Falling out of love with gaming

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Tredge

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
1,028
4,915
Have you ever been in love? Like butterflies, I cant stop thinking about her, get stupid kind of love?
Then something happens(likely result of you being stupid) and you break up - probably badly. You then go through the next several relationships without that original feeling. You are not unhappy, the relationship is fine but you never have that original feeling again.

Truth is those other girls are boring. Also true, the boring girls may actually be a better long term relationship and not as damaging to the rest of your social life.
But what made you so crazy for the first girl? Did you change or are the girls different?
That hidden quality is called addiction and when we find that perfect combination that makes us obsess over a specific person we go balls deep.

Well, I'm here to tell you that love can be found again - we just have a lot of boring girls in the dating pool right now. They are not addicting at all. Sure they put out - but its boring sex and completely repetitive.
Dont let anyone tell you that you cant find this kind of love again. Its out there. The games just dont have the addictive qualities they should to get us balls deep in love.

I've said it here before on other threads - until developers get off the mass appeal bandwagon and allow a true power curve, this addiction will never return. The power curve is required for a sense of accomplishment and drives addiction.
When I finally hear about a game that allows for dedicated players to gain a significant advantage over others - I'll start to fall in love all over again. Until then, I'll pay for cheap sex when the mood strikes me then dump her for the next passing interest.
 

etchazz

Trakanon Raider
2,707
1,056
i'm also on the fence about buying the next gen gaming console (either ps4 or xbox 720). the specs i saw for both systems didn't really impress me all that much and overall i was hugely disappointed with my ps3 (it was stolen a few years back and i didn't even really care that much). looking back, i pre ordered the ps3 and picked it up at midnight at my local game stop and was offered $1,200 for it that night by a guy outside the store who was trying to get one. i should have sold it right then and there and doubled my investment (what the fuck was i thinking?). anyway, i just don't think that there will be any real progress in the gaming industry to warrant my purchase of a next gen console. they will make god of war 4, and gran turismo 8 (or whatever number they're on), COD 7, and tomb raider 12, and i'm sure the graphics will be slightly better, but as far as truly groundbreaking games go, they will be few and far between and not really worth the investment of another $500 or $600 for a new system.
 

imready2go

WTF is a Raider?
<Gold Donor>
1,268
5,593
Play pen and paper Dungeons and Dragons. You can get groups online, play with Skype and there are even map programs so you can share a map.

Dungeons and Dragons is why a lot of got into RPGs to begin with.
I have a Player's Handbook sitting next to me right now. Just need to get the buddies interested again too.

I've been gaming since Pong, so I've seen a lot of games come and go. (Yeah, I'm fucking ancient.) Part of the problem with gaming today is the people. Gaming used to be fun. That's kind of the point of a game, isn't it? I remember getting recruited into a casual guild in EQ, and being anxious to play just knowing I was in store for a few laughs every time I logged in. But I rarely get that feeling when I play an online game these days. True, the shitty games themselves are partly to blame but so are the people playing. Everyone has a personal agenda, and it seems it's rarely "have fun". Gamers have always been divided I suppose, but now it seems much more obvious. There are the casuals, who are often just random dumbasses - the type who throw out guild invites to any passerby just so they have someone to talk to. And then there are the elite hard-core types who will hunt you down in real life if you so much as think about screwing up their gaming experience. There's no middle ground anymore - you're either an ultra casual moron or a total hardass. What the hell happened to playing a game just for the sake of enjoyment, to meeting up with friends and having fun without an agenda? "NO! FUCK YOU! I HAVE TO BE IN THE TOP 1%!" Seriously? "Hi, I'm a one-man guild. Would you be my friend?" Oh, Jesus H.

Bah, maybe I'm just grumpy.
 

cabbitcabbit

NeoGaf Donator
2,676
8,274
I'm pretty much done with MMOs at this point, and there's really only two-three releases a year on average that get my dick wiggling. Take's too much time and effort to try to be in the hardcore guilds and the slow-blinkers irritate me to no end. I would rather spend my fun money on magic cards anyway.
 
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0
Somewhat in the same boat, 30+ now and it seems very hard to get excited about games now. I think there has only been four games I've played more than 10 hours this year. ME3 multiplayer has been fun after almost a year break, XCOM crushed my balls on my I/I tries and last week I bought dark souls and a gamepad because my friend has been bugging me about it forever. 15 hours in I'm really enjoying dark souls so far. After I quit wow over a year ago I haven't even considered playing any mmo. I also tried to like Path of Exile but it just wasn't my cup of tea.

