Gamers who have gamed for a long time

Same here. Time is just more valuable now. Hopping into a few quick rounds just feels easier than starting something up and getting halfway through the beginning tutorial, before being interrupted by the kids or wife, and then feeling like you just wasted the hour or so you had to spare, because you didn't even start playing the actual game yet.

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

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

My tastes have definitely changed.

I’m old and I’m busy. I don’t have time for fetch quests that are uninspired time sinks. I don’t have time to play through a game with janky mechanics just for a few bright spots. I don’t have time to farm repetitive shit just so I can do X thing.

I’ve found that most AAA games care more about the time you spend playing rather than whether the game is fun or not. Diablo IVs rapid fall from grace is a prime example of this. This will not stop; it is the end point of the business model. A fun game that people sink 40 hours into and drop is much less profitable than a mid-game that demands a perpetual 10 hours per week.

Others have already hit on it, but my best gaming experiences in recent years have been games that I didn’t buy on release and only found through online word of mouth and hype.

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

Years ago I made the decision to never play a game on launch, never buy a game full price, never play a game just because it was on the online buzz.

I decide what to play usually days in advance, carve out a chunk of my recreation time to explicitly play, as if it were going to a movie or a party with friends. It's like a date with the game. I block a couple of hours to it. If the game is good, it will get a second date, if it bored me, we would break up.

I don't buy on sales pressure either. If I decide I want to play a game, I would wait to buy it on the historical cheapest price. Only then would the game get schedule time to get played. That keeps the FOMO away.

It has made gaming super enjoyable and no longer the dopamine chase that publishers want to make to milk the most money out of me. As a result I usually enjoy my time way more, play older games more frequently, not out of nostalgia but because I never played then. I also spend less money, which lowers stress and anxiety. As a result I haven't played a AAA game in a long while.

Time is scheduled for a game on what I'm interested in right now. But since the decision is always for a time far away in the future (up to a week in advance) I can make a more directed and intentional decision. Some weeks it's thematic, some weeks it's just genre based. Some weeks are retro. Some weeks are for comfort. All with small and concrete goals for each.

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

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

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

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

It's depression, and other stuff.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yep. I've never left Counterstrike and with CS2 that came back, friends from when I played when I was in college have come back to play so we've been playing. Story wise, I could get into it but there just isn't enough time and what time you have you're going to sacrifice sleep.

It's all about getting old.

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

Yeah but people change hobbies change and priorities change. Don't ever try to force yourself to play games because you feel like your supposed to. I don't eat candy anymore because I stopped enjoying it. I'm not gonna just eat it because I used to love it.

If thats how you play games now just do you, have fun with those games now, don't need to over think it

For me the reason is ... Decision fatigue!

I often stared blankly at my staggeringly huge game library and lost all interest to play. And instead ended up playing something not too heavy on the brain that I have known for decades and perhaps even watch Netflix on the side. (Like Diablo.)

While researching online I stumbled upon the phenomenon of decision fatigue and it changed my gaming habits and even other parts of my life. I probably understand the concept incorrectly but for me, I apparently tend to avoid decisions all together when there are too many options which leads to heavy procrastination. Doesn't matter if it's too many tasks on my list, too many letters on my desk or too many games to choose from.

I Marie Kondoed my gaming library and now it's a fun activity again!

• btw I am a gamer for over 30 years and my library, including all gaming platforms and consoles, has about 2000 (two thousand) titles

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, play a game that respects that limitation.

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

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

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

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

Same, I find I'm super picky with games now, and have a hard time finding new stuff. But I'll go back and play stuff from when I was a kid for the 17th time no problem.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeah, I'm the same way.

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

You doing ok, OP?

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

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

It's funny you say this because games I know I would love years ago, still appeal to me I.e. Baldurs gate but now I am very much a collect and compete kind of gamer.... It's weird I used to love in depth stories but now a days tetris, doom, card games. It's weird.

Been gaming since I was a boy in the early 90s, mostly a computer and retro games since my family didn't have the money for new consoles as they came out. Got invited a lot to friends who did have consoles to jam out.

These days, Ive found that burnout is a thing but it's usually temporary. Games I am playing don't do it for me, or feel like a chore keeping up with dailies or other tasks to unlock content.

