Gamers who have gamed for a long time

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.

The older I get, I find that I tend to default to two things:

1. Games that I've played before that help me turn my brain off. Kind of like a form of meditation.
2. Games that have a mechanic or a story that is genuinely new or engaging.

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.

I kinda miss the nintendo/super nintendo times, where a friend would come over and you'd hand him a controller and then you would start playing. Gaming these days is more like: bro the game is cheap. Oh yes i forgot, you need these two dlc's to play the good stuff, don't worry, once you hit level 15 i'll be good i swear, all we have to do is to grind a few levels by playing the same.thing over and over, but i swear, i will ve really good soon.

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.

I think there are a lot of reasons for this, but I'm in the same boat.

• Most games tutotialize you like you have never played a game before
• "Cinematic storytelling" is everywhere. I turned off the dialogue in Need for Speed Unbound, and the game is wayyyy more enjoyable without it. And its...a racing game.
• There just are more games. Used to be I'd bring a physical copy of a game hope, and that'd be my game for a bit. Now I have thousands of games accessible at any moment. It's hard to wait for a game to "get good" when I know that.

I'd also say that I feel no need to complete games or get further into them at this point. Especially seeing how people said Starfield is best in new game plus or whatever, that game barely has legs to stand on in a first playthrough. It's not worth it for me to play a game for 60 hours for it to maybe get better, and I tend to know when I'm done with a game early now.

Sorry op, your inner child is dead. Time for sudoku in a rocking chair.

It's depression, and other stuff.

Personally, I find that when I feel that way, it's because I'm actually just kinda tired of games in general. The huge variety available will often trick me into a headspace of "I'm not bored of games just certain games, I need to find the ones I'm in the mood for" but really what I need is a break. Do some crafts/art, get extra exercise, socialize with people that don't normally game, read a book, visit family. Just shake up the shedule for a bit and do other stuff with your free time, and in my experience, you'll want to play something, instead of just looking for something good enough to fill boredom.

I’m nearly 40, been playing since the old Commodore 64 days.

I’ve always loved games, but with a wife and kids I don’t have anywhere near as much time as I used to with them, which means I think quite a lot about what I want to play in the 6 hours or so a week that I can actually do it.

I feel like I’m in a minority in that I still love much of the AAA stuff - Cyberpunk and Baldur’s Gate 3 is my jam right now, I might get Spider-Man 2 when it drops in price a bit and I have more time.

I love indie games too but I don’t always have as much time as I want to invest in them, I did get through Bombrush Cyberfunk recently and it scratched a Jet Set Radio itch that I had long forgotten about.

So yea, I still love them but it’s partly because it’s just always been my hobby.

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

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.

Not at all. Stop trying to play AAA bait and just look for fun instead. I'm having a blast with Dead Cells, I think the demo for Balatro (poker roguelike) is still available, if you prefer 3d survival, Valheim is a great pick, etc.

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

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

I’m in my 40s, and in particular I don’t find I love the AAA, over the shoulder action games. Assassins Creed, Spider-Man, Jedi Outcast, all of them feel very samey to me and more like the evolution of Dragons Lair + SF2 special moves than anything else. I find the cinematic complexity of the actions caused by my simple button press actually disconnect me from the world. I don’t feel like the character is my avatar, more like an actor in my movie. And then it all usually happens with a lot more barriers and more linearity than the design implies, kinda the difference between playing make believe in the park, and visiting Galaxy’s Edge at Disney.

Now I don’t think it’s bad on a philosophical level or anything, but it doesn’t work for me personally. I grew up with a very direct and often simple relationship what it means to control a game, even those SF2 style fighters; whatever is there to be done, you’re in complete control. I just get taken right out of it when “back + A” does a 360 spin melee while simultaneously targeting three enemies and summoning my helper NPC (I’m exaggerating, but you see the intended point).

Like others, I don’t really find as much time for gaming, what with work, family, and other hobbies, but when I do, I like retro gaming, RPGs with a fair amount of stat and inventory management, Minecraft (that blunt instrument of click to “mine”, rclick to “use” is the opposite of cinematic AAA actioners), and other stuff that naturally connects inputs to resulting actions, like driving games.

I probably game just as much as I used to, but it's only one game at a time now that I'll play for years. Used to chase all the releases and hype. Now I just want to space out and have fun.

