Have you lost your gaming interest?

Indy games are going to be the front runners/pioneers of the gaming industry. probably spend 90% of my gaming time playing indy games. since they are the only games that have any creativity/new concepts. even if they can have issue and bugs, its still nothing to what we had to deal with in the 90s, so it doesn't bother me.
 
I saw my first game in the student lounge at Miami of Ohio in 1976 or 77. It was "Pong", of course. Eventually made it to NYC and spent countless hours in the arcades of Times Square -- there was the old Star Trek game but I was addicted to "The Adventures of Major Havoc".

The early 90's came as well as the first of my two boys. A move to the NY suburbs in Northern NJ and a 12 year affair with Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1 - FS9. Tinkered with a couple of the Star Trek games of the period but 98% of my time was flight sim.

In Sept. of 2009, I got some good news after a medical test but something about the experience and the release of "Batman: Arkham Asylum" made me give up flight sim cold turkey. I then started to indulge myself in "real" games -- the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, Portal 1 and 2, etc. Now at 57, I'm presently playing the new Dishonored DLC. I've completed Dark Souls, Arkham City, and am anxious for Steam sales to get my hands on Infinite and Tomb Raider. Haven't looked back at FS though it has inspired my younger son to want to be an airline pilot.

Yeah, there are moments of boredom but sometimes that's because I'm playing the wrong game. I.e., just can't get into the new XCom like most of you. Never played the original. Otherwise, boredom can be cured by a good workout at the gym, a good book, watching TV (or better) with the wife, even a good comic. Gaming is no different from anything else. Take a break be it a day or a week. You'll come back fresh to the table.
 
Ed Lin said:
I saw my first game in the student lounge at Miami of Ohio in 1976 or 77. It was "Pong", of course. Eventually made it to NYC and spent countless hours in the arcades of Times Square -- there was the old Star Trek game but I was addicted to "The Adventures of Major Havoc".

The early 90's came as well as the first of my two boys. A move to the NY suburbs in Northern NJ and a 12 year affair with Microsoft Flight Simulator 5.1 - FS9. Tinkered with a couple of the Star Trek games of the period but 98% of my time was flight sim.

In Sept. of 2009, I got some good news after a medical test but something about the experience and the release of "Batman: Arkham Asylum" made me give up flight sim cold turkey. I then started to indulge myself in "real" games -- the Dragon Age and Mass Effect series, Portal 1 and 2, etc. Now at 57, I'm presently playing the new Dishonored DLC. I've completed Dark Souls, Arkham City, and am anxious for Steam sales to get my hands on Infinite and Tomb Raider. Haven't looked back at FS though it has inspired my younger son to want to be an airline pilot.

Yeah, there are moments of boredom but sometimes that's because I'm playing the wrong game. I.e., just can't get into the new XCom like most of you. Never played the original. Otherwise, boredom can be cured by a good workout at the gym, a good book, watching TV (or better) with the wife, even a good comic. Gaming is no different from anything else. Take a break be it a day or a week. You'll come back fresh to the table.
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That's a really nice outlook man, lots of great insight. I'm glad you were able to get into the more modern games and enjoy them, especially the Batman games (there's a new one coming soon!).

I agree with the last part as well, that while we all may seem irritated by games or start to lose interest, with a bit of a change (gym, books, other hobbies), we can all come back with a fresh slate and continue to enjoy what we did when we were teens or even younger.
 
I've lost interest in gaming in many ways, but in many other ways I'm just as strong of a gamer as always.

I miss the "simplicity" of older FPS games like Q3, UT, CS:S, BF1942. Fairly simple concepts, simple maps, and everyone playing on the same potential level. People can just jump in and have fun, it doesn't matter if you're a veteran or if you've never played the game before.

Now most FPS games have devolved into a Pay2Win DLC scrubfest where the only function you serve as a player just trying to have casual fun is cannon fodder for all of the people who bought into the failed system. Now I know that there are people who actually do get into that aspect of the game, collecting guns, being "better" than the other players due to something other than skill, etc. But just because that is where we ended up, doesn't mean it's a meaningful evolution of entertaining gameplay for most.

