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Games made to make money instead of games made to have fun. Almost every big budget game of the last two decades has been at BEST a lazy sequel now with more microtransactions.
Indie games are still fun, but big budget gaming is a corporate hellscape equivalent of walking in to Walmart when all you want is a grocery store that sells actually edible food.
I still game but I feel this. I haven't bought a AAA game in a long time. It's all fewer and fewer features and details wrapped in shiny graphics using copypasta code from 20 years ago. All the big studios got bought by entities whose only concern is driving up share value, run by people who don't even play games. Capitalism ruins everything.
To add to this, indie games can be a nightmare if you don't have great hardware.
I had a low end graphics card in my PC for a few years because I rarely gamed. I looked at some indie games to see if I wanted to get back in to gaming with a low priced game first, so that it didn't matter too much if I didn't like it. There were loads of games that had late 90s style graphics, that looked like the platformers I used to play, but they needed quite high end specs to run, especially the graphics.
That put me off looking at indie games for quite a while. Something that looks worse than my SNES asking for at least a 1080 seemed wrong.
Yea, some are definitely made by amateurs, but there are many that don't need crazy hardware, too.
The reason the big budget games look good is because full time artists and full time optimization of assets is a whole-ass job many indie teams won't have the budget for. Creating art is one thing. Making it render efficiently is a whole other ball game.
Game engines are getting better at helping small teams, though. Unreal Engine has quite a large suite of tools just for cleaning up and generating lower detail models and baking in vertex/parallax mapping, adding culling planes to maps so it doesn't render the whole thing at once, etc. It is a HUGE task to take good looking assets and also make them render quickly. Especially if they avoid something with tons of provided tools like UE. Then they have to do all that optimization in other ways or just skip it.
In the SNES days, everything had to be optimized. Nowadays, you don't need to optimize anything because most people have hardware that's overkill for that era of gaming. Even the engines are probably geared towards hardware that the "average" Steam user has.
It seems that most modern games aren't made for people like me any more. I don't care for multiplayer, and will not be buying any DLC or microtransaction shit. I just want a self-contained, high-quality single-player experience. There's maybe a couple of games per year released that catch my interest now.
If you're into a little bit of horror and humor, check out 'You will die here tonight". It's a survival story indie game my buddy released last year.
For me it was simply family. I grew up and don’t have the time - but I regret nothing.
For you, if it doesn’t bring you joy then I agree you’re wasting your time. Maybe look into the underlying cause of that? I don’t think games are inherently a waste of time if they do bring joy- as then WTH is the point of life if not to enjoy it.
Wanted to fully experience life!
Grew up gaming. Stopped gaming for twenty years. Now I game again. I've had a great time. Climbed mountains. Traveled. All manner of relationships. Built a nice career. Now I find I can enjoy games without that, I'm wasting my life feeling.
All humans "waste" time. It's odd to say reading is better than games. Or movies are better than TV. They're all just mediums to convey stories. And really, there aren't many original stories, just the same ones told over and over in different ways.
At least with games, you are actively participating rather than passively consuming. And yes I do read lots of complicated books, and watch fine cinema, and great television.
But I also garden, birding, botany, camp, etc.
I'm tired all the time and there's almost always something else I should be doing. Plus, so many games feel like just more work instead of fun.
I was primarily a PC gamer. Life happened.
Time was already tight. I was working 2 jobs totaling ~80 hours a week. About the time I finally quit one, my computer let out the magic smoke. Rent went up, replaced my beater of a car, bought a house because rent was going up again, found out I was going to be a parent, house needed work, replaced my SO's car, fixed fire damage to the house, SO quit their job, found out I was gonna be a parent x2.
Things just got busy fast. That computer blew the magic smoke 6-7 years ago now. I've saved up the money to replace it several times, but something else more important always comes up. I'd still love to replace it and game again, but I've been out of it so long that I don't even really know what games are out anymore or what I'd like to play, and honestly I get more joy out of occasionally playing Smash Bros on the Switch with my first kiddo. The game is ok, but time with the kiddo is valuable.
Yep. Time and money. I've spent the last 10 years having not enough of either. Now I finally have the money, maybe in a few more years I'll have the time.
I used to play tons of games but over time they simply got worse. Trying everything to suck every last drop of money out of you, battle pass, daily quests, seasons, limited time exclusive content, FOMO. And of course games that waste your time and are far too long for the sake of being long. I have like 300 hours in destiny but never reached the "actually good" endgame content. It was because after sinking 40 hours in a month or so, I would give up for some time and my progress is reset because of the new season, etc.
