Are computers becoming more and more boring to you?

I think it comes with age. We all have many years of experience with this stuff, and I'd say gaming is my most consistent hobby. Since a kid I've played the hell out of them, and now adays it seems they're nearly a waste of my spare time.

Imagine all of the time we spent on this hobby and put it towards something more beneficial..

What exactly is something more "beneficial" though? You mean like working at a charity or something? Or just doing something different to keep you entertained?

Almost everyone I grew up with and my peers I think leave pretty boring lives. Work 9-5 at a desk, raise a few kids. No travel, no reading, nothing intellectually stimulating.
 
Your not alone. With family obligations, working 8 hours a day in IT and just growing up playing games is just not fun much anymore. Rather doing stuff with my hands, get out of the house. Hell I still can't justify upgrading my 2500k.... When all I do is basic desktop work, remote work and my wife plays sim 4. I did fire up max Payne lsst night.
 
What exactly is something more "beneficial" though? You mean like working at a charity or something? Or just doing something different to keep you entertained?

Almost everyone I grew up with and my peers I think leave pretty boring lives. Work 9-5 at a desk, raise a few kids. No travel, no reading, nothing intellectually stimulating.


There's a difference between spending time learning things on a computer, than playing video games on one.

I'm specifically talking about playing video games throughout our lives. Substitute even half of that time spent towards something else, like building, traveling, etc, I'm more than willing to bet that you would see a difference.


I guess John Lennon said it best “Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.”
 
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I work in IT. I have a wife and kids. I have a side-job-hobby that has me constantly learning new things that are actually interesting to me. My wife and I travel out of the country once a year, occasionally bring the kids :D We enjoy the outdoors. However, I still manage to play games quite a bit. Not like I used to (not even close) but still a few+ hours a week. I still upgrade my PC maybe yearly though I go mid-high rather than top of line. Maybe it’s still fun because of all of the other things. Games are definitely not a primary focus, but I still enjoy them a lot, and absolutely do not feel like they waste my time. Unwinding, and getting lost in another world is actually therapeutic, and lets my imagination rome. That can’t be a bad thing.
 
There's a difference between spending time learning things on a computer, than playing video games on one.

I'm specifically talking about playing video games throughout our lives. Substitute even half of that time spent towards something else, like building, traveling, etc, I'm more than willing to bet that you would see a difference.


I guess John Lennon said it best “Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.”

Hmm, I don't think playing games are mutually exclusive with other things. Granted I did most of my binge gaming when I was a teenager and in my 20's. I've been to over 30 countries and while I still do love traveling, even that has its limits for interest. There are benefits too to continue to game. I'd wager my decision making speed and reflexes are better than 99% of 38 year olds out there.
 
I'd say not boring but more depressing. I mean that from a standpoint of anticonsumer bullshit in play. More stuff like DLC, Denuvo, micro transactions, less demos. It's a full time job figuring out how publishers are trying to screw you over rather than just play a game.
 
I know some of you will have no idea what I mean but are computers becoming more and more boring to you?

I mean after many years now all games are starting to feel like ..... just games. There is nothing original, there is nothing new anymore.

Game long enough and you have seen all the genres, all the styles, all the story methods, all the everything and based on the fundamental constraints of the platform that video games exist on there seems to be a limit.


The internet has also seemed to reach a peak where websites are websites, social is social, and again content is content. Have we truly reached the end of the internet, not the lifespan, but the capacity of it being a new adventure?

Maybe at 37 years old I am being a bit cynical but over the last few months I am getting less and less excited about even being on my PC anymore buying new hardware, doing anything tech related. I am hitting a burnout on tech to be honest.

I do not consider it a short term burn out, but as a lifestyle it seems to be completely losing its luster.

Anyone else in my age range feel this way too?

And this is gaming related in the sense that for me video games are starting to feel very static. Nothing is truly engaging anymore. It feels like games are no longer works of art but just more content to be delivered to meet some stockholders expectations. Not to mention that a dev can promise a totally new experience but live long enough and you have seen this so called new experience over and over and over through the decades. Its not new. Maybe it has fancy updated graphics but the experience is the same old same old. RPG is RPG, FPS is FPS, etc.... Even VR was new for a hot minute but the games all feel the same with one exception. VR horror is still a great experience.

No I will never get bored with Computers been building them far to long also playing games and I am 21 years older then you,
 
Hit 34 & still not bored with tech & games. I spend my time tinkering with modded consoles, virtual machines, Linux, single board computers, overclocking, & NAS/router configurations. My other hobbies are gaming, traveling, & watching movies/shows/anime on my own/with family. I have more than enough stuff to keep me busy from being bored at any given time.

