Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan this hit hard
Play some games completely different from what you’re used to.
This was me, until I discovered Super Tux Kart a few months ago. I play at least 2 hours a day of that game.
That deep fear of being homeless and hungry if shit goes sideways irl really takes the punch out of how much I give a shit if a sparkly pixel on my tv screen falls off a ledge or whatever.
I stopped being as interested in video games and gravitated toward board games. It’s an activity I can do with friends around a table instead of sitting alone staring at a screen. And the same puzzles are present in board games plus you get the social aspect.
I gravitated toward pen & paper rpgs. I don’t get to play as much as I’d like to, but when I do it feels great to play whoever I want and to do whatever I can come up with, with my friends.
And after listening to the “Sounds Like Crowes”-podcast, even RDR2 feels shallow and limited to me. So if I play something on my computer, it’s some quick 15 minutes of Brutal Doom or some arcadish indie fun.
Same for me! I love chess, have been playing for 10 years. Now, not just casually. Good luck!
Ok going through this now.
I never thought it’d be like this though. I thought that video game would literally stop being fun. Like I’d grow out of them or something and not find them enjoyable anymore.
But that’s not it. They are still fun and enjoyable. What I didn’t expect was that my mind would be so full of responsibilities that it would just be impossible to enjoy video games. As if there just isn’t enough room in my brain.
I’m sitting there trying to play but I’m just thinking about all the things I need to do tomorrow. Or this week. Or this month.
There is just too much to think about that I can no longer enjoy not thinking.
Okay, now try again with alcohol.
Weed*
No try again with 5-20mg edible. You will feel the wonder of a child bless you
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What platform are you playing BG3 on? I was thinking about trying it.
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When I hear this, I wonder if people are playing the wrong types of games for them. Most AAA games have great graphics and cutscenes, but the core gameplay loop is just tedious and feels like you’re following a GPS from chore to chore. I don’t fault anyone for feeling bored with 10hr interactive movies.
I still love games that challenge me and offer a real risk of failure, for example. If there’s no chance of losing, then beating the game just feels like “finishing” it, like how you would describe a movie or TV show. I’d get tired of that too.
To be honest with you, I think a lot of it is just a factor of adulthood.
Between work and life, I don’t have the energy to start a new game, even though I daydream about playing video games all the time.
Yeah having the time and energy to log on every night and play games is something I constantly daydream & fantasize about, but when I rarely get an opportunity to do it, it’s extremely hard to enjoy it because I know I’m not gonna get another chance again for who knows how long. My enjoyment is directly related to looking forward to the next time I’d be able to continue what I was doing in game.
This is why I bought a steam deck and have accepted joy in Stardew Valley.
Yeah that‘s my point as well. I play games on the lowest difficulty possible because after a day of work I do not want to be grinding during my free time. And even on easy mode it‘s sometimes just too tiresome.
I think games with grind are just annoying.
Like I love Minecraft but I will explicitly play to have fun and build things, my building resources come from what I gather around my area, you’d never catch me using concrete as a primary component in my builds for example.
But MMO level grind? Never. I just want games that respect my time
Exactly. If I’ve got time and energy to play something, it’s going to be for the experience. Not to die repeatedly until the bossfight is ingrained in my memory and I hate myself.
Yes but that chore stuff used to be fun for me.
I’d play morrowind for hours and hours in college. Now if I try to play an RPG, I don’t have the patience and it’s a boring chore like you said.
I play different games is the big difference. Lots of singleplayer of various genres. I really like engineering games, colony builders and RPGs.
Do you have any recommendations of good engineering games ?
Factorio comes to mind. More of a factory builder, but I’d describe the gameplay as being a lot more about designing stuff and figuring out good solutions. If you have ever felt a slight bit of achievement after getting something to work in a programming language or some engineering discipline, this game will be like crack for you! And I do mean that literally. I spent 50hrs within a few weeks on it, loved it, couldn’t stop thinking about it, felt like it was better than socializing and then realized that it took me months or years to get to the same playtime in any other game I own!
My favourite for the last few years has been Stormworks. It lets you build a lot of various vehicles with a lot of creative freedom. You can use out of the box controls, get a bit more advanced with the in-game microcontroller editor or go even further with lua scripting. I dove in blind and love it. Then there’s transport, logistics, rescue, research etc. missions to complete.
