Has any one else started losing their faith in gaming as they get older?

[Jonna]

Recently I've started noticing I've extensively lost a lot of the excitement and joy over gaming with titles coming out. Chalk that up to having a kid, probably, although I'm excited for her to learn about gaming when she gets old enough. Maybe chalk it up to possible depression, growing up, atmosphere, what's the possible theory?

To be fair, and this is mostly to see how many people will actually read this, I'm not saying games coming out these days are bad necessarily, I haven't formed an opinion on them. It's the simple fact that I haven't formed an opinion because it just seems tiring and like I don't have the time.

So, the objective of this topic: To find out if any of you are in the same boat/line of thinking, and/or what are your reasons you think this happens to some of us? Also, if you are the same way I am, do you find retro gaming to be a crutch to rely on to find that joy again? And do you think indie games have filled some of that gap with their characteristics for developing with passion and aesthetics similar to retro gaming?

 

[MarkPrime24]

Yep,me I am not interested in them anymore but still plays them..

 

[th3joker]

im 33 and feel the same. for me destiny and mgsV were what killed my joy of games. destiny with its timed playability and making a grind feel pointless when anything good gets nerfed. mgsv was just a huge letdown.

ps2 was my favorite console. when you bought a full game and unlockables were not locked behind dlc pay walls. the hacking scenes of the psp and ps3 were fun. there was such a rush to be able to play leaked games before they hit the shelves. now the ps4 and psvita never really felt like they were as hyped when hacked.

 

[matthi321]

no i havent been tired of games, but i also play many games of all genres and and years, instead of just playing what is new all the time

 

[Kioku]

Indefinitely. What's become accepted as "industry standard" was frowned upon 10 years ago. Day 1 patches, micro transactions, shitty preorder "bonuses" and half assed development to be fixed later in the games life. There are a few games that I got my money's worth and then some in the past few years. Not a fan of the BR shtick, and its lack truly competitive playstyles.. I'm sad the arena style shooter is fading out of existence to be replaced with this and "hero shooters". I could go on with other genres, but eh. Even Mario Kart 8 is a massive disappointment.. Meh.

 

[orangy57]

not caring about video games though is kinda a part of growing up

as a kid you're like, "man i cant ever imagine not playing video games!" but look at me now, most of the time i don't even play video games, i might boot up a round of TF2 once every three weeks, but life just gets in the way. the fact that lots of newer titles won't interest us is because we're starting to shift away from looking for new experiences and rather sticking with the same ones or trying to recapture the magic of when we were young and enjoyed games so much more

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Less oversaturation of one genre trying to out due the other, less low effort games and even work on those prices.

 

[Mythical]

I used to be able to fully enjoy playing games, but I have so much to do it's hard sometimes (I have an abundant collection, but that doesn't change it either). I noticed it when I started working tbh not when I was in college though

 

[Taleweaver]

Recently I've started noticing I've extensively lost a lot of the excitement and joy over gaming with titles coming out. Chalk that up to having a kid, probably, although I'm excited for her to learn about gaming when she gets old enough. Maybe chalk it up to possible depression, growing up, atmosphere, what's the possible theory?

To be fair, and this is mostly to see how many people will actually read this, I'm not saying games coming out these days are bad necessarily, I haven't formed an opinion on them. It's the simple fact that I haven't formed an opinion because it just seems tiring and like I don't have the time.

So, the objective of this topic: To find out if any of you are in the same boat/line of thinking, and/or what are your reasons you think this happens to some of us? Also, if you are the same way I am, do you find retro gaming to be a crutch to rely on to find that joy again? And do you think indie games have filled some of that gap with their characteristics for developing with passion and aesthetics similar to retro gaming?

Having less free time is certainly a factor. When my girlfriend moved in with me and we now having a dog, my preference in games have certainly shifted. If you can't immerse yourself for hours on end in a virtual gaming world anymore (our dog especially can start sniffing and begging for attention after ten minutes ), you start to see things differently. You start to see more filler and repetitive gameplay. Things being made hard for the sake of making it hard rather than challenging. Unskippable cut scenes and long loading times become more of a burden than it was. And so on. It's not that these games have changed*: it's you. And that's okay. The realm of video games** is incredibly large, and there's certainly something that'll fill in with what you like but that you haven't discovered yet.

In your post, you make it seem like retro gaming and indie gaming are somewhat the same thing, but...neither of these are really genres but more classifications. Retro games are "everything that is, say, 10+ years old" while indies are "everything that has, say, less than 10 developers" (I'm painting broad strokes here). We really should define things better to properly communicate.