Remember that's all just grind and put that game down and pick something else up, usually an older game I spent a lot of time with or maybe something in my library didn't have too much time for.

Also found that getting into modding can be an amazing way to breathe life back into games you loved. And can pretty much say my generation is entirely at fault for remasters and remakes becoming prevelant since the games we played in the 90s and 00s have that huge nostalgia factor and a lot of then don't work on modern hardware. Plus most of us having jobs and families that make playing them harder to find time for, so making a nice flashy nostalgia hit is something we will drop 60 bucks on and never get more than 20 hours for a while.

Its also worth noting that as you get older your likes and tastes can change. Where you might have been big into shooters and racing games as a teen or young adult, you might find yourself going more for strategy and simulations games as you're older, but for some its the reverse or migrating to a new genre entirely like fighters or even RPGs. Don't be afraid to dabble and see what works, and consider what you are playing and why, and what makes you put it down quicker than you plan to.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• I've already experienced a lot of it. I've saved countless kingdoms, stop hundreds of bad guys from blowing up stuff, repeatedly discovered the mysteries of crystals/labs/villages. There isn't a lot of "new" stuff.

• I don't have consistent chunks of free time and don't want to use all my freetime playing games. I can't always invest in a long story and a lot of games take a while to get started.

• As I get older I value my time more. I'm not necessarily old but looking at life expectancy I've hit the midway point. That just causes me to evaluate my freetime differently. Unfortunately that doesn't mean I am necessarily making the best of use of my time but stops me from spending 8 hours of a Saturday playing the new Spider-Man.

• I find my need to unwind and relax increases with age. After a long stressful day at work I don't necessarily want to engage with complex systems or drawn out stories. I just want to start playing and not have to think. I also don't want to be stressed. I find online competitive games to be stressful.

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

I've recently completed Metro Exodus, DLCs included. I have most of the achievements, but it don't feel like getting the remaining ones at the moment. Before that I completed all of the Halo games compatible with the XB360, on coop.

I feel lost. I don't really know what to play now.

I went back to playing some Insurgency coop, but it wasn't even too engaging before.

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

Damn you fromsoft, ive gone hollow

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

I don't enjoy gaming anywhere near as much as I used to, and a lot of AAA games just don't appeal to me anymore.

Indie games are where I get most of my enjoyment from gaming now and looking forward to Jusant, and the DLC for Lake in November. But apart from that, I'm not really fussed.

The only thing that makes it hard for me is shitty monetization, and the knowledge that all online games are subject to getting OW2'd

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

Make it an appointment. Get ready to play the game on Saturday at 09:30 and stick with it until 15:30 give it 6 hours of your full attention. No phone within reach. Make sure to get the housework done by that so you can stay longer. That worked wonders for me. Oh, and play older games. I never played xbox360 or PS3 games (only CoD couch coop with friends) because I had a Wii and only recently got an old PS3 and the games are amazing.

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

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

Yeah. I have lots of games in my steam library but I only play tf2 lol

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

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

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

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

Happened to me where I felt loss if enjoyment over any game, that it felt like a waste of time and a chore. That eventually passed, definitely find them fun again.

I think something people haven't mentioned yet is that games are so much a digital media now that where I used to be able to keep infinity games at all times in a CD book, I now have to selectively decide which games get to occupy my limited hard drive space, and installing a new one means uninstalling another, and waiting to redownload it, and between my limited drive space and less than amazing network speed, those can absolutely influence what I'm able and willing to play at any given time.

It's more logical to keep ten games I know I like installed rather than choose one of those to cut off in place of a new unknown quantity.

Also, compared to other major sentiment I see in this thread, I actually quite like tutorial sections of games. I'm often very interested to see what the game itself has in store in terms of exactly what mechanics and systems it contains and how they execute them, and how that stacks up compared to reviews or word of mouth, which are often vague, biased, or missing portions of the experience.

After I fully understand what a game is trying to do, I fall off the wagon often times as it sinks into a routine instead of a novel learning experience, or maybe I actually love it, but standards continue to increase as more and more novel ideas and fusions of genres are created and become existing products. It becomes more difficult to make something that's not something you've already done, but slightly worse or only slightly better.

