Why can't I play games anymore?

[ackmondual]

I have an Xbox One X and a Nintendo Switch and I haven't turned on my switch in 8 months and i'll play a round or two of Halo 5 a week on my One X. Gaming used to be everything to me and now I can barely play anything. I desperately want to be interested in gaming it just isn't much fun for me anymore. I'm not even excited for Luigi's Mansion 3 which I was in love with the other two. I'm 25 by the way.

Pretty much as mentioned upthread; "things change", and time being a factor. You find other things to fill your time, and with enough activities, something's gotta give. In the realm of video games (vg), I've done this myself, quite a bit...

I used to be into emulators. I still have them, but haven't really touched them due to a combo of other things (vg and not), and being too lazy to set them up. I ended up getting a Wii around 2007. Played it a lot back then, then stopped. I picked up up about 5 years ago, going through Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, then stopped (again).

Then I played a lot of games for PC/Steam. I got a new computer, but never got around to reinstalling Steam. When I got a new 9th gen iPad, it came with a free trial of Apple Arcade, and have been entrenched into that. My AA sub expired and I didn't renew. It was fun and I'm likely to renew it at some point. However, I'm happy for now in taking a break from it. I also got travel and other busy stuff coming up, so timing is good in that regard.

Nowadays I play a game or 3 of StarCraft 2's Coop mode every night (so roughly 20 minutes to 1.5 hours), on top of playing 3 to 6 hours of Switch per week.

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Another big part is SS (streaming services). I did discounted promo (or even free) rates for them (e.g. Hulu, Disney+, Paramount Plus, Apple TV+). I've been going through several of them due to the timing I get them deals, but the variety has been nice. However, after my Amazon prime expires next month, I won't renew. From that point on, I'll only have one SS at a time. Saving the $$ is nice (even though it's not significant), but really, time is the bottleneck.

 

[ackmondual]

Same. I play Fortnite to spend time with my nephew because he loves it. I'm not good but I hold my own.

When I sit down at a public computer, I played some games of Fortnite every now and then. However, I do whatever coop modes are available. I knew a lot of kids and the more youngest generations play this, but nothing like putting on a headset to remind you of this! You hear a lot of children's voices, and lines like "my mom says [blah]". It sounds like you're right back in the playground of elementary school! In a coop game, one of them was saying "wow, you guys suck!". I wanted to reply back "yeah, no **** sherlock", but figured let's not. Later on when I wanted to talk, I couldn't figure out how to figure out how to work the mic on my headset anyways. A few of them were proficient enough that they jump in the air, and 2 ramps with walls "just appear". They jump again, and that happens again, forming a tower! Don't know their control scheme (probably the standard WASD), but even if I memorized the controls, don't know if my fingers are quick enough to do all of that!

When I play Battle Royale, I manage to make it to the top bracket of survivors not due to sheer skill, but b/c I stay away from all other players, clinging to the edges of the storm and storm eye

 

[MisterSavage]

When I sit down at a public computer, I played some games of Fortnite every now and then. However, I do whatever coop modes are available. I knew a lot of kids and the more youngest generations play this, but nothing like putting on a headset to remind you of this! You hear a lot of children's voices, and lines like "my mom says [blah]". It sounds like you're right back in the playground of elementary school! In a coop game, one of them was saying "wow, you guys suck!". I wanted to reply back "yeah, no **** sherlock", but figured let's not. Later on when I wanted to talk, I couldn't figure out how to figure out how to work the mic on my headset anyways. A few of them were proficient enough that they jump in the air, and 2 ramps with walls "just appear". They jump again, and that happens again, forming a tower! Don't know their control scheme (probably the standard WASD), but even if I memorized the controls, don't know if my fingers are quick enough to do all of that!

When I play Battle Royale, I manage to make it to the top bracket of survivors not due to sheer skill, but b/c I stay away from all other players, clinging to the edges of the storm and storm eye

I always have voice chat turned off when I play online. My nephew is like a speed demon when he's building in Fortnite. I prefer the "no build" mode but he despises it.

 

[Ledgem]

For me, the controls in video games have simply become too complicated. And I have the impression that playing the game requires a lot of practice. I don't have the patience to learn intricate controls, even though gaming is intended to be a pleasurable diversion.

