Video games

[ThunderPeel2001]

I know this is an odd thing to ask on video game forum but... Is anyone else getting tired of gaming?

"Wut?!", I hear you mutter.

Well, lately I just haven't been playing any games at all. My XBox is getting dusty, my PC gaming rig rarely gets turned on. I haven't felt the need to buy a DS or PSP, or even a PS3. I have an old PS2 I use for watching DVDs... What little gaming I do is very "casual" (*dun dun duuun!*) and there's even been very little of that, recently. (Although, oddly, I'm still interested in what's happening in the gaming world itself, news, etc.)

Is it just me? Has anyone else lost their gaming mojo? Or had a mojo drought, and then had it come back? Am I alone in not wanting to invest 100 hours, or even 40 hours, of my life developing a new (pointless) skill, exploring a new world? I just can't bring myself to start something new at the moment...

Is it my age (32)? Have I grown tired of games? Is it just a temporary blip? Is it some other factor in my life?

Is it time for a trial separation?

Edit: Fixed my grammar - Thanks, Patters! ;D

Edited September 7, 2010 by ThunderPeel2001

[Patters]

Firstly, video games is 2 words. Secondly, no, it happens to everyone. I did very little gaming between 2005 and 2007. Age has very little to do with it, I know gamers in their 50's (My uncle for instance) and I'm sure that others do. As with all hobbies you can over saturate yourself with, I did that with reading during my hiatus.

Take a break by all means, come back when you're ready. Try something new while during that time: Board games, juggling, learn an instrument, something. Distance will make the heart grow fonder.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Is that it, I wonder? You could be right, although it's been a while now. Feels strange :-/

[elmuerte]

I've had gaming dips too in the past 10 or so years. It's usually around the time I'm investing a lot of time in programming. But also, lack of really interesting games. A lot of games become quite tedious after a while which really hurts your gaming motivation. What really helps in those times is to dig up a classic you really enjoyed, but haven't played in a while.

Then again, I'm no where near as old as you (only 29) so I don't know what's it like at that age.

Getting back on the 40 or even 100 ours of play. I don't know what the appeal is, why I really invest a lot of times in some games, but don't want to do that in others. I have noticed that there haven't been a lot of games lately where I wanted to put a lot of time in. At least, not like the older days. There must be some magic involved.

The most recent game I really spend a lot of time in (and enjoy it for most of the time) was Just Cause 2. I literary spend over 2 hours once just driving around. But for example Dragon Age... at a certain time I simply tried to rush through the game as fast as possible.

[MrHoatzin]

Firstly, oversaturate is 1 word. Secondly, I am in the same camp as ThunderPeel. The only games I have played in a long, long time are Telltale games and Minecraft. Aside from that, a little DS in airports and on long trips.

And yes, I am sick and tired of developing new skills of limited usefulness. I guess by and large, I got over games. Only those that pique my interest or do something new may get played.

A problem also lies in the fact that I too haven't upgraded from my PS2, and as for my computers, the laptop runs Ubuntu and sits plugged into the TV most of the time, the Mac is a PowerPC, and the Windows machine runs XP and is eight years old.

[syntheticgerbil]

I'll probably get tired of it soon, I think taking breaks and doing something else for a couple of years is fine and probably necessary. I stop playing games when I feel they are becoming too stressful and just do something else with my time for a while, like read something.

I get the feeling everyone will always be back.

[Roderick]

I think it just has it's ups and downs like a sine wave. That's what happens with most of my interests. I had a bit of gaming mehness a couple years back, followed by a great interest in it since 2007 again. It depends on my own mood, and stuff like where we are in the console generations, what particular games are coming out and a million other factors.

Maybe you'll grow out of gaming altogether, maybe it's temporary. It's impossible to say. Just do what your heart tells you. These things happen.

[juv3nal]

For me, I think it often has a lot to do with the kind of games/titles currently out. If I'm in a lull, I can usually chalk it up to there not having been anything come our recently (or about to come out) that I'm super hyped about. I'm all for replaying older stuff, but my excitement level about gaming in general depends more on anticipation.

[Lu]

That too and as I got older, I feel that my tastes have gotten more and more specific, so less and less excites me. It seems only normal.

[spindrift]

For me, the problem is that I grew up and what seems like most of the games industry didn't.

There are more games now that at least attempt to not be juvenile, but it's happening too slowly. I don't think that games are no longer for me at all, but I do feel like I am no longer in the primary target audience.

Happily, I can still enjoy most games, but I have to try and get into the right state of mind. Which is entirely possible, but takes some effort and means that I maybe don't always feel like trying so often.

[Kolzig]

I've had mixed feelings about gaming since 2006. That was a kind of weird wake up year. Not much has changed since then except I play games a lot less than before that. I haven't even sold my old collection away like I was supposed to. Everything is still gathering dust in the closet.

A few years ago I had strong feelings of just getting out of gaming completely, but I never did. I do still follow up on stuff almost too intensively these days.