After reading a lot of the "jaded /s" comments, I hope I don't go against my core. It would just plain suck to no longer be the person I've been for the past 34 years & drop everything I love just like that.
 
Hit 34 & still not bored with tech & games. I spend my time tinkering with modded consoles, virtual machines, Linux, single board computers, overclocking, & NAS/router configurations. My other hobbies are gaming, traveling, & watching movies/shows/anime on my own/with family. I have more than enough stuff to keep me busy from being bored at any given time.

After reading a lot of the "jaded /s" comments, I hope I don't go against my core. It would just plain suck to no longer be the person I've been for the past 34 years & drop everything I love just like that.

No need to go against it. I’ll say it again. As long as you can balance any big part of your life against another, it would be pretty hard to get jaded.

One older aspect of my life (pre family) I was Mr. Rave. :) having survived that, I can still hit a club once in a while at 41. It just had to be the right balance. Which is something like once or twice a year I can do something like that. ;)

Just gotta hit the right percentages for the activities, and you’re a healthy person.
 
One older aspect of my life (pre family) I was Mr. Rave. :)

Same. But I mostly went to underground events (for obvious reasons) and some clubs (for paid dance appearances).

- I hope you weren't one of those obnoxious candy kids.... smfh lol

og2.jpg

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Stray Katz crew circa 2007. (I'm in the white cap)

-- Didn't mean to threadjack, carry on all..
 
Same. But I mostly went to underground events (for obvious reasons) and some clubs (for paid dance appearances).

- I hope you weren't one of those obnoxious candy kids.... smfh lol

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Stray Katz crew circa 2007. (I'm in the white cap)

-- Didn't mean to threadjack, carry on all..

No... no candy here. :D

Yeah, mainly underground parties, either really good, proper techno, or drum and bass for the most part. I always leaned (still make) techno, but a lot of my friends were DnB DJs around here, so I hit a lot of their events too.
 
No... no candy here. :D

Yeah, mainly underground parties, either really good, proper techno, or drum and bass for the most part. I always leaned (still make) techno, but a lot of my friends were DnB DJs around here, so I hit a lot of their events too.

I was a breaks man myself. (the above pics were taken at an Icey show I believe)

But, I acted like an excited little kid meeting Frankie Bones so I'm def into Techno as well.... lol

(still have a signed flyer cuz Frankie Bones is the man)
 
I was a breaks man myself. (the above pics were taken at an Icey show I believe)

But, I acted like an excited little kid meeting Frankie Bones so I'm def into Techno as well.... lol

(still have a signed flyer cuz Frankie Bones is the man)

When Mr. Bones came to Seattle, people were forming break circles. He cut the music, got on the mic, and said "This is 1996! What's with the fucking breaks?!?!?" People were a bit pissed. The next time he came out, he opened his set by apologizing, and playing breaks half the night. :D
 
I would not say boring, mine may not be used as much as I'd like based on available free time. When I do have free time I just read up on tech news and do mindless stuff or play quick games that save often.
 
I got bored/burnt out with gaming and computer hardware builds about 5 years ago and I finally got fully burnt out on WoW in 2016. After that point there would be times where I wouldn't touch a computer for weeks at a time and would groan at the thought of having to boot one up to pay a bill or write a document or (god forbid) pass the time with a video game.
I had thought I was done with them or just outgrew them was resigned to selling them off for extra money and less clutter. :eek:

That was until I received an Asus X205TA from my girlfriend that had a cratered win10 install from a failed update. I fell in love with the size and form factor of the little laptop and I then decided I wanted to run linux on it and use it... I soon discovered it no almost no out of the box support on most major distros (baytrail device) for sound, wifi, trackpad, etc and at that point I dug DEEP into Open Source development and Linux Kernel tinkering.
That Asus X205TA now runs an Ubuntu based distro with a custom patched kernel with all hardware pieces working, gives me 12-13 hours battery life and has enough horsepower for small development projects and casual use thanks to the lower system requirements on Linux.

After the Asus I am now hooked on Linux, *BSD, and unix-like operating systems as well as systems and software development with new/old hardware. I have the upgrade itch again.. but this time it isn't to play the next AAA gaming title.. its to develop and build my projects faster and on newer hardware.

TLDR: Find something else you love doing on computers instead of gaming.
 