One thing I've noticed is that I have extremely low tolerance for crappy stories. I tried to get into skyrim few times but I just couldn't take it going through some bullshit dialogue which I didn't give two shits about.

Now I want games that are easy to pick up but are hard to master. Also I stopped worrying about "not enjoying" games, if I don't feel like playing anything for a month then I won't (I think I went like two months without playing absolutely anything earlier this year).
 

penalty_sl

shitlord
832
0
Have you ever been in love? Like butterflies, I cant stop thinking about her, get stupid kind of love?
Then something happens(likely result of you being stupid) and you break up - probably badly. You then go through the next several relationships without that original feeling. You are not unhappy, the relationship is fine but you never have that original feeling again.
That seems to be the mood of the thread (and the best many can hope for)

People get scared of their own feelings - analogy for life: you get knocked down, you avoid standing up again ... explains how some of us wind up reduced to zone 3 studio flats, playing simple games that don't excite us

Some people know the only way to get over such a love for gaming is to outgrow it - to get to the point where you're looking back at that intense era, catching its eye, remembering the good times, but seeing your once object-of-desire as little more than an old childhood toy (free to pick it up, spin it around, insert rods into its plastic orifices, but ultimately unable to respect how little it's grown, how much it's aged - you look back at your former self with a smirk)
 

Caliane

Avatar of War Slayer
15,585
11,890
I have on my pc atm..
Darkout, Firefall, Gnomoria, Marvel heroes, City of steam(browser based),Unepic, Neverwinter, PoE, LoL, They bleed pixels, PA3, TL2, tropico 4, xcom:EU, beyond good and evil, Skryim, TF2, DCUO, GW2, tribes:ascend, Desktop dungeons, dredmore, bioshock:inf, the cave,

Obviously other great games out of fairly recently, just not installed anymore for space. Saints row3, amoung others.

I dunno. seems like a pretty great time for gaming to me. way more games then I have time for.
Friends are trying to get me to go Rift with them, after they bailed on neverwinter. (which I too had to more or less follow. I liked it.. but man all those exploits.. maybe I'll give it another chance 6months from now)
 

Mahes

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
5,429
6,534
Only a few games on the horizon that I am keeping an eye on. Everquest Next and Camelot Unchained are the two on the way horizon. The only game I am looking at for this year, and most likely until one of those other two come out is "Hex". Hex looks to actually be developed to be fun. I figure that game will keep me entertained until a truly next generation MMO comes out that does not cater to socialism. The one gaming company that I will no longer even casually glance at anymore is Blizzard. In my mind they can do no right, until either they are no longer owned by activision or they shut down completely.
 

Xeldar

Silver Squire
1,546
133
I've accepted the fact that I am a member of the target audience for vidya games/mmos. I'll retire to my mom's basement, facing star trek action figures against star wars action figures until I run out of Mt. Dew.
 

Draegan_sl

2 Minutes Hate
10,034
3
I never played MOBAs before, but I got sucked in LOL in the past week or so. Play nights with my brother in law. It's been a while since I've played games with a regular group of people.

So I've got a bunch of hours into the game now and the game is pretty conducive to my time constraints. I'm curious to see how long it'll last.
 

Aaron

Goonsquad Officer
<Bronze Donator>
8,903
21,017
I was thinking about the lack of luster for gaming over lunch today and realised something. After having lurked on FoH since 2008 and taken part here, I've read enough of the MMO forums to realise that there is a lot of nostalgia here for the "good old days". Most people here it seems pick up an MMO and play it for a couple of months before leaving. It struck me, a lot of what I've been reading, and what I've been feeling, sounds a bit like we're dealing with a drug addiction.

We all got addicted about 10 years or so ago, give or take, back when we were young and dumb. Most of us were hardcore junkies too, what with "sock pooping" and whatever. I remember quite well the time I sunk into MMOs, including 23 hour sessions in Eve (it would have been 24 if not for the daily downtime hour). But as time went on either our tolerance went up, or the drugs got worse (or both). The result is we keep jabbing ourselves with both old and new concoctions of MMOs yet nothing gives us the rush we remember.

Some of us have quit, mostly by going cold turkey, and almost never because they felt they were wasting their life away and wanted to do something more constructive with their lives, but more because nothing gave them a buzz anymore.