I still "get into games" plenty, but it doesn't happen quite as often, and it's the "sticking with" them that becomes more desired and elusive.

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

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

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

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

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

So yeah, I feel pretty much the same.

The older I get the more I know what kinda games I'm into. So everything else I try to play just feels boring very quickly. I get bored very quickly in general if I don't keep a game fresh for myself by, for example, mixing main and side quests instead of doing just one for hours.

I've also had times when I didn't play any video games at all and just watched YouTube all day. And sometimes I felt like I played games just because I didn't have anything better to do.

At the moment, I basically just play Cyberpunk and Battlebit, because both of those offer various ways of approaching encounters.

Tastes change. What are you in to now?

When you're young, you're often engaging in a common animal behavior known as "play". This is essentially practice-mode for life, where you physically or mentally act out a lot of the abstract ideas you've been learning about over the years. This is critical, because our abstract ways of understanding and communicating advanced concepts are still fundamentally incomplete. You can, for instance, teach a kid to be honest, that honesty is important, etc. But then they get into a school environment, surrounded by real life situations. Will honesty always benefit them, like a "good" thing is supposed to? No.

Our abstract understanding of honesty and its importance is one thing. Putting it into effective practice is another, and fundamentally circumstantial.

"Play" is how animals bridge these two things with personal experience, while hopefully avoiding the consequences of actually trying for real and potentially having an accident. Like, an animal could abstractly learn about hunting by observing its mother. But until it actually physically practices these skills, it will be very bad at them. Us learning about "the importance of honesty" is no different.

Humans have a vastly, exponentially greater number of abstracts we're required to understand in order to be effective citizens of the modern world. We tackle them in the same way, though, with play. Play, is practice.

So, if play is practice in an attempt to bridge some kind of abstract, incomplete learning, then what do you have to gain at this current phase of your life, from this "play"?

Your subconscious gets this. You don't need to play anymore, you're good enough for the real thing. So, why should your brain want to play at something? Especially when getting older also makes it clearer just how much incorrect information is being taught in gaming. Like, how many people try to use their CoD experiences to understand the Russo-Ukrainian War?

Anyways, it's complicated.

edit: Thinking further on this, I would propose the following: In the same way that horniness is the mechanism by which your genes make you reproduce them, and hunger is the mechanism it employs to make you fuel their work, "fun" is the mechanism by which your genes make you practice whatever skills or experiences might improve your chances of passing them on, in an environment where it is safer to do so.

This is why play gets fundamentally less fun as you get older. It begins to lose its purpose, outside of handing those skills, and the techniques for practicing them, on to the next generation. We prefer to go back to those same games we played though, because we're refining the lessons we learned from them. This has an evolutionary benefit as well, actually, as even our methods of "play" can be improved through long enough practice and iteration. These refined methods of play can then be handed down instead, which will likely be more efficient than previous iterations.

Yup. Used to be it was quite easy to find the games that were worthwhile to play since there was very little for profit games and not too much choice. Nowadays only if I hear from people I trust to have a taste for the games I want to play will I actually get excited. Its just easier to go back to classics because you know you're going to have a better time than most things you buy new.

Always on the look out though, gems are still being produced, they just became a lot less findable.

I did video games professionally for ten years (grew up on the ZX81, C64, Amiga) and since then I have a hard(er) time because the only things that changes in new games is :

A) better graphics (potentially)

B) The back-story

I don't really care for A, and for B it's kind of scarce... I only need to save the world of kill the dragon so many times.

I did a 180 and learned chess which I feel wildly rewarding!

I'm also making a "slow game" (12 "action points" every like 12h, fantasy settings) that you can play for 5 minutes a day, but can be really immersive (it's text only).

I don't really know what I wanted to say here, but I too hope I'll find some new breathtaking game :-)

Modern AAA games? Yeah. But many smaller and indie games are still good. I loved Ion Fury and Turbo Overkill. Some of the best games in the past 5 years imo.

I'd be playing a lot less I suspect, if I didn't get into simracing. Nowadays it's that and a roguelike FPS for in-between.

