Memes @lemmy.ml

1y ago

Posting my favorite memes

203 comments

You’re not crazy, you just need to get away from 40 hour long open world chore games
- I started liking games again by going back to long open world games
  
  Arcade style games that give you a quick hit are what I miss. Things that drop you straight in the action and don't let up.
  I think some are making a bit of a come back on the Indy scene though.
- Yup. That’s me. I have to have games where it doesn’t rely on you logging on for a few hours a night, every night…. yeah sorry not gonna happen with a wife who doesn’t like video games and a 2 year old to entertain.

Same, but for me it's because of the depression
- Pretty sure I'm in the same boat. Literally nothing is enjoyable anymore and I have 0 motivation to do anything "productive" after work since it's all just more work...
  My friends must think im nuts when they see me bounce from game to game to game within 1-2 hours because nothing keeps my attention lol
  
  Need a different hobby. Electric unicycling is great for this.
  
  This has been me the majority of the time since about 2020, which I chalk up to depression and more recently suspecting that I have ADHD (I know self-diagnosing isn't cool, I intend to explore this more formally eventually, but I have many reasons for suspecting it in general). Sometimes it's bad enough that if something doesn't grab me in 5-15 minutes, I'll bounce off to something else and probably repeat the cycle a few more times before giving up and doing something else instead.
  I find that I can't really play modern games at all anymore. They just feel like work and are more concerned with monetization rather than being enjoyable to play. Modern experiences feel so hollow to me now. I miss when the main draw of a multiplayer game was feeling your skills improve rather than spending 100+ hours to get some skin from grinding out a battlepass. It feels like a chore. I fell off of TOTK in May and apparently haven't been too eager to return to it. I've been doing a decent job sticking with Mass Effect lately though. Helps that it runs perfectly on Steam Deck so I don't always have to be on my PC. It's my first time playing ME1, which helps. We'll see if I can stick with it through 2 and 3, which I played many years ago.
  This has also led to me drifting apart from many of the people who I previously considered to be my friends. Most of them barely leave the house anymore and only hang out and communicate on Discord, which I am barely on anymore due to my general lack of interest in games lately, my general disinterest in modern games specifically (which is all they play), and my disinterest in participating in more voice calls after being in Teams calls during the workday beforehand. They also have significantly more free time than I do due to almost all of them being single, so the rare times I have tried to play anything progress-based with them has been a bust because I inevitably fall behind. It's unfortunate to drift apart like that, but it took longer than it should have for me to realize that we probably weren't actually that close if me losing interest in games is all it took for them to cut me out. Oh well.
- Yup, that flame died out a long time ago.
  Depression is a removed.
- And age :(
- Then get off social media

When I hear this, I wonder if people are playing the wrong types of games for them. Most AAA games have great graphics and cutscenes, but the core gameplay loop is just tedious and feels like you're following a GPS from chore to chore. I don't fault anyone for feeling bored with 10hr interactive movies.
I still love games that challenge me and offer a real risk of failure, for example. If there's no chance of losing, then beating the game just feels like "finishing" it, like how you would describe a movie or TV show. I'd get tired of that too.
- To be honest with you, I think a lot of it is just a factor of adulthood.
  Between work and life, I don't have the energy to start a new game, even though I daydream about playing video games all the time.
  
  Yeah that‘s my point as well. I play games on the lowest difficulty possible because after a day of work I do not want to be grinding during my free time. And even on easy mode it‘s sometimes just too tiresome.
  
  Yeah having the time and energy to log on every night and play games is something I constantly daydream & fantasize about, but when I rarely get an opportunity to do it, it’s extremely hard to enjoy it because I know I’m not gonna get another chance again for who knows how long. My enjoyment is directly related to looking forward to the next time I’d be able to continue what I was doing in game.
  This is why I bought a steam deck and have accepted joy in Stardew Valley.
- Yes but that chore stuff used to be fun for me.
  I’d play morrowind for hours and hours in college. Now if I try to play an RPG, I don’t have the patience and it’s a boring chore like you said.

