I use to spend 6+ hours a day gaming, sometimes much more. To the point id hear the birds in the early morning and start to think i should really go to bed. Never had a problem getting into games, even some strange Korean MMO's in the past. But now i just cant find any games that grip me like they use too, even AAA titles bore me. The only one in recent years that i started and didn't stop till it was completed was the new god of war. I still buy the odd game in hopes ill enjoy it and play it often enough to warrant the cost of the game but its not happening anymore. I rather do almost anything else. I'm 29 now, saving for a mortgage and working full time that started 3 years ago (had part time jobs before) currently working though Red dead 2, but that's feeling more like a chore now than enjoyment. Anyone else feel like this since getting older? I really miss the old WOW days, CSS, DayZ mod with my college mates. Guess its nostalgia. But apart from Kajima games i really cant see my self gaming much anymore which is sad because i miss it.
I'm certainly playing less at the moment than I used to, but in general with gaming I tend to find it cyclical. In a month or two I see myself playing more, but I won't force it, if I fancy playing things I will, and I keep a loose eye out for new games I think I'd enjoy. Then again also when I was playing more I found it cyclical for individual games as well, get into something for a while then drift away, before coming back at some point, Don't Starve, and the Anno games are good examples of ones I played a lot of in a short period of time, then wouldn't touch for months, then play again etc.
Yes. I could (and did) put in all-nighters over the years playing the OG Command and Conquer, Gran Turismo endurance races, WOW, COD and more. Then I got older, got a wife, got kids and things changed. I still tried to fit in games but it became more difficult and, as you've experienced with RDR2, some games became a chore, then sat unplayed. I still game a bit but I changed my gaming habits. First thing I did is stop buying stuff I'll never play, or play for half an hour then abandon (Humble/Steam Sale I'm looking at you!). Then I went to work on my console game collection. Anything I knew I was never going to touch again or bother getting anywhere near completion I got rid of. I also became far more picky about the games I bought after that too. What I have now is a much smaller selection of games I enjoy playing in the time I now have. I enjoy racing (lucky enough to have a wheel/seat/vr setup) and play Project Cars 2 and F1 2018 mostly now. Then if it takes my fancy I dabble with Elite and Planet Coaster. Occasionally a game comes along and takes over for a while (Xcom 2, Mutant, RDR2) but then I fall back to my 'core' games. I also get a lot of gaming enjoying from playing with the kids now they're old enough. My youngest (6) loves a bit a Lego City Undercover and my oldest (9) wants to play anything I do but mainly Planet Coaster. It's nice to share that experience now even if I'm not always the one holding the controller.
I was thinking exactly this the other day! I no longer enjoy sitting for hours on end to get through a story slowly told after countless button mashes, or get owned online for not being as quick and accurate with my mouse. Same as you, I do miss the BFBC2 days, the hours spent on CoD before that, the hours spent with friends on CnC or SupCom. The last real gaming enjoyment was from capture most of ion frigates in 3rd (?) to last mission of Homeworld remaster, just as I did with original many years ago. Funny enough, that was when I was 29 and gaming was on the decline. Now, being 31 and with a 1 year old. The old way to game is no longer an option. The little free time I have, I get more enjoyment from coding things in my home automation Pi. Though, I do look forward to enjoy kiddie games with my son as he grows up. Please don't burn me, now I only really play mobile games for their ease to pick-up and not needing to sit down for hours on end. 5min here and there. End of the day, it's only natural for one's hobbies to change and evolve. Fear not, I'm sure you have other hobbies you now enjoy just as much. May be even gardening in 20 years time?
I think it's kinda par for the course when we get to this age/stage of life - I'm another in the "late 20's/early 30's, new baby, saving for mortgage" camp - spending 6-10 hours on a PC just doesn't fit in that recipe. And to be frank, with the current state of gaming, that suits me just fine. Those studios that, in our youth and with the benefit of rose tinted glasses, used to put out games that would completely overtake our lives have all been bought out, or succumbed to the same money making cop-outs as the industry bullies (Bethesda, Bioware etc). The last new(ish) game I put any serious time into (while the missus was asleep and pregnant, mostly) was XCOM 2 - but even that was a buggy, laggy mess that made enjoying it hard at times. All my other game time was spent with a very limited list of core games I know I can enjoy in short bursts (SupCom, BL2, Binding of Isaac). A big part of me wants to get back into the hobby when BL3 comes out, but I won't be sacrificing time with my family or shirking on my adult responsibilities to do it.
