Game addiction

L

Laffles

Gawd
Joined
Aug 23, 2011
Messages
903
lol this must be a thing, I so have it.

I've purchased maybe 20 games in the past 2 months, games I know are great, LA noir, witcher 2, Darkness 2, skyrim, orcs must die, saints row the third to name a few.

I can't seem to help myself, my justification is that they are ok deals and I guess I love my steam account and collecting games on it.

But it gets to the point where I play each one, for like 6 or so hours, and then for some reason I just lose interest, not that the game is bad, I can't explain it. I just don't know what to play next.. Get sucked into a cool story and then another. It's like I want to stuff all the gamey goodness into every available orifice like a fat selfish prostitute, only to get pimp slapped for being a hoe, and being overwhelmed with self loathing afterwards you know?

Does anyone else do this?

First world problems
 
Don't buy so many games?

I would uninstall ALL games on your computer and just keep the one you're MOST interested in (would be Orcs Must Die for me, lol). And just focus on that.

Never quite understood people buying games because they're "cheap" though. They still cost money and chances are you'll keep doing this forever, wasting money and never ending up playing them
 
Laffles said:
Does anyone else do this?

First world problems
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Majority of modern games are crap and are barely able to hold the attention of the mainstream 12 year old demographic either.

I think what you are experiencing is what we call 'growing up.'

I tend to feel the same way, except I don't buy NEARLY as many new games, and I'm even picky on games that are cheap.
 
I buy a lot of games that go on sale, and sometimes I force myself to finish them. I also play way more than I should.
 
Oomps said:
115 steam games



Finished 3 :(
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Woooooow man, and you still don't realize that's a big problem? Think of how much money you just threw away (supporting devs is not an excuse, you just threw it away plain and simple)
 
shoot.. as long as you have the money.. and youre not depriving yourself or others anything.. go for it.. youll catch up sooner or later.. But.. if you taking bill money or food money.. STOP! thats a way to get in deep jeopardy
 
thecrafter said:
Woooooow man, and you still don't realize that's a big problem? Think of how much money you just threw away (supporting devs is not an excuse, you just threw it away plain and simple)
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Only a few games were near full price and a lot of stuff was from humble bundles and stuff. I used to play games a lot more, and I'm only rarely upset that I've found other stuff to take up my time :p
 
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castun said:
Majority of modern games are crap and are barely able to hold the attention of the mainstream 12 year old demographic either.

I think what you are experiencing is what we call 'growing up.'

I tend to feel the same way, except I don't buy NEARLY as many new games, and I'm even picky on games that are cheap.
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Yeah, it is growing up. It takes more to entertain us as we get older, unless the game hits our "sweet spot" and that's different for everyone. Still yet, I plan on playing in the retirement home.
 
Parmenides said:
Yeah, it is growing up. It takes more to entertain us as we get older, unless the game hits our "sweet spot" and that's different for everyone. Still yet, I plan on playing in the retirement home.
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Me too. I can just imagine myself, I'd probably be perfectly happy lying in my deathbed demanding that my laptop (by then VR system hopefully) be plugged in. :D
 
thecrafter said:
Don't buy so many games?

I would uninstall ALL games on your computer and just keep the one you're MOST interested in (would be Orcs Must Die for me, lol). And just focus on that.

Never quite understood people buying games because they're "cheap" though. They still cost money and chances are you'll keep doing this forever, wasting money and never ending up playing them
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this.

what i've found is that SSD's have helped people with a steam/game addiction somewhat.

most games run fine off your old magnetic HD's tho i like having my favourite games on my SSD for speedier load times. as i've only got a 120GB SSD boot drive, this somewhat limits the number of games installed at once. hell Shogun2 with the 'fall of the samurai' expansion gobbled up 30GB by its self and the fricken game isn't even multi-threaded.

I've still got a few games installed and 'mlinked/steam-tooled' over on a magnetic HD tho most of the older titles are archived in a storage folder on my NAS.

as I've gotten older, i too have noticed i'm real picky on what i pay for. usually won't touch FPS anymore (unless it's exceptional - ie STALKER) mostly b/c they're shitty console ports.
personally, when i find a game i like, i play it do death (Total War series, Civilization etc).
 
There is good news. At some point sales will not matter any more :)

Found 318 Games with a value of
$4326.83 USD
 
I have a buddy that is the same way, he buys shitloads of games and never finishes them....

Its really annoying because we never have anything to talk about regarding certain games.:p
 
I think my steam count is around 170 now and I haven't finished many of them earlier. The thing is though, I fully intend to finish most of the games, even the crap load of console games I've accumulated over the years. But having a full time job and raising a small child has cut into my gaming time. I know if I had the time, I would have finished way more games.

