CandyDumDubPosting my favorite memes
Idk if it is me getting older or if videogames just suck now.
They don’t have the same punch but there are games that will bring that excitement back.
I would argue it’s a side effect of getting older.
Not that you’re growing out of games, but moreso that you’re spending more time working, and doing other life related things that gaming no longer feels productive of fun.
I’m working full time and take online classes, but I really love gaming still, I’ve just had to find games that respect my time, since my time is so precious to me right now.
I’ve grown to loath multiplayer match-based games because it’s the same thing over and over again with nothing to show for it, while things like DOOM, Skyrim, Dishonored, older assassins creed games, and various indie titles are all quick, fun, to the point and offer good stories that I enjoy.
I just can’t deal with round after round after round of the same thing. Or an MMO where it’s just “Do this for hours and hours to grind out this skill and that skill”
Like I want to play the game, not click 30,000 times.
You’re getting older unfortunately. I’ve been watching this happen among my friends for a long while now. They all slowly grow up and leave gaming behind replacing it with other hobbies or interests. Your free time becomes more limited the older you get and the more responsibilities you aquire in life (career, spouse, children, etc.). I’m one of the last hold outs from my childhood friend group, and even I’m slowly starting to lose interest in gaming. I don’t think I’ll ever give it up entirely, but it definitely doesn’t hold the same appeal for me that it once had.
If I can ask, around how old are you and your friends? How many years do I have left Doc?
I’m in my early 40’s. I’m still hanging in there, and I do still enjoy gaming, just not with the same passion or levels of enjoyment I once had. Every once in a while a new game drops that will bring it back but only for a little while though.
Good to hear you can still have fun with them, even if it’s muted in comparison to before. I imagine after so long, the reused game mechanics in most stuff would start to feel stale for anyone.
Hope you get some bangers in your favorite genres soon!
Well, and video games suck now. More and more they are just becoming over-glorified skinner boxes full of micro transactions and bullshit.
Its not your age, it’s the games you’re playing. There’s a ton of great games out right now, but if you’re playing the same kinds of games you’ve always played, maybe you’ve outgrown them. You could be frustrated with their mechanics, or think their progression isn’t as good as the old games, maybe you cant see as well or grind as hard as these twelve year olds on adderall, whatever it may be.
Try playing games you enjoyed before. You’ll probably still like them. Branch out into different genres, even if it’s something you don’t know if you’ll like or not. I don’t care for top down games, but gave Hades a try and absolutely loved it. Maybe try to play remakes/remasters/new takes on old games. The REmakes for Resident Evil (particularly 2&4, I liked 3 but it gets a lot of deserved hate), and even the continuation of the RE franchise in Biohazard and Village are fun and scary. Just some recommendations. :)
Sabata11792Definitely changeling taste and enshittification. Don't care to play another million dollars AAA fps-bix purchaseing simulator or whatever this years dead horse is.
Get me a chill basebulding and automation game and I will literally risk unemployment from staying up late. Bonus points for boobs or warcrimes.
ThirdWorldOrderYou played Against the Storm yet? I find it’s the best base building game. No war crimes yet unfortunately
Looks interesting, I'll try the demo if I get a chance. Looks like there's no modding yet though.
Microtransactions are killing gaming. Whether you have disposable income or not, it is viscerally tedius to try to escape into a game just to be pestered to use real money.
I’ve largely abandoned live games for this reason. I used to be good at online FPS, but it just isn’t worth the “buy this skin or you suck” bullshit. I’ve been modding the Bethesda games and there’s really no getting bored of those world’s with constant new enthusiast content.
GranixoDefinetly the second one.
The classics are the best. 🕹️
TimeSquirrelThere's nothing really "new" anymore, at least not mechanics-wise. Sure, graphics have become pretty good looking. But it's all still the same RPGs, first person shooters, and other shit from the 90s. When I see modern FPSs, I'm still seeing Wolfenstein 3D from 1992. Not a damn thing has changed.
If you’re playing the same types of games ,yeah
I’m over 40 and finding wands in Noita fills me with joy.