All entertainment fills a need in your daily life. It only makes sense that the need changes as you grow older.
When I was younger, I was poor and had something to prove. Thus, I loved big games with hundreds of hours of gameplay, grinding for the best bobbles, and competitive multiplayer experiences.
But as I get older, I don't care about any of that anymore. What I need instead is a way to relax within my short gaming windows, to have unique experiences, and maybe have a sense of control as my life gets more chaotic. As a result, I've tended more towards shorter indie titles. But also towards non-gaming things like travel, gardening, and crafting hobbies.
We spent so much of our lives building our identity around a single hobby - gaming. And maybe that was a mistake. So many of us end up sliding away from gaming as we get older and that change is okay and even expected, that shouldn't give us an existential crisis.
Your identity should reflect the person you are, not the thing you do.
- Getting old is strange. I keep trying to go to house or techno shows in the basement of restaurants or other weird places, convinced it'll be a great time because I used to enjoy it. My knees hurt and I'd rather be home most of the time. It's okay for things to have a beginning, middle, and end. Also, not to be nitpicky but just because I think it's a fun word: it's "baubles"
  
  I can totally relate about edm shows. My knees tend to say hell no these days.

Play a good game, stop playing the same zoomer-bait crap
- What is zoomer bait crap?
  One of the worst most infuriating games I played the last 2 years is one of the biggest hits of that period : elden ring.
  What a total pile of horse shit that is. Nothing is explained, it's just a pile of numbers called stats. What they do? Fuck you. Where do I have to go? Fuck you. How do I win from this and that boss? Fuck you. Total unplayable garbage.
  Untill you give in and open one of the fan made guides. Then it all comes together. Then it makes sense. But the game doesn't explain shit. From software couldn't be bothered.
  With a guide it's one of the most fun games. Left on its own, without any sort of explanation it's garbage.
  And don't get me started on diablo 4, what a load of house crap is that. It's so very boring. Again nothing is explained because fuck you, blizzivision just wants your money. But here it doesn't matter because you're so very overpowered on level 1/2 you can win anything and everything. Want it less easy? Fuck you, first complete the campaign. Then you can do it again and again.
  From my pov old school Zoomer shit is where its at. This modern bullshit is just that: bullshit.
  
  I mean, the stuff with Elden Ring is on purpose. There are a lot of gamers who like when a game let's them figure that stuff out. I get why it's not your style of game, but you're acting like it's laziness or bad game design when it's entirely intentional and absolutely has an audience. Fromsoft made it for that specific audience.
  
  I don't think I can agree with you here. Elden ring, for all of its flaws, is one of the last true honest to God video games you can buy recently. For $60 you get a complete, no microtransaction, no battle pass, no cosmetics, whole, playable game.
  There aren't pieces taken out and sold back to you one item at a time like Sims 4. You don't have to buy the horse dlc or spend money to get the magic battle pass. It wasn't a completely buggy mess from the start like no man's sky or cyberpunk 2077. There's no integrated battle pass designed to suck your wallet and your soul dry like in Overwatch 2 or COD. There's no cosmetics to make you look like SpongeBob SquarePants or any other fictional character like in Fortnite and countless other games. This is a game that knows what it is and doesn't try and bait you into playing it like the others.
  Sure it's difficulty is hard and it doesn't hand hold you but it certainly doesn't require you to use the wiki. Don't get me wrong your experience WILL be better with it but one of the big marketing points was the sites of grace pointing you where to go. The game actually goes through some trouble to make sure you understand what it is when you get to the round table hold. Gameplay mechanics are also explained in the inventory under the info items tab. But by and large you're supposed to learn through doing here.
  Largely I agree that recent games are more slot machines with collectable crap tacked on but Elden Ring is not an example of a zoomer game. Hard? Sure. Garbage? Not on your life.
  
  I'll agree that Diablo is just more of the same 2013+ version of the gaming market, the kind that leaned heavily toward monetization with zero competition to improve game loops or increase depth.
  That being said, back in the day you didn't have a mini map and a compass to point you to every single place on your Ubisoft fetch quest open world "chore list disguised as a videogame" nonsense. You had to figure out the game and read the manual, etc.
  Elden Ring is meant to be "Hey, we know you're sick of playing the 593857th reskin of Assassin's Division: Ghost Cry, try out something that respects your intelligence."
  
  Then certainly please don’t play Tunic. This game does not explain anything whatsoever.
  
  Nothing is explained
  It makes a lot more sense if you have the context from the Soulsborne games. The series started much simpler, with (mostly) linear progression, fewer weapons/abilities, and shorter "quests." Part of the appeal of those games was the mystery, and the community that grew around solving the unexplained quests/mechanics/lore. The games were shorter, and the maps smaller, so it was easier to explore on your own.
  Then with Elden Ring, it just exploded with content, built around the same game play mechanics. For veteran Soulsborne players, it plays like the next title in the series. The only really novel mechanics are the open world and spirit ashes. The downside is (at least for me), the world is so large that it's a chore to explore everything. I finished my first play through and lost the will to start a +1 game. In contrast to Dark Souls 3, where I completed at least 6 play throughs.
  But if you don't have that context...yeah i'd imagine Elden Ring is overwhelming in its complexity and scale. Trying to figure out Soulsborne mechanics and navigate this giant world with little direction sounds daunting. Pitting you against the grafted scion to die immediately, and right after putting the tree sentinel in your way, was a confusing way to start the game, even for me.