I'm happy enough to spend time and energy and get into new games. The difference is my standards are WAY higher than when I was younger. I've played so many games that it's hard to impress.

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.

it's kind of funny to me but as growing up I was all about Nintendo, as I got into my later teens and early adulthood I was all PC and steam, I'm 35 now with the family tons of responsibility obligations but I've noticed as I get older I've been gravitating closer back to Nintendo and their dependability for good quality gaming and time well spent, I guess because my time is such a high premium, I stick to the games I know that are going to deliver.

For the past few years I’ve been trying to go through my Steam gaming collection chronologically, in order of release date starting from oldest games. I’m trying to at least go through and have no unplayed games. After dozens of Humble Bundles and ~20 years building up my collection, I’ve got hundreds of games I haven’t even touched yet. Sometimes I’ll be interested in a game and play for awhile, sometimes I’ll play for 5 minutes, get bored and uninstall. Doesn’t matter, as long as I can check it off as “played”. Sometimes I get sidetracked by a newer game that comes out, or by physical board games, or by just life in general, but I still have that goal in mind to try new things, I at least have that if I don’t feel like playing anything else.

When I was younger, gaming was all I did as it was my only hobby and I didn't have many friends. I'd play the same 5-6 games since my catalog was small and my folk weren't keen to buy more. I didn't care much about graphics, performance, or length. I was also more of a completionist, searched for collectables, completed challenges and time trials, and completed side quests. Nowadays, I have a larger gaming library. I own hundreds of games on Steam, but I've hardly played a handful of them. Over time I've realized that I play games for killing time more than anything else. I've become more conscious of how I'm spending my free time and now I spend my free time doing other things.

Yeah, I'm the same way.

because I have massive, chronic depression. I find no real joy in playing new games with rare exception (Starfield was one, at least, until I got into playing it and realized how bad it was..), for the most part, and prefer to wrap myself in the comfortable known of a select few games, and even those I cant sit and play for a very long time before all drive disappears.

You doing ok, OP?

Last year I made a vow to put at least one hour into every game in my steam library (except ones I've played before or didn't work).

I had about 120 games to get through. It took me most of the year. I ended up playing some "hidden" gems I'll never forget ( Torment: Tides of Numeneria was a notable great).

Did I play Skyrim too? Of course. But I also got addicted to Risk of Rain. Were there some stinkers? Absolutely. But for every Dev-Guy (bad) there's a DiveKick (good). For every Serious Sam 2, a Warhammer 40k: Space Marine.

Some of my most played games right now are Into The Breach, Slay The Spire, and Vampire Survivors - none of them are complicated. They all respect your time.

I think what it is is the immersion. You know you'll be interrupted before you're "done" so you can't let yourself mentally wander off into the world.

So, play a game that respects that limitation.

I would say that my interests and priorities have changed, and when I do want to game I am much more picky as to what I invest that time into.

Maybe 5 years ago I was super into gaming. I would pick up lots of new releases, play them into oblivion, and move onto the next. Nowadays, I will research until I find a game I think I might like, and drop it quickly if I feel like I'm not having fun. Jedi: Fallen Order was a game I thought I'd like but I hated the backtracking and combat (I'm not a Souls-like fan).

It probably has something to do with you growing up... Priorities change (not for everyone ofc) and taste as well in terms of fun. Accept it, don't judge yourself and just go with the flow. Don't force yourself to do something you don't enjoy, time on this Earth is limited!

It can go both ways though e recently picked up reading manga again after a 7 years hiatus and I am enjoying it better than before!

I feel like new AAA title games are all about being "more" than the last game, instead of being fun. Everything is having a Call of Duty/Avengers syndrome, the bad guys have to be bigger, the music louder, the textures larger. Even games that don't succumb to the annual release cycle still have to compete with the hype those games create. In the end, you end up with games like Fallout 4, instead of New Vegas.

I think the prevailing response here appears to be that as you get older you just don't have the time like you did back in the day and so it's harder to get into games. I think there's truth to that but i wanted to point out something else. When you get older most people tend to do less NEW things and instead get more comfortable with what they know. Old people don't know what's going on in music, or art, or cinema, or even science because you find a world view that works for you and you stick with it, it gets comfortable.