Well if you don't even want to install them... Its okay to just run a few quick matches and log off. You've gamed for a long time? Take it easy, its a marathon not a sprint.

I've seen comments making comparisons to old and new gaming industry. They don't do story as well any more. What I find is they don't do marketing the way that appeals to me anymore either. If I want to be excited about a game, I have to read about it slowly and find wallpapers and concept art. I have to lead myself to the water before I can drink. I hype myself up about it!

One really extreme example of this is Runescape special accounts where youtubers like never leave one area, or do hardcore ironman, or play on one square at a time or whatever. I can take one tenth of that energy and make my gaming more interesting.

I feel like a lot of games these days make it difficult to get into, ironically by trying too hard to make it easy to get into, with excessive tutorialization. Part of it might also be the types of games that you like. For example, I want to play a game to have fun and challenge myself, not to sit around watching a story play out for a half hour while I walk around doing nothing. So the majority of popular games that people are always talking about are the kind of games that I would absolutely hate. I want to just jump in and play. The new Super Mario Wonder game is a pretty good example of something that just gets out of your way and lets you play the game, so I have been enjoying it quite a bit for the past few days. The recent F-zero 99 is also an enjoyable racing game for me, for the same reasons. I have also been getting into fighting games more in the past few years, so I've been playing Street Fighter 6 a lot.

So the most important thing I have learned, is that I can no longer just look at which games are considered "good", because in many cases I'm going to hate them. When I was younger, I would love just about any of the popular games. But now, I know what I like, and that's what I gravitate to.

I have noticed it's been harder and harder to find something I want to play. I've gone down both my Steam library and my wishlist going "No...no...no...god no..."

A lot of my games that I thoroughly enjoyed in the past but I am done with. These include the entire Half Life franchise, Kerbal Space Program and I think Stardew Valley. Loved those games, played the hell out of them, will probably not launch them again.

A lot of games I've found diminishing replay value. Like I feel like I've mastered Subnautica, having done a number of self-imposed challenge runs like baseless vegetarian.

Talking about "story" makes me want to fuss about Tears of the Kingdom. This game doesn't have a story; it has an anecdote at best. It's amazing how far they stretched so little over absolutely nothing. They wrote so little plot for this game that they couldn't come up with four different cut scenes for the defeated the bosses sequences. It's a genuinely amazing piece of craftsmanship, the amount of hard work that went into the art and engineering that is that game is an astounding achievement but wow I don't like playing it, and I think, for the first time since I was 5 years old, I'm not going to buy the next Zelda game.

It's been awhile since I've come across something new that makes me think "yeah I want to play that."

Have you ever run out of Youtube to watch? Like there's just nothing you're interested in on there? It feels like that but bigger.

I've been through a bunch of life phases and gaming has basically been a part of all of them. Definitely, over time, the thrill of a new game is a bit more subdued than when you were a kid because you have done it so many times, and I'll admit, if a game doesn't immediately grab me, I probably will bounce off it. I have a ton of games that I still play from gen 2-6 if I need to feel nostalgic. But I realized that I have trouble committing to games that feel too samey as the most recent ones I've played. If I play a JRPG, I have to follow that up with a platformer, followed by an indie game, followed by a Sony 3rd person shooter. Fighting games are also great pallet cleansers. Sounds like you're depressed, and you should really spend time in nature and remember what and how you found joy in the past with gaming.

Come and goes for me, I try to play only one RPG or adventure type game at a time to remain hooked to the plot, several hours into Final Fantasy 8 on steam at the moment, played Xenogears on my steamdeck using emulation before it. I'm in my thirties for reference.

(Almost) 40 year old gamer here. Eh... it depends of my mood and how "new" the game feels. But I find easier to settle in PvP-oriented games tho.

Idk man the updates to games I've played for years get me very excited.

Playing other games? Why though.

There are two things that worked for me when I was in your situation:

• Playing with friends, of course it applies only to multilayer games and scheduling free time for two or more people could be difficult but it works so well for this problem. We have a WhatsApp group to coordinate some gaming nights and play rocket league, age of empires 2, cs go, overwatch and others, recently we are replaying DS3 next will be elden ring when the dlc drops.