Others I have played before are Scrap Mechanic and Besiege which are a lot more lightweight and easy to get into, but with less advanced building possibilities.
Oh, a fellow stormworks enjoyer !
There’s dozens of us!
We should make a community !
Dont worry, it will come Back(maybe with a new different kind of game)
I had stopped gaming for about 5 years to focus on my career and starting a family. I’m now turning 40 this year and have been dabbling with games again but nothing really stuck until I started the Trails in the Sky trilogy. I ended up playing it a few hours every other night. Something about it was so refreshing that I’m now about to wrap up the 3rd game.
Like others have mentioned, perhaps your mood or perspective changes as you get older and it’s just about finding the right game to play.
Nearly an empty nester, I got back into it with diablo and am surprised it’s not affected my marriage. She’ll just sit next to me and do her thing on phone/tablet.
Me for the back 98.5% of Tears of the Kingdom
I just play bloons now. Im somewhat of a hardcore gamer still
BTD6?
That game is so addicting…
With some of the really good games that have come out recently, I’ve learned it really isn’t just me not having interest/motivation. It is, in fact, that most games just fucking suck now. 🤷🏻♂️
AAA titles are mostly re-optomized towards selling you more of the game, by withholding that game’s content and reselling it for more than they would’ve gotten.
This is partly a side effect of game value being mostly stagnant for years but also just greed in general.
Indie games have been a huge boon for me due to that, no bullshit, just a game; a fun game.
Literally, indie titles and games made by smaller companies (AA titles like Dishonored) have been the most fun for me to date.
Looking at what games I’ve always liked: this has always been true. Back in the 90’s, most of the big companies now were like 4 dudes in a garage and they had passion.
Now a lot of the names I once respected are scam artists and jackasses and a lot of the companies sold to bigger companies who then gutted them, stripped the IPs they consumed of any value, and turn greatness into shit.
All entertainment fills a need in your daily life. It only makes sense that the need changes as you grow older.
When I was younger, I was poor and had something to prove. Thus, I loved big games with hundreds of hours of gameplay, grinding for the best bobbles, and competitive multiplayer experiences.
But as I get older, I don’t care about any of that anymore. What I need instead is a way to relax within my short gaming windows, to have unique experiences, and maybe have a sense of control as my life gets more chaotic. As a result, I’ve tended more towards shorter indie titles. But also towards non-gaming things like travel, gardening, and crafting hobbies.
We spent so much of our lives building our identity around a single hobby - gaming. And maybe that was a mistake. So many of us end up sliding away from gaming as we get older and that change is okay and even expected, that shouldn’t give us an existential crisis.
Your identity should reflect the person you are, not the thing you do.
Getting old is strange. I keep trying to go to house or techno shows in the basement of restaurants or other weird places, convinced it’ll be a great time because I used to enjoy it. My knees hurt and I’d rather be home most of the time. It’s okay for things to have a beginning, middle, and end. Also, not to be nitpicky but just because I think it’s a fun word: it’s “baubles”
I can totally relate about edm shows. My knees tend to say hell no these days.
I’m in my late 20s and have realized two things about video games
- I’ve invested hundreds of hours into games and I’ve got absolutely nothing to show for that time investment, and basically nothing to brag about at work or to friends
- The last couple of years I’ve been more often playing games to pass time than for the actual love of whatever game I’m playing
So I’ve been trying to spend my time doing other things. If there isn’t a compelling game I want to play at that moment I don’t just play games until I find one that compells me again, I just do something else entirely.
My wife on the other hand has realized she really enjoys video games and sees it as “look at all of this time I could have spent playing video games and experiencing these things!” So I suppose that gives some perspective that it’s not all for nothing
If you can’t justify having something you enjoy by saying “it’s not anything I can physically show some achievement for” are you sure you’re doing it/quitting it for the right reasons?
I read for pleasure sometimes, it’s usually not anything I can talk to anyone about since it’s usually older scifi, but I wouldn’t consider that a “waste of time.”
Also, if you tell anyone in the age bracket of 25-35 that you beat Halo 2: LASO they’ll know youve been in the trenches, it’s not necessarily all for nothing if you have people that share the hobby.
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We all die alone. Doesn’t really matter how you get there. If you can amuse yourself while you wait for death that’s usually preferable to the alternative.
I try not to think of having a “thing” to show others when judging how I’ve spent my time.
If it makes your life more enjoyable, it is generally a good use of your time IMO.
