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what keeps you gaming?
Sam
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-to-tell-youre-getting-too-old-video-games/
I have to admit this happened to me- at first it was a niggling notion in the back of my mind that I was essentially playing with virtual toysets- action figures that were more pose-able with special effects. Which is a step down from the feeling I used to have when I could easily step into a gameworld and be transfixed by the aesthetics, and emotionally involve myself without effort. The Nazis in Medal of Honor on PS2 were the people responsible for the events in Elie Wiesel's Night, and I could channel rage which brought an element of pathos to the act of shooting them in the face. But the older I got, and the more I read books and watched good films, the less I could put up with game writing.
today, I realized it's gotten worse. Aside from Street Fighter, I can't think of a game that doesn't just feel like doing a bunch of virtual chores, and despite the leap in graphics (although I think graphics haven't really fundamentally evolved since half life 2 but that's a different discussion) it seems like I can only see the artifice, the generic sameness in gameworlds.
Does anyone else go through this? what keeps you playing? Personally it's hard to convince myself to play anything other than Street Fighter. I'm trying to force myself back into it, and there are stretches when it approaches the way it used to feel- but I can't shake the been there, bought the t shirt feeling.
I have to admit this happened to me- at first it was a niggling notion in the back of my mind that I was essentially playing with virtual toysets- action figures that were more pose-able with special effects. Which is a step down from the feeling I used to have when I could easily step into a gameworld and be transfixed by the aesthetics, and emotionally involve myself without effort. The Nazis in Medal of Honor on PS2 were the people responsible for the events in Elie Wiesel's Night, and I could channel rage which brought an element of pathos to the act of shooting them in the face. But the older I got, and the more I read books and watched good films, the less I could put up with game writing.
today, I realized it's gotten worse. Aside from Street Fighter, I can't think of a game that doesn't just feel like doing a bunch of virtual chores, and despite the leap in graphics (although I think graphics haven't really fundamentally evolved since half life 2 but that's a different discussion) it seems like I can only see the artifice, the generic sameness in gameworlds.
Does anyone else go through this? what keeps you playing? Personally it's hard to convince myself to play anything other than Street Fighter. I'm trying to force myself back into it, and there are stretches when it approaches the way it used to feel- but I can't shake the been there, bought the t shirt feeling.
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How I handle it is: I stop playing video games. I catch up on my reading, or explore another hobby, and I keep following the news in case I see something that genuinely excites me
And when I do, I pick it up and I remember why I love video games
But remember: the most important thing to do is stop playing video games. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. Besides, games are expensive. You are throwing money away if you are spending money on something you don't care about anymore
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
I sort of just got back into it- I got a PS3 the other day, with the Uncharted 2 pack and Yakuza 4. haven't opened the latter yet, Uncharted sort of feels like a love hate thing- it's like the game encapsulates everything I used to love and now can't stand about games.
Second, it's my main stress reliever. When I've had a rough day I know that I can hit the 360 and have some individual, quiet time. I know it's not the most popular game anymore, but there is something about an hour or so of Rock Band 3 to make the stress of the day fall off.
I definitely have slumps where I don't play like I used to, and long single players games tend to sit on my shelf unfinished. I don't play many blockbusters due to being terrible at FPS but I still enjoy trying them a year or two later when they've dropped in price. I also don't get excited for better graphics like I used to - but that partially comes from the fact that even budget games look fantastic nowadays. I do get excited for games that have a unique style though - Child of Eden is my most recent obsession and I enjoyed what I played of Red Dead based mostly on the atmosphere.
But yes, there is a been there/done that feeling I get quite often that causes me to put in Rock Band again instead of some new single player adventure game. The worlds blend together, I forget where I left off or what the controls were or what my next goal was supposed to be. When faced with a rack of games and only an hour to play rather than worry about those details I'll just grab Mortal Kombat again...
But to be honest, I don't get to game nearly as much as I'd like to anymore. Life is way too busy. My backlog is crazy.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
But fuck you — no, fuck y'all, that's as blunt as it gets"
- Kendrick Lamar, "The Blacker the Berry"
And I pay a lot of shitty games.
