Don't feel like playing games anymore

[mammonite]

For the past 5 years or so, I've been going through a kind of drought; the games I used to love and care about no longer interest me the way they used to. I know a lot of that is simply getting older and taking the other things in my life more seriously, taking care of what I need to in order to get by as my health slowly declines and the aging process seems to be speeding rapidly toward the geriatric.

That doesn't mean, however, that I lost all interest; just that, these days it seems like I only want to collect, patch, mod, or test games rather than actually sit and play any of 'em; to be honest, I'd kinda rather watch someone else play instead. I feel like the old lady in the rocking chair in the corner who just feels happy watching her grandkids have fun.

I'm only in my mid-30s; is it normal to feel a sense of lethargy for your past hobbies/passions, has anyone else gone through a similar change in their life?

I made this thread to talk about it.

currently i am burnt out too , to newer games, i mean games in present gen, im not hyped about them, i only game mainly today thru psp/psvita/ps3 , i also have a gaming PC but it's a potato capable only of indie and older titles , maybe because of age im also in my 30's but, currently im having a blast playing persona 4 golden for the first time on my Vita.

 

[χKai]

currently i am burnt out too , to newer games, i mean games in present gen, im not hyped about them, i only game mainly today thru psp/psvita/ps3 , i also have a gaming PC but it's a potato capable only of indie and older titles , maybe because it's because of age im also in my 30's, currently im having a blast playing persona 4 golden for the first time on my Vita.

I loved Persona 4, but how can you stand Chie's new voice actress?

There was one or two other girls who had different actresses for the role, and I remember them sounding a lot whinier and bitchier than in the original PS2. And is it me or (Lol) did they change Lucifer?

 

[SkunkyBeaumont]

40 year old Musician, former drug addict and bipolar I, with PTSD, ADHD, ASPD (I'm not evil, I just don't care)
Honestly, I spend more time fiddling with my set-ups and configurations then playing games unless something grabs me.... unless it's Doom, or old JRPGS. It really depends on your state of mind. I had little no interest in playing games for a while, after my last relationship imploded and I was kicking drugs, and getting the help I need, but I also find that some video game during my down time helps make practicing my instruments and writing music more effective.

 

[Fat_Wombat_55]

Clearly it's not just you, and I have alot of questions about this.

When we were younger, there were no subscriptions, internet was pretty slow so even downloading demo's was painful.

When I wanted a game, I had a build up period where I'm saving up for it and making sure its the game i want to buy. I'd check out magazine reviews, talk with friends and game store employees. Once that part's over, purchasing the game back then meant that it was yours, as long as you keep it in good condition you can keep using it. If it breaks you buy another one, simple. Games were also a mixed bag back then, you had some very interesting and unique titles and some of those ended up being some of the best games ever released.

Buying only one or two games at a time means that those purchases meant more, those games that I worked so hard to save for became treasures possessions. I am more likely to finish the game, and even give it one or two more play-throughs to see if i missed anything along the way.

Today we have online stores, relentless advertising, subscriptions, sales seemingly year round, well stocked retro repo's and now a plethora of handhelds capable of storing and running thousands of games (Odin 2 or Retroid 5 for example, both amazing - highly recommend having a squiz).

So the fact that your brain is responding differently now to back then doesn't surprise me at all, and I have noticed that my friends kids don't seem to appreciate or respect their games/hardware today, the same way we did... and why would they? ...tomorrow there will be a new device with a new game everyone hypes over and they just seem to follow along with the crowd.

So, the questions I have are all around the effects of this over-saturation on the mind. We haven't had this kind of thing happen in our history so there's really no universal standard on how people respond to it.

Personally I find If I keep a device with like 3 decent games on it, and force myself to delete one before installing another I am more likely to spend time finishing those games, researching secrets and lore etc. instead of spending hours on youtube trying to figure out what to play today or endlessly scrolling through my steam list like a netflix junkie.

 

[mammonite]

I loved Persona 4, but how can you stand Chie's new voice actress?

There was one or two other girls who had different actresses for the role, and I remember them sounding a lot whinier and bitchier than in the original PS2. And is it me or (Lol) did they change Lucifer?

i don't know about that , it's my first run currently , and i like chie's , energetic vibe , i know people hate her, im just having a blast, old turn based games is my jam.

 

[lvl]

Probably!
The one I've been on is for Sega Genesis and appears to be some kind of homebrew.

Found it! https://retrogametalk.com/repository/sega_genesis_roms/the-citadel-of-chaos-homebrew/

Its the same game, but i much prefer trying it out on my mega drive. Thanks for letting me know about this!

 

[χKai]

Clearly it's not just you, and I have alot of questions about this.

When we were younger, there were no subscriptions, internet was pretty slow so even downloading demo's was painful.