I think its the realisation that games use a lot of padding to make them feel bigger, and I guess as we've aged we just don't have the tolerance for repetitive tasks like we used to. Plus with the advent of early access it makes things more murky! Plus we have a lot more things like Netflix and Youtube clamoring for our attention, so its less compelling to play a mediocre experience!
I'm 37 and until recently have barely gamed in teh past 4 years having got into a rally good relationship but she understands my desire to do so so a PC upgrade and I' back on it. I'm picky on my games now though, I used to be able to spend ages on games like Prison Artitect and Don't Starve but those where time fillers but I prefer FPS and RTS. I try to get to see my best mate for a weekend of games as often as possible and we just play CODs and Vegas 2 on xbox, it's a good stress release. Gaming isn't critical anymore, more a nice break from my stresses.
Same here. It's been more so the last 2 years. For me it's a combination of factors though, not just that I find games less engaging than they used to be. Nowadays, the only games that really keep me in front of the PC are ones that I can pick up and put down as I see fit. I used to lose 20-30 hours a week on vanilla WoW, being forced to raid for FOMO or losing DK points for non-attendance. That eventually killed my enjoyment of MMOs and I've never really got properly into them since. I then hit the shooters and RTS games to get my fix and whilst the early Battlefields were great (peaked with BFBC2 and BF3 IMO), they've been on a downhill trend since. Same for RTS games for me, SC2 and DoW were amazing but latter games haven't really done anything for me. I guess there's an element of my own personal changes in there too though. Now just turned 40, I have massively different priorities to 15 years ago. Work has become even more exhausting and my social life is busier than ever, unbelievably. My ideal game is something I can now play from the sofa when I have a spare hour or the TV is rubbish. I still don't think I could sell my gaming PC though, just in case something really good comes out. Catch 22....
I'd scrape an hour or two most days of the week in a combination of forms - But I agree with the sentiments in this thread. Life takes more time than it did when you were younger. Work, house/flat, car, family, etcetera all start needing attention more than video games. It's just made me all the more picky about what I'll actually play these days.
'100+ hour campaign' sounds more like a threat than a promise these days... ...and loot 'n' shoot type games like destiny, unless you play them fairly religiously you seem to fall so far behind the curve so quick when you return you wonder if you're playing the same game.
I've certainly found that with the birth of our first child last year that my gaming time has dramatically reduced. I have carved out a dedicated 'gaming night' on a Wednesday, though even that isn't consistent (find myself watching a lot of Champions League Football in preference on those nights). Also, those evenings tend to be a bit of a washout as my gaming group all seem to be busy doing their own thing a lot more now, or they have progressed so far in the days between my gaming sessions that it is difficult to join in. The major saving grace for me has been getting a Nintendo Switch. I spend a lot more time gaming on that than anything else, particularly during my commute to/from work and on rare days where I take a lunch break!
For me these days, it's all about old games - drop a couple of credits onto an arcade game and get my fix that way. That, and playing classics on the SFC...
The amount of fun I've had with Ace Combat 7, 5 (£3.50 at CEX, couldn't resist) and Resident Evil 2 this year tells me I am not growing out of gaming. But. mainstream gaming is less and less about having a game to play and more and more about how the developer/publisher can screw with you to get more money. Since this console generation started in 2013 I sincerely think the general quality of new releases has gone down. There have been plenty of releases that were meant to be played (like Subnautica last year) but AAA titles are no longer designed to be fun and that's turned me off a lot of them (compare Battlefield 3 to BF5, Anthem etc). Sooner or later the trend will reverse, because we already see 'Live Service' games falling flat, but it does rather suck at the minute. Also yes, life is a pain and gets in the way of everything!
i dont game as much sadly, but that does not mean i have stopped buying games either, not sure why but i seem to end up buying games play a bit then stop. i enjoyed destiny 2 but just dont have time to squeeze it in anymore and a ton of single player games on steam, ps4,xbone and switch still need completing. one thing about the multiplayer games is it just does not feel the same anymore, nothing like join a well populated server filled with friendly folk like the old barrysworld servers where pretty much everyone on my steam and consoles friends list used to always play the banter was just so different to now. on the plus side my kids absolutely love the MCC on xbone and this half term started to play borderlands and my eldest can wipe the floor with me on any number of death match games including quake world.
