The best part of video games back in the day was making memories with your friends, now it all feels like structured fun. “This is how you play the game and this is when you are supposed to have fun” Idk if that makes sense.
This is a common thread and question that I’ve seen pop up all over the internet since I first joined message boards in the early 00s. It’s you and I dont mean that in a judgmental way, but it sounds like you’re probably burned out or being brought down by other factors in your life.
I said it in 2002 on gamefaqs, I said it in 2005 on my small local game message board, I said it in 2010 on reddit, and I’ll say it again. The best time for gaming is now. Because there are still good games coming out regardless of the bad contemporary trends, and the indy revolution of the 10s has only made that more true. On top of that all the classics you know and love are still behind us and playable.
I think you need to take a step back and try to figure out exactly what it is about gaming that you used to enjoy and try to figure out why you may not be enjoying games anymore. It could be the type of game youre playing, it could be that you’re just burned out, and it could be external factors in life.
Did you used to play games with friends and family that have drifted apart as you got older? Does work leave you drained and with little time and energy to play your long playsession single player experience? Is the game that you’re playing one with a toxic community? Do you feel unfulfilled in other parts of your life and feel guilty that instead of working on that you’re engaging in your hobby? Are you experiencing other mental health issues like depression or anxiety that might be tinting your enjoyment of things?
There are a number of reasons you might fall into and out of gaming. I’m in my 30s and I personally go through seasons and times when I play a lot of games and when I focus my hobbys on something else. Ive felt like “maybe I’ll never get that immersive feeling again like I did at 18” a bunch of times in my life and then picked up games I couldnt put down. Once you find out the why you can try and tackle the problem.
I’m not OP, but I feel like I want to add on to this if that’s alright. I think it’s often easy to get into this mindset when a trend seems to overtake a lot of the industry. For instance, personally I’ve noticed a common game that seems to get churned out a lot in recent years: it’s open world, but has nothing in it and is given light RPG elements that don’t really add anything. That doesn’t mean every game is like that, of course, but I think it can be easy to fixate on what we’re tired of seeing. Eventually, someone will come up with a new trend, and the empty open world games will fade out, and the cycle will continue as it always has. It’s also interesting to point out that humans tend to remember the past more fondly, so it’s easy to remember old gems and ignore the flops. Anyway, thanks for entertaining my ramble.
What types of games are you playing? Sounds like you are describing a generic AAA “live service” game, there are plenty of fun games but you have to search for them in a sea of soulless corporate cashgrabs. I would recommend trying games by smaller developers. If you want to play with friends I would recommend indie co-op games like risk of rain 2 or deep rock galactic. Or maybe you are just burnt out on gaming? Never hurts to take a break, try another hobby for a bit and come back reinvigorated
Was going to say this as well. As a long time destiny player it very much feels like checking boxes or doing chores each week.
I’ve finally managed to break away and play other games and am so excited for my current to do pile. Mass Effect 1,2,3 done, Andromeda is in progress and after that is Control, Cyberpunk and Fallout 4.
To be perfectly honest I don’t feel like anything is fun anymore.
You might be depressed my guy
shrug I play mostly single-player RPGs and similarly story-heavy games, so while the mechanics are different and the graphics much prettier, the structure is the same as it’s been for the past 30+ years: Follow the story to get anywhere, or just wander around in your current area if you want to grind.
It’s not you. I don’t find most games, even games I used to really splunk a lot of time into happily, much fun anymore.
I’ve been watching Yahtzee’s Extra Punctuation lately, and he his hitting on the same gestalt - most games, especially AAA games, are really boring now because they are really pretty much the same game repainted now. OK, that’s a bit of an oversimiplification, but I’d direct you to his several recent commentaries for the deeper insight.
I can remember when I loved the idea of playing online. After a couple of decades of it, I hate online games now (mostly because I despise online game players now). I still love playing a good co-op game with a couple of friends (but those good games in that class are a bit thin on the ground) and I still love finding a good, immersive single player to sit down with. But I don’t care for platformers, or side-scrollers, or jumper-puzzles, or Souls games - at least not anymore.
So what am I playing? Well, I am getting a hell of a lot of bang out of my buck playing small games on my iPad from Apple Arcade, believe it or not. I fire up Steam once in a while and look, chin in hand, at my large library of collected games on a fancy-pants Alienware monster gaming machine, sigh, and go back to playing Spell Struck (basically a Scrabble game) on my iPad, because at least it makes me think of good words to use.