• Review games. I know it sounds absurd but I put some effort into creating an excel sheet with all the games I played and I reviewed them on what I think are the most significant aspects (characters design, level design, story, gameplay loop, graphics, sound, optimization just to name a few) I reached several reviews of the sheet and now it's very complete and complex. I like to complete games, fill the form and add them to the list, I usually complete at least the main quest, anyway Icontinue to play the game until I'm satisfied and I've elaborate a score for each category. This helped me reasoning on the game development, what it wants to tell me, the evolution of the gaming industry, I've figured out what I like and what not, all of this combined with the the genuine excitement about starting a new game to add to the list it's what re-enabled my passion when I was stucked like you are.

I hope this can help you. Send me a private message if you want to add me on steam and play sometimes or if you want a copy of the spreadsheet!

I find that as I get older, I struggle trying to keep up with players in high competition games...games like CoD, Halo, even Rocket League I simply cannot get better no matter how much I try. I used to enjoy those kinds of games when I was younger but it makes me a little sad to know I can't play them...

So I play single player RPGs or Co-op.....I'm an absolute sucker for Starfield and similar games

Most of my friends don't play video games anymore but I love em more than when I was a kid. Like in school I had no time to play but now I can work from home and I can automate lots of it so plenty of time for hobbies.

The only issue is my tastes are rather niche, I think I finished every story and choice focused RPG where you make your own character. I do like games like Stardew Valley or Minecraft and I play those while a new RPG comes along.

Nothing sticks in my mind anymore. I tried to reinstall CP2077 and do a replay, but ultimately each time i exit it gets harder to start up and resume. I struggle to bother remembering which part of the story im am at. 20 years ago i would get "tetris effect" from pretty much any game I play; daydreaming about an RPG im playing, see tetris blocks falling into place, etc. Nowadays I don't even get that with literal Tetris Effect.

It may be work life, stress etc. But part of myself just feels gaming is missing that old multiplayer feel where a whole bunch of us are in the Computer Science Lab, installing Doom 3 on the lab machines and playing til they kick us out at midnight. I'm also missing that feel of a whole bunch of us huddled in a McDonalds playing Mario Kart DS multiplayer, screaming so loud when someone triggers a lighting bolt, that the store manager essentially banned us from playing there ever again.

As for games like 2077, the sad realization is that the denouement leaves the me kinda confused more than anything. so many games I finish now leave me checking online to ask "What was that?"

I feel old now.

I stopped buying games after I noticed I still only open my typical three :/
Also is a good way of saving money :)

The problem for me is that Im overwhelmed. Theres just too many games coming out. I just got through God Of War Ragnarok after it sat on my shelf for almost a year. Im glad I did though, I liked it. I kinda want to go back to Guild Wars 2 and check out the halloween event but I also just started my first Diablo 4 playthrough. Spiderman 2 looks like its pushing the medium forward so I want to try that too. Oh and Starfield, the game Ive been waiting for 5 years? Forget it. A new Forza game is out and Ive played all the previous ones so...

Its come to the point where I welcome delays and hallipy accept when a game gets shat during reviews because It just means I dont have to worry about it now or even play it when it comes out.

I have ADHD and find it difficult to get into new games unless they're multi-player games I can play with my friends.

This is how I am with books. I have Starters Anxiety

I was more curious at beginning, then I become addicted to MMOs so gaming become focused, while playing casual other games as break from MMOs. Fortunately I defeat my addiction but now I lost interest in gaming, I see many titles but I don't see any point to play. I remember playing for sharing fun was my deal, PlayStation one with friends then MMOs with guilds and virtual friends. But addiction kicks hard with the needs to grind and grind, to like give at this friends a golden guild-hall, but at what cost? Real life where anything as grow, only misery.

I find that this only happens to me in relation to AAA titles. I just don't have time to put 60 hrs into a game.