I've gotten into gaming more again by simply sticking with indie games. No more 100 hour boring open worlds.
- There is Something about a simple two hour game about a guy and his girlfriend getting stuck in the woods fending off the mothman.
- Recently been just playing cozy games I used to scoff at. So much I've not only played more games this summer than the last few year but felt great joy actually finishing a game. Sometimes short and sweet is best.
  
  I've heard good things about A Short Hike, it sounds like something you might enjoy.

Now I only have game sessions that last for about 10+ minutes and only about 3 times per day at most.
My enjoyment in gaming has died out a few months ago and I have only been working for one year(23yo). My friends are still trying to get me back to Valorant and I'm having trouble explaining I have so many other important things that I need to do other than grinding Valorant. I just don't have the time to improve my skill at that game because it requires so many hours and so many of those hours could give me a good coding project for my portfolio which would improve my job prospects. I do enjoy coding but coding all day outside of work is turning me into a robot.
Screw this capitalism society.
- Honestly I've always hated any online coop / multiplayer game unless it had a significant single player aspect to it.
  Multiplayer games are more like work, they aren't just for enjoyment.
  
  That's quite true actually. I've had way more enjoyment playing singleplayer games than multiplayer games(unless they are casual coop like Stardew and the like) nowadays.
  I still like fps but it requires too much effort.
- I stopped playing online competitive games a while back, the last ones were overwatch (1) and dota. Now I almost only play solo games and I have a lot of fun. Currently 110+ hours in TOTK and I'm far from done with it. It's a category that's far from dead and there are any flavor that could fit your tastes.
  The only online game I keep playing is MK8D because frustration never last long and there's no ELO ranking to be obsessed with. Also Splatoon once in a while.
  
  Competitive games ruin the mood a lot for me. I know it differs from person to person, but as a person who usually takes games seriously it's hard for me not to care about my skill within the game. It took me a pretty long period to stay away from competitive/skill-based gaming(fps and rhythm games) to be able to treat games as a casual thing.
- I play val exclusively socially. Grab a couple friends and play a couple spike rushes or swift plays. Just hope on to chat to strangers in VC basically.
  
  I have friends who want to play comp so that's part of the reason why I stopped 🥹

Games (mostly MMO) feel like chores to me now, sometimes it even like a second job. Grinding the same endless tasks for hours, go there, do this, kill that.
- This is why I play mostly single player and games that have private servers that you can self host

Don't fight it. Just find another hobby that deserves your time and move on with your life. Games haven't been truly good for a long time. Unless you're a Twitch streamer or an esports athlete, games shouldn't be drudgery. "But it gets better after 10 hours," "you have to get to the endgame before you're really playing the game," "you can't say you've played the game unless you did 3+ runs," "AAA games suck but indies are still good" Man, shut the fuck up, I'm too old for that shit.
If you want to capture the excitement of how you felt when you first played videogames as a child, find a different hobby. Seriously, find a hobby that's completely out of left field. Gardening, fixing mechanical watches, backyard astronomy, raising an ant farm, croqueting, kayaking, trainspotting. You don't have to be that aging nerd who constantly malds at how modern videogames suck while continuing to fall for nostalgia bait that'll always fall below your expectations.
- Games haven't been truly good for a long time
  Meanwhile, here I am loving gaming and thinking we're in a golden age of gaming compared to my youth...
- Or just engage in moderation like every other medium, it's weird to me that playing videogames is automatically supposed to be a "hobby" but the same doesn't apply to watching movies or reading books or whatever.
- Couldn't agree more. And even thought I hardly play games anymore, that actually makes them all the more special when I'm excited about a game and play it. It's rare nowadays, but games like celeste or a short hike were really wonderful. Other than gems that really speak to you though, you really should find another hobby.
  
