Having a Job Sucks

[lobotomy42]

I have no time for video games anymore! What's up with that?

The game I've been working on for like the past six months is Metroid Prime 2. I have played NOTHING ELSE.

And now I'm stuck on this bloody Quadraxis, kicking myself because it's like a 20 minute boss fight, and dying at the end of it sucks, and I still haven't played Okami which I bought in December or *either* Half Life game which I've been meaning to play since the dawn of time.

*sigh*

Work sucks! Maybe this weekend is video game weekend...

(Well, ok, I did beat Cat Dart Golf at 10 under par earlier today. But if you can beat the entire game in ten minutes, it doesn't count.)

[Marek]

I can totally relate. There are too many games I still want to play and don't have the time or energy for.

When I get back home from work during the week I don't want to play something heavily story and puzzle based with long drawn-out reward structures, because I've already been mentally doing those sorts of things at work. I just want to relax and play an arcade game or a DS game or Guitar Hero for like half an hour. That only leaves only the weekend for meatier games.

But other than lack of time, compared to when I was in school, I also find that I'm more easily fed up with some of the most common "sausages" in video game design. Games can no longer get me to do ridiculous things just for some points or whatever. I'm like 'fuck this shit' and move to something else.

The dirty truth of video games is that on average of all the video game content people buy they only actually consume about a quarter of it. People have been saying this for a long time and now the statistics Valve released a while ago actually prove it too. (In the case of HL2:1 only about 50% finished it.)

Personally I'm all for compressing games into shorter but more exciting experiences, or games that can be finished quickly but can then be replayed with slightly different gameplay (i.e. making the repetitive stuff optional or unlockable). I think the game design practices are already slowly moving towards that.

[Kester]

I can relate to this too. With my 360, I find myself playing XBLA games much more than the "proper" releases, because I can sit down and play for 20 minutes, then go and do other things. I still have Crackdown that I got in a bundle with the console, and I've never even put it in the drive because it looks like it'll take forever to finish.

Gears of War, on the other hand, is pretty much perfectly paced for my tastes. You can play for just 10 or 15 minutes and know you'll get a good dose of visceral action. Nearly all other shooters have sections where you would feel dissatisifed playing for only a short while. It's like Marek says about having to do stupid shit in a game; Epic realised players shouldn't have to do stupid parts just to play the good parts.

[ThunderPeel2001]

I feel your pain. I've been dying to work through every Final Fantasy game, but I just can't find the time to even get started on one that isn't handheld (where I can play it on the train in the morning).

Thank goodness for Guitar Hero... a game I can pick up and put down easily!

[brkl]

Zelda is pissing me off because it takes fifteen minutes to get where I was in the dungeon I'm in. I'm stuck, so by the time I reach where I was when I stopped playing, I either run out of time or motivation to get through.

[BooJaka]

Having a job is the only way I can afford to buy and play games but maybe I'm being too optimistic,,,

[toblix]

This is why my life motto is "Replay value? Fuck replay value."

[lobotomy42]

Having a job is the only way I can afford to buy and play games but maybe I'm being too optimistic,,,

This is what is known as a "Catch 22"

[lobotomy42]

Also, Cat Dart Golf is awesome.

[Thrik]

I had this problem when I started working full time, but seven months later down the line I realise that it's not quite as bad as I thought. I basically went through a spell of playing no games whatsoever for months and months.

A new PC has really reinvigorated me though and suddenly I find spending time on games like

and

is a really nice way to fill up an hour or so here and there. C&C 3 is really good for this as the missions all range from 30 minutes to an hour, and you get a good sense of accomplishment.

I think that's the direction games should generally go in, and I know at least a few developers embrace this: making sure the game is lengthy, but delivers very satisfying half-hours. If I don't get gratification in short bursts I'm likely to just fuck the game off (eg: collecting endless shit to progress).

I think what also crippled me is that I tried to hang onto my old mentality of, "Right, time for some gaming; better prepare to be doing this for about five hours". Now it's more like, "Okay, let's have an hour of gaming and let's do it right now!!!".

What's also helped is realising that it's actually kind of nice only playing a game bit by bit over a longer period of time, rather than the bullshit I used to do where I'd burn through the whole thing in a weekend. It makes the games seem much longer, and like you've gotten better value. Story-heavy games that feature plots meant to span over relatively long periods of time also seem more realistic when played like this.

Overall though, if a game can't give me some great fun in an hour of playing it's going to go right to the bottom of my "play this game" list, and may never get played. Multiplayer has become my best friend again as you're basically guaranteed fast action in a game like Battlefield or Team Fortress (2!!), and since the enemies are actual people it's a lot more dynamic -- you couldn't even dream of better AI, with the sneaky shit some people do. ¬¬

[toblix]

The last two Tomb Raiders were excellent at this. They load up really quickly and then you can just play for a while, getting through a room or something and then stop at the next checkpoint. Maybe quick game loading matters more than I think when it comes to the threshold for someone to choose that game when they want a little break.