When you're younger you are more likely to give a fair shake to that new music genre or video game because you have so little to judge it against and you're thirsty for new experiences. Not so much when you get older, people stop experimenting with NEW in favor of reliably good. Maybe use that perspective when looking at a new game or a game that you own but have never gotten into.

I have owned Rimworld since 2019 I think but I never got past the tutorial until recently. For some reason it all clicked and now I can't stop playing. I think part of that is because it is so NEW to me, I haven't played anything like it before so I can get swept away by it. Hard to do that when you're playing your millionth FPS or open world slog.

Also playing with friends helps a lot. My significant other is a new convert to video games and it's an absolute blast introducing them to new content. I had no need to go back and play Stardew Valley again... but it sure was fun lol

I'm just no longer impressed with flashy graphics or games with tons of long cutscenes and stories. It takes up a lot of time, and it just feels tedious to me now.

Give me fun and challenging gameplay, and I'll be very into your game though. All the FromSoft games, tactics/strategy, indie base-building or deck-building games, etc. Let me loose and challenge me. If you want me to watch a movie and follow a "to-do list" of waypoints, I'm going to be bored.

A lot of modern games definitely don't do story well. The amount of times I download a game for 10 mins of exposition before starting or not getting to play while the game tells rather than shows is outrageous.

The perfect game for me would start immediately and have any exposition happen via audio while being able to play the game.

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.

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.

Yes. I've never had a super easy time getting into new games, and for the past several years I haven't seen one thing that's even slightly interesting. Depression is a factor, but also a lot of new games are straight up dog shit. I tend to fall back on retro gaming. I think I have 90 minutes played in Starfield and that's the only new game I played for the past several years.

Trying a new game often feels like work as I get older. I find myself going back to the things I know already rather than new stuff.

As I get older I find I have to know what I like and spend extra time selecting titles because I know that I won't be buying that many games because I don't have time to play all that much. I buy what I know I will like and that way I will finish it. I don't want to feel like I've wasted time.

Sometimes I jump back and replay games that I really enjoyed. Even like an MMO, I'll reactive my character after years of not playing.ast game I bought was Witcher 3 on Steam sale. Will be buying Cities 2 this week, after waiting for it for years and years.

Play whatever you enjoy. Maybe you feel like you don't have the time to sit down and invest yourself in a story die to other commitments like work or family. That's normal.

It's your free time. Gaming should be a fun hobby, not a chore.

Wish more games would have a "I have not played this in a month and need a quick recap" mode.

I've got 5-6 games on rotation. Every year or two, a new one comes in and something drops off, but I'm long past the days of playing something new every couple months.

Same. 100%. I don’t love it though, tbh. I’d love to get immersed in something new again.

And MP has always been toxic, but goddamn…as a woman you just get sick of some of the shit you hear. I have to straight up turn text chat off, and it’s rare that I go on mic chat even though good communication would help a game so much.

Yep. Why is this? I stopped buying games because I end up sticking to the same ones and types that give me the most joy, where I feel like I'm achieving something and not wasting my time.

If i open a game now that's too difficult to learn, has too many key options, is too bright for or hard on the eyes, is gory, doesn't have bag space and wants to nickel and dime me for it, etc...I just stop. Red Dead Redemption - beautiful game and I crave to go back. It is too difficult and causes me so much stress. Not worth it. There was this other game I wanted to play. The controls and interface was just awful. Look around the world caused motion sickness and hurt the eyes. WoW - toxic community.

When you get older, I think you learn what works for you. What feels comfortable. What feels good. What makes you happy. Because that's what you're there for, to be happy.

For me the main reason is that games are the exact same with better graphics.I already spent hundreds of hours in one game getting better, unlocking shit, learning the maps. Why would I want to start from scratch for another game that is the exact same gameplay.

Nowadays I will only get into a game if it's something I have never played before, and Pokemon games that I know what I am doing already and I just do. But starting a new shooter, new adventure game, rpg, etc, its just the same in green for me.

I get into story games a lot more now. If it’s hard, repetitive, or a grind it simply isn’t fun, I have reality for those types of challenges.

Yup. My first console technically was a NES (technically Atari 2600 but I was really young). Been playing console and PC games ever since. I used to love games. Wanted to design them and even got a job as a game tester and GM for WoW (tester made me realize I didn't want to work in the industry). I don't know when it started but outside of a few instances I can't get into games anymore. I think there are a few reasons (though they're sort of overlapping).

