Gaming funk

spronk · May 11, 2018

watch TV and movies, there are a bajillion 10/10 TV shows you have probably missed you can find threads in the TV forums but stuff like Expanse, Stranger Things, Spartacus, Altered Carbon, Black Sails, Narcos, Ozark, etc will suck you in for months. I could literally watch TV 24x7 for the rest of my life and not catch up with everything I want to watch. Plus I absolutely love rewatching stuff like TNG, DS9, Babylon 5, Rome, Wire, Deadwood, etc those shows remind you how great TV can be.

play a totally different genre and see if it rekindles anything. I mix it up between Forza Horizon 3 (racing), Call of Duty WW2 (small room FPS), Fortnite, Uncharted 4 multiplayer, God of War, Far Cry 5, and a few others. When I get into a funk next I'll probably switch completely over to Pillars of Eternity, Zelda Breath of the Wild, and Mario Odyssey to rejuvenate.

Harshaw · May 11, 2018

You are not alone. I have spent way too much lately trying to revive my interest in gaming. I even bought a PS4 thinking some new stuff would get me back into the swing of things. Which it didn't. I haven't touched my PS4 in like 2 months I think. I do get the occasional game here or there that will grab my attention, but even then I'll maybe play for an hour or 2 at a time max. I would rather watch TV or a movie then play games 95% of the time.

Brahma · May 11, 2018

Few hit the nail on the head. 25 games come out I am interested in...3 are good. Rest are either just OK or simply awful.

Age is another thing. The formula for fun games doesn't change, and pretty much it's a case of been there done that.

Fight · May 11, 2018

Sometimes it is not the games or the content that is making you feel like nothing is fun. Do an activity(s) that makes you feel like you earned your gaming time. Here is an example of what I mean...

Get yourself up Saturday morning, maybe an hour later than you normally would on a week day. I.e. sleep till 8:30 or 9am, not noon like you might on any other weekend. Then, start the morning by doing some chores around house, cleaning a bit, throw in a load of laundry, and then go mow your lawn. After you get done, run by your local convenience store and grab your favorite ice cold beverage. Go home, crank the air-conditioner and settle in at your computer.

Maybe you put on something new you have been wanting to try, but it could also be something you haven't played in awhile that you loved. Something like Skyrim or Mass Effect 2. The great thing about going back to old games you have 100%'d is that you won't feel the compulsion to min-max everything. You have been there, done that. You are playing just for the fun of it.

What ever game you get into is going to feel new, fresh, and liberating.

Ravishing · May 11, 2018

Fight said:
Sometimes it is not the games or the content that is making you feel like nothing is fun. Do an activity(s) that makes you feel like you earned your gaming time. Here is an example of what I mean...

Get yourself up Saturday morning, maybe an hour later than you normally would on a week day. I.e. sleep till 8:30 or 9am, not noon like you might on any other weekend. Then, start the morning by doing some chores around house, cleaning a bit, throw in a load of laundry, and then go mow your lawn. After you get done, run by your local convenience store and grab your favorite ice cold beverage. Go home, crank the air-conditioner and settle in at your computer.

Maybe you put on something new you have been wanting to try, but it could also be something you haven't played in awhile that you loved. Something like Skyrim or Mass Effect 2. The great thing about going back to old games you have 100%'d is that you won't feel the compulsion to min-max everything. You have been there, done that. You are playing just for the fun of it.

What ever game you get into is going to feel new, fresh, and liberating.

Good point. Work+kids = I'm ALWAYS ready to chill out at the pc after everyone's in bed

a_skeleton_00 · May 11, 2018

I'm glad it's not just me.

As much as we are all sitting here discussing the changes in our lives it really isnt that.

Games fucking suck now.

It's easy to see why too. It's not even a close comparison.

Would you play ff15, or ff7 a second time?

Excidium · May 11, 2018

I have been falling out since 2013. Now that I moved out of Vancouver to the island, I have taken up golf as my passion. I get to min max while also walking 18. Sad since gaming was my favourite hobby. Now it’s day time drinking chasing an over priced ball. Just bought new clubs this year that cost more than any PC I use to build. Hell in still on a 3770k and 2500k PC with a 1060.

slippery · May 12, 2018

spronk said:
watch TV and movies, there are a bajillion 10/10 TV shows you have probably missed you can find threads in the TV forums but stuff like Expanse, Stranger Things, Spartacus, Altered Carbon, Black Sails, Narcos, Ozark, etc will suck you in for months. I could literally watch TV 24x7 for the rest of my life and not catch up with everything I want to watch. Plus I absolutely love rewatching stuff like TNG, DS9, Babylon 5, Rome, Wire, Deadwood, etc those shows remind you how great TV can be.

play a totally different genre and see if it rekindles anything. I mix it up between Forza Horizon 3 (racing), Call of Duty WW2 (small room FPS), Fortnite, Uncharted 4 multiplayer, God of War, Far Cry 5, and a few others. When I get into a funk next I'll probably switch completely over to Pillars of Eternity, Zelda Breath of the Wild, and Mario Odyssey to rejuvenate.