“So, this one homes on enemies, has trile cast and delayed explosions…”
*shoots near beehive*
>Entire screen explodes
I literally feel like that’s what actual magic is. Starting the game by silently teaching us about the dangers of fire was a stroke of genius. It’s always fire, just weirder and wilder types of fire.
Noita is amazing.
Looking forward to playing it!
AssortedBiscuits [they/them]It’s both. The 90s are never coming back, and you’ll never be however-old-you-were-during-the-90s.
Frank [he/him, he/him]Probably both. A lot of games really do suck ass. CoD is just comically bad in so many ways.
There’s some cool stuff out there, though. battlebit is aces, better than any CoD or Battlefield in years. Hunt Showdown is unqiue and cool. Darktide is an awesome horde shooter. Warframe… is warframe. Deep Rock Galactic is fun spacedorf action. Splitgate mixes up old school HALO:CE gameplay with portals that let you pull off cool kills or radically change the movement rountes across the map. There’s ARMA3 and Reforger if you like milsim, with varyiung levels of milsimminess from “Sir yes sir” tryhards to people who just try to use basic infantry tactics and cooperate. There’s apparently a huge star wars mod scene right now.
lol I played CoD BLOps at the opening and had the existential moment of “WTF am I doing with my life”. It’s so shitty.
You’re not crazy, you just need to get away from 40 hour long open world chore games
I started liking games again by going back to long open world games
Arcade style games that give you a quick hit are what I miss. Things that drop you straight in the action and don’t let up.
I think some are making a bit of a come back on the Indy scene though.
I got back into gaming with “bullet hell” games like Vampire Survivor and 20 Minutes till Dawn. All action and no BS, but they do get repetitive after a while.
I recently started playing Diablo4 and that was pretty fun. I am trying to like Baulders Gate 3, but my patience for dialogue and wandering around is not what it used to be, and it never was that high to begin with. It is an impressive game though, which might help me stick with it.
Vampire Survivors is amazing! I can’t believe it’s so cheap. It’s also one of those games that could have easily been microtransactioned to hell and back, but the worst I’ve seen is a few optional ad’s in the mobile version of the game. It’s a bit harder to play on mobile than on PC which is a bummer.
As for BG3, I’ve been very slow to start, and it does feel like a lot up front. I think the problem for me is I’m used to these kinds of games where I’d treat it like the Witcher or HZD and check off every box and complete everything I come across, and exhaust all dialogue options. The beauty of BG3 that I’m starting to realize is I can actually immerse myself in it like an actual role playing game. My last few play sessions I’ve actively been working against my instincts of trying to be the all-star savior of the world, the do no wrong Commander Shepard good guy liked by everyone, and instead choose an identity and play their story out. Having that mindset and treating the game like a marathon and not trying to keep pace with a community (like in WoW or something) is really what I’m enjoying about it.
I guess what I’m saying is, it’s a refreshing chance of pace with BG3 to sit back and enjoy the journey, rather than race to the end and inevitably burn myself out in the game trying to min/max everything.
I started playing Ys origin again, such a simple fun game with instant action and feels good combat.
Bro. Broforce
Yup. That’s me. I have to have games where it doesn’t rely on you logging on for a few hours a night, every night…. yeah sorry not gonna happen with a wife who doesn’t like video games and a 2 year old to entertain.
Same, but for me it’s the depression
Pretty sure I’m in the same boat. Literally nothing is enjoyable anymore and I have 0 motivation to do anything “productive” after work since it’s all just more work…
My friends must think im nuts when they see me bounce from game to game to game within 1-2 hours because nothing keeps my attention lol
ijeffNeed a different hobby. Electric unicycling is great for this.
This has been me the majority of the time since about 2020, which I chalk up to depression and more recently suspecting that I have ADHD (I know self-diagnosing isn’t cool, I intended to explore this more formally eventually, but I have many reasons for suspecting it in general). Sometimes it’s bad enough that if something doesn’t grab me in 5-15 minutes, I’ll bounce off to something else and probably repeat the cycle a few more times before giving up and doing something else instead.
