Gamers who have gamed for a long time

do you find it difficult to get into games? I’ve got Epic Games and Steam Games libraries chock-full of classic top-tier games along with many other newer games like Stray or 2077, and a bunch of indie titles. I just can’t be bothered to download and install them, much less try to get into the characters and storylines. Used to be I couldn’t wait to see what happened in the story, what new items you could collect, what new worlds the developers had created. Not anymore. I return to playing the same franchise for a quick FPS match or three and then I’m done.

Jackthelad,

I don’t enjoy gaming anywhere near as much as I used to, and a lot of AAA games just don’t appeal to me anymore.

Indie games are where I get most of my enjoyment from gaming now and looking forward to Jusant, and the DLC for Lake in November. But apart from that, I’m not really fussed.

middlemanSI,

I’d be playing a lot less I suspect, if I didn’t get into simracing. Nowadays it’s that and a roguelike FPS for in-between.

datavoid,

Damn you fromsoft, ive gone hollow

Fleshtrap,

Come and goes for me, I try to play only one RPG or adventure type game at a time to remain hooked to the plot, several hours into Final Fantasy 8 on steam at the moment, played Xenogears on my steamdeck using emulation before it. I’m in my thirties for reference.

GustavoM,
@GustavoM@lemmy.world avatar

(Almost) 40 year old gamer here. Eh… it depends of my mood and how “new” the game feels. But I find easier to settle in PvP-oriented games tho.

Candelestine, (edited )

When you’re young, you’re often engaging in a common animal behavior known as “play”. This is essentially practice-mode for life, where you physically or mentally act out a lot of the abstract ideas you’ve been learning about over the years. This is critical, because our abstract ways of understanding and communicating advanced concepts are still fundamentally incomplete. You can, for instance, teach a kid to be honest, that honesty is important, etc. But then they get into a school environment, surrounded by real life situations. Will honesty always benefit them, like a “good” thing is supposed to? No.

Our abstract understanding of honesty and its importance is one thing. Putting it into effective practice is another, and fundamentally circumstantial.

“Play” is how animals bridge these two things with personal experience, while hopefully avoiding the consequences of actually trying for real and potentially having an accident. Like, an animal could abstractly learn about hunting by observing its mother. But until it actually physically practices these skills, it will be very bad at them. Us learning about “the importance of honesty” is no different.

Humans have a vastly, exponentially greater number of abstracts we’re required to understand in order to be effective citizens of the modern world. We tackle them in the same way, though, with play. Play, is practice.

So, if play is practice in an attempt to bridge some kind of abstract, incomplete learning, then what do you have to gain at this current phase of your life, from this “play”?

Your subconscious gets this. You don’t need to play anymore, you’re good enough for the real thing. So, why should your brain want to play at something? Especially when getting older also makes it clearer just how much incorrect information is being taught in gaming. Like, how many people try to use their CoD experiences to understand the Russo-Ukrainian War?

Anyways, it’s complicated.

edit: Thinking further on this, I would propose the following: In the same way that horniness is the mechanism by which your genes make you reproduce them, and hunger is the mechanism it employs to make you fuel their work, “fun” is the mechanism by which your genes make you practice whatever skills or experiences might improve your chances of passing them on, in an environment where it is safer to do so.

This is why play gets fundamentally less fun as you get older. It begins to lose its purpose, outside of handing those skills, and the techniques for practicing them, on to the next generation. We prefer to go back to those same games we played though, because we’re refining the lessons we learned from them. This has an evolutionary benefit as well, actually, as even our methods of “play” can be improved through long enough practice and iteration. These refined methods of play can then be handed down instead, which will likely be more efficient than previous iterations.

banana_meccanica,

I was more curious at beginning, then I become addicted to MMOs so gaming become focused, while playing casual other games as break from MMOs. Fortunately I defeat my addiction but now I lost interest in gaming, I see many titles but I don’t see any point to play. I remember playing for sharing fun was my deal, PlayStation one with friends then MMOs with guilds and virtual friends. But addiction kicks hard with the needs to grind and grind, to like give at this friends a golden guild-hall, but at what cost? Real life where anything as grow, only misery.

Rhynoplaz,

Same here. Time is just more valuable now. Hopping into a few quick rounds just feels easier than starting something up and getting halfway through the beginning tutorial, before being interrupted by the kids or wife, and then feeling like you just wasted the hour or so you had to spare, because you didn’t even start playing the actual game yet.

triclops6,

Why I play brawlhalla, and only brawlhalla. For as long or as little as I can

baldingpudenda,

Yup, the only game I play right now is factorio and that was a mistake. Staying up after the kids fell asleep and magically it’s 4 hrs later. PC broke and I’m finally getting proper sleep. Should have stuck with slay the spire and other 1 hr run type games

Rentlar,

Dang, I was defeated… but now I get to sleep?

Slay the Spire Victory? Screen, The Silent laying on the floor

BloodSlut,

dunno, better start another run to have something to do while you figure that out

TheGreenGolem,

Exactly. I know I only have like an hour tops before need to do something and it’s just not enough time to truly immerse myself so I end up not even want to start the game.
Now I’m wondering when I’ll be 50 and the kids will be gone and have time again to play 8-10 hours straight. Maybe then.

NocturnalMorning,

Same, I find I’m super picky with games now, and have a hard time finding new stuff. But I’ll go back and play stuff from when I was a kid for the 17th time no problem.

azn03,

Yep. I’ve never left Counterstrike and with CS2 that came back, friends from when I played when I was in college have come back to play so we’ve been playing. Story wise, I could get into it but there just isn’t enough time and what time you have you’re going to sacrifice sleep.

It’s all about getting old.

Nawor3565,

Yup, this is the real reason. When you’re a kid/teenager, you don’t realize just how much free time you have to spend on stuff like video games. Then you become an adult and have way more responsibilities, and suddenly video games just aren’t as appealing as a time sink as they used to be.

BeardedBlaze,
@BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world avatar

Lol I’m in my 40s, and play with guys same age as me up to guys in their 60s. Just because you don’t have the time, doesn’t mean all adults don’t.

Rhynoplaz,

That might not be the flex you think it is…

BeardedBlaze,
@BeardedBlaze@lemmy.world avatar

What flex? I’m simply stating that he doesn’t speak for all adults. Once my kids were old enough to hold a controller, I got them into gaming. All 3 are teenagers now, and I love gaming with them. One of the few hobbies where age really doesn’t matter.

Edit: spelling

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