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The cry of a disenchanted Gamer...
ilikethings
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
Dear Everyone,
I've come to realize, in the past few months, that something has happened to me... something strange and very difficult to explain in terms of my gaming desire, but I'll do my best, because I believe that this is the only place that I can be saved...
The first time I ever played a video game, and could NOT wait to play it again was back in 5th grade on my elementary schools various C64's, I forget the name exactly of the game, but it involved a little pixel man, his little pixel sword, and other little pixels that wished me death and pain. As I grew, I realised I had a great love for any game with a great story, and fell into the RPG Gamer genre, I can still remember sitting down at a friend's computer and playing the first Diablo, an experience I could've only dreamed of as a kid. Zelda, Pokemon, even Carmen Sandiego, the list goes on of course, I loved them all.
At the age of 19, where I am now, I'm past legal adulthood, just finished my first year at college and I'm REALLY looking at my future for the first time, a word I never cared about in grade school, my future just got in the way of friends and video games, but as I sit and look back at my high school days and my most recent gaming adventures, I'm curious as to what's happened to me...
My first MMO that I played as much as possible was Diablo II, which I discovered after I finished my Age of Empires II RTS kick. I played this game ALL the time with friends, raping and milking the cow level for all it's worth, and I had alot of fun. Later on LoD came out, and then a few years later, a friend showed me WoW.
I was hooked, I played it since release for two years straight, meeting new people, playing with ones I knew, Azeroth was this vast and amazing place where my friends and I would explore, slaughter Murlocs, and go see a movie after, lather, rinse, repeat. I got pretty burnt out eventually, having seen it all and done it all, there was no more story, just... well... a job... I quit for a while and of course, got back into it for another year. Expansions offered alot more and it was great seeing that some of my old friends were still around playing. I quit again for awhile, filling my time with various RPG's and FPS games until Burning Crusade came out, but I installed it, and just couldn't play it, it just seemed like too much at the time.
I graduated High School and then had a good summer of hanging with close friends before they all left to their schools of choice, including me. I saw screenshots for Bioshock and I couldn't wait, so I bought a brand new computer with money I'd saved from various odd jobs I done over the years and was giddy as hell for the game. At this point I'd moved into a house in Scranton PA with two friends, one a short fused indie kid, the other an easy-going rocker, and me, the gamer-boy. I'd party any chance I got with them, but I always maintained excitement to play Half-Life 2 or Oblivion when I got the chance. At this point, I had tried many MMO's, and none of them enthralled me the way WoW did, perhaps it was the fact WoW was my first TRUE MMO, I don't know, but one day, I decided to give WoW another go...
This time, it was strange... When I rolled my Orc Rogue on a totally new and strange server and started off in Durotar, I realized I was happy to be playing it again, but it was different. People would message me asking for help, asking to group up and I hated the idea, I only cared about soloing everything that had the slightest chance of being solo'ed, and that grouping up with people would only slow me down, which was totally different than the days when I first played it where I loved meeting and playing with new people. I also noticed I started typing very correctly, and would correct even the slightest typing errors, and I imagined in my head that anyone who typed terribly was a 10 year old foreigner with a weak grasp of the english language and basic communication skills. Everytime I logged on became a session of "Alright, how many levels can I get today?" Nothing else in the game mattered except getting to 70, I never even instanced. When I got to 70, it was an empty victory. My entire time playing, I barely maintained any in-game relationships, and had become too rusty instance wise, I never bothered with PvP, and I was broke, so there was nothing for me, and all of that time just felt completely wasted, time when I could've learned a new language or something like that. So I closed up WoW for good, and just played run-of-the-mill games to fill my free time. I started to realize, I barely cared as much when new games came out. The newest Metal Gear that came out should've had me as the first in line to pick it up when it came out, but I didn't care, or Age of Conan would've had me watching my calendar up until the day of release, but it didn't. The thrill and excitement I used to have for video games had gone, and was replaced by a feeling of "Hm, cool, that looks fun. I'll have to pick that up sometime."