For one: I can name quite some older titles that have a good premise and stick to that. One of the older games I'm replaying is Lost vikings (1 & 2): it plays quick, has loading times in the area of microtransactions, and thanks to savestates, when I'm playing the game, I'm really only doing just that. The game has a hook (in this case: use the skills of the 3 characters in teamwork to overcome the obstacles) that draws you in, and you're constantly on that hook while playing. I'm not saying newer games are bad in any way, but they are less focused on that. Sandbox games' appeal is "marvel at the world as you walk around in", which is pretty broad (and frankly: after a dozen sandboxes or so, they all seem rather alike...at least to me). Sidequests, occasional filler quests or quests you've already done before...they can be nice, but it's not why you play the game to begin with.

As for indie games: the benefit of being made by a smaller team is that they usually can't afford to burden the gamer with things that he doesn't really want. Why would they add in many cutscenes, filler storylines or a load of sidequests when they can be focussing on that hook I talked about earlier? That's why...erm...at least the good indie games seem like that "passion of earlier games". Back then, it was for technical necessity (the gaming audienc wasn't as big, PC's weren't as powerful and it wasn't known what got gamers addicted to their product as it is today); today they do it because their budget is smaller.

For some years, I make yearly top 20 lists of the games I've played. I'm clearly shifting toward smaller games. But I also play much MORE games than I used to (especially since mobile came to blossoming: I've played some great games while being a passenger in a car ).




*okay, they've changed too. But it's not because old games didn't have microtransactions or lootboxes that they were without flaws
**or even 'games' in general...I play quite some modern board games with friends, and can find similar joy in them as in video games.

 

[Song of storms]

To me, it's the complete opposite: as of lately, I have reached the Nirvana of gaming, thanks to my Switch. I have 3 games I regularly play online competitively in, plus whatever offline game I'm playing. There's something about making the same shit over and over again but see a little counter that tells you how good you are that helps you relax after a busy working day.

 

[FAST6191]

Faith in gaming?
I never needed it. It quite demonstrably exists.

I have found the PS4 and xbone to be exceptionally weak consoles as far as their libraries go ( https://gbatemp.net/threads/the-games-you-will-keep-for-your-ps4-and-xbox-one.499105/ ), and NIntendo have not done anything of great interest since they lost their grip on things towards the end of the DS lifetime (which was not quite the rise of IOS as far as commercial games go, homebrew on the other hand...). PC seems mostly to be the domain of the superior version (if you have the specs to handle the lack of optimisation) and mods for games, though in the end it is still the same base as the home consoles.

In general consumer research and psychology most would place 19 as about the age your tastes crystallise. Or if you prefer take parents, aunts, uncles, siblings and whatever and line up their tastes now with what was popular when they were that age.
There is something to be said for the fracturing of popular culture -- UK wise 1982 saw the launch of channel 4, which is to say prior to that there were three channels. Channel 5 did not hit until 1997 and though satellite (then more or a less a monopoly of Sky TV) had a bit more penetration it was somewhat uncommon , cable (for the sake of shortness I will go with NTL, nowadays Virgin) was seeing a lot of new coverage as well. To that end most people watched one of a few things at night. Today that is less of a thing.

With that said I was long past 19 by the time the 360 hit and I got involved with DVD modding of them. With that I had one of the best times in gaming I have ever had, and I was there for many "generations" plus with a decent PC or access to one when that became a necessary thing.
Functionally those games play like things today, maybe some with slightly smaller levels or graphics that might not be quite as shiny (still nothing like the leap from PS1 to PS2 or PS2 to 360 though). Controls, things I am expected to do and the sorts of challenges I face are more or less the same. I can play a lot of those things I loved on my 360 still as well, indeed remastered versions of those are often the sole source of amusement with said new consoles for an extended period of time.
If I somehow discover something I missed for the PS3 or 360 I still get excited and I have had a few occasions now on the PS4 and xbone where I get a glimpse of something. Some have said they look to the indy world and while that has some great stuff I still want something with a bit of meat to it.

I should also note I stopped paying attention to release lists, E3, game news... and whatever I get tends to be whatever has a suitably intriguing title on this place. This despite the time I asked a similar question I was following things quite closely.

Still as I sit here I am not feeling terribly compelled to get a PS4 or xbone for myself like I often do wtih dead/nearly dead consoles. I could but I would have nothing really to play and I think many are in a similar position, whether they frame it like I do or not.