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I do think it's harder to find something that truly engages me these days. I remember just 10 years ago I was excited to play everything I got my hands on. These days I'm really only getting that feeling from "AA" titles. Even indies feel boring at this point, with all of them going for art instead of gameplay, and they all seem to be "Metroidvania" copies. I'm about 35 years old.

How long have you been playing games? Did you miss the arcades?
 
I am so glad that this thread exists. I am 46 and used to love playing games. I loved new hardware. I loved everything about computers.

I haven't played a game in 2 years. I use my PC as a plex server and I watch movies or TV shows in the evening now, vs gaming or surfing.

My friends keep harassing me to get on and play. I just dont want to do that anymore. It is odd and I do not get it at all. nice to know I am in good company.
 
Games used to have infinite possibility (what are we going to see next, what crazy system, what crazy gameplay). That gave way to monitized, competitive, garbage.

PC tech used to make leaps in progress, making that new system not only fun to build but markedly better than the old system. Now it's such small increments you can wait more than half a decade (decade + if you just upgrade GPU once).

Yeah, stagnation has made the industry boring.
 
Time change, we get older, we think new stuff sucks, get off my lawn..

I loved gaming all weekend long, Team Fortress 2 runs for 2 days straight on weekends, jumping around between any game friends had. Always people you knew well online playing so made it fun. Now, less people I know who play the same games, less time because they have families or other things to do, so no more all nighter binges. Some co-workers did a planned gaming day, we played for about 14 hours one Saturday, but it had to be planned and cleared with everyone's wives / families.

Sure, if i was single, I would probably game a lot more after work and on weekends, but other priorities and newer games just not feeling them..
 
Odd necro bump, but I guess I'll roll with it.


I remember this game! The graphics were awesome too.

For the time I remember it being good looking. Especially with some of the destruction. On the 2nd map, the arctic one, if you blew up a portion of a building you'd see a guy sitting on a toilet taking a dump. You could independently blow him up with a single laser shot if accurate. Not impressive today, but in 1998 (?) it was.
 
PCs have been exploited to where they are no longer floppy disks but rage devices. Once every game went 3D and monitors got bigger than 23 inches it was game over for your eyeballs. If you took a week vacation from everything PC you might surprise yourself. The big monitors mess up everything and physically nuked by a supernova.
 
PCs have been exploited to where they are no longer floppy disks but rage devices. Once every game went 3D and monitors got bigger than 23 inches it was game over for your eyeballs. If you took a week vacation from everything PC you might surprise yourself. The big monitors mess up everything and physically nuked by a supernova.

4299F74C-99FA-495D-A193-AB6BC66AD5C1.jpeg
 
Gotta say the lust has worn off. For me due to work and covid working with technology 10 hours a day, when I am done with that days work just want to veg out. Plus cars have taken over as my main and only hobby besides family.
 
Gotta say the lust has worn off. For me due to work and covid working with technology 10 hours a day, when I am done with that days work just want to veg out. Plus cars have taken over as my main and only hobby besides family.
I made the same transition largely. Then my hobby went into home improvement projects where I actually saw a ROI unlike with computers and cars (unless you’re restoring classics). I still keep a relatively updated PC, usually upgrading every 3 years or so. But not like I used to with yearly upgrades to the latest and greatest tech.
 
Depends on what is out, I've always had a huge number of hobbies (mostly to my detriment of getting anything actually finished) so I cycle through them.
 
I'm pushing 60 now and have been gaming since the Atari 2600. I don't game as much as I used to but I still buy new shit all the time. I'll do it until I can't see my computer screen. Life is short and you might as well enjoy it while you can.

I do have to admit though that my shooting hobby and my new corvette hobby have more of my interest.
 
I sold my PC. I sold my consoles. I don't have a TV anymore. Instead, I started buying badass real guns and going to the gun range. I also "craft" my own ammo IRL! Much more entertaining.

Highly recommend it.
Still posting on [H] though ; )

I'm 34. My interest in gaming has been drasticly waning since some time after Dark Souls 2 released.

2 things have brought me back a little bit, in the past couple of years:

1. Fighting games were getting pretty big. The current state of the internet (forums and their derivatives, youtube, twitch, etc), has allowed average joe to easily follow and watch the pro circuits (which are pretty well supported now. And there have been some amazing stories coming out of it in terms of successes, but also embracing the multi-national/multi-racial communities). able to find local communities to play with. and fighting games are better than ever. We've kind always had good variety in fighting games. But any given choice is pretty dang good, if not great, now.