So much this. ^^^^^^^ Combined with personal changes I might play a few hours on a night when the missus has gone to bed and theres nothing on telly. I also now HATE online games and digital only games with servers controlled by the companies. They turn off the server, game is useless. Also tired of beta games being released as a finished product. It seems to me its a case of make it live and we will patch it later! gone are the days of all nighters playing Socom 2 or BF3
At 58 I'm in the upper age bracket for gaming and was beginning to find gaming a bit stale, bought a psvr for a bit of a novelty and it was ok but started playing firewall zero hour and my love of first person shooters has been reignited and have been lucky enough to meet some great guys and regularly squad up and play online for hours
Yeh it's pretty good and new players are helped along, mostly older players with no screaming kids, games having a bit of a problem at the mo after an update but hopefully will be sorted soon
Where to start, I see a bunch of problems in the gaming community. My first 2 pc games that I played were doom 3 and battlefield 2 and that is what got me into pc, more of bf2 than any game at the time. For this rant we'll just talk about the battlefield series. (BF2) Many, many, many countless hours playing till the sun comes up. With no sleep having to drag my a** to school. So when BF2 came out it wasnt pushing mind blowing tech (for its time, to my knowledge) other than the 64 player count. What was innovative and addicting to me was the ***OPEN** team base and the commander. I could play any style I want, solo- having a blast with c4 or play in a recon SQUAD blowing up commanders assets so the enemy was blind, and fixing bridges so my tank can cross the water. Now I feel like every game today has to be like COD, TF2 or battle royal. I want my open maps, long shots and vehicular slaughterer. 2142 wasn't that bad. it had a nice change of pace with a few great idea. After that, for me is when the fun went away. I think BFBC had good ideas but I felt that this is where the turning point of squad play went away. and BF1 then again change things that were cool but the community hasn't adjusted well and that is why BF1/BFV isn't aging well. Let's look at Counter Strike. EXACT fundamentals from birth, many version but NOTHING HAS CHANGED... If you want to count cosmetics, 2 maps and one or two more guns than so be it. Valve had an idea and stuck to it with minor changes. The micro transitions for CSGO have made steam more money than EA will ever see with any new battlefield. We have publishers having to report to share holders not the community, stop trying to make a games that will suit to every shooter. UNDERSTAND that Battlefield is not everyone's cup of tea. Just because call of duty is selling more, dont change the game to become more like it to try and get sales. Stick to you, its the best thing you do.... POINT - when ******** did a review about Battlefield going back to WWI (BF1) they compared it to COD timeline and now Activision is bringing back modern warfare lets see what EA/Dice does to copy/counter that. RTX is cool but its a tech that I'm not hyped on. Nvidia has pushed tech in the past that goes into a few titles and then flopped (Physx, hairworx, RTX). I don't need my warfare to look like I'm there. I want to know that its a game, to push innovation on game play, better server, or something different other than "oh, look at the fire reflect on the car with RTX...." Tech has gotten pricey, back when a GTX 6800 ULTRA launched (relative to BF2) it was ~$600 you could build a decent pc back then and run it max setting that was playable. Nowadays $600 gets you a mid card that may or may not be able to touch max settings at a decent resolution. most good pc will cost you. I know I know inflation... But with the new Nvidia "Super".... I'm going to pay how much for just a 10-15% performance gains. That sounds awesome who wouldn't want 10-15% more but when you read between the lines of highly paid marketers 10-15% is only about 5-15 fps more.... Finding a good group of people (for me) has gotten harder and harder. Everyone is streaming now a days and most only play that popular titles that are going to get them viewers/subs/donations. So I feel every publisher has to copy that top streaming game in some way or form. Stop the PRE pre PRE beta / early access Bu**$H!& buy in. Make the FULL game, then fix the glitches/bugs. I'm tired of games that get slow updates that have issues because the DEV got their money and are now working on the next money trap that they can create. I may just be dreaming/sipping of that sweet sweet tea but thats my rant. Reasons I feel that has change the community and why I dont just binge game anymore. I want big open battlefield maps again, that I can have my co-pilot do bomb runs with!
I thought I'd grown out of gaming for a while as it just did nothing for me. I had so many games and I didn't really want to play any of them or even watch any on Twitch/Mixer. Turns out it was just a phase though Some months where I do a lot of playtests I don't always feel like playing anything on my own time, as it can be a bit draining. I've also been ill for the last 3 months and I really haven't played much of anything at all, just the odd bit of Stardew Valley on the Switch when I couldn't sleep. There's a new season coming in Destiny 2*, so I'm excited to get back on that and I also wouldn't mind some Borderlands 2 again before BL3 drops. I definitely felt like I played more when I only had the one staple game though. I have so many games I can play now, it can be tough to decide what to play and then I just watch Netflix instead. Gaming is hard work! *I actually don't feel too bad being 'left behind' in Destiny 2, they've put extra bounties in so you can catch up to the season's base level quickly and as long as I accept I probably won't be able to solo the final part of exotic weapon quests until much later than other people it doesn't put me off. Then again I appear to be alone in not minding doing Iron Banner miles under average power level...