About two years ago I had actually plans to never upgrade my desktop and just sell it away and get a laptop, but going to present day I have upgraded my computer during this year's spring after five years of not doing anything except once buying a graphics card. I have not bought a laptop.

DS I don't play that much anymore except when I go on out of town trips like during my summer vacation I was hammering Picross always when I had spare time and absolutely nothing else to do. Wii I don't play that much, but when I at some point buy the four important Mario games, then I'm going in to happyland again.

On PC I have a lot of old backlog, but not that much interest in clearing all that. One big concern is that there are way too many FPS games these days and not that many other games that really stand up. That's why I really like the indie games scene. Those are the shining light in the mass of dull and generic PC and console games.

I would guess that in the coming years I could see myself going away from gaming completely, at least for a while if the industry doesn't change.

[Fuzzy Lobster]

I went through a huge gaming blank between 1998 and about 2003 or so, both due to scholastic poverty and no free time. It's actually only been in the last two or three years that I've gotten back into gaming much at all. Many of the games I've been playing recently that have really been keeping me interested have been things I missed out on years ago, but other than Dragon Age, a couple city builders and some other random games, there hasn't been a whole lot that's really hooked me recently. Maybe it is tough to make a huge time commitment the more real life nonsense you've got to pay attention to.

I must, however, confess to an embarrassing amount of plants vs zombies.

[miffy495]

Yeah, everyone gets a lull. I'm kind of in the same boat as spindrift and feeling like I grew up more than the target audience did. As a result, while I'll still play most of the big "must-play" games each year, I feel a lot of the time like I'm just going through the motions. I try to find the ones that stand out because they do something narratively bold or stylistcally totally different. The exception I make to this is Nintendo. I'm still a total Nintendo fanboy, no matter what. I'm about 2 hours in to Other M right now, about halfway through Mario Galaxy 2, and my most anticipated games for the rest of the year are Donkey Kong Country Returns and Kirby's Epic Yarn. For whatever reason, any of the marquee Nintendo franchises just bring out feelings of total joy in me, so I don't miss them.

Lately I've found myself playing games not because I really want to play something, but to make my backlog smaller. If anything, I'd take that as a sign that I'm sort of checking out of the scene. Games that I thought I'd really be excited for like Crackdown 2 and Dead Rising 2 (both of the original games were among my top 3 in the years that they came out) I'm ignoring almost totally. That said, I really want to get back to Mafia 2 at the moment, so maybe I just need the right game. Maybe you do too.

One thing that I'm wondering about: We're about 5 years in to the current console cycle, yes? In the past, this is when the new consoles would be coming out, or ramping up to do so. Along with this came leaps in either graphics or AI that made games exciting again. We're not getting that right now. Instead, developers are working more efficiently with what we have and providing incremental upgrades. While there's nothing inherently wrong with that, it does strike me that maybe the fact that systems are improving gradually rather than with a big leap is starting to wear on some of us and cause this feeling. While this applies less to the PC, when the majority of games are multi-platform the PC version will as a result get held back as well. Gaming stagnation, perhaps?

[Thompson]

I've had slight lapses where i've not really been too interested but some of the stuff I do besides video games require me to either play video games or do things that relate to video games so I sort of have to brute force my way through those and I get my mojo back eventually.

Proof of my addiction is attached, dear reader. (When I typed attached it made me think of dear reader, I don't know...)

[syntheticgerbil]

For me, the problem is that I grew up and what seems like most of the games industry didn't.

There are more games now that at least attempt to not be juvenile, but it's happening too slowly. I don't think that games are no longer for me at all, but I do feel like I am no longer in the primary target audience.

Actually this is a major problem for me as well. I was originally going to balk at your post in some attempt to be positive for games, but I have felt for years like most major games keep being marketed to boys who are really into Marvel comics or something. It's very frustrating.

That and I get sick of games when I can see through how they are made too well and where I'm gonna be taken. Formulas can start to wear thin even if I know I'm in for playing a genre game.

Edited September 8, 2010 by syntheticgerbil

[K-bohls!]

Being in school I am all about video games! I do think that shooters need to slow down a bit, the only ones I play are VALVe stuff (mostly TF2), and games that appeal to a specific interest of mine (settings in Bioshock and Mafia for example).

I have recently gotten into Interactive Fiction, admittedly this is because I had so much free time in my CAD class because the teacher blocks the internet ... I'm hooked. If you never have tried them I highly recommend 9:05 and Photopia, both are great for newcomers and Photopia in particular has a amazing jaw dropping moment. I am thinking about doing a short write up once I have finished a few more and see what the Thumbs think about these games.

[Noyb]

Definitely write about IF! It keeps falling in and out of my consciousness, and I have no idea what the current state of the genre is. There's probably some awesome and impressive stuff hidden away there. We had a collaborative interactive fiction subforum going where posts were translated to moves that got sent as commands to a server-side Z-machine parser, so you're bound to find an audience here.