Ten years ago, I would be jittery with the impending release of something like Starfield or Diablo IV. Now I’m like “No rush, buy it in 6 months or a year when it goes on sale and the bugs are ironed out.”
I got sucked in by TOTK and Elden Ring so I can’t say I’ve had the same experience. I basically haven’t played a multi-player fps since I graduated university though, so that must count for something? I played a ton of those back then.
Depends on what you’re playing, and you might have burnout.
Learning about the concept of enshittification (https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/) made me suspect that this might be going on with games too. I mean these always online and monetisation trends seem to suggest so.
Though for me it‘s also the age and work, quest logs remind me of ticket systems and grinding of more repetitive work and it all lost it‘s shine. I enjoy games still, but less often I would say.
I started avoiding games that make it hard to play without choosing the meta. I look for indie games where solving mysteries about the game made it more interesting. Its not for everyone but it could be a breath of fresh air for anyone looking to get away from games that expect you to play a specific way or to grind for new stuff.
Depression has definitely made it extremely hard to enjoy gaming these days. It was so easy to hop on the pc after class in high school/college, and jump into a game with 8 or so friends, playing all night. Now in adulthood, there are no friends to play with, and such little time to actually play. Not to mention games have become about milking whales with microtransactions, and less about a fun experience. Combine that with the world’s downward spiral, and it makes it very hard to be a happy gamer.
/rant
Play indie games. There are still a lot of fun games out there. AAA games are all “live services” nowadays and designed to maximize your play time, not fun.
Absolutely. This is how I discovered games like Hollow Knight and Spiritfarer, two of my absolute favorites. Can’t bring myself to play very many AAA games outside of some multiplayer ones like Mario Party and Mario Kart.
Yeah, it’s a golden age for indie development. I struggle to find AAA games I want to play, but when it comes to games as a whole I have far too many I want to check out thanks to the current vibrancy of the indie scene.
I just finished outer wilds and its expansion. I don’t know how new or old you are as a gamer but I’d call that pretty recent, and it’s probably in the top three best games I’ve ever played. It’s likely to stick in my mind for years.
So, empirically based on the last game I played, I don’t think games are getting worse. It might be that you’re playing bad games, or it might be that you’re in a bad place.
Sometimes I quite gaming for months or years at a time too. It’s okay to be tired of the medium for a bit.
Aside from nintendo related products, I have stopped playing most AAA titles for this reason. The only reason I have stuck with nintendo is because I can still get excited and be impressed with what they release, though this isn’t as much of a guarantee as it used to be.
I usually play indie games when I’m looking for something fresh, or I play retro titles when I want to revisit my roots and remind myself why I fell in love with gaming in the first place.
I also have a selection of comfort titles I reach for when I’m feeling down and nothing else is bringing me joy. Stardew Valley, Earthbound, Legend of Zelda: Links Awakening, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Skyrim are my shortlist.
It’s you. I have more fun than I ever had as a kid or teenager.
I might offer a slightly different take on this than you tend to see. Yes, it is very common for enjoyment of entertainment to be based on external factors (free time, friends, family). But the modern gaming landscape has changed overall quite a lot. It is entirely possible that the type of games you truly enjoy have gotten lost in the sauce, and just aren’t made as much these days. Likely a combination of the two, but if you’re having the feeling, trust it. That feeling is valid, and claims that everything is the same, you just have external differences feels a bit gas-lighty. Good luck out there~
I quite like your answer and tend to agree. Just wanted to add that while popular games have changed over time, the sheer amount of games that get made these days is insane. I would recommend to see what strange indie stuff is being made, this is something that helped me when I had similar feelings. When not bound by large budgets or investors, really awesome experiences are still possible.
Examples: A Short Hike, Vampire Survivors, Outer Wilds, Undertale, Stardew Valley, Rocket League …
Any imaginable genre is still getting new and interesting stuff IMO, it’s just that mainstream gaming has gotten worse (again, IMO).
But it is true that you shouldn’t simply discard what you’re feeling! I really love that about your answer.
The small indie titles are what is saving my passion for gaming since quite some time now. It’s also what’s saving my wallet as usually they focus on good gameplay more than flashy presentation which helps in not having to spend a ton on a “competitive” hardware.