When I wanted a game, I had a build up period where I'm saving up for it and making sure its the game i want to buy. I'd check out magazine reviews, talk with friends and game store employees. Once that part's over, purchasing the game back then meant that it was yours, as long as you keep it in good condition you can keep using it. If it breaks you buy another one, simple. Games were also a mixed bag back then, you had some very interesting and unique titles and some of those ended up being some of the best games ever released.

Buying only one or two games at a time means that those purchases meant more, those games that I worked so hard to save for became treasures possessions. I am more likely to finish the game, and even give it one or two more play-throughs to see if i missed anything along the way.

Today we have online stores, relentless advertising, subscriptions, sales seemingly year round, well stocked retro repo's and now a plethora of handhelds capable of storing and running thousands of games (Odin 2 or Retroid 5 for example, both amazing - highly recommend having a squiz).

So the fact that your brain is responding differently now to back then doesn't surprise me at all, and I have noticed that my friends kids don't seem to appreciate or respect their games/hardware today, the same way we did... and why would they? ...tomorrow there will be a new device with a new game everyone hypes over and they just seem to follow along with the crowd.

So, the questions I have are all around the effects of this over-saturation on the mind. We haven't had this kind of thing happen in our history so there's really no universal standard on how people respond to it.

Personally I find If I keep a device with like 3 decent games on it, and force myself to delete one before installing another I am more likely to spend time finishing those games, researching secrets and lore etc. instead of spending hours on youtube trying to figure out what to play today or endlessly scrolling through my steam list like a netflix junkie.

You are preaching to the choir, man; you're talking to someone who deleted Samsung Notes to make room for more ROMs and ISOs.

It is insane the amount of games on my phone, for quite awhile I've been at full capacity or damn-near, but the other day I struck phone storage gold and discovered that I had inadvertently downloaded 24,800 cheat files on Retroarch; literally just deleted that folder and suddenly I have room for more ROMs (focused on getting more PS1 ISOs at the time).

Right now I have to beat a Zelda Randomizer I made, and the Turok games, so that I can make enough room to extract (and play) one PS1 title at a time, when I feel like, at my leisure.

It's one way I'm kicking my own ass into playing something.

 

[Zemus]

Can't say I feel the same, but I've definitely had phases where I never played anything. I didn't see it as a betrayal of my interests or anything, just my interests temporarily changing. If you're more interested in modding than playing, you could end up creating valuable memories for many, so I don't see what's wrong with that. And if you'd rather watch other people play games, there are no shortage of videos out there for those in your camp.

 

[χKai]

i don't know about that , it's my first run currently , and i like chie's , energetic vibe , i know people hate her, im just having a blast, old turn based games is my jam.

That's cool, I didn't know it was your first run.
Normally I suggest people play the original PS2 version first, so they don't ruin their expectations with all the bonus additional content. You're kind of already in it though, so if you play it, it would almost be like playing the game on a harder difficulty.

 

[Zerpina]

I Think that's the Problem actually. We have so much Content now, so Easy to Buy/YoHo/Ect We may as well have none. Like the old Adage, Sometimes Less is More, ya know.

Like in the Early 90's i Remember Saving up for Months just to get a New GPU or couple of Paychecks to get 1 Stick o Ram. now 32 GB of fast DDR4 is what? 40? 50$?
I Can get a Decent 4GB gpu that will run most anything fairly Good at 1080, for under a 100$
Games like Computers use to be a Event to Get/Build. now it's Meh whats next?

 

[ninjaalex]

Clearly it's not just you, and I have alot of questions about this.

When we were younger, there were no subscriptions, internet was pretty slow so even downloading demo's was painful.

When I wanted a game, I had a build up period where I'm saving up for it and making sure its the game i want to buy. I'd check out magazine reviews, talk with friends and game store employees. Once that part's over, purchasing the game back then meant that it was yours, as long as you keep it in good condition you can keep using it. If it breaks you buy another one, simple. Games were also a mixed bag back then, you had some very interesting and unique titles and some of those ended up being some of the best games ever released.

Buying only one or two games at a time means that those purchases meant more, those games that I worked so hard to save for became treasures possessions. I am more likely to finish the game, and even give it one or two more play-throughs to see if i missed anything along the way.

Today we have online stores, relentless advertising, subscriptions, sales seemingly year round, well stocked retro repo's and now a plethora of handhelds capable of storing and running thousands of games (Odin 2 or Retroid 5 for example, both amazing - highly recommend having a squiz).

So the fact that your brain is responding differently now to back then doesn't surprise me at all, and I have noticed that my friends kids don't seem to appreciate or respect their games/hardware today, the same way we did... and why would they? ...tomorrow there will be a new device with a new game everyone hypes over and they just seem to follow along with the crowd.