I find that I can’t really play modern games at all anymore. They just feel like work and are more concerned with monetization rather than being enjoyable to play. Modern experiences feel so hollow to me now. I miss when the main draw of a multiplayer game was feeling your skills improve rather than spending 100+ hours to get some skin from grinding out a battlepass. It feels like a chore. I fell off of TOTK in May and apparently haven’t been too eager to return to it. I’ve been doing a decent job sticking with Mass Effect lately though. Helps that it runs perfectly on Steam Deck so I don’t always have to be on my PC. It’s my first time playing ME1, which helps. We’ll see if I can stick with it through 2 and 3, which I played many years ago.
This has also led to me drifting apart from many of the people who I previously considered to be my friends. Most of them barely leave the house anymore and only hang out and communicate on Discord, which I am barely on anymore due to my general lack of interest in games lately, my general disinterest in modern games specifically (which is all they play), and my disinterest in participating in more voice calls after being in Teams calls during the workday beforehand. They also have significantly more free time than I do due to almost all of them being single, so the rare times I have tried to play anything progress-based with them has been a bust because I inevitably fall behind. It’s unfortunate to drift apart like that, but it took longer than it should have for me to realize that we probably weren’t actually that close if me losing interest in games is all it took for them to cut me out. Oh well.
HexareiI know, self diagnosing isn’t cool
It’s cool and useful as a starting point. The main thing is to be authentic and say it the way you said it: That you suspect it.
I know a few people on the suspectrum, and it’s fine as long as you don’t try and claim that you most definitely have the thing and that your self diagnosis is valid/means you should have access to healthcare/etc.
Thanks, I appreciate your perspective, and I’m glad to hear that I’ve been handling the communication aspect of it properly - I’ve never used my suspicion as an excuse or justification of anything, so far I have just told a few trusted people that I suspect I have it, basically like I said here.
I have experienced several financial rough patches in the past year (job loss due to my employer shutting down, for example), but now that things have seemingly stabilized, I hope to begin pursuing a formal diagnosis soon, and I look forward to doing so! Thanks again.
Best of luck getting diagnosed! I know in a lot of places it can be tricky. For me my GP did it for my ADHD, apparently it was that clear and obvious.
Then get off social media
Yup, that flame died out a long time ago.
Depression is a bitch.
And age :(
I’m definitely feeling this.
My schedule makes it hard to play online with people I know and I hate playing with randos.
I switched to single player games on easy mode just to be able to make progress and get through some of my huge backlog of games.
It is starting to feel a little forced though.
Take a break, try something different.
Playing on easy instead of challenging yourself just go get through it is making the games worse for you in my opinion.
Weirdly I enjoy playing most games on hard or higher despite not having a ton of time. A level a day, of even every other day is fine. The game can wait for me especially in single player.
I get your point but at this point I get more satisfaction simply progressing and completing rather than overcoming harder difficulties. It’s a trade off I guess but I have a huge anount of games I haven’t even played so I guess It’s quantity over quality given my free time and that’s ok, I can change the difficulty back at any time but yes, I’m sure it impacts the enjoyment from the gameplay itself.
For sure, also I didn’t mean to so heavily handed state “playing on easy is the problem”
If you enjoy easy mode then by all means go for it, I didn’t mean to sound like a “Easy mode is for chumps” type of person, just in my own personal experience I’ve found higher difficulties/challenging games are more fun for me.
Especially for games with strong story elements, sometimes hard gameplay sours the experience. Just like strong story sometimes ruins games with great gameplay…looking at you DOOM Eternal.
Anywho, my only other suggestion would be trying different games you’ve never tried before.
Enjoy Indie Rouguelikes? Try a puzzle game, enjoy puzzle games? Try an arena shooter, enjoy survival? Try a horror game, etc. (I especially recommend horror, even if you suck with horror you can argue that’s a new feeling you don’t feel playing games, and overcoming the fear is a whole new dynamic should you experience it)
Niche genres that build skills as well, like rhythm games? Muah. What a breath of fresh air from the constant “run through hallway, shoot bad guy” routine.
WrenPlaying on easy instead of challenging yourself just go get through it is making the games worse for you
This definitely depends on the person, I love when games have easy modes. Games can really make me anxious and stressed, so being able to lower the difficulty improves my enjoyment immensely. Don’t get me wrong, I love challenging games too, but that challenge can ruin it for me sometimes too - especially if it’s a single player story mode.
For sure! I said that a bit too bluntly and blanketed.