 

[WildDog]

What do you mean faith??? Look Single Player is something of the past (i grew playing old dos games and nes..).
Now it is in the multiplayer, with multiplayer everyone wins....
Multiplayer for most of the part is competition
Competition is addictive for most people, which means that more people will keep playing.
That means that:

-The developer, can make dlc, sequels, premium skins, etc
-The Publisher, get money from those dlcs or sequels
-Companies like Razer, Logitech, etc can make newer hardware for competition, like keyboard, mouse, controllers, etc
-Companies like Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Arm can make more money making new hardware for gaming computers and consoles

 

[PanTheFaun]

All I used to do when I was younger was play games night and day. I barely have any interest in video games anymore but I think that is due to a lack of uniqueness of most games these days.

 

[KHEOPS]

Yeah, they destroyed the video game.
We had video game cartridges, no loading time, no internet, we had the best tv, tv crt ,best response time, best black, best colors, most of the games were playable by 2, on a sofa and then.....

then came their rotten 3d, loading times, their endless cinema scene, their patch day one, the updates, the dlc, their rotten lcd screens that make all the graphics of rotten consoles, black gray, remanence, input lag, that's the progress

and well I play 90% on my old machines, snes, genesis, arcade, why? I can play 5 min, or 1 hour at a game, without taking my head, on repetition games assassin creed 14, call of duty 32, all these musty games that make me vomit, no artistic spirit behind, war ,killed, online, killed people, than worthless commercial shit, not to mention their infamous bug, patch day one ,and so on, in short the last time I really had fun, it's for 4 players to bomberman, between colleagues on a couch, everything else leaves me indifererent, it sucks....

The game is close to realism, I don't play video games for that, I want the dream of beautiful stories of beautiful quest, fortunately that zelda botw is there, he gave me a little hope, among all these sandbox games, gta5 is huge, but I get bored after 10min, only skyrim taped me a moment, and did me good, the rest? Garbage bin.
How do you explain the success of the mini nes? Snes mini? Neogeo? ... ..
The possibility to play a game quickly, for fun, in adequacy with society and the world of work.

 

[Futurdreamz]

I think that when I was a kid games were just fun that even 8 year old me could figure out even if I sucked at the game, and I didn't know any better if the game is shitty or not. Nowadays games can be quite a hassle, especially when the excitement of getting the game is tempered by the hassle of actually installing and updating the game and dealing with severe bugs. Plus I can compare every game otu to one that came before it and quite often my rose-tinted memory would fine it wanting.

I still like to collect them though

 

[XDel]

Long time ago, yes.

 

[WildDog]

I think that when I was a kid games were just fun that even 8 year old me could figure out even if I sucked at the game, and I didn't know any better if the game is shitty or not. Nowadays games can be quite a hassle, especially when the excitement of getting the game is tempered by the hassle of actually installing and updating the game and dealing with severe bugs. Plus I can compare every game otu to one that came before it and quite often my rose-tinted memory would fine it wanting.

I still like to collect them though

I guess you are talking only about consoles?? Because with PC it was never the case, you always had to install things to config. In fact it was more annoying to config a PC game in the early 90s than is today. Don't forget about the IRQ, DMA and the ports, type of monitor, etc

Companies messed up consoles with two things
A)Paid Multiplayer
B)Making their consoles capped PCs that needs firmware updates and games updates.

 

[Song of storms]

What do you mean faith??? Look Single Player is something of the past (i grew playing old dos games and nes..).
Now it is in the multiplayer, with multiplayer everyone wins....
Multiplayer for most of the part is competition
Competition is addictive for most people, which means that more people will keep playing.
That means that:

-The developer, can make dlc, sequels, premium skins, etc
-The Publisher, get money from those dlcs or sequels
-Companies like Razer, Logitech, etc can make newer hardware for competition, like keyboard, mouse, controllers, etc
-Companies like Intel, AMD, Nvidia, Arm can make more money making new hardware for gaming computers and consoles

If you really think that single player games are something of the past then you aren't really paying attention. Or maybe you're just paying attention to the most popular ads.

 

[WildDog]

If you really think that single player games are something of the past then you aren't really paying attention. Or maybe you're just paying attention to the most popular ads.

Single player is a thing of the past, companies now focus more on multiplayer, because the money is in the multiplayer.
Surely single player games are not going to fade away, but this is not like the 90s and early 00s where the main dish was the single player and the desert was the multiplayer. Now it's the other way around.

Sure there are some greats Single players, but they are just a few titles.

 

[ZachSZ]

A while back I thought I had completely lost interest in games, but it turned out that having played a ton of games in my lifetime that my taste got very picky and I bore easily of subpar games. So when a really good game comes out like BOTW or RDR2, I find myself thoroughly enjoying myself. But if I sit down and try to play a subpar quality game then I lose all interest and just go do something else.