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.

XEAL,

I’ve recently completed Metro Exodus, DLCs included. I have most of the achievements, but it don’t feel like getting the remaining ones at the moment. Before that I completed all of the Halo games compatible with the XB360, on coop.

I feel lost. I don’t really know what to play now.

I went back to playing some Insurgency coop, but it wasn’t even too engaging before.

ParsnipWitch,

For me the reason is … Decision fatigue!

I often stared blankly at my staggeringly huge game library and lost all interest to play. And instead ended up playing something not too heavy on the brain that I have known for decades and perhaps even watch Netflix on the side. (Like Diablo.)

While researching online I stumbled upon the phenomenon of decision fatigue and it changed my gaming habits and even other parts of my life. I probably understand the concept incorrectly but for me, I apparently tend to avoid decisions all together when there are too many options which leads to heavy procrastination. Doesn’t matter if it’s too many tasks on my list, too many letters on my desk or too many games to choose from.

I Marie Kondoed my gaming library and now it’s a fun activity again!

  • btw I am a gamer for over 30 years and my library, including all gaming platforms and consoles, has about 2000 (two thousand) titles
Itrytoblenderrender,

Old man with only, compared to you, 394 titles in the steam library.

I had a similar experience.

My solution was to categorize my steam library with custom categories.

The most important category is the “Trash” category to remove the “clutter”. “Dead” games like Artifact and trash from bundles from steam sales.

Now I have my library sorted and want for example to play a soulslike I just look into my library in the category “soulslike” and can choose from the games I’ve sorted into the category.

I wish this would also be possible for streaming platforms as their standard categories are usually redundant to give you the feeling that their library is bigger than it actually is.

Nemo,

Not at all, but I don’t buy many games. I try to play demos before purchasing the game, if possible.

Appoxo,
@Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

I stopped buying games after I noticed I still only open my typical three :/
Also is a good way of saving money :)

dustyData,

Years ago I made the decision to never play a game on launch, never buy a game full price, never play a game just because it was on the online buzz.

I decide what to play usually days in advance, carve out a chunk of my recreation time to explicitly play, as if it were going to a movie or a party with friends. It’s like a date with the game. I block a couple of hours to it. If the game is good, it will get a second date, if it bored me, we would break up.

I don’t buy on sales pressure either. If I decide I want to play a game, I would wait to buy it on the historical cheapest price. Only then would the game get schedule time to get played. That keeps the FOMO away.

It has made gaming super enjoyable and no longer the dopamine chase that publishers want to make to milk the most money out of me. As a result I usually enjoy my time way more, play older games more frequently, not out of nostalgia but because I never played then. I also spend less money, which lowers stress and anxiety. As a result I haven’t played a AAA game in a long while.

Time is scheduled for a game on what I’m interested in right now. But since the decision is always for a time far away in the future (up to a week in advance) I can make a more directed and intentional decision. Some weeks it’s thematic, some weeks it’s just genre based. Some weeks are retro. Some weeks are for comfort. All with small and concrete goals for each.

pdxfed,

Yup. Just finally played through Skyrim, and starting fallout 3. They’ve been fun. Honestly didn’t game for the better part of the last 15 years, work and kids. Sunk hundreds of hours on Skyrim now done, fallout totally different and a predecessor yet familiar.

I go by the same rule, basically if people can still play and talk about something 10 years later it’s actually good.

visnudeva,
@visnudeva@mastodon.social avatar

@pdxfed
I also love Skyrim and fallout 3 they are some of the best games even today but I didn't finished them yet.
I just finished cyberpunk after 170 hours and It was so good that i am starting it again from scratch.

leftzero,

Yeah, it’s called clinical depression, it’s entirely normal, happens to everyone. 🤷‍♂️

electrogamerman,

One can not have depression and still not be into games anymore.

leftzero,

Must be a tumour, then. 😞

Lazhward,

It’s not a tumor! Not a tumor, at all.