  Agreed. My most recent binge was Stray, and before that it was The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening on the switch lmao
  
  I don't really play games but I absolutely eat up From Software games every time one comes out

Ok going through this now.
I never thought it’d be like this though. I thought that video game would literally stop being fun. Like I’d grow out of them or something and not find them enjoyable anymore.
But that’s not it. They are still fun and enjoyable. What I didn’t expect was that my mind would be so full of responsibilities that it would just be impossible to enjoy video games. As if there just isn’t enough room in my brain.
I’m sitting there trying to play but I’m just thinking about all the things I need to do tomorrow. Or this week. Or this month.
There is just too much to think about that I can no longer enjoy not thinking.
- What platform are you playing BG3 on? I was thinking about trying it.
- Okay, now try again with alcohol.
  
  No try again with 5-20mg edible. You will feel the wonder of a child bless you
  
  Weed*

This isn't unique to video games. It can happen with anything that you spend a ton of time on, and either burn out on or start to develop more refined taste in. I've had it happen with:
novels
board games
movies
people
You start to see patterns, tropes, or just plain get burnt out on something. It's a sign you either need to take a break, or that your tastes have simply become refined enough that you require a higher bar to find something interesting.
I'm in my 40s and definitely don't play games as much as I used to. But there are still times I get sucked in and have a great time. Most recent example: Cosmoteer, a spaceship building game with loads of freedom and creativity. I'm also looking forward to the Factorio DLC and the Dyson Sphere Program combat update.
Edit: case in point that I can still get excited about games: I finally tried Shadows of Doubt and, wow, what an interesting game. It's like a Deus Ex shadowy sneak-around world with detailed voxel simulation.
though the enshittification phenomenon is a real thing, and why people should play more indie games

Honestly I have less and less love for videogames that streamlined the gameplay into a cookie cutter trope.
I noticed having way more fun when playing indie games because you never escape the wierd shit develloped industry free from the general gamplay loops.

Baldurs Gate 3 is the cure for me. It probably also helps that I haven't played that type of game in ages.
- My time is currently split between Battlebit and Baldurs Gate 3. I've been having a blast with both!

Stop playing for a while and the love might come back (was like that for me).
- Yup, same. I just need like a 3-12 month break every once in a while.

Idk if it is me getting older or if videogames just suck now.
- Its not your age, it's the games you're playing. There's a ton of great games out right now, but if you're playing the same kinds of games you've always played, maybe you've outgrown them. You could be frustrated with their mechanics, or think their progression isn't as good as the old games, maybe you cant see as well or grind as hard as these twelve year olds on adderall, whatever it may be.
  Try playing games you enjoyed before. You'll probably still like them. Branch out into different genres, even if it's something you don't know if you'll like or not. I don't care for top down games, but gave Hades a try and absolutely loved it. Maybe try to play remakes/remasters/new takes on old games. The REmakes for Resident Evil (particularly 2&4, I liked 3 but it gets a lot of deserved hate), and even the continuation of the RE franchise in Biohazard and Village are fun and scary. Just some recommendations. :)
  
  Definitely changeling taste and enshittification. Don't care to play another million dollars AAA fps-box purchaseing simulator or whatever this years dead horse is.
  Get me a chill basebulding and automation game and I will literally risk unemployment from staying up late. Bonus points for boobs or warcrimes.
- You're getting older unfortunately. I've been watching this happen among my friends for a long while now. They all slowly grow up and leave gaming behind replacing it with other hobbies or interests. Your free time becomes more limited the older you get and the more responsibilities you aquire in life (career, spouse, children, etc.). I'm one of the last hold outs from my childhood friend group, and even I'm slowly starting to lose interest in gaming. I don't think I'll ever give it up entirely, but it definitely doesn't hold the same appeal for me that it once had.
  
  If I can ask, around how old are you and your friends? How many years do I have left Doc?
  
  Well, and video games suck now. More and more they are just becoming over-glorified skinner boxes full of micro transactions and bullshit.
- They don't have the same punch but there are games that will bring that excitement back.
- I would argue it's a side effect of getting older.
  Not that you're growing out of games, but moreso that you're spending more time working, and doing other life related things that gaming no longer feels productive of fun.
  I'm working full time and take online classes, but I really love gaming still, I've just had to find games that respect my time, since my time is so precious to me right now.
  I've grown to loath multiplayer match-based games because it's the same thing over and over again with nothing to show for it, while things like DOOM, Skyrim, Dishonored, older assassins creed games, and various indie titles are all quick, fun, to the point and offer good stories that I enjoy.
  I just can't deal with round after round after round of the same thing. Or an MMO where it's just "Do this for hours and hours to grind out this skill and that skill"
  Like I want to play the game, not click 30,000 times.
- I'm over 40 and finding wands in Noita fills me with joy.
  "So, this one homes on enemies, has triple cast and delayed explosions... Hmmm, but what does orbital and bouncy do together?"
  shoots near beehive*
  Entire screen explodes
  And I just restart the game with a grin. I feel like that game made what actual magic would be. Starting the game by silently teaching us about the dangers of fire was a stroke of genius. It's always fire with magic, just weirder, bigger and wilder types of fire, and both me and my enemies don't command it, we simply live in a world with it. Nothing but a video game could make me experience this. Nothing but a video game could generate near endless amounts of endlessly unlearnable amounts of raging wildfires to be amused by.
  