Old games especially are nice when it comes to difficulty. I will NOT play Half Life 1 on Hard, enemies just take too many bullets and that’s not fun. I always find modern action games are more dynamic and you can think smarter making higher difficulties encourage creative gameplay. But obviously I get that it’s not for everyone.
Sometimes I have to switch a difficulty a touch lower because I’m trapped in a horrible section or somehow ended up in a death loop, so I’m not bashing it at all.
Also RTS games for me I’ll generally avoid the hardest difficulties, but for skill based reflexive games? Gimme Nightmare :)
but for skill based reflexive games? Gimme Nightmare :)
Agreed 100%. I played Beat Saber for the first time this weekend, and had to jump up to hard mode because the easier levels were so dull. Those types of games definitely are the best example of ‘if it’s too easy it’s boring’
I stopped being as interested in video games and gravitated toward board games. I lots an activity I can do with friends around a table instead of sitting alone staring at a screen. And the same puzzles are present in board games plus you get the social aspect.
Same for me! I love chess, have been playing for 10 years. Now, not just casually. Good luck!
I gravitated toward pen & paper rpgs. I don’t get to play as much as I’d like to, but when I do it feels great to play whoever you want and to do whatever you can come up with, with my friends. And after listening to the “Sounds Like Crowes”-podcast, even RDR2 feels shallow and limited to me. So if I play something in my computer, it’s 15 minutes of Brutal Doom vor some arcadish indie fun.
Sounds Like Crowes
Sounds Like Crowes Terminus is an actual play podcast using Savage Worlds and a custom Western Sci-fi setting. We focus on tight editing, good production quality and great music along with some of the best performers I know. Join us building a new world that's unlike anything you've seen.
uphillbothwaysThat deep fear of being homeless and hungry if shit goes sideways irl really takes the punch out of how much I give a shit if a sparkly pixel on my tv screen falls off a ledge or whatever.
Ok going through this now.
I never thought it’d be like this though. I thought that video game would literally stop being fun. Like I’d grow out of them or something and not find them enjoyable anymore.
But that’s not it. They are still fun and enjoyable. What I didn’t expect was that my mind would be so full of responsibilities that it would just be impossible to enjoy video games. As if there just isn’t enough room in my brain.
I’m sitting there trying to play but I’m just thinking about all the things I need to do tomorrow. Or this week. Or this month.
There is just too much to think about that I can no longer enjoy not thinking.
I find that a lot of the time what prevented me from enjoying video games was a sense of obligation, especially if I had a backlog. Ever since I got game pass I have basically allowed myself to start and stop games whenever I please. I just follow my gut. And let me tell you, my enjoyment has skyrocketed. Now, after a few years of doing that, I picked up BG3 and that massive flame has returned in an incredible way. I say this is somebody in his 30s with children and a full-time job. I really know what you mean by responsibilities clouding your enjoyment. But if you just stop treating games like an obligation, and only play what you want when you are really in the mood instead of carving out time in, forcing yourself to do it, it is remarkable the difference it will make.
What platform are you playing BG3 on? I was thinking about trying it.
What’s bonkers is that you can play it on so many platforms. They’re dropping it natively for Mac OS next month even, if you can believe it.
I’ve been playing on GeForce now via Steam and it has been a remarkable experience. It feels like I’m playing locally in a way xCloud can’t reach yet. I also tried it on my deck for the first time last night and it plays remarkably well. I get about 35fps and the battery is ripping through (I got like 1hr45min), but they optimized it very well and frankly 30+fps is perfectly fine for such a slow, methodical game. People get way too precious about 60fps.
Okay, now try again with alcohol.
No try again with 5-20mg edible. You will feel the wonder of a child bless you
The Picard ManeuverWhen I hear this, I wonder if people are playing the wrong types of games for them. Most AAA games have great graphics and cutscenes, but the core gameplay loop is just tedious and feels like you’re following a GPS from chore to chore. I don’t fault anyone for feeling bored with 10hr interactive movies.
I still love games that challenge me and offer a real risk of failure, for example. If there’s no chance of losing, then beating the game just feels like “finishing” it, like how you would describe a movie or TV show. I’d get tired of that too.