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.
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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 change 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 because of 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
Need a different hobby. Electric unicycling is great for this.
TIL
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 intend 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.
I 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.
Yup, that flame died out a long time ago.
Depression is a bitch.
And age :(
Then get off social media
When 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.
To be honest with you, I think a lot of it is just a factor of adulthood.
Between work and life, I don’t have the energy to start a new game, even though I daydream about playing video games all the time.
Yeah that‘s my point as well. I play games on the lowest difficulty possible because after a day of work I do not want to be grinding during my free time. And even on easy mode it‘s sometimes just too tiresome.
Exactly. If I’ve got time and energy to play something, it’s going to be for the experience. Not to die repeatedly until the bossfight is ingrained in my memory and I hate myself.
I think games with grind are just annoying.
Like I love Minecraft but I will explicitly play to have fun and build things, my building resources come from what I gather around my area, you’d never catch me using concrete as a primary component in my builds for example.
But MMO level grind? Never. I just want games that respect my time
Yeah having the time and energy to log on every night and play games is something I constantly daydream & fantasize about, but when I rarely get an opportunity to do it, it’s extremely hard to enjoy it because I know I’m not gonna get another chance again for who knows how long. My enjoyment is directly related to looking forward to the next time I’d be able to continue what I was doing in game.
This is why I bought a steam deck and have accepted joy in Stardew Valley.
Yes but that chore stuff used to be fun for me.
I’d play morrowind for hours and hours in college. Now if I try to play an RPG, I don’t have the patience and it’s a boring chore like you said.
All entertainment fills a need in your daily life. It only makes sense that the need changes as you grow older.
When I was younger, I was poor and had something to prove. Thus, I loved big games with hundreds of hours of gameplay, grinding for the best bobbles, and competitive multiplayer experiences.
But as I get older, I don’t care about any of that anymore. What I need instead is a way to relax within my short gaming windows, to have unique experiences, and maybe have a sense of control as my life gets more chaotic. As a result, I’ve tended more towards shorter indie titles. But also towards non-gaming things like travel, gardening, and crafting hobbies.
We spent so much of our lives building our identity around a single hobby - gaming. And maybe that was a mistake. So many of us end up sliding away from gaming as we get older and that change is okay and even expected, that shouldn’t give us an existential crisis.
Your identity should reflect the person you are, not the thing you do.
Getting old is strange. I keep trying to go to house or techno shows in the basement of restaurants or other weird places, convinced it’ll be a great time because I used to enjoy it. My knees hurt and I’d rather be home most of the time. It’s okay for things to have a beginning, middle, and end. Also, not to be nitpicky but just because I think it’s a fun word: it’s “baubles”
I can totally relate about edm shows. My knees tend to say hell no these days.
Play a good game, stop playing the same zoomer-bait crap
What is zoomer bait crap?
One of the worst most infuriating games I played the last 2 years is one of the biggest hits of that period : elden ring.
What a total pile of horse shit that is. Nothing is explained, it’s just a pile of numbers called stats. What they do? Fuck you. Where do I have to go? Fuck you. How do I win from this and that boss? Fuck you. Total unplayable garbage.
Untill you give in and open one of the fan made guides. Then it all comes together. Then it makes sense. But the game doesn’t explain shit. From software couldn’t be bothered.
With a guide it’s one of the most fun games. Left on its own, without any sort of explanation it’s garbage.
And don’t get me started on diablo 4, what a load of house crap is that. It’s so very boring. Again nothing is explained because fuck you, blizzivision just wants your money. But here it doesn’t matter because you’re so very overpowered on level 1/2 you can win anything and everything. Want it less easy? Fuck you, first complete the campaign. Then you can do it again and again.
From my pov old school Zoomer shit is where its at. This modern bullshit is just that: bullshit.
I mean, the stuff with Elden Ring is on purpose. There are a lot of gamers who like when a game let’s them figure that stuff out. I get why it’s not your style of game, but you’re acting like it’s laziness or bad game design when it’s entirely intentional and absolutely has an audience. Fromsoft made it for that specific audience.
