

QuentinGeorge said:

I think you misunderstand me. I think its great. Sometimes enjoying your own creative passion is its own reward.

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I got it. I was mainly joking, although the phrase "mental masturbation" has a pejorative connotation. My view is that creativity is its own reward.

The only problem, as far as RPGs are concerned--and it is a relatively common issue--is when creative world-building DMs inundate casual players with too much exposition. It isn't unlike the issue many (especially fantasy) novelists face with excessive exposition. I think the key is simply to develop a sense of finesse; sometimes less is more. Implying a deep history is often more intriguing than explaining it in intricate detail. "Terra Incognita" is more mysterious than minute detail of every square inch of a map.

There's nothing wrong with sitting at home by yourself and devoting all of your mental and creativity to creating a world that only you take interest in. If the players genuinely don't care about what setting you're using, they're not going to mind always using your pet project homebrew, and if they don't appreciate your effort, you still enjoy the private practice of world building. You get what you want out of mental masturbation and the players get to play the way that they want.