I think I need to take some holiday time off work and get through my backlog, haha.
 
I've started a system to deal with this kind of problem. Basically, I make 6 categories on my Steam list, simliar to their forum groupings (#-C, D-G, etc.). I'm allowed to pick ONE game from each section, and I MUST beat it (or play it enough to thoroughly explore it, depends on the game), in order to play another game from that section. It helps if you keep all other games uninstalled. Multiplayer/MMO and other mainstays that are always fun are an exception to the rule.
 
you know, if you are not really having fun with a game, then what is the point of "beating" it?
 
I tend to play a game until I'm tired of it and then by another. I can handle havnig about two I need to play at a time. I'll switch back and fourth between the two of them often until one or both are complete or I lose interest. This is why I still don't have Arkham City. I'm playing ME3's multiplayer and I still have the Darkness II to play. Until these things are out of my system I won't buy anything else.
 
jiminator said:
you know, if you are not really having fun with a game, then what is the point of "beating" it?
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I agree, if you don't like it, don't play it. I tend to research all the games I buy (when they're on sale), so I'll most likely enjoy all of them. I don't have much money, but between indie bundles and Steam/Amazon sales, I have a lot on my backlog.

It has kinda bit me in the ass, though. I wanted to buy Legend of Grimrock, and my girlfriend (who is also an avid PC gamer) said, "Don't you have like 20 other games you need to play first?" I told her, "Yeah, but I just bought those games because they were on sale! I actually want to play Legend of Grimrock right now!" And she gave me a disappointed look. So I don't have Legend of Grimrock yet. =(
 
Laffles said:
It's like I want to stuff all the gamey goodness into every available orifice like a fat selfish prostitute, only to get pimp slapped for being a hoe, and being overwhelmed with self loathing afterwards you know?

Does anyone else do this?
Click to expand...

Hilarious :D

Yes, to some degree I do this, but only with games on sale, and that's because I know even if I only get 4-5 hours of enjoyment out of the game it will have been worth the low sale price.

But I do go back through my steam catalogue and finish off games slowly, over the last month or so I've been on a single player gaming spree finishing stuff I hoarded over Xmas, I find the best thing to do is just filter by favourites and add just 2-3 single player games there it makes the list feel small and keeps you focused on just a few games until you complete them.
 
castun said:
I think what you are experiencing is what we call 'growing up.'

I tend to feel the same way, except I don't buy NEARLY as many new games, and I'm even picky on games that are cheap.
Click to expand...

This is the approach I'm taking.
 
Parmenides said:
Yeah, it is growing up. It takes more to entertain us as we get older, unless the game hits our "sweet spot" and that's different for everyone. Still yet, I plan on playing in the retirement home.
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This actually makes me curious. I wonder who the oldest gamer is? Any takers?
 
I think it stems from a hoarding addiction rather than a gaming addiction.
 
Deep inside, we're all gamers and nothing will change that. Not responsibilities, not children, not a damn thing. We will continue to game. Thankfully for me, it's mostly MMOs lol. Sure I make small micro-transactions here and there but nothing more than 50 a month.
 
I have the same problem ... Just need more control I guess. Right now have a Star wars MMO account I've kept active for the last 2 months without going in once!
 
I don't really game as much as I'd like to, but when there is a deal on a particular video game I usually buy it "just in case", especially multi-player games. My game back log is getting unmanageable. I get thoroughly distracted with whatever AAA title is out at the time that people can't stop yapping about. I'm still in the dwarf mines area in Witcher 2, and I got it on release day. When the extended edition came out, I thought I'd revisit it, but instead I'm wasting time here on HardForum, and over on bautforum. :D Games in my immediate todo list:

Alan Wake
Witcher 2
Tropico 4
Legend of Grimrock
Gothic 4
Risen
Diablo 3
Arkham City
Fallout 3
Fallout NV

Loving Tropico 4, but I'm not even 1/2 way through the single player campaign, and I already bought the DLC... Skyrim and Mass Effect 3 distracted me from everything for a while, and burnt me out a little. I had the same issue with Deus Ex HR and Dragon Age 2. I will most definitely buy more games before I finish any games on my list. Too much expendable income, not enough dedicated time. Games with multiple endings, I end up on YouTube looking at the endings rather than revisiting the game for another play through. Information overload in my leisure time is probably shaping me into a grumpy, impatient old man.
 