Where I find that my desire to game is as strong as ever is with a good RTS. I loved older RTS games like Total Annihilation with a passion, and still love newer RTS games such as Shogun 2: Total War. I can still play a single match for 8 hours, just like when I was a teenager. I can't wait for Rome 2: Total War to come out later this year.

I also play World of Warcraft extensively. I've played since not long after the game came out, and at my peak I was over 6000 minutes/week but now I've settled down to about ~3000. Over 400 days played time so far. I find that what keeps me playing the game is partly the community. I have a role and I feel like I'm contributing to the group in a positive way. I also like the alternative responsibilities you can have. I've played a healer since day 1. I like being able to do something other than just kill stuff.

So REALLY it's mainly just FPS games that I've become disillusioned with. I'm almost 30 now, so I obviously am getting older now, but I can't imagine myself embracing the concept of Pay2Win DLC that you have to have just to be able to play on a basic level with the other people in-game even if I was still a teenager. Interestingly, they were giving BF1942 away for free on Origin last year and me and a bunch of my friends were all playing it - still fun as ever.
 
GotNoRice said:
I've lost interest in gaming in many ways, but in many other ways I'm just as strong of a gamer as always.

I miss the "simplicity" of older FPS games like Q3, UT, CS:S, BF1942. Fairly simple concepts, simple maps, and everyone playing on the same potential level. People can just jump in and have fun, it doesn't matter if you're a veteran or if you've never played the game before.

Now most FPS games have devolved into a Pay2Win DLC scrubfest where the only function you serve as a player just trying to have casual fun is cannon fodder for all of the people who bought into the failed system. Now I know that there are people who actually do get into that aspect of the game, collecting guns, being "better" than the other players due to something other than skill, etc. But just because that is where we ended up, doesn't mean it's a meaningful evolution of entertaining gameplay for most.

Where I find that my desire to game is as strong as ever is with a good RTS. I loved older RTS games like Total Annihilation with a passion, and still love newer RTS games such as Shogun 2: Total War. I can still play a single match for 8 hours, just like when I was a teenager. I can't wait for Rome 2: Total War to come out later this year.

I also play World of Warcraft extensively. I've played since not long after the game came out, and at my peak I was over 6000 minutes/week but now I've settled down to about ~3000. Over 400 days played time so far. I find that what keeps me playing the game is partly the community. I have a role and I feel like I'm contributing to the group in a positive way. I also like the alternative responsibilities you can have. I've played a healer since day 1. I like being able to do something other than just kill stuff.

So REALLY it's mainly just FPS games that I've become disillusioned with. I'm almost 30 now, so I obviously am getting older now, but I can't imagine myself embracing the concept of Pay2Win DLC that you have to have just to be able to play on a basic level with the other people in-game even if I was still a teenager. Interestingly, they were giving BF1942 away for free on Origin last year and me and a bunch of my friends were all playing it - still fun as ever.
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Damn man, that's more than half the week (don't know your spread of how long per day etc.) of just WoW? How can you stand that?

I think we all get a little disinterested with certain genres for a bit, until a shining example comes along where we jump back in for a bit.
 
BiH115 said:
Damn man, that's more than half the week (don't know your spread of how long per day etc.) of just WoW? How can you stand that?
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The few weeks right after a new expansion comes out, when you are no longer at the level cap and are trying to get there as quickly as possible and get a jump start on the new content, I barely even sleep.
 
Definitely on a gaming cool down. Didn't buy/pre-order Bioshock Infinite; used to have a daily TF2 habit that I've scaled back to once or twice a week now. Still dabbling in Chivalry: Medieval Warfare- but it's getting old fast.

I'm 45. For me, it's not entirely about having less time to game or RL cutting in. (although I did buy a new house and am still settling) Just feels like the compulsion to game has diminished. It's still fun, but it rarely changes and will always be there.
 
GotNoRice said:
The few weeks right after a new expansion comes out, when you are no longer at the level cap and are trying to get there as quickly as possible and get a jump start on the new content, I barely even sleep.
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I can attest to this. When a new expansion comes out, me and some guildmates basically grinded hard to level 90 and started heroics asap.