2. Right now, the appeal and potential of next gen. This past gen of PS4/Xbone didn't really get me. I feel like next gen is such a jump, we will see some really excellent stuff. Which truly eclipses this past gen. I don't think much of anything this past gen, truly eclipsed the PS3/360 era.


However, I still battle with the fact that I really don't want to sit around all the time. It can be really easy to get stuck in a rut of sitting at work, sitting at home. computer, phone, tv. I just spent the summer hiking and camping Oregon and Washington, almost every weekend. I dunno what my point is anymore but I think a lot of people have been slowly understanding tech burnout, for a couple of years.
 
Idk I am weird. I still love computer tech and assembling computers. Only a few games ever get me excited anymore and I wonder why I still bother dropping thousands on PC upgrades and new consoles. I had a 3950x and 1080ti. What more do I really need? Why do I want to buy a 5950x and a 3090? I just do but I barely put much stress on what I had. I am 37band just feel bored with life and for past few years just feel everything is pointless.

:Shrugs:
 
I still find games fun but not nearly as much as I used to. Like others, I'm in my early 40s now so maybe I'm becoming jaded too with time but things in general just don't excite me like they used to when I was 18-25 yrs old. I find fixing up my house and getting my businesses in good shape far more rewarding than I do getting a high KD in a game..shrug. That's why we all have finite lives thankfully. In fact, ever since I sold my 2080 Ti and gave my 3090 to a buddy at less than cost (took a loss on it), I don't miss gaming at all and it's been over a month.
 
I know some of you will have no idea what I mean but are computers becoming more and more boring to you?

No. In fact, I enjoy building PC's more than I ever have. Back in the day when I started (mid-1990's) what I did could be done by anyone and there was nothing all that unique about a build. All desktops were all beige boxes. Now, things are considerably more complex if you choose to make them that way. My Thermaltake WP100 case came in a flat pack box. I had to screw the frame together and assemble the case which is quite unusual. I had to install the waterblock on the GPU. I had to run tons of wiring for RGB LED controllers, water temperature sensors, fan cables, front panel connectors, USB headers and other front panel connections. I then had to assemble the machine and then plan out how I would handle the hard tubing. I then had to heat up and bend all the tubing into place etc.

It used to take me a couple hours to build a machine with careful wire management. Now a days it takes me an entire weekend to build a custom liquid cooled system like mine with hard tubing. Its more fun than it ever has been in my eyes.
 
No. In fact, I enjoy building PC's more than I ever have. Back in the day when I started (mid-1990's) what I did could be done by anyone and there was nothing all that unique about a build. All desktops were all beige boxes. Now, things are considerably more complex if you choose to make them that way. My Thermaltake WP100 case came in a flat pack box. I had to screw the frame together and assemble the case which is quite unusual. I had to install the waterblock on the GPU. I had to run tons of wiring for RGB LED controllers, water temperature sensors, fan cables, front panel connectors, USB headers and other front panel connections. I then had to assemble the machine and then plan out how I would handle the hard tubing. I then had to heat up and bend all the tubing into place etc.

It used to take me a couple hours to build a machine with careful wire management. Now a days it takes me an entire weekend to build a custom liquid cooled system like mine with hard tubing. Its more fun than it ever has been in my eyes.

Now how often do you actually find yourself using that system for gaming?
 
Now how often do you actually find yourself using that system for gaming?

A lot. But, not as much as I want to but more than you might think. I also use that same system for work. It's where I write my reviews, do graphs, edit photos, etc. I only game less than I used to because I have to adult more. It's not that my interest has waned. That said, I have other hobbies so I do go through periods of time where I do game more infrequently but it's my primary form of entertainment for sure.
 
No. In fact, I enjoy building PC's more than I ever have. Back in the day when I started (mid-1990's) what I did could be done by anyone and there was nothing all that unique about a build. All desktops were all beige boxes. Now, things are considerably more complex if you choose to make them that way. My Thermaltake WP100 case came in a flat pack box. I had to screw the frame together and assemble the case which is quite unusual. I had to install the waterblock on the GPU. I had to run tons of wiring for RGB LED controllers, water temperature sensors, fan cables, front panel connectors, USB headers and other front panel connections. I then had to assemble the machine and then plan out how I would handle the hard tubing. I then had to heat up and bend all the tubing into place etc.

It used to take me a couple hours to build a machine with careful wire management. Now a days it takes me an entire weekend to build a custom liquid cooled system like mine with hard tubing. Its more fun than it ever has been in my eyes.

I agree. Gaming is a fun past time, but I get more enjoyment out of assembling and setting up systems.
 
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