So, the questions I have are all around the effects of this over-saturation on the mind. We haven't had this kind of thing happen in our history so there's really no universal standard on how people respond to it.

Personally I find If I keep a device with like 3 decent games on it, and force myself to delete one before installing another I am more likely to spend time finishing those games, researching secrets and lore etc. instead of spending hours on youtube trying to figure out what to play today or endlessly scrolling through my steam list like a netflix junkie.

I agree with this. A huge factor is the sheer amount of free content. I must have well over 200 games on Epic, the same again on Steam and about 100 on GoG and about half of them I want to play. Then there's the lower cost of used current and last gen games; great games for a few bucks each. I can remember pre-owned PS1 games being around 10-15 bucks each even when the ps2 came out.

 

[stealthRUSH]

I'm roughly the same age and honestly can't relate at all. You can say I was falling in a similar funk several years ago focusing on collecting and such but I decided give that all up and prioritize finishing my favorite games, and games I missed out on (fan-translated, imports, consoles bypassed years ago for example). I used the money I sold majority of my collection for a PC dedicated for retro gaming.

These days I don't return to my favorite games often, instead dive into systems I missed out on for example 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, and complete various translated games on SAT, PS1, PCE, and more recently SNES, NES. Personally never was interested in watching someone else play, anything for that matter (especially if its possible for myself to play).

 

[χKai]

I'm roughly the same age and honestly can't relate at all. You can say I was falling in a similar funk several years ago focusing on collecting and such but I decided give that all up and prioritize finishing my favorite games, and games I missed out on (fan-translated, imports, consoles bypassed years ago for example). I used the money I sold majority of my collection for a PC dedicated for retro gaming.

These days I don't return to my favorite games often, instead dive into systems I missed out on for example 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, and complete various translated games on SAT, PS1, PCE, and more recently SNES, NES. Personally never was interested in watching someone else play, anything for that matter (especially if its possible for myself to play).

Been doing a lot of this too, only difference is that I was doing it over 20 years ago and kind of just haven't stopped because the game industry keeps producing.

 

[ATenderLad]

It's a blast to beat games as a kid, but as an adult? Hard to make it sound like an achievement. Didn't stop me from trying at the last baby shower I attended, but I haven't been invited to any of that kid's birthdays.

A new context for the activity can help though, like...well, this forum, actually. I've finished four games so far this year, and several more in the month prior, just participating in the Random Game Challenge/RetroGameClub threads. I've always been a bit too, uh, spirited for book clubs (and I never keep up with my Letterboxd) but writing a little something down to share on here has done wonders for my focus.

 

[χKai]

It's a blast to beat games as a kid, but as an adult? Hard to make it sound like an achievement. Didn't stop me from trying at the last baby shower I attended, but I haven't been invited to any of that kid's birthdays.

A new context for the activity can help though, like...well, this forum, actually. I've finished four games so far this year, and several more in the month prior, just participating in the Random Game Challenge/RetroGameClub threads. I've always been a bit too, uh, spirited for book clubs (and I never keep up with my Letterboxd) but writing a little something down to share on here has done wonders for my focus.

I finished a ROMhack, not sure if that counts at all though. Now that I think about it, I'm somewhat certain Fallout 3 was the only game I beat last year, if you don't count games you've beaten before.

 

[rannsaka]

The sad truth is; There is a lot more dopamine produced from collecting than there is from playing, in most cases. I’ve found myself exactly in your shoes before.

For me, I had to step away from the collection aspect of it and really devote my free time toward completing my backlog. I soon found myself getting more enjoyment from playing, and more importantly, completing the games on my list.

 

[miguk]

There's a number of things that cause us to get burned out on hobbies. For one, being an adult is tiring. Workdays are long for anyone who works full time. Adult responsibilities in general are stressful time vampires. And any hobbies that aren't fully passive take additional energy which we aren't keen on parting with.

Then there's the familiarity. We've seen all the cliches of gaming, and so many new games cling to the cliches as a safe investment for their budget. So if it doesn't bring something unique, it doesn't work as well for veteran gamers as for younger gamers who haven't experienced much. Even some of the "new" ideas are unwanted; who wants to blow $60 on a game, only to have to spend $30 more on DLC and online services, only to get chewed out by a 13 year old who should have never had a mic?

And we have more interests which are more refined now. Notice you actually like to go food shopping now because you get to find products with "umami" and "organic" written on the box? Or how you sometimes just want to read a good book or even the news? Maybe you've discovered an interest in fashion, or language study, or whatever. The point is, you've lived long enough to know there's more out there, and playing games makes you feel like you are ignoring all that.

Of course, there could be other reasons, but those are all likely reasons.