Of course, there are people that, once raid content is released, push close to 30-40 hours (or more) a week of raiding for World Firsts. But those are the very small minority of maybe ~1% of the player base. But I still play WoW as one of my primary games. However I did pick up the newest Bioshock and am enjoying it so far.
 
Saturn_V said:
I'm 45. For me, it's not entirely about having less time to game or RL cutting in. (although I did buy a new house and am still settling) Just feels like the compulsion to game has diminished. It's still fun, but it rarely changes and will always be there.
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i am of your way of thinking entirely. i still have plenty of time to game and i love gaming
but that "compulsion" just isn't there. i don't feel the need to play like i used to. If i don't play for a week its no big deal, where as 7-8 years ago i would have been freaking out. i have lost that drive that would see me playing 40+ hour marathon gaming sessions and wanting more at the end.( not that i miss that)
 
yep just play the casual hon/dota2 or war z but nothing great anymore to play. Do miss those cal days for css bf2 cod4.
 
I haven't lost my interest,but I have become much more selective in what I play. I used to play every FPS that I could find,but the glut of bad,boring shooters created by the console market got tiring. STALKER revitalized my interest,love the open world,quest driven gameplay. Problem is finding such games that are done right,so far only the STALKER and Fallout series have succeeded with me.
 
I still play a lot of games but I find myself becoming increasingly isolated in my gaming interest. I mean when I was a teenager I would play as many games as I could get my hands on but now even when I have around 200 games I tend to only play a few games per year.

I suppose some of it's that games tend to overlap and I prefer to only play the best games of a particular style or maby it's just because I tend not to care to spread my time out that much.
 
I think that if you play alone you will eventually get bored of gaming, for example try playing borderlands 2 alone and then playing with a group friends and it's a totally different experience.

I'm telling you because it happened to me, I'm 24 right now.
 
Elvis087 said:
I think that if you play alone you will eventually get bored of gaming, for example try playing borderlands 2 alone and then playing with a group friends and it's a totally different experience.

I'm telling you because it happened to me, I'm 24 right now.
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31 and I still play only SP games, I haven't touch MP in any real way since bf2142,l4d,and l4d2. I can't get into MP anymore.

I can sit and play a good SP game, like BL2 or Bioshock Infinite no problem.

I'm back on older games now and I can sit there for hours and play them.
 
Well for me its not just gaming. I don't get nearly as excited about sports events as I used too - and its rare that I get up for a movie either. I do think this is aged related. Its this feeling of being jaded. I don't particularly like it. Even a fast car doesn't quite thrill me as much as I would like..

One trick to help gaming though is to really just pick one game at a time and play through it. Don't try to play say GW2 and Bioshock infinite. Pick one - play that a bit - then stop and finish another game. Also personally i stick with AAA titles that I think I will like. Some people might really enjoy minecraft but in your forties that just seems like a waste of time.
 
GuyClinch said:
Its this feeling of being jaded.
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I agree with that in many cases too, but I've had spurts where I was giddy like a kid again and, in my case anyways, it came about when I was taking care of others stuff, especially my health/happiness.

I also agree it may help to just play one game at a time. The feeling of having unfinished business laying around the house can be a drag. If you really don't like a game part-way through, then sell it or give it away, don't try to drag yourself through it.
 
For me, it comes and goes in waves. A big problem in the 2000s and 2010s is there were/are no longer new genres to event, only sub-genres, which leads to somewhat derivative game play.

When games really kicked off in the 80s, there were adventure games, RPGs, simulations, turn based strategy and arcade games.

In the 90s, the FPS genre came along, the space combat genre and mech combat genre really came along in addition to another big one, RTSs. Everything was so fresh and new in entirely new styles and viewpoints of game-play.

Games back then were also done more by independent developers or small teams of major publishers and it truly was about making games "they" wanted to play as opposed to making games that would reach the widest possible audience as it is today, which in the end, everyone suffers.

There hasn't been a game in the last 13 or 14 years that blew me away the way (OK, Morrowind's open world that finally gave us polys for the NPCs and enemies in the Elder Scrolls series did blow me away) that the LucasFilm Games of The Eidolon, Koronis Rift, BallBlazer, Rescue on Fractulus, Sierra adventure games or Alternate Reality series by DataSoft did back in the 80s.....