So, addiction? Dependency? Sloth?
Escapism.
one of my good friends from high school has moved around a whole bunch. despite me losing contact with people constantly, me and this friend still talk to each other atleast once a week. it helps me feel social when in reality i'm in my apartment in my boxers eating pizza (whoa that sounds more depressing than it is i promise).
i guess if i didn't have the internet i'd still play games, but probably a lot less. i'd definitely buy less though.
Boom.
This.
I'd rather be forced by a corrupt AI to complete test chambers, or kick a zombie in the dick a million times than deal with other shit.
Heh, kidding.
I dunno, they're fun?
But yeah, easy to get burnt out. Then I just do something else.
The problem, of course, is that if I stop buying games on Steam--regardless of whether I'm playing them or not, Gabe Newell will have a sad.
The biggest thing that has changed is that overly grindy games are no longer on my menu. I enjoy stat twiddling and min/maxing, and I REALLY enjoy a great plot, story, and characters. What I don't enjoy anymore is grinding for 10 hours at a time to get any of the above.
I only buy games I'll hate (with a few exceptions) and I'm the biggest sucker for buying shitty games before they're released.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/
I write about video games and stuff. It is fun. Sometimes.
(Currently 297 hours)
And I wonder if I maybe I should've spent those hours learning how to speak a foreign language or play a musical instrument.
Then I go back to pwning noobz.
Because it is fun.
I can't stand modern sandbox games and western rpgs that are pretty much just a single player version of WoW quest grinding. I had fun with WoW for 4 years because of the social aspect. Doing gaming "chores" actually meant somethign because other people could see the results.
These days, I have the most fun with Indie games like Bastion, and F2P like League of Legends.
Case in point: I loved the original Uncharted. I haven't made it more than an hour into Uncharted 2 despite owning the game since it came out. It just feels tired, forced, and cliche, and no amount of Nolan North smarm can make me want to dig deeper (although I still try every few months as the box is just staring at me, mocking).
Right now, I'm all about games with solid mechanics and a good atmosphere. That's why I love DX: HR, why I loved Castlevania: LoS, etc. Make me interested in the game world, minimize grinding, and I'll play. Otherwise, forget it.
I'm 31, with a wife and kid, and probably more before long. Kids, not wives. I am a Mormon, but not that kind.
And I think I said in another thread fairly recently but I am, now, having more fun with games than I have any real recollection of, and I've been gaming since I was 8. I can just take a glance at my 360 games or my Steam library and have any number of games that have just totally gripped me when I played them. I am fully aware that I am a relatively easy to please gamer, as games that some folks seem to hate with prejudice (FFXIII anyone?) I can not only play, but enjoy enough to get every single achievement for said game. And for games that are IP's that I'm particularly fond of (i.e. Transformers among others), I'm willing to put up with a lot of bullshit and still have fun.
And I think the latter point is simply because I'm fully aware of the reality of my youth, as far as gaming and entertainment in general is concerned. The guy in the Cracked article touches upon it, but the truth is, most of the stuff we were playing, watching or eating, as children, was complete and utter tripe. I'm an unrepentant Transformers fan, and have been since I watched the cartoon growing up. Even stuff the "fandom" hates, like Beast Machines or the Bay movies I just eat up. Why? Because I have no illusion that the 80's cartoon was anything other than a 20some minute toy commercial. Do I enjoy it any less? Nope. Does nostalgia play into it heavily? Yep. Do I care? Nope.
It's fine and dandy to have a deep game that challenges me (both from a gameplay and plot perspective), but it's also perfectly fine to have a popcorn munching bout of pure crap to cleanse the pallet and have fun. And because of this I have no issues enjoying Halo just as much as I enjoy Mass Effect. Borderlands doesn't need the depth of Fallout to make me have just as much fun playing it.