The point I'm trying to make, is the thing that made me unique in school growing up because I didn't give a shit about sports or driving around on dirt roads on a four-wheeler... just the fact that I loved video games, has diminished, like a lighter just about to run out of fuel. I'm just curious a little, if this has happened to anyone else. If I have to plug in my NES again and play through all of my RPG's just to get the feeling back, I'll do it. I just miss the, hell I don't know what it is... Thanks for reading, and thanks even more if you understand even a little.
- The Disenchanted Gamer
I've come to realize, in the past few months, that something has happened to me... something strange and very difficult to explain in terms of my gaming desire, but I'll do my best, because I believe that this is the only place that I can be saved...
The first time I ever played a video game, and could NOT wait to play it again was back in 5th grade on my elementary schools various C64's, I forget the name exactly of the game, but it involved a little pixel man, his little pixel sword, and other little pixels that wished me death and pain. As I grew, I realised I had a great love for any game with a great story, and fell into the RPG Gamer genre, I can still remember sitting down at a friend's computer and playing the first Diablo, an experience I could've only dreamed of as a kid. Zelda, Pokemon, even Carmen Sandiego, the list goes on of course, I loved them all.
At the age of 19, where I am now, I'm past legal adulthood, just finished my first year at college and I'm REALLY looking at my future for the first time, a word I never cared about in grade school, my future just got in the way of friends and video games, but as I sit and look back at my high school days and my most recent gaming adventures, I'm curious as to what's happened to me...
My first MMO that I played as much as possible was Diablo II, which I discovered after I finished my Age of Empires II RTS kick. I played this game ALL the time with friends, raping and milking the cow level for all it's worth, and I had alot of fun. Later on LoD came out, and then a few years later, a friend showed me WoW.
I was hooked, I played it since release for two years straight, meeting new people, playing with ones I knew, Azeroth was this vast and amazing place where my friends and I would explore, slaughter Murlocs, and go see a movie after, lather, rinse, repeat. I got pretty burnt out eventually, having seen it all and done it all, there was no more story, just... well... a job... I quit for a while and of course, got back into it for another year. Expansions offered alot more and it was great seeing that some of my old friends were still around playing. I quit again for awhile, filling my time with various RPG's and FPS games until Burning Crusade came out, but I installed it, and just couldn't play it, it just seemed like too much at the time.
I graduated High School and then had a good summer of hanging with close friends before they all left to their schools of choice, including me. I saw screenshots for Bioshock and I couldn't wait, so I bought a brand new computer with money I'd saved from various odd jobs I done over the years and was giddy as hell for the game. At this point I'd moved into a house in Scranton PA with two friends, one a short fused indie kid, the other an easy-going rocker, and me, the gamer-boy. I'd party any chance I got with them, but I always maintained excitement to play Half-Life 2 or Oblivion when I got the chance. At this point, I had tried many MMO's, and none of them enthralled me the way WoW did, perhaps it was the fact WoW was my first TRUE MMO, I don't know, but one day, I decided to give WoW another go...
This time, it was strange... When I rolled my Orc Rogue on a totally new and strange server and started off in Durotar, I realized I was happy to be playing it again, but it was different. People would message me asking for help, asking to group up and I hated the idea, I only cared about soloing everything that had the slightest chance of being solo'ed, and that grouping up with people would only slow me down, which was totally different than the days when I first played it where I loved meeting and playing with new people. I also noticed I started typing very correctly, and would correct even the slightest typing errors, and I imagined in my head that anyone who typed terribly was a 10 year old foreigner with a weak grasp of the english language and basic communication skills. Everytime I logged on became a session of "Alright, how many levels can I get today?" Nothing else in the game mattered except getting to 70, I never even instanced. When I got to 70, it was an empty victory. My entire time playing, I barely maintained any in-game relationships, and had become too rusty instance wise, I never bothered with PvP, and I was broke, so there was nothing for me, and all of that time just felt completely wasted, time when I could've learned a new language or something like that. So I closed up WoW for good, and just played run-of-the-mill games to fill my free time. I started to realize, I barely cared as much when new games came out. The newest Metal Gear that came out should've had me as the first in line to pick it up when it came out, but I didn't care, or Age of Conan would've had me watching my calendar up until the day of release, but it didn't. The thrill and excitement I used to have for video games had gone, and was replaced by a feeling of "Hm, cool, that looks fun. I'll have to pick that up sometime."
