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I don’t find video games much fun anymore

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fallacy:

So I did a google search a while ago and came across this thread.

http://pauljessup.com/2008/10/17/i-dont-find-video-games-much-fun-anymore/

this thread just keeps getting longer and longer with people that feel the same way about video games.  At 1 point we were totally addicted to games and something happened to where video games were no longer fun. We want them to be fun even if it is just 1 game worthy of our attention; they do not and it makes us sad  :'(

I’m 31 but it’s not an age thing. If you read the thread you will have kids as young as 14 to late 30’s saying the same thing. What causes it? If it is not as simple as just getting older then what?


Paul Olson:

I think a lot of it is repetition. In the late 70s and early 80s, there was always something new to try. Now, for the most part, we just get to play the latest evolution of a game instead of something new. I have been a Zelda fan, but they impress me less with every new edition. I enjoyed a few hours of Twighlight Princess, then took a break and never started again. I am looking forward to the new one, but I would not be at all surprised if the same thing happens.
I have 13 arcade games in my garage, and I probably play out there less than an hour a month most months. I enjoy the little time I spend out there, but most of the time, I don't feel a need to play more. It is weird; I have spent more time playing Angry Birds than any other game in the last year. Maybe not, I played through Fable 2 in January, and that took a while. The last game I played through was Dungeon Siege...that was a while back. I think I took a break in DS2 about halfway through, and never came back.

The funny thing is, if you asked people who know me, I think most would say that my life is completely consumed by games. I rarely play, and I only play when it is fun. Some people play games like they are working. That is just too much for me.

Tonight, I played 1 game of Time Crisis 3, 3 games of Moon Patrol, and 2 games of Donkey Kong Jr. It was great. That is a big game day these days, and it is plenty to tide me over until next time.

Howard_Casto:

I agree with a lot of what you are saying, but I don't think that unique games don't exist, it's just the consumer only demands more of the same and then complains about the franchise being stale even though they would complain just as much if the same company didn't make a sequel or took the franchise in a radically different direction. 

You've got to remember that video games as a form of entertainment, is still in it's infancy.  We are at the stage to whre consumer and producer alike have whittled their tastes down to a slim margin and the whole medium suffers for it.  For cinema it was the western, for tv it was the sitcom, and now for video games it's the FPS (bah!!!!).  Eventually someone will wise up and realize that a big risk in terms of game design is exactly what we need right now.

Companies that make fantastic games are already catching on to this... ubisoft's POP and AC series have created a whole new action genre and more is on the way.  The thing is people need to actually buy these games, or they won't further development.

fallacy:


--- Quote ---I think a lot of it is repetition. In the late 70s and early 80s, there was always something new to try. Now, for the most part, we just get to play the latest evolution of a game instead of something new. I have been a Zelda fan, but they impress me less with every new edition. I enjoyed a few hours of Twighlight Princess, then took a break and never started again. I am looking forward to the new one, but I would not be at all surprised if the same thing happens.
I have 13 arcade games in my garage, and I probably play out there less than an hour a month most months. I enjoy the little time I spend out there, but most of the time, I don't feel a need to play more. It is weird; I have spent more time playing Angry Birds than any other game in the last year. Maybe not, I played through Fable 2 in January, and that took a while. The last game I played through was Dungeon Siege...that was a while back. I think I took a break in DS2 about halfway through, and never came back.

The funny thing is, if you asked people who know me, I think most would say that my life is completely consumed by games. I rarely play, and I only play when it is fun. Some people play games like they are working. That is just too much for me.

Tonight, I played 1 game of Time Crisis 3, 3 games of Moon Patrol, and 2 games of Donkey Kong Jr. It was great. That is a big game day these days, and it is plenty to tide me over until next time.
--- End quote ---


The fact that you still sit down and play games regardless of how much time you play them means you still find video games fun. You are still not at that point yet, lucky you.

SavannahLion:

I started writing this post with the mentality that these people probably suck and that their lives suck. Seriously, who the hell would get bored with games?!? After reading the comments and writing this post down, I came to realize that I too have slowly begun my travels away from the world of gaming. Read on.


Hhmm... I imagine the reasons are different for different people.

Some look like they might be burnt out. It happens. Happened to me. They make movies about prodigies who burn out. People hear about it with chess players, but it happens in all interests. My father was an Olympian, I wouldn't have even qualified in the pre-qualifiers.

For others, it appears they've reached a skill limit or upper ceiling. A particular genre doesn't hold an interest because the challenge is no longer there. It's one of the reasons I stopped playing the 8-bit Megaman games. Except for the first, every single release followed the same basic rule set. Not much challenge after a fashion. In fact, I think Megaman (or Secret of Mana) is where I grasped the concept of an Engine (though at the time I had no idea that's what it was) and the basic rule sets they tended to follow. In a nut shell, once I understood the rules of the engine, the game came to be too easy.