  Looking forward to playing it! This comment sold it haha
  
  Noita is amazing.
- Definetly the second one.
  The classics are the best. 🕹️
- Microtransactions are killing, or have killed if you're cynical, modern gaming. Whether you have disposable income or not, it is viscerally tedius to try to escape into a game just to be pestered to use real money. I play games to avoid our capitalist exploitation dystopia, not further engage with it.
  I've largely abandoned live games for this reason. I used to be good at online FPS, but it just isn't worth the "buy this skin or you suck" every single login bullshit. I've been modding the Bethesda games and there's really no getting bored of those world's with constant new enthusiast content.
- There's nothing really "new" anymore, at least not mechanics-wise. Sure, graphics have become pretty good looking. But it's all still the same RPGs, first person shooters, and other shit from the 90s. When I see modern FPSs, I'm still seeing Wolfenstein 3D from 1992. Not a damn thing has changed.
  
  If you're playing the same types of games ,yeah
- Probably both. A lot of games really do suck ass. CoD is just comically bad in so many ways.
  There's some cool stuff out there, though. battlebit is aces, better than any CoD or Battlefield in years. Hunt Showdown is unqiue and cool. Darktide is an awesome horde shooter. Warframe... is warframe. Deep Rock Galactic is fun spacedorf action. Splitgate mixes up old school HALO:CE gameplay with portals that let you pull off cool kills or radically change the movement rountes across the map. There's ARMA3 and Reforger if you like milsim, with varyiung levels of milsimminess from "Sir yes sir" tryhards to people who just try to use basic infantry tactics and cooperate. There's apparently a huge star wars mod scene right now.
  
  lol I played CoD BLOps at the opening and had the existential moment of "WTF am I doing with my life". It's so shitty.
- It's both. The 90s are never coming back, and you'll never be however-old-you-were-during-the-90s.

from what ive heard trying different genres might help
- I think I've been feeling this lately. I've always been a huge fan of semi-RPGs and open world games, but there really haven't been many great ones in a long time (tried Elden Ring, needs difficulty slider).
  I'm realizing I should probably branch out into something new, but I don't even know where to start. I don't tend to care for turn-based games, and fighting games aren't my thing because of how long it can take to get decent at them.
  Anyone have any recommendations for games that you don't have to invest too much time into to really enjoy? I just don't have the time in my life for a crazy investment and focus in a game.
  
  To be fair, Elden Rings difficulty slider is the same as any other RPG... going off and doing other stuff for a bit until you're OP for the part giving you trouble.
  Also summoning people (or even the seamless coop mod that allows coop all the time everywhere) that's also an effective difficulty slider.
  
  I've had very little time to make an investment in gaming lately (not bad, just no time) but what I've found are emulators for old retro games and that has filled the itch quite nicely...the bonus is that if you put it down and walk away it's not as hard on your soul (less guild about spending money or time). plus games are easy to pick up and put down.

My enjoyment of games didn't die, but my tastes in genre changes. Online FPS just isn't for me anymore, I now prefer slower single-player story games

Use to do 10-15 hours on a free day. Now I have a hard time doing 1-2 without having to take a break.

I started feeling this way especially with the intro of micro transactions in games like Cod. Went back to play older games I've said I wanted to play at some point which has kept the flame lit.
- Between the worsening monetization and the endless reboot bullshit (where older games are sort of erased by directly reusing their names) I am no longer interested in TRIPLE AYYYY games.

I’m definitely feeling this.
My schedule makes it hard to play online with people I know and I hate playing with randos.
I switched to single player games on easy mode just to be able to make progress and get through some of my huge backlog of games.
It is starting to feel a little forced though.
- Take a break, try something different.
  Playing on easy instead of challenging yourself just go get through it is making the games worse for you in my opinion. Edit: This was a bit heavy handed, easy mode is fine I just meant to suggest harder difficulties
  Weirdly I enjoy playing most games on hard or higher despite not having a ton of time. A level a day, of even every other day is fine. The game can wait for me especially in single player.
  