I don’t think I can agree with you here. Elden ring, for all of its flaws, is one of the last true honest to God video games you can buy recently. For $60 you get a complete, no microtransaction, no battle pass, no cosmetics, whole, playable game.
There aren’t pieces taken out and sold back to you one item at a time like Sims 4. You don’t have to buy the horse dlc or spend money to get the magic battle pass. It wasn’t a completely buggy mess from the start like no man’s sky or cyberpunk 2077. There’s no integrated battle pass designed to suck your wallet and your soul dry like in Overwatch 2 or COD. There’s no cosmetics to make you look like SpongeBob SquarePants or any other fictional character like in Fortnite and countless other games. This is a game that knows what it is and doesn’t try and bait you into playing it like the others.
Sure it’s difficulty is hard and it doesn’t hand hold you but it certainly doesn’t require you to use the wiki. Don’t get me wrong your experience WILL be better with it but one of the big marketing points was the sites of grace pointing you where to go. The game actually goes through some trouble to make sure you understand what it is when you get to the round table hold. Gameplay mechanics are also explained in the inventory under the info items tab. But by and large you’re supposed to learn through doing here.
Largely I agree that recent games are more slot machines with collectable crap tacked on but Elden Ring is not an example of a zoomer game. Hard? Sure. Garbage? Not on your life.
I don’t like the sims games or their business model. But saying that they cut content to release as DLC is a bit overboard.
The game is very different to what it was at release. Releasing all that extra content for free wouldn’t make a lot of sense when a lot of people have spent a lot of years creating it.
Now, the amount of DLC Is insane. All the packs are stupid.
It should just be big DLCs and no small shitty clothes or animal packs or whatever.
Paradox games are a bit like that too, but imo they are more reasonable since you don’t need DLC and they release free updates with a few new features as well as paid DLCs.
Not having MTX doesn’t make a game immediately good.
I agree with both you and the person you replied to, but, while the story definitely isn’t barebones, it’s explained like shit. It’s a caveat of souls games, but that doesn’t make it okay, it makes it inaccessible to people who haven’t played a souls game before.
Elden Ring was a lot of people’s first fromsoft game, and from what I understand you’ll get about 80% of the story and world building through watching YouTube videos. Yeah, I’m sure there’s characters in the game that give a little backstory here and there, and I’m sure there’s descriptions of the world through items and such, but there’s “giving the player the freedom to figure it out, and not holding their hand”, and “fuck it this dude you might never meet in the game has an incredibly important piece of information, you’ll only realize after you Google ‘what am I missing about this game’” and Elden Ring falla under the second category.
A story as complex and in depth as Elden Ring’s deserves to be explained better, in game.
Still not a Zoomer game. I think it’s just in a weird spot where it’s catering to a very specific audience so it’s much harder to become a fan of when put up against other games of it’s caliber
I’ll agree that Diablo is just more of the same 2013+ version of the gaming market, the kind that leaned heavily toward monetization with zero competition to improve game loops or increase depth.
That being said, back in the day you didn’t have a mini map and a compass to point you to every single place on your Ubisoft fetch quest open world “chore list disguised as a videogame” nonsense. You had to figure out the game and read the manual, etc.
Elden Ring is meant to be “Hey, we know you’re sick of playing the 593857th reskin of Assassin’s Division: Ghost Cry, try out something that respects your intelligence.”
Then certainly please don’t play Tunic. This game does not explain anything whatsoever.
Nothing is explained
It makes a lot more sense if you have the context from the Soulsborne games. The series started much simpler, with (mostly) linear progression, fewer weapons/abilities, and shorter “quests.” Part of the appeal of those games was the mystery, and the community that grew around solving the unexplained quests/mechanics/lore. The games were shorter, and the maps smaller, so it was easier to explore on your own.
Then with Elden Ring, it just exploded with content, built around the same game play mechanics. For veteran Soulsborne players, it plays like the next title in the series. The only really novel mechanics are the open world and spirit ashes. The downside is (at least for me), the world is so large that it’s a chore to explore everything. I finished my first play through and lost the will to start a +1 game. In contrast to Dark Souls 3, where I completed at least 6 play throughs.
