Living in the Present, only Looking Forward

[Holding]

Oh, I forgot to comment on this:

But I also feel like had I asked her out, I would kind of be committing to dating her right now and I would prefer to get to know her a little better first (since if it doesn't work i'll still be seeing her at game nights).

"Committing to dating" is a phrase that jumped out at me here. And I say this as someone who tends to want things to get serious in a hurry, once I've decided I like someone. But "committed to dating" is almost an oxymoron if you think about it. There's really no commitment in dating, until you both decide there's a commitment. Assuming the date doesn't end in a crash and burn scenario, there's no reason you couldn't continue to hang out with her or be her friend at game nights.