  I get your point but at this point I get more satisfaction simply progressing and completing rather than overcoming harder difficulties. It’s a trade off I guess but I have a huge anount of games I haven’t even played so I guess It’s quantity over quality given my free time and that’s ok, I can change the difficulty back at any time but yes, I’m sure it impacts the enjoyment from the gameplay itself.
  
  Playing on easy instead of challenging yourself just go get through it is making the games worse for you
  This definitely depends on the person, I love when games have easy modes. Games can really make me anxious and stressed, so being able to lower the difficulty improves my enjoyment immensely. Don't get me wrong, I love challenging games too, but that challenge can ruin it for me sometimes too - especially if it's a single player story mode.

I play different games is the big difference. Lots of singleplayer of various genres. I really like engineering games, colony builders and RPGs.
- Do you have any recommendations of good engineering games ?
  
  Factorio comes to mind. More of a factory builder, but I'd describe the gameplay as being a lot more about designing stuff and figuring out good solutions. If you have ever felt a slight bit of achievement after getting something to work in a programming language or some engineering discipline, this game will be like crack for you! And I do mean that literally. I spent 50hrs within a few weeks on it, loved it, couldn't stop thinking about it, felt like it was better than socializing and then realized that it took me months or years to get to the same playtime in any other game I own!
  
  My favourite for the last few years has been Stormworks. It lets you build a lot of various vehicles with a lot of creative freedom. You can use out of the box controls, get a bit more advanced with the in-game microcontroller editor or go even further with lua scripting. I dove in blind and love it. Then there's transport, logistics, rescue, research etc. missions to complete.
  Others I have played before are Scrap Mechanic and Besiege which are a lot more lightweight and easy to get into, but with less advanced building possibilities.

Play some games completely different from what you're used to.

I stopped reading for maybe a decade when I started post-secondary education. I tried books during that time but it wasn't until finding an author that resonated with me that the interest picked up again. I still mostly only read that author now but I try other authors in between.
Same with video games. I will slowdown or stop for a while but eventually pick it back up again when the right thing comes along.
- but eventually pick it back up again when the right thing comes along.
  And when the time is right in your life; which is what people really don't understand until they experience it.
- Yeah, same. I'll go months without reading and then consume 40 books in a month before taking another break. Same with video games. #adhd is real for me, always.

I have recently gone back to Fallout New Vegas and I have been sinking tons of time into it exploring. It has reignited my love for single player games :)
- Get Disco Elysium if you haven't already.

For my money, I've found myself fascinated by the inner workings of games. Art directions, concept art, changes from beta versions, sound tracks, music theory of the soundtrack, and coding (panonenkoek, the guy who did watch out for rolling rocks in 0.5A presses). It lets me appreciate games that are pieces of art more richly and deeply. I know every surface texture and midi file of Majora's Mask. I have artist renditions of video game music on my playlists. Pallet Town on violin, Gusty garden galaxy on violin, song of storms on piano. I have a poster of a Pokemon card.
Do I play many games? No, not really. It doesn't mean the flame dies out, it just means my interests diverged and morphed. The appreciation never left. The same inner child who would be saddened by the departure would get a kick out of my writing. The same critic who didnt like Tales of Symphonia's sequel put their money where their mouth is and wrote about an ex-main character from an outside perspective. All of this lets me expect less from games and be able to see the effort that went into the individual parts. The dev team doesn't need to fill the open world with big laser beams, it can let me soak it in for a while.
- I know every surface texture and midi file of Majora's Mask.
  That's the old 3D Zelda with the blurry textures, right?
  
  old
  You take that back, and then get off my lawn

I'm in my late 20s and have realized two things about video games
I've invested hundreds of hours into games and I've got absolutely nothing to show for that time investment, and basically nothing to brag about at work or to friends
The last couple of years I've been more often playing games to pass time than for the actual love of whatever game I'm playing
So I've been trying to spend my time doing other things. If there isn't a compelling game I want to play at that moment I don't just play games until I find one that compells me again, I just do something else entirely.
My wife on the other hand has realized she really enjoys video games and sees it as "look at all of this time I could have spent playing video games and experiencing these things!" So I suppose that gives some perspective that it's not all for nothing
- I try not to think of having a “thing” to show others when judging how I’ve spent my time.
  If it makes your life more enjoyable, it is generally a good use of your time IMO.
- If you can't justify having something you enjoy by saying "it's not anything I can physically show some achievement for" are you sure you're doing it/quitting it for the right reasons?
  I read for pleasure sometimes, it's usually not anything I can talk to anyone about since it's usually older scifi, but I wouldn't consider that a "waste of time."
  Also, if you tell anyone in the age bracket of 25-35 that you beat Halo 2: LASO they'll know youve been in the trenches, it's not necessarily all for nothing if you have people that share the hobby.
- We all die alone. Doesn't really matter how you get there. If you can amuse yourself while you wait for death that's usually preferable to the alternative.