This is definitely true. I remember when the Playstation first came out it seemed like it had a lot of buttons, and games used them in different combinations, but you never used all of them. One to two decades later I played my first game that used every single button on a modern controller... and simply getting the hang of using every single button took a lot of time. Building up that muscle memory would be easy if I could log 3-5 hours of game time per day, as I did when I was younger, but now I can get in 30-60 minutes per day - if I'm lucky. And I'm probably not focusing 100% on the game anymore; at least a small bit of my mind is occupied with thinking about things at work or with my children. It's no fun to feel like you're stuck crawling, when you really want to be running already. And increasingly, it seems like games have all buttons bound to functions.

And that's just the input device. What you can do in many games has become more complicated. Again, not an issue if you can put the time into it, and fully focus on it... but an issue for the rest of us with limited time.

 

[ackmondual]

For me, the controls in video games have simply become too complicated. And I have the impression that playing the game requires a lot of practice. I don't have the patience to learn intricate controls, even though gaming is intended to be a pleasurable diversion.

There are still games for consoles that use d-pad/joystick, and only 1 or 3 buttons. Check out the ones from indies for this

 

[weaztek]

I have an Xbox Series S now, but before that my last console was a PS2 so it's been 20 years. I am absolutely loving the Series S, but only play a few minutes per week vs. hours per week when I first got it.

 

[mrsebsin]

Old thread but find it interesting and wanted add my two cents.

Been gaming since the days of pong and Atari when I was a kid. It used to be something that I would look forward to and put lots of time and energy into. These days it’s a pastime and something I do to relax. Not sure when it changed, but here we are.

As a lifelong console gamer, I got my first gaming PC a year or so ago. I was thinking of getting a PS5, but I just didn’t feel the excitement of another new console. I don’t really care about exclusives and the amount of gaming on PC is so vast. It lets me play newer stuff, old stuff, and also let’s me fire emulators and play old favs.

As others have mentioned, some games have gotten so intricate and complicated. Grinding to learn and be decent enough to just relax and play isn’t fun unless it’s a game I really, really like. Using mods/trainers takes the hard part out of the game, so I can just enjoy relaxed play and the story.

Sorry got a lil long winded, but just my two cents. I’m sure OP can still find joy in gaming but from a different perspective. I’m gonna 50 soon and still enjoy gaming.

 

[MisterSavage]

As a lifelong console gamer, I got my first gaming PC a year or so ago. I was thinking of getting a PS5, but I just didn’t feel the excitement of another new console. I don’t really care about exclusives and the amount of gaming on PC is so vast. It lets me play newer stuff, old stuff, and also let’s me fire emulators and play old favs.

Elden Ring made me feel the 'old' feeling of what it was like back in the day with gaming when you couldn't look stuff online were pretty much on your own to find new discoveries. It's just so bloody fun to explore and find things. Ironic I'm saying this because I also looked up a lot of things about it online.

 

[ackmondual]

Elden Ring made me feel the 'old' feeling of what it was like back in the day with gaming when you couldn't look stuff online were pretty much on your own to find new discoveries. It's just so bloody fun to explore and find things. Ironic I'm saying this because I also looked up a lot of things about it online.

It's a preference thing. Some people want to explore nearly to very much all of it on their own without help; to the point where if they can't figure it out on their own, then it won't get done. Others prefer to have lots of handholding and full guides/FAQs.

When I played Zelda: Breath of the Wild, I tried to discover as much on my own as possible. However, I did look up some facts, like what would happen if I did "such and such" (instead of trying it on my own, which saved me 30 minutes), or looking up costs to upgrade equipment. Towards the end, I had to look up the location of the last 3 shrines, and last 2 Side Quests. I put in 360 hours into it and have no regrets. That said, I was also glad to have saved some of the time I did by looking stuff up. I was also ready to move on to my next game.

 

[MisterSavage]

It's a preference thing. Some people want to explore nearly to very much all of it on their own without help; to the point where if they can't figure it out on their own, then it won't get done. Others prefer to have lots of handholding and full guides/FAQs.

With Elden Ring I don't think I would have figured out any of the character's questlines to completion without looking them up (which I normally don't like to do).

 

[ackmondual]

Forgot to mention... I ended up putting 360 hours into Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Don't regret that, but was glad to move on to other games when I did. Nice thing about complex games is yes, they do take longer to play, to go through thoroughly, and they do have a higher learning curve. However, they can be immensely more satisfying in a "the whole is worth more than the sum of its parts" type of situation where you wouldn't get by playing multiple games of the same duration

 

[smoking monkey]

Somewhere along the way, the gaming experience changes. Suddenly you'll look at a game and pretty much know what is going to happen and weigh up whether or not you want to invest the time. That's called real life getting in the way unfortunately!