This forum sometimes seems like a strange cross between a rehab (or a methadone) clinic and a crack house, where old and new junkies come and discuss the various new MMOs out there while at the same time wishing for the good old days when the shit was pure.

Anyone else have this feeling?
 

Caliane

Avatar of War Slayer
15,585
11,890
there is alot of talk about gaming compulsion.
most games. Mmo's especially(as well as mobile games) are very much designed to be compulsive.
 

Meko

Bronze Knight of the Realm
117
1
I too am finding my gaming interests becoming less and less. It only recently hit me over the past few years, though. I remember hearing about FF14 and being super stoked but now, with release coming soon and the game being a lot better, I just don't care. I only marginally pay attention to the actual "game" sections of the various "gaming" forums I read; I mostly look at the pics/general chat. I turn 31 in 2 weeks and I guess maybe I'm just too old or maybe I haven't found anything that is exciting that I can't wait for (I was looking forward to Titan but that got pushed back).
 

Aaron

Goonsquad Officer
<Bronze Donator>
8,903
21,017
I'm wondering if we'll end up like the old generation '68 acid head hippies. Only our acid are MMOs, our Woodstock is EQ and WoW classic, our "Make love, not war" is "This shit's not hardcore enough, I'm rage quitting", and our disgruntlement over Vietnam are endless nerfs and pandering to casuals in MMOs.

If that's the case then I think we got the short end of the stick.
 

Noodleface

A Mod Real Quick
38,351
16,238
I had to pull out some cables that I store in a cupboard/shell below my TV last night, it's also where I keep all my console games. I had 15 unopened PS3 games, probably another 10 that I'm "in the middle of", and my fiance probably had about 5 unopened and a few more she's in the middle of (noob... ). I realized I am turning into an old man, I thought I'd be playing video games all day erry day chicken nuggets style.
 

Treesong

Bronze Knight of the Realm
362
29
I can't believe it myself but I am having my 5th Everquest revival after all. Since the last one was 4 years ago I thought it was over, but apparently not. Having fun, sinking some money in the game, even making lists of goals and setups for my boxes. Probably will last for about 3-4 months but that's fine. And I still enjoy the first few weeks of most new mmo's that come out, so I am still hanging in there. I do feel the OP's pain though, it is simply not as enticing anymore as those first years were (Doom, Wing Commander, Diablo, Everquest).

My life itself has not changed that much over those 15 years since I started, so that can not really be it (had 2 small children when I started gaming, got another small child now and 2 pubescents, so busy enough). Yes, I am old.
 

gogojira_sl

shitlord
2,202
3
I just beat Metal Gear Rising in about two sittings. It's nothing amazing, but it's stupid fun and might be a good one to play if you're in a slump because it's all of 5 to 6 hours long. Some of the story is funny and some of it's atrocious when it tries to take itself serious. It's not a Metal Gear Solid game so don't expect stealth, just a bunch of cutting people.
 

vazdeline_sl

shitlord
105
1
Rift literally put me to sleep while playing the game. I couldn't wait to stop playing that game after forcing myself to play up to level 20 to give it a chance. I'm still amazed it did as well as it did. (retaining about 40% of its subs after a year) I guess a bug free client and polished UI pays off. But I play games for the gameplay, not for pretty menus.

Adding one or two gimmicks on top of a WoW clone still makes it a WoW clone. 10 times better? You are subjectively full of shit.



20 other WoW clones you mean. They are all crap. Please do tell me where I can find the EQ 1 classic successor that is so tailored to my preferences.



The only games since WoW classic that I really got into for more than a month were classic EQ emus/eqmac and diablo 2 ladder resets. (and d3 for 3 months only because I was making money) The nostalgia argument is complete nonsense. When I first started up on p99, I played that game hardcore for almost a year. It was far more entertaining than any modern game I've played. Then again on red99 for a few months, then eqmac for another few months. EQclassic.org's emu is the only game I'm looking forward to right now aside from maybe EQN.

The 'new features' you would claim I wouldn't live without are features that are complete deal breakers for me. I refuse to play a game with instancing, dungeon finder, etc. If the game makes me click on NPCs with !s over their heads who tell me to click on sparkly shit on the ground and reward me with a +X gooder item that had nothing to do with the 'quest' then I refuse to play it. Now go ahead and tell me I'm a tiny masochistic minority because I don't like what you do.
My thoughts entirely