• I've already experienced a lot of it. I've saved countless kingdoms, stop hundreds of bad guys from blowing up stuff, repeatedly discovered the mysteries of crystals/labs/villages. There isn't a lot of "new" stuff.
• I don't have consistent chunks of free time and don't want to use all my freetime playing games. I can't always invest in a long story and a lot of games take a while to get started.
• As I get older I value my time more. I'm not necessarily old but looking at life expectancy I've hit the midway point. That just causes me to evaluate my freetime differently. Unfortunately that doesn't mean I am necessarily making the best of use of my time but stops me from spending 8 hours of a Saturday playing the new Spider-Man.
• I find my need to unwind and relax increases with age. After a long stressful day at work I don't necessarily want to engage with complex systems or drawn out stories. I just want to start playing and not have to think. I also don't want to be stressed. I find online competitive games to be stressful.

There are other issues like the market has changed and less games align with what I enjoy. Social aspect of games are mostly gone for me.

As I've gotten older and more busy, it's been harder to get into games. I can't play 4 hours a day any more, so the game has to fit into my schedule. Plus a lot of games take like 60 hours now. I liked Stray a lot because it was fun and I beat it in like 3 hours.

So yeah, I feel pretty much the same.

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.

I think it comes down to just knowing what is good. When you're young you don't have any experience to judge quality by. As you get older you can rapidly assess that something sucks, even if other people are pumping it up. Either in terms of gameplay or plot or whatever, now you have standards. Also, a lot of modern games just don't respect your time, and as you get older you realize your time is valuable so you just don't have the patience for that.

I'm in my 30s, I still game, but I'm a lot quicker to just go "this sucks" and move on to something else.

I kinda need to be in the mood to play a game. Usually, once I finally start playing something, it's easy to keep going. But sometimes I'll have to be pretty bored before I'll play a new game. I still haven't played RDR2, but I seem to be more eager to play metroidvanias and PS1-style indie horror games.

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.

A gaming burn out you say? Yes, I only play co-op games anymore. I need a teammate to explore the game. Solo games are like getting into a television series that has 16 seasons. Just to much work ahead.

I’ve lost all patience for gaming. I tried play one of the Wolfensteins a few weeks ago. The beginning of the game is basically on rails, and I was required to put out a fires or something, I was like, uh I just want to shoot some fake people, to hell with this.

Damn you fromsoft, ive gone hollow

Agreed that it’s harder now that we’re older, especially if you work a lot or have kids/family responsibilities.

The most rewarding aspect of playing a game these days (IMO) is the social aspect of it. Whether that be playing with friends or sharing a ‘physical’ neutral space with other players like in an MMORPG. If you have a friend or a group of friends it’s fun to start random games together and experience them with someone. If you’re a solo gamer you need a much greater reason to start a new game, which is harder as you’ve described.

I don’t have many friends who game consistently, so I’m basically left to choose between going back to an MMORP like WoW (ugh), which after a while you realize is still lonely unless you really invest in making friends on your sever, or playing a new game at launch. Even if it’s a single player game there’s a lot to be said about playing a new game as soon as it releases. You get that collective sense of community because everyone is going in fresh and finding out secrets and solutions and sharing them with each other online. It doesn’t feel like you’re totally alone, and although it’s short lived it can feel rewarding. It’s like watching a weekly release show and joining in post-episode discussions online. You can’t recreate that experience after the fact.

My taste in games has changed a lot over the years - I think to help accommodate adult life. As my time has gotten more spoken for I look for games that can quickly be picked up and put down. And as I've become more bitter and misanthropic, I've largely given up on multiplayer (except Tertis 99!). Basically things I can play when I've got any amount of downtime and I don't need to follow a story line, or disappoint other people, or watch cut scenes, or even have my volume up.

I'm really into colony sim / base building / and automation types games now. Factorio, Dyson Sphere Program, and if I go more than 3 days without playing Oxygen Not Included I start to get the shakes. I also like low key survival games like Don't Starve, Astroneer, and No Man's Sky.

I've been playing (and enjoying) BG3 but I don't have enough time to get immersed so I'm still in Act 2 on my first play through.