I bought a Switch a few years ago after not playing games for around 13 years apart from on my iPad every now and then. I lost the desire to play due to the games becoming so complicated. I still feel the same way and complicated/difficult games just aren't my thing. Like @mrsebsin I just want to enjoy the best of what the game has to offer and not have to struggle or grind my way through.

In saying that, I have enjoyed a few games in the past few years, Luigi's Mansion 3, Cruis'n Blast, Shakedown Hawaii, Golf Story and Horizon Chase Turbo. I have noticed my reflexes aren't what they used to be so I do appreciate games that have a difficulty setting.

 

[Bodhitree]

The last games that I really got into were the Mass Effect trilogy. Since then I’ve been more interested in the real world.

 

[MacRazySwe]

This thread really resonates. I remember back in school, we used to play Call of Duty multiplayer every night after school between our group of friends. This was the XBOX 360-era. Then there were the Guitar Hero nights and FIFA couch sessions in person. Sometimes a bit of racing as well in between.

These days, I hardly play anything. Same goes for my group of friends. We’re all caught up with work, some of us family, et.c. Even when I do have the time, I usually prioritise differently.

That said, I bought the Xbox Series X and I love the idea of Game Pass. It’s perfect for casual gaming. Today I just don’t feel like splurging on games that I know I will never be able to finish, so Game Pass has been fantastic. Always somethings new to play. I’ve had really fun moments with Flight Simulator, Forza Horizon 5, Wreckfest and more.

Definitely recommend it.

 

[ackmondual]

Somewhere along the way, the gaming experience changes. Suddenly you'll look at a game and pretty much know what is going to happen and weigh up whether or not you want to invest the time. That's called real life getting in the way unfortunately!

I bought a Switch a few years ago after not playing games for around 13 years apart from on my iPad every now and then. I lost the desire to play due to the games becoming so complicated. I still feel the same way and complicated/difficult games just aren't my thing. Like @mrsebsin I just want to enjoy the best of what the game has to offer and not have to struggle or grind my way through.

Most of my gaming on Android and iOS are digital board games. I'd much prefer to play them IRL, but they're far away since I moved away from the city. Most of the time, I don't game on my iPad since I'll be at home where I can just jump on the PC (for much of anything else really... streaming, wasting time on YouTube, and other vg). However, on travel, I did use it a fair bit. My phone is a Google Pixel 4A. The screen is too narrow to do much of anything (iPhone equivalent is the SE), so I'll want to upgrade my phone before I do anything more serious with gaming on there (probably the Pixel 6 whenever it goes on sale again)

In saying that, I have enjoyed a few games in the past few years, Luigi's Mansion 3, Cruis'n Blast, Shakedown Hawaii, Golf Story and Horizon Chase Turbo. I have noticed my reflexes aren't what they used to be so I do appreciate games that have a difficulty setting.

After playing a bunch of primary action flicks from Nintendo, Luigi's Mansion 3 should be a nice, puzzle diversion. That said, I do like how the difficulty of said games (e.g. Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild, Mario 3D World, Bowsers Fury, New Super Mario Bros. Wii U) were of good difficulty. I was able to 100% the latter 2, while unlocking all the levels and content for everything else was easy enough to do. They have expert levels requiring more skill than usual, and endurance levels where dying means you start all over.. no checkpoints! But these are strictly optional.

FWIW, I'm no longer all "that" about 100%-ing a game. If a game gets stupidly hard, I just move on to the next thing in the game. If I can't move on within the game, I just move on to the next game.

 

[mrsebsin]

In saying that, I have enjoyed a few games in the past few years, Luigi's Mansion 3, Cruis'n Blast, Shakedown Hawaii, Golf Story and Horizon Chase Turbo. I have noticed my reflexes aren't what they used to be so I do appreciate games that have a difficulty setting.

I absolutely loved Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Golf Story! The developers of Golf Story have been working on a new one, but I think Covid really slowed things down.

 

[smoking monkey]

If a game gets stupidly hard, I just move on to the next thing in the game. If I can't move on within the game, I just move on to the next game.

Yeah, I'm all about that.

I understand that there is def a segment of the gaming community who are all about the challenge and that's cool. I just want the devs to provide settings for those of us who want to enjoy the game without wasting too much time.

I absolutely loved Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Golf Story! The developers of Golf Story have been working on a new one, but I think Covid really slowed things down.

LM3 - thoroughly enjoyed the immersive atmosphere.

Yeah, Sports Story looks fantastic. I really hope it hasn't been shelved as it's been such a long time since SideBar Games updates with any info.