.....or the impact that Wolf3D, Doom, Quake, UT, TA, WarCraft 2, StarCraft, Diablo, X-Wing, Tie-Fighter, Freespace and the Jane's simulation series had in the 90s. And there were some cool hybrid games such as BattleZone and Uprising.

The good news is some of these projects on Kickstarter could turn PC gaming on its head and get us back closer to those days of originality since the developers won't be publisher driven. I have a good feeling that Star Citizen, Planetary Annihilation, Wasteland 2, Tides of Numenera and a number of others stand a great chance of taking us back to those good old days that are not simply cases of nostalgia, but damn good games that I can still play today despite their graphics.
 
OP i'm in the same situation as you. Cycled through four different computers in the past 3 years. Sold parts to friends at large discounts. Bought tons of steam games and never finished any. I keep buying and buying games but never have time or interest to play.

Surprisingly/sadly, the only thing that has kept my interest is a Nintendo 3DS XL actually, guess I had to go way retro. Been having fun playing Fire Emblem.

Probably spend more time reading about computer parts/games and deals than playing them.
 
42 here. Game daily. I do get a little bored with titles and genre's some times, but what usually gets me right back into it, is my gaming buds. Been playing with most since EQ. A couple since MUD's. It's like golf. Shit isn't exciting, but with your buds it is.

I do swap genre's a bit now. MMO's has been my thing for years, but lately I just get bored even thinking about the newer titles.

Games that I NEVER thought I would play like League of Legends I play a game daily. Marvel Heroes, Diablo 3...Games I can get some quick gaming in while drinking a beer.

I also slow way the fuck down on gaming come summer. It needs to be a title I REALLY want to play to get me off my outdoor kick during the summer. This summer I do plan on playing Marvel Heroes quite a bit, but that's about it.
 
Krieger91 said:
I can only play that game in short bursts, it's frustrating when an archer blocks your overhead maul swing with a dagger.
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Man, that's only #67 in the Top 100 Things that Bug The Living Shit Outta Me in Chivalry: Medieval Warfare.

I so much want to like this game, but more and more I just call bullshit. Maybe CLANG! will get it right.

#9.... Low Grav Deathmatch
 
Wow, I was just thinking about this the other day. I used to be HUGE into gaming. I played games for hours on end as a kid. I remember logging over 4 months of in-game play on Call of Duty 4 with my Xbox 360 in high school. Now that I am in college, there are so many other things in life that take up my time and even when I do have some free time to spare, I find myself enjoying a couple episodes of my favorite tv series/shows rather than reaching for my 360's controller.
 
I too have a backlog of games that will haunt me for years to come. I spend more time upgrading parts and getting everything running perfectly I only play games in LAN while drinking absurd amounts of beer and when that happens, we play UT or co-op HL2.... :eek:
 
next-Jin, I completely understand.

My situation is a little different, but similar. My wife and I had a baby back in September and when I actually do get a few minutes that I can play I feel like there are a million other things I need to do. I want to play, spend more money on games, but I know they will go unused. When the thought of spending more money comes up I think about my son going to college and it scares the crap out of me how we will pay for it. He's 8 months old and I'm already worrying about that.
 
I don't think I've lost interest so much as there has been a decline in quality of games. This current generation of gaming is by far the worst we have ever seen.
 
I don't think I've so much burned out on games as I've burned out on repetition. If it's really repetitive I have a lot harder time enjoying it.
 
Nah, you're not "burned out on gaming": your just dying inside. That happens after you turn 30 :) Kidding...

I do know what you mean. I'm 35 and the amount of time I've spent gaming, in the last two years in particular, has probably dropped 80%. Different priorities, I guess. Also, I'm much more discerning in what I play so will normally wait a good couple weeks for reviews and forum posts from people I trust before committing time to a game. The only really two games I've spent time playing this year has been Skyrim (still), FC3 and Bioshock Infinite.