I've been there, but I've since made it a point to finish games. At one point I had 30 + games that I"d played like 4 hours each of, so I was not allowed to buy more until i beat 5. I'm a sad man
 
Sounds more like a spending addiction than a gaming addiction. Gaming addiction would be playing until 5AM every night and losing your job.

I remember setting my alarm to 3AM back in high school to get in 3-4 hours of CS before going to school, then sleeping through most of the day with my head on my desk. I think that would qualify as an addiction. Or falling asleep while playing CS, then waking up only to find...I was still somehow playing CS while asleep/partially asleep.
 
Laffles said:
lol this must be a thing, I so have it.

I've purchased maybe 20 games in the past 2 months, games I know are great, LA noir, witcher 2, Darkness 2, skyrim, orcs must die, saints row the third to name a few.

I can't seem to help myself, my justification is that they are ok deals and I guess I love my steam account and collecting games on it.

But it gets to the point where I play each one, for like 6 or so hours, and then for some reason I just lose interest, not that the game is bad, I can't explain it. I just don't know what to play next.. Get sucked into a cool story and then another. It's like I want to stuff all the gamey goodness into every available orifice like a fat selfish prostitute, only to get pimp slapped for being a hoe, and being overwhelmed with self loathing afterwards you know?

Does anyone else do this?

First world problems
Click to expand...

Dude, i'm the exact same way!
 
thecrafter said:
Don't buy so many games?

I would uninstall ALL games on your computer and just keep the one you're MOST interested in (would be Orcs Must Die for me, lol). And just focus on that.

Never quite understood people buying games because they're "cheap" though. They still cost money and chances are you'll keep doing this forever, wasting money and never ending up playing them
Click to expand...

I don't see how keeping a subset of your games on your PC helps/hurts playing one game. If you have to go to extremes to keep yourself interested in a game isn't it easier to admit you aren't happy playing it, or want to try something else?

I buy games that are multiplayer that are cheap because my LAN parties often have folks who want to play a variety of games. Rather than only being able to participate in a subset of the games I find owning most of them (especially for a few dollars each) saves me the time of having to buy and download a game, plus I get a chance to learn the game prior to the LAN party.

castun said:
Majority of modern games are crap and are barely able to hold the attention of the mainstream 12 year old demographic either.

I think what you are experiencing is what we call 'growing up.'

I tend to feel the same way, except I don't buy NEARLY as many new games, and I'm even picky on games that are cheap.
Click to expand...

If video games not holding your interest is a barometer of 'growing up' then I don't think I'll be growing up any time soon. This metric is as abritrary as saying, "Once you stop watching animated cartoons you are growing up" or "Once you are unwilling to participate in a food fight you are growing up".
 
The point of uninstalling games is that you're not tempted to hop from one game to another every 5 minutes and you only have one game to focus your time on.

I also agree on the growing up part, at least on my end. I just lost pretty much all interest in gaming somewhere around 18 years old. That or incredibly shitty games started coming out around that time. I remember Fallout 3 was the last straw for me. No doubt I'm a minority but my god what a turd of a game. Incredibly boring, repetitive, generic. Concept is great but.. no. After that I noticed all games that came out after the year 2005 are shit
 
Tytalus said:
If video games not holding your interest is a barometer of 'growing up' then I don't think I'll be growing up any time soon. This metric is as abritrary as saying, "Once you stop watching animated cartoons you are growing up" or "Once you are unwilling to participate in a food fight you are growing up".
Click to expand...

I'm not saying that enjoyment of games is tied to your maturity or anything, I just think that people's tastes in games change as life goes on, and people's tastes also tend to get more refined and sensitive to the quality of the games themselves. There's only so many rehashed and recycled games that people can deal with without getting bored quicker.
 
castun said:
I'm not saying that enjoyment of games is tied to your maturity or anything, I just think that people's tastes in games change as life goes on, and people's tastes also tend to get more refined and sensitive to the quality of the games themselves. There's only so many rehashed and recycled games that people can deal with without getting bored quicker.
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Excellent point and very true. "Seen it, done that" would obviously be more and more prevalent after you played so many games in your life
 
castun said:
I'm not saying that enjoyment of games is tied to your maturity or anything, I just think that people's tastes in games change as life goes on, and people's tastes also tend to get more refined and sensitive to the quality of the games themselves. There's only so many rehashed and recycled games that people can deal with without getting bored quicker.
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I completely agree. I'm not so interested in FPS anymore as I am story driven, RPG style games. I used to play nothing but Q2:RA2, CS, BF style games...now about 30 min of BF3 does nothing but piss me off. For some people, interests change as you get older. If they don't, I wouldn't say that is a sign of being immature or whatever. Unless you're still playing with a speak n' spell.
 
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