[twmac]

Mentioned in another thread, Earth Defense Force 2017 on the 360 has just catapaulted its way into my heart.

There are aproximately 50 levels with 5 difficulty settings, no single level takes more than 15 minutes to finish, the incentive to play harder levels comes in the form of new weapons only available in the more taxing settings. I've beaten it on normal, but I'm going back and replaying the levels I enjoyed the most in Co-op split screen or on Hardest/Inferno stages.

Best 50 dollars I've spent in awhile. That and the free download Aegis Wing is fun in drunken four player.

[adfegg]

It's probably accurate to say I started playing Metroid Prime years ago! I stopped playing it when God of War came out, then didn't get back to Metroid for a while after, then I stopped playing it for Dragon Quest VIII, which I stopped playing for Okami, which I may very well stop playing for God of War 2.

[Thrik]

I fucked off Metroid as it was taking absolutely ages to get anywhere and I wasn't really getting any real enjoyment out of anything. The whole exploration thing was largely lost on me, and the bosses were absolutely insane.

I know it's fairly respected but I realised my crusade to finish the game was a waste of time as I was having no fun.

</toblix moment>

[Spaff]

i'm waiting for dan and ginger's replies to this thread, neither of whom have jobs and can probably tell you that having all that free time doesn't = lots of games played....

although ginger has probably logged 450 days worth of wow by now hehe.

[DanJW]

Yeah I was going to post something along those lines. Also how whenever you try to play a game you are hit by a massive backlash of guilt that you should be a "useful member of society" right now instead of playing God of War II, even if it happens to be 10pm. I can't afford any subscriptions otherwise I would probably be WoWing it up with Gigner.

I didn't post because I thought someone would no doubt insult me in some vague fashion and tell me to get a job, at which point I would be forced to kill them and steal their job, their identity and all the other trappings of their life.

[Salka]

even if it happens to be 10pm

What were you doing at 10am Dan? What were you doing at 11am? What were you doing at 12pm? What were you doing at 1pm Dan? What were you doing at 2pm? What about 3pm Dan, what were you doing then? And 4pm Dan? And what about 5pm Dan, what were you doing?

I'm kidding of course, I am just nausing you up because you mentioned earlier that you had a relatively unnauseful day and I am a cruel person.

Anyway yes, work bah. Although I actually love my job since I'm now a game designer or something. Man, I'm totally loving the way I manage to slip that into every single conversation.

[DanJW]

At all those times at was at college

[Thrik]

Well I suppose if you have no job then you haven't got a stream of money to regularly spend on games, so that makes sense. Unless you're like 14 and have game-buying parents, anyway.

Back in college I used to hardly play new games as I didn't have the money to buy new consoles, buy console games, upgrade my PC, or basically buy anything beyond the basics. Now just picking a game up on the way home or ordering some new hardware isn't given a second thought, which makes it very easy to keep up with gamez assuming you can go with the "free time" and "quick gratification" thing.

Work is shit but money is good.

[toblix]

What, all you people hate your jobs?

[lobotomy42]

What, all you people hate your jobs?

My job is fine...it's just the time it takes out of my gaming schedule that I mind!

[lobotomy42]

It's probably accurate to say I started playing Metroid Prime years ago! I stopped playing it when God of War came out, then didn't get back to Metroid for a while after, then I stopped playing it for Dragon Quest VIII, which I stopped playing for Okami, which I may very well stop playing for God of War 2.

This happens to me all the time...which is why *this* time, I'm so determined to finish! It took me, using the above system, about 3 years to finish the first Metroid and Wind Waker. (And I've still never finished Ocarina.) With the "blow straight through it" method, it's taken me 5 months to get "almost done" with Metroid Prime 2.

Dammit, that still sounds pathetic.

[Thrik]

I enjoy my job, but I'd sure prefer to just sit around, have a social life, and play games all day instead.

Travel included that's 11 hours a day. I could play so many games in that time!

[elmuerte]

maybe you should upgrade to 32hour days

[Spaff]

It's equally hard if you have a job playing games... when i worked in QA, sometimes the last thing you want to do after work is carry on playing games... most times however erm yeah you just carry on gaming at home, and through lunch... in fact, being around so many gamers all day tends to make you even more excited about going home and playing games, planning the evening's Planetside shenanigans or instance runs in wow... so maybe i was wrong at the start actually ¬¬

When i was in college i played quake all the time... there was occasionally room for some starcraft, half-life or maybe kingpin or some other random old game, but mostly it was a quaking, lanning life for I! Also making mixnmojo ¬¬

I work now, and really enjoy my job, and i also make a ton of time to play games, but I have no games to play, this is the sad making part. RELEASE SOME FUCKING GAMES! Hmm ok there are some i could be playing i guess.

On a side note, i am both saddened and happy that i do not have a commute which would provide me with more DS time... my DS doesn't get enough love.