Adam Cadre's work is amazing. I'm also a big fan of Pacian's IF, which are also pretty open to newcomers. I keep meaning to play more of Emily Short's stuff, too.

[Forbin]

Web surfing has taken over a lot of my gaming time recently. There's not a lot out there to play right now that's interesting, and the stuff that is new is more involved than I can commit to sometimes. I can't exactly wind down after work with a game of StarCraft2.

Civ V will be the first game this fall to pull me out of the funk I think.

[Moelman]

Web surfing has taken over a lot of my gaming time recently. There's not a lot out there to play right now that's interesting, and the stuff that is new is more involved than I can commit to sometimes. I can't exactly wind down after work with a game of StarCraft2.

Civ V will be the first game this fall to pull me out of the funk I think.

Yeah this is kind of the same with me, about the web surfing, I spend a lot of time on these forums and other gaming websites when I could be playing games, but I guess that is the same with all of us.

[ThunderPeel2001]

This thread may have broken my drought... Don't wanna jinx it!

[Nachimir]

I have phases where I hardly play games at all, then tend to binge. I seem to have gone through years long phases of RTS and FPS, though working with games means sometimes the last thing I want to do on getting home is play one.

[Wrestlevania]

I've been accused of being addicted to video games since I was a kid, such is the amount I've played in the past. But I'm no different--peaks and troughs just like everyone else. It's the same with any interest; films I've not been in love with for a while, but that's changed with a few amazing flicks I've seen recently.

To my shame, after voraciously organising a lot of Thumbs multiplayer activities and pushing to keep them active, I got bored of the whole multiplayer gaming thing for a while earlier this year. Disappointments like Red Dead Redemption's two-dimensional multiplayer modes haven't helped much either. (I've also thoroughly neglected these forums, too, but in my defence I've had extra-large portions of Real Life to chew on for several months.)

For me, though, my biggest passion for most of this year has been music again. And I mean "passion" as in "what am I doing with my life; is where I'm at now really what I want to do for the rest of my days?" Seriously, I'm giving more and more thought to jacking in everything and trying to get into radio and/or start my own record label perhaps. It doesn't help that my local (Bristol, England) music scene has exploded onto the global stage once again during the last 18 months or so.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be over the whole stupid idea come 6 weeks' time. And Halo Reach is out next week--only the second game I've been excited about this year, after RDR.

Edited September 11, 2010 by Wrestlevania

[syntheticgerbil]

Yeah this is kind of the same with me, about the web surfing, I spend a lot of time on these forums and other gaming websites when I could be playing games, but I guess that is the same with all of us.

I've actually gotten very careful about that. Forums are fun and very easy to pick up and start posting, but when I'm refreshing for the past hour on one forum, I know I'm wasting time not doing what I am talking about in the first place.

It comes and goes as a bigger problem.

[Moelman]

I've actually gotten very careful about that. Forums are fun and very easy to pick up and start posting, but when I'm refreshing for the past hour on one forum, I know I'm wasting time not doing what I am talking about in the first place.

It comes and goes as a bigger problem.

I'm hoping I'll be better about it now that I have a new gaming PC. With my laptop it was always a hassle to close all my programs to play a game and deal with super long loading times so I probably didn't play as often as I would otherwise. Or maybe now I'll just be worse now that I can play and have my laptop sitting here on the forums at the same time, like I am now.

[OssK]

Well…*What I think is that you are not tired of video games, you're just tired of available video games. For me, and for a lot of folks out there, it seems, it would explain why we spend time on steam, on game news sites and watch trailers and reviews.

Why ? Because we get the magic circle. You know, this loop of interaction : you act on the game, it acts on you, you act on it etc…*That is broken now. You might remember when you were young your parents telling you "you're doing nothing but watching those horrible games all day", not seeing that mechanically speaking, we were just overcoming obstacles. In the form of giant flesh monsters, certainly, but we were not watching, we were exerting the violence over the game, and as actors of the game, we didn't feel that it was violent. So circle : between you, the player, and the game.

Now, the circle is broken, for me at least. I long lost my suspension of disbelief for the "you're the unique hero savior" bullcrap, and for a few years now, I have lost the other one : "you're the unique player with his unique experience and playthrough".

So with the magic circle open, I can feel acted upon by the game and stimulate action just watching a video of the game. Yep, I did watch the entire play through of Uncharted 2 and it felt…*Well, exactly as fun as playing through Uncharted one.

So no, we haven't lost our mojo I think, we're just obsessively watching video games news sites, waiting for a new experience, and a new set of useless skills to learn. The sad thing is, every game coming out nowdays that appeals to our eyes has the same ones : run, kill, dash, kill. With the new generation entering the market every year, there is no need of us anymore, so despite us having supported the industry for what…*10 ? 20 years ? Nobody gives a shit.

Don't worry though, your brain's still hooked on "FUCK I GET IT, I'M AWESOME" moments, moments you used to get very often in new games, you just have to wait for new ones to come out !