Schemata,

It’s funny you say this because games I know I would love years ago, still appeal to me I.e. Baldurs gate but now I am very much a collect and compete kind of gamer… It’s weird I used to love in depth stories but now a days tetris, doom, card games. It’s weird.

Dumbkid,
@Dumbkid@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

Yeah but people change hobbies change and priorities change. Don’t ever try to force yourself to play games because you feel like your supposed to. I don’t eat candy anymore because I stopped enjoying it. I’m not gonna just eat it because I used to love it.

If thats how you play games now just do you, have fun with those games now, don’t need to over think it

msbeta1421,

My tastes have definitely changed.

I’m old and I’m busy. I don’t have time for fetch quests that are uninspired time sinks. I don’t have time to play through a game with janky mechanics just for a few bright spots. I don’t have time to farm repetitive shit just so I can do X thing.

I’ve found that most AAA games care more about the time you spend playing rather than whether the game is fun or not. Diablo IVs rapid fall from grace is a prime example of this. This will not stop; it is the end point of the business model. A fun game that people sink 40 hours into and drop is much less profitable than a mid-game that demands a perpetual 10 hours per week.

Others have already hit on it, but my best gaming experiences in recent years have been games that I didn’t buy on release and only found through online word of mouth and hype.

scottywh,

Depends on the game…

Really enjoying Gotham Knights currently…

Certainly didn’t have any trouble getting into Red Dead 2.

I have struggled to stick with Cyberpunk 2077 though… Haven’t tried getting back in since this recent update though.

ohlaph,

Tastes change. What are you in to now?

FluffyPotato,

Most of my friends don’t play video games anymore but I love em more than when I was a kid. Like in school I had no time to play but now I can work from home and I can automate lots of it so plenty of time for hobbies.

The only issue is my tastes are rather niche, I think I finished every story and choice focused RPG where you make your own character. I do like games like Stardew Valley or Minecraft and I play those while a new RPG comes along.

mojo,

Happened to me where I felt loss if enjoyment over any game, that it felt like a waste of time and a chore. That eventually passed, definitely find them fun again.

GentlemanLoser,

Same story here but the lack of joy led me to be dx’d with depression

Presi300,
@Presi300@lemmy.world avatar

I haven’t gamed for a “long” time, as I got into it when I got my 1st laptop like 5 years ago… And I can’t say that I feel the burnout yet, especially with great games like Baldur’s gate 3 being released this year

Rakonat,

Been gaming since I was a boy in the early 90s, mostly a computer and retro games since my family didn’t have the money for new consoles as they came out. Got invited a lot to friends who did have consoles to jam out.

These days, Ive found that burnout is a thing but it’s usually temporary. Games I am playing don’t do it for me, or feel like a chore keeping up with dailies or other tasks to unlock content.

Remember that’s all just grind and put that game down and pick something else up, usually an older game I spent a lot of time with or maybe something in my library didn’t have too much time for.

Also found that getting into modding can be an amazing way to breathe life back into games you loved. And can pretty much say my generation is entirely at fault for remasters and remakes becoming prevelant since the games we played in the 90s and 00s have that huge nostalgia factor and a lot of then don’t work on modern hardware. Plus most of us having jobs and families that make playing them harder to find time for, so making a nice flashy nostalgia hit is something we will drop 60 bucks on and never get more than 20 hours for a while.

Its also worth noting that as you get older your likes and tastes can change. Where you might have been big into shooters and racing games as a teen or young adult, you might find yourself going more for strategy and simulations games as you’re older, but for some its the reverse or migrating to a new genre entirely like fighters or even RPGs. Don’t be afraid to dabble and see what works, and consider what you are playing and why, and what makes you put it down quicker than you plan to.

Globulart,

Racers and shooters in particular are harder to enjoy as you get older. Reaction time tends to be very important with those and once you’re 25 or so you’re only gonna see that get worse really.

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