I think I'm going to do some TV watching. I think I haven't really watched anything in like a year and have shit tons of stuff on my DVR/Netflix.

I think I find more enjoyment watching streams than playing games lately

Blitz · May 12, 2018

I recently had an issue that was, although not exactly alike, pretty similar. It really just came down to playing too many games or games that just weren't fun enough.

I'd compile a list of games I was even remotely interested in, and then try to play them -- and although a lot of them were probably solid/pretty good, it's a waste of fucking time. It's really as simple as "am I having fun" and if you are, you are going to go out of your way to play it.

It's easy to get interested in too many games, especially being apart of a gaming community. But the reality is, most of them are not worth a major effort. I generally only buy games that are pretty universally regarded as great - God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, RDR2 later this year etc. If I wanna waste my time, I'd much rather veg out to a good TV show that takes no effort. At least there I'm not doing redundant chores to beat a game I don't really give a shit about, just to say I beat it.

Tl;dr less games, stick to the sure ones. Playing even just decent games burns you out, and then you don't even wanna play the great ones.

Origin · May 12, 2018

I've been going through a massive funk for the past 3 years or so, mostly since we had our first kid. Our second is 6 months old now, and the situation has deteriorated even more. I've tried like 20-30 games over this period of time, but nothing has held me for longer than a few hours, or days at best. I usually get all excited at the prospect, install and then uninstall, disgusted. At first, i thought it was the quality of the games. BACK IN MY DAY... i would think to myself, but after a while i became more self-critical and concluded that i was the problem.

I've narrowed it down to a theory, that might resonate with the populace of this board, since the majority of us came here because of EQ and MMOs.

My theory is that i am not so much a fan of "gaming" as i am of MMOs. I've played the fuck out of EQ and WoW, spending an average of 8 hours a day playing over a period of 10 years ('99 to '09). My decline came with my first serious employment, which was in '08, and things have been going south from there.

Having a wife and kids is obviously the nail in the coffin. I cannot commit the time necessary for any MMO, so i don't bother. Times that i have tried, i ended up gimping it around and quitting, disappointed.

I'm currently at the stage where i'm searching for other hobbies, non-game related, but it's not going so well. Everything that i would get into requires a decent amount of time, which i do not have. I'm in complete limbo.

Luckily, i make a decent living, so i'm able to provide myself with cool gadgets that at least make my limited free time as enjoyable as possible.

Penance · May 12, 2018

This thread

goishen · May 12, 2018

Fight said:
Sometimes it is not the games or the content that is making you feel like nothing is fun. Do an activity(s) that makes you feel like you earned your gaming time. Here is an example of what I mean...

Get yourself up Saturday morning, maybe an hour later than you normally would on a week day. I.e. sleep till 8:30 or 9am, not noon like you might on any other weekend. Then, start the morning by doing some chores around house, cleaning a bit, throw in a load of laundry, and then go mow your lawn. After you get done, run by your local convenience store and grab your favorite ice cold beverage. Go home, crank the air-conditioner and settle in at your computer.

Maybe you put on something new you have been wanting to try, but it could also be something you haven't played in awhile that you loved. Something like Skyrim or Mass Effect 2. The great thing about going back to old games you have 100%'d is that you won't feel the compulsion to min-max everything. You have been there, done that. You are playing just for the fun of it.

What ever game you get into is going to feel new, fresh, and liberating.

Yah, I love going back and playing the ME original trilogy. Hell, I've even considered going back and playing Fallout4 again. My love of Bethesda started to regrow with that game. I used to love them when Morrowind was released. Ever since then? Meh. Unpopular opinion time : I don't even like Skyrim. This is one reason I'm so cautiously optimistic for Starfield.

slippery said:
I think I'm going to do some TV watching. I think I haven't really watched anything in like a year and have shit tons of stuff on my DVR/Netflix.

I think I find more enjoyment watching streams than playing games lately

And this for whenever I've completed those games/feel like I'm just overplaying them. Of course, there is a niche playerbase on twitch of ME games. starbuck2190, sizesixteens, etc.

Kaige · May 12, 2018

I get stuck in WoW occasionally for little projects, but I've managed to take on a lot more regular gaming.

I've found that other than the super cool titles, I've been going back to my Steam account and enjoying the little indie games that are short and sweet. There's some good "retro" types I've played in the Metroidvania style and cheap too.