The point I'm trying to make, is the thing that made me unique in school growing up because I didn't give a shit about sports or driving around on dirt roads on a four-wheeler... just the fact that I loved video games, has diminished, like a lighter just about to run out of fuel. I'm just curious a little, if this has happened to anyone else. If I have to plug in my NES again and play through all of my RPG's just to get the feeling back, I'll do it. I just miss the, hell I don't know what it is... Thanks for reading, and thanks even more if you understand even a little.
- The Disenchanted Gamer
ilikethings on
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-Spectre
~Tarranon
More to the point, Ilikethings, it could just be a phase. Maybe you're just burnt out on games. Maybe nothing's really piqued your interest. Maybe something is stressing you out and it's affecting your usual enjoyment of things.
Thing is, worrying about it wont really make it better. You can't force yourself to reignite an old flame. Maybe now would be a good opportunity to explore other hobbies with your new found free time, make some new friends now that you're in college, and expand your horizons a little. Don't get me wrong, games are a worthwhile venture, but it's not odd at all to get into a malaise if they're your sole sphere of entertainment for too long.
Games will still be here when you feel like diving into them again. In fact, there'll be more of them and they'll probably be cheaper.
On the black screen
So while I game a lot less than I used to I still love games and play them as much as possible.
猿も木から落ちる
Fallout 3.
You should talk to your parents about it. Don't worry, they went through it too when they were your age - it might be a little embarassing, but you'll be glad you got your facts straight! :^:
Sometimes people go through a phase where they just can't play games. Sometimes it lasts weeks, months, years. Usually these people will get back into it. The best thing to do is to just not worry about it and go gain other hobbies, learn new skills or something. Go out with friends more, or study something. Read books. Whatever.
At some point you'll probably find out or hear about or try out a new game and get back into it all.
The worst thing you can do is to keep buying new stuff and "forcing" yourself to play games and telling yourself to enjoy it when you aren't. That never works.
Just leave it and come back to it later when you really feel like it.
This sort of thing has happened to me at least three times in my life.
Steam ID: slashx000______Twitter: @bill_at_zeboyd______ Facebook: Zeboyd Games
Dont worry, we all do it some time. It just takes patience.
You attitudes on games are no different than your attitude on anything else. You have matures, and require something different than your 5 year old self.
I agree with this, and I think this is a perfect time to start exploring other interests and hobbies which you may have, or may want to have.
On a slightly more helpful note, I started to feel burnt out on RPGs earlier this year. I left them alone and focused on some other genres (strategy & shmups). Now I just started playing Mass Effect and I'm absolutely loving it.
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire,
3DS Friend Code: 5456-0772-1797
I never asked for this!
Now I don't.
Wanna hug me and we can fucking cry about it?
I came in here to say this. It happens to everyone. Luckily it has allow me to apreciate games in a very different, yet deeper way. Although I know the old amazing feeling of staying up all night finishing super mario world will probably never come back, I still can't wait for what is coming into the gaming world. What really sucks is that adulthood demands a work that eats up all your time and for the first time in my life I actually have a backlog.
I'm confused. Cause I got mine in 1983. 25 years ago.