This was me, until I discovered Super Tux Kart a few months ago. I play at least 2 hours a day of that game.

I've legit spent 50 hours modding Skyrim to play for like 9 - 15 hours and then moving on until the itch to play Skyrim come back and I spent another 50 hours modding testing something different.
- I'm currently stressing myself out taking time to test mods for skyrim since enabling them all crashes the game so I have to slowly enable them, test, enable some more and repeat

I recently learned there are games where you don't even need a TV or computer. What an exciting new world!
- Like a steam deck?
  
  VR
- Sorry, I have ADHD. You can keep your cardboard agony simulators, just don't ask me to play them.

One thing I’ve noticed is that I’ll take a long break from a game I enjoy and later I want to go back to it and pick up where I left off, but I know I’ll have to re-learn it all over again before I can start having fun. I don’t want to have to expend the mental energy learning it again when I just want to have fun, so I instead end up watching YouTube or tv shows and not really enjoying my free time.
Now, whenever I start a new game I make a folder where I keep any spreadsheets or information I collect while playing, and most importantly keep extensive notes, including keybinds and UI to refresh my memory. This saves me from a lot of those squinty eye moments saying “ooohh how tf do I do that again…” and having to research something online.
- I just take a few minutes testing the different buttons.

So I know this is a meme but I wanted to say that if anyone out there, particularly younger people, finds this ringing loudly true to their own experiences, you may be experiencing medical depression. Sure you get more responsibilities as you get older and your passions change, but if you notice something feeling off about this sensation and many things you formerly enjoyed you start avoiding because forcing yourself to enjoy them just makes you feel crappy, it isn't necessarily normal.
I say this because I went through it and I didn't get help until my late 30s and I regret every day that I didn't. There is nothing wrong with asking for help, talking about it with others, and not accepting it as a "normal" part of growing up. Without help it will take a toll on your career and relationships and your health.
Reach out.

A lot of modern games just adhere to a basic formula and as such, I tend to get bored of them after a while. First Horizon? Nice. Second Horizon? More of the same. Horizon DLC? Even more of the same. It gradually got a bit more boring with every new entry.
So what I did was...I got an Xbox 360. Loaded it up with 5TB of games. And then I just picked something random to play. It made me discover Catherine, such a weird and awesome game.
I think, getting out of your comfort zone can refresh your enjoyment of gaming.
Let's see what else I can find on that thing...

Getting into Quake Champions helped cure this after realizing how bad most competitive fps games are now
- Quake 3 arena and quake live are also good. And of course Titanfall 2.
  
  Titanfall 2 was still being ddos’d last time I tried :/
  All quake is good tho :) and diabotical, but Quake Champions is my personal fav
- It sucks that quake only lives through QC, QC is such a garbage game. The client is half assed. The entire game is still in early access. The movement and shooting mechanics are fine but I hate champions and abilities 0/10
  
  Hard disagree. I think the champions add a lot and the client feels great on mid-range+ systems
- They suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck I love stunting on people with the stupidest loadouts in CoD, Going 20:1 in CoD by just holding a hallway with stabilized machine gun never stops being funny. Eventually the SBMM will boot me up to sweatlord territory but until then just using basic infantry tactics and pieing corners for kills while people flop around like neurotoxin poisoned trouts trying to be cool movement shooter dudes is hilarious. When I learned you could cook grenades with extreme precision I did nothing but airburst grenades in people's faces for like two days.
  Try Hunt Showdown if you want something really different. It's all old school cowboy guns, and two hits to the upper chest kills with any weapon within it's effective range except bows, shotguns, and the elephant gun. It gives fights a very different pacing. It's PvPvE with twelve players in teams of 1-3 competing to track down a boss monster, kill it, then extract with the bounty before someone else guns them down> The game is brilliantly constructed so that players organically move towards each other as they progress through each hunt. Instead of a big death circle forcing people together players want to do things that lead them towards one another, and hte result is that you know peolple are coming, but you never quite know from where. It has the best positional audio in gaming - You can hear every gunshot from anywhere in the 1kmx1km maps, you can tell roughly what kind of gun it was, whether it was inside or outside, and almost precisely what direction it was from. Which means every time you want to shoot you're telling the whole map where you are. Managing how much noise you make is a huge aspect of the game that is one of the first skill floors new players have to climb to.