But if you don’t have that context…yeah i’d imagine Elden Ring is overwhelming in its complexity and scale. Trying to figure out Soulsborne mechanics and navigate this giant world with little direction sounds daunting. Pitting you against the grafted scion to die immediately, and right after putting the tree sentinel in your way, was a confusing way to start the game, even for me.
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“actual games”
🤣😂
I’ve gotten into gaming more again by simply sticking with indie games. No more 100 hour boring open worlds.
There is Something about a simple two hour game about a guy and his girlfriend getting stuck in the woods fending off the mothman.
Recently been just playing cozy games I used to scoff at. So much I’ve not only played more games this summer than the last few year but felt great joy actually finishing a game. Sometimes short and sweet is best.
I’ve heard good things about A Short Hike, it sounds like something you might enjoy.
Just picked it up with the Whims & Wonder Humble Bundle. I’ve been enjoying the shit out of all those games. I have yet to try A Short Hike but it’s on my list.
Now I only have game sessions that last for about 10+ minutes and only about 3 times per day at most.
My enjoyment in gaming has died out a few months ago and I have only been working for one year(23yo). My friends are still trying to get me back to Valorant and I’m having trouble explaining I have so many other important things that I need to do other than grinding Valorant. I just don’t have the time to improve my skill at that game because it requires so many hours and so many of those hours could give me a good coding project for my portfolio which would improve my job prospects. I do enjoy coding but coding all day outside of work is turning me into a robot.
Screw this capitalism society.
Honestly I’ve always hated any online coop / multiplayer game unless it had a significant single player aspect to it.
Multiplayer games are more like work, they aren’t just for enjoyment.
That’s quite true actually. I’ve had way more enjoyment playing singleplayer games than multiplayer games(unless they are casual coop like Stardew and the like) nowadays.
I still like fps but it requires too much effort.
Single player with cheats is where it’s at. Sometimes I like challenge in my games and with some games it’s the challenge that gives it flavor, like some wargames. But if it’s just a game where you play for some story or it’s about building stuff, give me Creative mode.
Also, “cheating” as long as everyone is in on it in multiplayer is fun. Of course trashing public lobbies with aimbots in CoD is just stupid, but playing a coop game like Raft or Payday with a friend and having the option of just turning off some of the difficulty elements so that you can focus on what makes it fun for you is awesome.
I’m a bit iffed by Payday 3 having some super strong anticheat that also kills mods. I’m not big on public lobbies anyways, why can’t I just give my money for the developer, get a game and play how I like it? Anticheat for public lobbies makes sense. But please let me turn it off for me and my mate who just want to have fun and are both in on it.
Lol, meanwhile my friends all want to play hard mode on Minecraft so they don’t play cheats lmao.
I stopped playing online competitive games a while back, the last ones were overwatch (1) and dota. Now I almost only play solo games and I have a lot of fun. Currently 110+ hours in TOTK and I’m far from done with it. It’s a category that’s far from dead and there are any flavor that could fit your tastes.
The only online game I keep playing is MK8D because frustration never last long and there’s no ELO ranking to be obsessed with. Also Splatoon once in a while.
Competitive games ruin the mood a lot for me. I know it differs from person to person, but as a person who usually takes games seriously it’s hard for me not to care about my skill within the game. It took me a pretty long period to stay away from competitive/skill-based gaming(fps and rhythm games) to be able to treat games as a casual thing.
I play val exclusively socially. Grab a couple friends and play a couple spike rushes or swift plays. Just hope on to chat to strangers in VC basically.
I have friends who want to play comp so that’s part of the reason why I stopped 🥹
Games (mostly MMO) feel like chores to me now, sometimes it even like a second job. Grinding the same endless tasks for hours, go there, do this, kill that.
This is why I play mostly single player and games that have private servers that you can self host
Don’t fight it. Just find another hobby that deserves your time and move on with your life. Games haven’t been truly good for a long time. Unless you’re a Twitch streamer or an esports athlete, games shouldn’t be drudgery. “But it gets better after 10 hours,” “you have to get to the endgame before you’re really playing the game,” “you can’t say you’ve played the game unless you did 3+ runs,” “AAA games suck but indies are still good” Man, shut the fuck up, I’m too old for that shit.