But since I started playing indies I feel like rejuvenated

Great games feel fewer and farther between after this long. Yes, you get a Witcher 3, or Baldur's Gate, or Zelda sometimes. But really, and it sounds fucked up to frame it this way, they're merely excellent. And I've played a lot of excellent games, so unless one is on a tier never before experienced by anyone on Earth, eventually things feel less special for some reason. It's fair to say that some games are innovative, but they are very few. The best we usually get is stuff we've seen before, just insanely well polished/tweaked on ocassion. Ultimately, there's not a lot new if that makes sense. It's sort of a been there done that vibe, and it's probably just a sign you've played too much good shit. Like an addict that has hit the same pipe too many times lol.

Hmm, this is an interesting one.

I rarely play alone anymore. Which makes it even more difficult as you get older. It's hard to match up with other people when life keeps them equally busy.

I've also noticed that I want a new experience from my games, kind of like searching for that new movie. Games rich in their story and yet not that distracted in side quests seem to keep me going. God of War was ideal, Horizon too. Baldurs Gate 3 had me for a while, but most online titles suck the time out of me at almost no return.

Currently I'm playing way less and almost refuse to do any grinding activities. I don't play multilayer anymore except local console such as FIFA or Super Smash. When I'm alone at home I do mostly single player and I like short indie games the most. I'd rather pay 20$ for a 10 hour indie game than 50$ for a 150 hour open world grind. I'll not play run around and grind like never Assassin's Creed games but Hades was fantastic.

Takes Two and Cuphead have been great with the wife but I really want to play something like Cyberpunk even though I'll probably never finish it.

For we now it's more Paper's Please and Undertale with occasional Elden Ring and Cities Skylines sprinkled in between.

I have too much other shit going on and can't mentally set it all aside any more which keeps me from getting immersed in games. There's just always something else in the back of my mind I'm also thinking about when I'm trying to play. I try getting everything done first so I can concentrate but there's just so much.

Depends on the game...

Really enjoying Gotham Knights currently...

Certainly didn't have any trouble getting into Red Dead 2.

I have struggled to stick with Cyberpunk 2077 though... Haven't tried getting back in since this recent update though.

I mostly play indies now as I can get new experiences with them. I buy an AAA title less than once a year on average now

I spent countless hours playing games and getting excited as hell with new launches or even just getting on. Nowadays I play maybe 1 or 2 games a year and If I actually finish them it's very rare. I could blame a busy life but honestly there's just no spark and I could speculate for hours why but truthfully I don't know why.

I lost interest in new releases a while ago. I mainly play retro games now but I did try the new robocop and it was great. I will be getting that day 1 and it will be the first time I played a new release in years.

I've played games since the 80s. Time has been my biggest issue with playing stuff. I got a steam deck last year. It has been great. I can pick it up, turn it on and unpause my game and continue during a free moment. This makes it much easier than having to start up a PC and then launch a game.

I have some titles I play a lot and some what often. Other are just for fun to break it up. I don't know if I am going to play it forever or just for a couple of days.

I'm totally not interested in the stories much at all anymore. Video game story-telling has always been pretty cringe, but as a kid and teen I didn't think so. Go back and play some games I genuinely liked the story for back in the day and I can't stand them now. I prefer games that are just fun to play. Most popular games these days are simply not fun to play. They are entirely focused on their storytelling and use light gimmicks or have repetitive gameplay that gets boring well before the story finishes, making it a chore just to hear the story.

You are just getting older. You cant expect to keep doing the same thing over and over and get the same high from it. Chasing the dragon. You need to include fresh, new experiences to liven things up. You'll always ennoy games to some degree, but you will never get the aame satisfaction from it that you did when you were tounger and it was fresher.

True. However, you’d be getting paid to do stuff like one square at a time, so that’s a job. Not just playing for fun.

Not at all, but I don't buy many games. I try to play demos before purchasing the game, if possible.

I have been playing games since 1980 or so and never have trouble picking up new games to play. Gamepass is awesome that way, I get to try a host of new games each month and one or two stick for weeks, months or longer. I almost never go back to previous games, apart from expansions of course.

People grow out of stuff. Maybe try making games. Find a different type like ttrpg.

I haven't gamed for a "long" time, as I got into it when I got my 1st laptop like 5 years ago... And I can't say that I feel the burnout yet, especially with great games like Baldur's gate 3 being released this year

Yea I wouldn’t bother with games post 2010. Just have a solid RvR open mmo from before 2010.