That's just terrible.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
but then one day the machine gave me lemon-lime and i've never looked back
I often feel like all or most of the time I've spent playing games has been wasted, but there does seem to be a difference between playing games for enjoyment, when you're really genuinely excited about the possibilities offered by some fantastic new games, and playing games just to fill in time because you've developed a habit of doing it. I'd suggest trying to spend a whole week without playing any games at all and seeing how you feel during that time. Do you feel twitchy, just because you don't know what to do with yourself? Is that all it is? Or do games offer something more than just being an addiction to a particular kind of stimulation?
vacant, disinterested, unexcited
if it weren't for promised media functions and the distant lure of HD, i might have skipped this generation altogether in favour of a media-purposed pc and a bit of guitar hero and wii at parties
but then! it beckoned
i think littlebigplanet single-handedly returned me to being really feverishly excited about games and the game industry. it's still not out, but i am still immensely excited, like a kid with an unopened box of lego
the suspense is terrible. i hope it will last.
However, there's literally nothing else that is cheap, time consuming, fun, and social like WoW was for me. I'm not anti-social, I'm just a homebody, and I always have been. Being newlywed means my friends aren't bothered by the fact that I don't hang out with them. I really suck at every other game ever made, except for Brain Age and Lumines. I read a ton, but even that is getting boring.
Rather than go on about my personal situation, I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone. My solution so far? Pick up extra shifts at work. Might as well get paid to be bored. I'm also looking into crafting classes, since that is one of my interests. I just wished the nearest Michael's wasn't half an hour away (an hour at the time they offer classes, damn rush-hour).
I know exactly how you feel. Since I graduated high school, I actually started exploring other hobbies to try to fill the gap. I found that despite blindly hating sports as a child, I really loved watching and playing soccer. I also decided to learn the guitar. Before I went into college, I didn't really look at my time as being very valuable. But as studying started to catch up to me, I had to choose between playing games and goofing off, or doing something productive. Now, I almost feel guilty for wasting 4 hours that I could have been studying. Even my soccer and guitar playing feel like more useful ways to spend my free time.
However, I do still play games on occasion. I've found that I've become more of a social gamer though. Its much easier to justify the time if you're having fun playing multiplayer with your friends. Also, I've found that my taste in games has shifted somewhat. Twitchy action games aren't as fun as they used to be. Formulaic gameplay becomes stale much faster than it used to. I find that no matter how good a game might be, if its not innovative or creative then I just can't get excited about it. Even though I don't play as many games as I used to, I still like to follow where the industry is going. When I was younger, I would mostly just read previews and reviews of games. Now, I tend to enjoy reading editorial articles and interviews more.
I highly suggest you revisit old games from your past too. After my freshman year of college, I broke down and bought a SNES. I love that thing like my child. I sat down last year with a bunch of my friends and played the hell out of Bomberman 2. Good times!
Oh, and personally, I would stay away from the online gaming scene. Sure it looks tempting, but gamers in general are so immature that it really ruins the experience. There are some exceptions, but WoW definately isn't one. If you want to play online, or better yet on a lan, better to find friends to do it with.
My board games -->http://www.boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/cpugeek13
My BGG wishlist --> http://www.boardgamegeek.com/wishlist/cpugeek13
SO HA.
Why?
Final Fantasy XI -> Carbuncle - Samash
Well, it's possible that the person feels that they're spending too much time on leisure.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
Oh most definitely.
http://www.audioentropy.com/
Exactly the same happened to me. I played lots and lots of games in highschool, but when I went to college, I kinda lost interest in games.
(it may have something to do with me spending most of my time drinking and getting laid instead, but I digress)
But it came back around 25 - I settled down with my girlfriend, got a good job and now at 31 I'm playing more games than ever.
It also doesn't help that without a next generation system and a six year old PC I get to watch from the sidelines as gaming murders itself. I swear, every single day that goes by I find more and more to hate about the next generation, and more reasons to play decade old games. Prettier graphics, but the games are all the exact same, except streamlined and made simplistic for the new gamers that are the driving force behind this newfound profitability in the gaming industry.
Perhaps the only truth is that WoW kills gamers.