If you want to capture the excitement of how you felt when you first played videogames as a child, find a different hobby. Seriously, find a hobby that’s completely out of left field. Gardening, fixing mechanical watches, backyard astronomy, raising an ant farm, croqueting, kayaking, trainspotting. You don’t have to be that aging nerd who constantly malds at how modern videogames suck while continuing to fall for nostalgia bait that’ll always fall below your expectations.
Games haven’t been truly good for a long time
Meanwhile, here I am loving gaming and thinking we’re in a golden age of gaming compared to my youth…
Or just engage in moderation like every other medium, it’s weird to me that playing videogames is automatically supposed to be a “hobby” but the same doesn’t apply to watching movies or reading books or whatever.
Couldn’t agree more. And even thought I hardly play games anymore, that actually makes them all the more special when I’m excited about a game and play it. It’s rare nowadays, but games like celeste or a short hike were really wonderful. Other than gems that really speak to you though, you really should find another hobby.
Agreed. My most recent binge was Stray, and before that it was The Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening on the switch lmao
I don’t really play games but I absolutely eat up From Software games every time one comes out
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.
Okay, now try again with alcohol.
No try again with 5-20mg edible. You will feel the wonder of a child bless you
Weed*
spoiler
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What platform are you playing BG3 on? I was thinking about trying it.
spoiler
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Honestly I have less and less love for videogames that streamlined the gameplay into a cookie cutter trope.
I noticed having way more fun when playing indie games because you never escape the wierd shit develloped industry free from the general gamplay loops.
This isn’t unique to video games*. It can happen with anything that you spend a ton of time on, and either burn out on or start to develop more refined taste in. I’ve had it happen with:
- novels
- board games
- movies
- people
You start to see patterns, tropes, or just plain get burnt out on something. It’s a sign you either need to take a break, or that your tastes have simply become refined enough that you require a higher bar to find something interesting.
I’m in my 40s and definitely don’t play games as much as I used to. But there are still times I get sucked in and have a great time. Most recent example: Cosmoteer, a spaceship building game with loads of freedom and creativity. I’m also looking forward to the Factorio DLC and the Dyson Sphere Program combat update.
Edit: case in point that I can still get excited about games: I finally tried Shadows of Doubt and, wow, what an interesting game. It’s like a Deus Ex shadowy sneak-around world with detailed voxel simulation.
* though the enshittification phenomenon is a real thing, and why people should play more indie games
Stop playing for a while and the love might come back (was like that for me).
Yup, same. I just need like a 3-12 month break every once in a while.
Baldurs Gate 3 is the cure for me. It probably also helps that I haven’t played that type of game in ages.
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Exactly. So sick of all the remakes and crappy sequels.
Try Battlebit if you like FPS games. It was made by three guys and is dramatically better than any battlefield or CoD entry in the last decade. Looks like Roblox, plays like SOCOM.
My time is currently split between Battlebit and Baldurs Gate 3. I’ve been having a blast with both!
from what ive heard trying different genres might help
I think I’ve been feeling this lately. I’ve always been a huge fan of semi-RPGs and open world games, but there really haven’t been many great ones in a long time (tried Elden Ring, needs difficulty slider).
I’m realizing I should probably branch out into something new, but I don’t even know where to start. I don’t tend to care for turn-based games, and fighting games aren’t my thing because of how long it can take to get decent at them.
Anyone have any recommendations for games that you don’t have to invest too much time into to really enjoy? I just don’t have the time in my life for a crazy investment and focus in a game.
To be fair, Elden Rings difficulty slider is the same as any other RPG… going off and doing other stuff for a bit until you’re OP for the part giving you trouble.
Also summoning people (or even the seamless coop mod that allows coop all the time everywhere) that’s also an effective difficulty slider.
I’ve had very little time to make an investment in gaming lately (not bad, just no time) but what I’ve found are emulators for old retro games and that has filled the itch quite nicely…the bonus is that if you put it down and walk away it’s not as hard on your soul (less guild about spending money or time). plus games are easy to pick up and put down.
Until you end up like me; spending more time messing with the emulator than playing, just to see how good you can get stuff looking and what other cool stuff they can do.
But messing with that stuff is fun right?
still a win!