I stopped being as interested in video games and gravitated toward board games. It’s an activity I can do with friends around a table instead of sitting alone staring at a screen. And the same puzzles are present in board games plus you get the social aspect.
- Same for me! I love chess, have been playing for 10 years. Now, not just casually. Good luck!
- I gravitated toward pen & paper rpgs. I don't get to play as much as I'd like to, but when I do it feels great to play whoever I want and to do whatever I can come up with, with my friends.
  And after listening to the "Sounds Like Crowes"-podcast, even RDR2 feels shallow and limited to me. So if I play something on my computer, it's some quick 15 minutes of Brutal Doom or some arcadish indie fun.

Don’t optimize the shit out of the game, just play them for as long as they are fun and ditch them afterwards.

I had stopped gaming for about 5 years to focus on my career and starting a family. I'm now turning 40 this year and have been dabbling with games again but nothing really stuck until I started the Trails in the Sky trilogy. I ended up playing it a few hours every other night. Something about it was so refreshing that I'm now about to wrap up the 3rd game.
Like others have mentioned, perhaps your mood or perspective changes as you get older and it's just about finding the right game to play.
- Nearly an empty nester, I got back into it with diablo and am surprised it's not affected my marriage. She'll just sit next to me and do her thing on phone/tablet.

That's just burnout

As a child who grew up with nothing but a family computer I dreamed for the day we would have free games everywhere. Boy did I get my wish

Single player board games. Sounds lame but look up hunt a killer stand alone..

Comes and goes in waves for me. I find games wbere me and my friends are just having fun still brings that feeling.

I love chess and card games

Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan this hit hard

I feel personally attacked
- Jsut give me your address and I'll personally attack you (nothing personal tho)
  
  *personnel

Coming from pc gaming, both multiplayer and single player i felt at a stage I was just not into gaming anymore. Went and got a Switch, turns out I just needed a change. Maybe try some indies as suggested. I had 65 hours on stardew valley, man that game is like crack.
- I've jumped on the switch train lately coming from PC & Ps4, play PC every once in a while but it's been switch since my Ps4 yearly sub expired. Playing newer games was getting a little expensive so just dropped back to playing games I can only get on discount except for big games like Zelda.

Me for the back 98.5% of Tears of the Kingdom

I just play bloons now. Im somewhat of a hardcore gamer still
- BTD6?
  That game is so addicting...

I've had this problem(?) a few times in my life. Having a several month break from gaming helped me ignite the spark once again.

Dont worry, it will come Back(maybe with a new different kind of game)

With some of the really good games that have come out recently, I've learned it really isn't just me not having interest/motivation. It is, in fact, that most games just fucking suck now. 🤷🏻‍♂️
- AAA titles are mostly re-optomized towards selling you more of the game, by withholding that game's content and reselling it for more than they would've gotten.
  This is partly a side effect of game value being mostly stagnant for years but also just greed in general.
  Indie games have been a huge boon for me due to that, no bullshit, just a game; a fun game.
  Literally, indie titles and games made by smaller companies (AA titles like Dishonored) have been the most fun for me to date.
  
  Looking at what games I've always liked: this has always been true. Back in the 90's, most of the big companies now were like 4 dudes in a garage and they had passion.
  Now a lot of the names I once respected are scam artists and jackasses and a lot of the companies sold to bigger companies who then gutted them, stripped the IPs they consumed of any value, and turn greatness into shit.

Anyone else having a hard time after beating zelda totk?
- That's my secret, I haven't beaten it just yet. Despite buying it on launch day and having 50-60 hours played, I'm still not done with it.
  Being an adult and adulting and doing adult stuff - like taxes and buying groceries - does wonders for limiting your play time.
  
  I'm 25 hours in. But man I'm enjoying it. Just spent an hour farming meat to make some rupees.
- Try the Risen or even the old Gothic games. They're definitely old and janky but there's a ton of exploration and discovery packed in with the old and the jank. Dark Souls and company are also worth looking in to if you haven't played them. Get Prepare to Die edition instead of Dark Souls remastered. Read some guides for the first Dark Souls - It has some mechanics that can really fuck you over. But the second and third one, plus Elden Ring, you can mostly just fuck around there's nothing particularly high stakes.

That deep fear of being homeless and hungry if shit goes sideways irl really takes the punch out of how much I give a shit if a sparkly pixel on my tv screen falls off a ledge or whatever.

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