The OP talks about growing away from gaming. That's how I feel sometimes. I still play some hard core sessions, playing for two to four hours at a stretch. But it's more like escaping daily pressures of being a parent that actually gaming. Wife is out shopping, kids are gone, got tired of all the pron, it's raining. Might as well play some games. This is coming from someone who wouldn't have thought twice about doing twelve hour cow runs in Diablo or playing Half-Life with the forward key disabled ten years ago. But those sessions are growing further apart and fewer in number. Now if I have some free time, I put it towards more "important" things. Cleaning and repairing the house. Studying. Things like that. My long game sessions are about six months apart now. I still get thirty minute to hour long sessions in, but that's usually late at night, around midnight or 1AM and those are pretty rare now too. Not because I have better things to do, but because I'm just too damn tired.

I still like games, I just don't want to dedicate as much time to them anymore. I'll still buy DNF and it'll probably the only game I'll play for the next six to nine months. Not because I'm hardcore into it. Because I just can't span my attention across more than one game.

Mind you I'm not talking about casual games. The times I play something like Angry Birds at work. I still don't play casuals much, I play them more to prevent my coworkers from socializing with me. I seriously do not want to talk to them about their problems and I don't want them asking about mine.

I think that's why I like BYOAC so much. Here, it's less about the games and more about actually making something that's tangible. Sure, I can get trophies on the PS3 Network, but five years down the road, what do I have? Nothing. According to Sony, those sequence of bits aren't even mine anyways. If I build an arcade cab, what do I have five years later? A bunch of wood/plastic/metal that says, "I built this ---smurfing--- thing and when I die, my kids might sell it on Craigslist. But you know what? I don't care, at least they have something of mine they can sell." Can't do that with a digital trophy on a network that might not even be around in five years.

I think this poster articulated it better than I can. I've included the direct quote for prosperity. The bold portion is key.

--- Quote ---NZ says:
February 21, 2009 at 7:54 pm

Hey everyone, This is a long one sorry :/

I thought I would share with the group. I have been, like most of the other posters here, playing games since I was very young and have kept up with gaming trends and motions over the years. I am 27 now and I have also realized that games (both past and new) don’t hold the same luster. I gave it some thought and I think I know where it stems from. Now this is not to say my opinion applies to everyone but maybe it helps shed some insight on your situations too.

For me, my lack of enthusiasm for new games is three-fold:
Overexposure, Cynicism, and Maturity.

By this I mean after 20 some odd years of gaming, you kind of have seen it all and done it all. Oh look another shooter *bang bang*, great a new quest for more fake praise… We already know what to expect before we even play – granted there are some surprises that wake us up once in a while, but after that gameplay goes right back to the same ol same ol.

Now thats not to say games aren't fun, but that most games are getting old hat. Fun (for me anyway) comes from keeping my interest and engaging me in the story/action/event etc. That ties into the fact that every game, no matter how fresh and different will always result in the same cycle of events:

Wait for game > Buy game > play game > beat game > master game > sell/trade/forget game.

We are just avid gamers that stop caring somewhere around "play game". And thats fine! Games are for recreation not as a replacement for our real lives. There are 8th graders out there that swarm the forums and live play and think that being the best at games is what life is all about. And fine great knock yourselves out but frankly if I have to spend 28 hours improving my skillz so as not to be beaten by an 8th grader - than I have fallen too far to be helped.

And that's what it's really all about - Im getting more Mature and excepting that my life means more than arbitrary values sent by a virtual world that knows nothing of me and my goals. WoW is a perfect example, no matter how good you are or whatever, there is always someone out there better or has more ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- than you. What’s the point of owning 30 different rpg's (20 of which have the same story basically anyway?) why am I spending so much time collecting experience points, when my real wife wants a child? And really when it's all said and done, when I mastered the game, unlocked all the achievements, and schooled all the n00bs - what's left? A bored man, on a coach holding a plastic toy.

Face it, you didn't get bored of games, you just found more meaning to life. Consider it a solid indication that you're doing something right. Games will always be there, and sometimes you can shut off and enjoy it but who says it has to be anything more than just good ol fashioned fun - take it or leave it - the game doesn't care.


--- End quote ---

TBH, once I get a few cabs built, I'll probably move on. The cabs won't care. Mario isn't getting any older, but my kids are. I already miss my oldest son and the experiences he's gone through that my daughter is going through now. :)

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