I think these days I worry about investing too much into some games (like RPGs) for fear I'll get bored or not be able to keep into it. So I go with more casual old-school types and bang them out. They tend to keep my interest and I'm more forgiving because I know I shouldn't expect too much. Then I just enjoy it.

Pasteton · May 12, 2018

Haven’t enjoyed many new games lately. My main form of gaming now is just browsing allakhazam to reminisce about old zones and mobs like some ww2 vet visiting a memorial

Penance · May 12, 2018

Pasteton said:
Haven’t enjoyed many new games lately. My main form of gaming now is just browsing allakhazam to reminisce about old zones and mobs like some ww2 vet visiting a memorial

So I never got into EQ, nobody I knew would play it with me. But I remember I loved browsing that site and looking at all the mobs I would never see. I lost my shit in that as a little kid.

BrotherWu · May 18, 2018

Can't tell you the number of Friday nights the past couple of years that I've had some booze and some free time and got stuck in a loop of browsing Steam and/or twitch looking for something to play and end up buying nothing and going to bed. Sometimes I will pick up a popular one and it's returned to Steam shortly. If it doesn't pull me around right away, fuck it. I've wasted too much money on shit games over the years and I'm not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt that it will get better anymore.

I bought Battletech and couldn't even get through the tutorial. Who's got time for just walking around like that? I thought the graphics were shit and the voice acting sounded like recycled X-Com samples. Maybe I was wrong? Fortnite, 1 game and I was done. PUBG? No interest. Rocket league? I don't get it.

Certain oddball choices games, however, can hook me. I've played the shit out of Mount and Blade mods, for example. It's highly rated but its sequel has been in development for like a decade. I played a fair amount of Foxhole.

I think it is a mix of a change in tastes, dwindling free time, lower attention spans and a flood of shit games.

goishen · May 18, 2018

It is true that Steam has become the aggregate site for shit games. In fact, it's become so bad that I've stopped browsing Steam altogether.

slippery · May 18, 2018

I played like 12 games of PUBG last night and actually enjoyed it, so that's something.

I have been watching a ton of TV though. Finished Bull and The Resident. Watching season 2 of Jessica Jones now. I feel like TV is helping because it's passive entertainment, I don't get frustrated with bad game design choices

Crone · May 18, 2018

So many similarities to my own life being posted in this thread. Lol

Ravishing How do you find the energy after the wife and kids go to sleep? I always tell myself that after they go to bed I'm gonna play XYZ game, and they go to bed, and I'm like, fuck it, I will too. Lol

And what's the phrase, analysis paralysis? Just like

BrotherWu , many times I'll have free time, but then never figure out what to do with that free time.

But I've found that almost exclusively these days, I don't give a shit about the game if there are people to play with. But my schedule is such that it doesn't leave a lot of times for games, so it makes it hard to play with people.

With new WoW expansion coming, maybe I'll get back into that with the forum Dad guild if the times work out.

Ravishing · May 18, 2018

Crone said:
So many similarities to my own life being posted in this thread. Lol

Ravishing How do you find the energy after the wife and kids go to sleep? I always tell myself that after they go to bed I'm gonna play XYZ game, and they go to bed, and I'm like, fuck it, I will too. Lol

And what's the phrase, analysis paralysis? Just like BrotherWu , many times I'll have free time, but then never figure out what to do with that free time.

But I've found that almost exclusively these days, I don't give a shit about the game if there are people to play with. But my schedule is such that it doesn't leave a lot of times for games, so it makes it hard to play with people.

With new WoW expansion coming, maybe I'll get back into that with the forum Dad guild if the times work out.

If I was smart I would go to sleep with everyone else haha.

I don't play MMOs anymore , havent for a long time. I play games that are competitive match-based... OW, Hearthstone, FortNite, League of Legends, etc.. And due to the nature of this type of game, you play 15-30 min increments and you either accomplished something or didn't. Whereas MMO I'd probably never play again, no time for that.

Also these types of games are more addictive and I have a an addiction to gaming. Lol.

I basically get by with 6 hrs of sleep and then usually throw in 1 or 2 nights of no games to catch up on sleep and spend more time with the wife.

Search

Gaming funk

spronk

FPS noob

Harshaw

Throbbing Member

Brahma

Obi-Bro Kenobi-X

Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider

Ravishing

Uninspiring Title

a_skeleton_00

Excidium

Trakanon Raider

slippery

Blitz

Origin

Molten Core Raider

Penance

Silver Baronet of the Realm

goishen

Macho Ma'am

Kaige

<WoW Guild Officer>

Pasteton

Blackwing Lair Raider

Penance

Silver Baronet of the Realm

BrotherWu

MAGA

goishen

Macho Ma'am

slippery

Crone

Bronze Baronet of the Realm

Ravishing

Uninspiring Title