I have noticed my preferences in genres has steered significantly away from shooters lately. I just can't waste time playing another carbon-copy, dumbed down twitch shooter like COD or MOH.
 
I don't know man. Gaming in itself, is a waste of time. Come to think of it, A LOT of things are a waste of time, but who cares, right? Might as well.
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Yes you are absolutely right.

I don't think I quite explained myself. I think there are different kinds of games. Some games are designed to be 'time killers' these provide something moderately entertaining that you can do for a very extended amount of time without getting bored of it.

They are a kind of slow burn - like an old school MMO or a MUD. Minecraft falls in that kind of catergory. If you felt you had alot of time to kill these games are entertaining. They often have subtle complexity that is only revealed with extended play. Game companies have of course figured this out to a large extent and try to redo games that are more immediate and have a broader appeal.

The problem is for the jaded adult the 'immediate' games lack complexity and the 'slow burn' games feel like a 'waste of time' because the time invested for the fun payoff is so high.
 
~20, interest in games rapidly diminishes.
22, lost interest not only in games but life.
 
tehslippery said:
I don't think I've so much burned out on games as I've burned out on repetition. If it's really repetitive I have a lot harder time enjoying it.
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I agree along those lines. When I first played the Bethesda game Oblivion, I was sucked into the world and wasted 200+ hours quite easily. Now after all that I was psyched to get Skyrim...but funny thing is I can already imagine it, and its repetitive task oriented game design...played for 2-3 hours and maybe hit 6+ hours and just kinda repetition'd out from so much Oblivion play back in the day.

Now back to PS3 GT5 and tuning cars...I have over 900 cars and running out of one's to tune. I've heard GT6 will be announced soon...but I might be expecting something that is completely predicatable and the same like I went through with Obliviob->Skyrim, with once again repetitive tasks of the same old game makers design. Same thing when you see New Super Mario brothers on the Wii and then another game that looks the same on the Wii U. Makes it hard to get excited when a game can basically be a new DLC to the one you previously had in the series.

How many times can a person essentially play the same game, b4 they burn out? 2, 3, 4? I think a couple is probably the limit for me, maybe even 1 time is enough.
 
GuyClinch said:
Yes you are absolutely right.

I don't think I quite explained myself. I think there are different kinds of games. Some games are designed to be 'time killers' these provide something moderately entertaining that you can do for a very extended amount of time without getting bored of it.

They are a kind of slow burn - like an old school MMO or a MUD. Minecraft falls in that kind of catergory. If you felt you had alot of time to kill these games are entertaining. They often have subtle complexity that is only revealed with extended play. Game companies have of course figured this out to a large extent and try to redo games that are more immediate and have a broader appeal.

The problem is for the jaded adult the 'immediate' games lack complexity and the 'slow burn' games feel like a 'waste of time' because the time invested for the fun payoff is so high.
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So your saying that it isn't now you don't enjoy games , it's just hard to find a game you enjoy that is designed to be enjoyable with the amount of time you have to invest .
 
turning 39 newly wed still go on game benders crysis3,fc3,tr 2013,blops2, gw2, etc my wife is Japanese she will rock any rhythm game lolz. and is very understanding of my hobbies.bikes cars pc games :D living next to micro center is constant temptation
however the game time is not always available and a several month break happens from time to time. I don't watch much TV the web / netflix and gamin are more entertaining than the unreality shows broadcast today . It just gets worse every year :p
 
I'm kind of in the same boat OP. I still love building hardware and following the scene. But actually using that hardware for gaming is becoming increasingly rare for me. I recently upgraded my 6850 to a 7870 and I haven't even used it to really play much of anything. I got it because I felt it was a good deal.

It feels like every game coming out for PC anymore is just another dime a dozen, FPS console port. At almost 31 years old, I've been playing those since the mid nineties. The industry needs a reboot in the worst way.
 
20 here and I'm super burnt out on gaming after playing WoW for 5-6 years when I was younger. Shooters are decent but mostly meh. The only games that I can play for more than 10 minutes anymore are on iOS. Maybe I just haven't discovered the right game.

Also, having only a Mac without enough room on my SSD for a Windows partition makes it much harder to game.
 
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