I think that my ability to enjoy the "ok" is why i still enjoy gaming so much 23 years later. That's not to say that somehow games today are just "ok" compared to games back then. Absolutely not. I've also said before if, when I was playing FFII (IV) as a kid, if someone had said to me that I'd be playing a game like Mass Effect in the future my kid brain would have just exploded then and there.
Plus, I think the fact that I have more responsibilities, meaning less game time (though, I will readily admit I have more than the average 31year old), which makes me a bit more choosy about what I play, so I tend to enjoy the stuff I do play more. I realize there's serious flaws with that logic but meh. Fine by me.
I could go on for ages about the multiplayer stuff but I won't.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
I think Netflix is to blame for a big part of it. But I also want to say that, for what it's worth, I love digital-only games now. Effin' love em. I think Netflix has talked me into the idea that there's some wrong with manually loading and unloading my PS3, that all the games should just be in there now. These days I'd also rather play games that are just all flow and play now. I love narrative, I love world building, but I can't be arsed to put up with chunky exposition or 'I don't have the jump button yet' crap. Pacman Championship Edition just plays better for me because when I'm playing it, I'm never not playing the game, I'm never playing the part to get the part I actually wanna play, it's just there for me and I dig it for being able to do that. So many games don't do this, or, favor some watery self-seriousness I can't stand either.
Even then, I get sick of everything for periods. That's when another activity will overtake gaming as my preferred time spender. Reading and music are things I enjoy a lot too.
Also, I dislike most of my neighbors and people in general. So I tend to gravitate towards solo activities anyway, or things that I can do with the people that I actually do like. So I don't tend to socialize a lot and get into the (expensive, time consuming) stuff that goes with it. When I do socialize it's something like boardgaming or jamming with my pals.
I play big releases but less than I used to, but a lot of the games I truly love are the ones that make you think a bit, and the ones that are just completely balls out crazy. I love the beauty of Okami and El Shaddai, the tension and adrenaline of Metal Gear and Ace Combat, and the insanity of Saints Row. I love books, I love films, but they don't give you that same reaction.
I am a non-MMO player as of mid last year. Like Dude with Herpes. 34, wife and 8 month old daughter. My gaming time is restricted to late night (PST) gaming. But, Coop gaming is really what keeps me going. The last single player game I was able to finish was Fallout 3. These days, the story has to be good for me to finish a single player game. Any (even sub-par coop games) I tend to play with friends and have a good time doing so.
Origin: Broncbuster
See, I really love Uncharted 2, not just because it was gorgeous and full of character, but because I admire the design and craftsmanship of games. Sometimes, anyway
You make it sound like you are just sick of the same old thing. If that is the case, I recommend indie games, particularly on the PC. They don't have much in the way of production values, but they take a whole lot more risks than the big budget ones do
I also recommend Idle Thumbs for your listening pleasure. Listening to these guys discuss design and what they get out of games helped me broaden my perspective a little, maybe it will for you
(you'll either love or hate Yakuza 4, too, by the way. I love those games, but they are not for everyone)
PSN ID : DetectiveOlivaw | TWITTER | STEAM ID | NEVER FORGET
I got the impression he wasn't dissing ME at all, but rather the kids he was referring to earlier who might not skip a cutscene only because it has sex in it.
My Backloggery
no, but because they're all awful
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Live: Kayle Solo
WiiU: KayleSolo
Yeah, there's never a sex scene that isn't totally fucking embarrassing to watch.
As for why I keep gaming, it's usually because I enjoy the mechanics of the games I play. I'm too jaded or whatever to give a fuck about storylines anymore (and they're all terrible anyway) but I love blowing shit the fuck up and doing other cool stuff. Escapism is also a big reason for me, this world is usually boring and it sucks and there's nothing I can do about it, a game world might suck but it's interesting and I can actually change something.
I like to turn my brain off, because it is very, very loud. I end up playing games a lot of the time.
Not to mention its pretty facinating how much the medium changes in a short few years, I really enjoy keeping up with gaming news and such even when I'm not actively interested in any titles.
Steam - Wildschwein | The Backlog
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