That and every game feels so stale. Another mindless PVP shooter, another cod every year, another battlefield. It also doesn't help that now as an adult I have actual responsibilities and limited time. Plus as an adult you begin to actually value your life lol. I'm over the period of my life where I'd want to spend time gathering 1000 blocks of virtual sand.
This is why I almost exclusively play old games. OldSchool RuneScape, TF2, Gmod, Diablo 2... From Software's games are the only modern games I'll still play today, like Armored Core 6 and Elden Ring. I've put 600+ hours into speedrunning Dark Souls 1 rather than playing the garbage in the market these days.
Overwatch was the last modern game I got really into. Then the Overwatch """""2""""" update happened, and I dropped the game entirely when I realized competitive gameplay elements were now being monetized in a game I paid $60 for. That and removing the ability to get cosmetics without paying, and removing all other forms of progression. There's just no incentive to play anymore. Which is a shame, because when it came out it was the greatest class shooter out there.
Agree. Probably could have gotten my masters in the time I spent playing WoW.
I still love gaming but have trouble getting into a game. This is true for me for a lot of my hobbies like reading, for example, but games are a much bigger commitment.
For big titles generally the controls or plot are complicated enough that if I stop playing for a few weeks, returning requires starting over from the start.
For smaller or indie games I find that either they're either trying to milk whales, or they don't let their mechanics breathe.
Often times I just want to play a stupid simple match 3 style casual game, and they ramp up the difficulty too quickly by adding obnoxious obstacles or other things that feel designed around microtransactions even when they aren't.
The last two games I got into were the Harry Potter game a year ago and Dave the Diver. The latter was somewhat guilty of not letting its mechanics breathe but generally it was because of too many quirky cutscenes in between diving sections. I still was able to go pretty far in it before I ran out of time to play.
My significant other made me feel like it was for kids and I just got this overwhelming feeling of guilt any time my SO saw me playing them. My SO just doesn't understand video games because for my SO they are frustrating.
I rebounded in COVID and no longer give a fuck. I like em so imma do what I do.
No offense but your SO seems toxic
Sounds like they are bitter and fragile ego. I have a brother like that where he played and got frustrated. He tried playing a Few games but lost and then called them shit for the rest of his life he refer to people as wasting their life with them.
I think deep down they like them but can’t stand that they lost at something with a bit of challenge so they get bitter at those who do take it on.
Meanwhile I have plenty of relatives who just don’t care about playing games but they don’t have to get all ‘you’re wasting your life’ nor do they have an unhealthy hatred towards games. They just aren’t into them and have a ‘to each their own’ attitude which I think is a healthy approach to it.
So there’s a difference.
I decided to apply myself at work.
Like, fully invested during work hours, fully off when it's time to go home.
Suddenly, my drive to constantly fit a quick mobile game in here and there evaporated. Work became my game, efficiency, working safely, and skills improvement becoming my stats.
So workaholic ?
Idk. Work got easier for having my full attention during work hours, and home life got better for having my full attention there when I'm not working. Is that workaholic?
Nah i misunderstood i thought you started enjoying work and that eliminated the need for other entertainments
I get this hard. I’m a branch manager and you really get a kick out of outperforming your peers. Once those teeth sink into you, you start looking for ways to improve your team and to game the metrics. If you figure that out and you have a bonus structure you’re really addicted now. Helping your team succeed and developing them is even better. Every day is a game. I freaking love it.
Mild depression
Renovating a house.
Deadly combo. I still play a couple hours a week some weeks because it is how I keep in touch with my friend group since I am on another continent. Exclusively shitty multiplayer games like cs2 and Smite though because that is what we can play flexibly with 2-5 people. We haven't found any other option
I still play games, but I did definitely notice a change in the way I do play them.
When I was young, there was a magic to everything. Most of the things in life are pretty new to you when you're young. There's so much you don't understand, so much new stuff to explore. I didn't know that the guests in Rollercoaster Tycoon were just some simple algorithms, to me they seemed like people. People who'd enjoy all the crazy things I'd build. I didn't know that the AI in Age of Empires was just a collection of some rules, to me they felt human-like.
Over time, especially because I'm a programmer, the magic got lost. I started understanding how these things worked. And because of that it started feeling pointless. Just something I do to waste my time and nothing else. The guests felt nothing, the AoE AI are just some if statements.
However, somehow I also kinda outgrew that phase again. After dealing with what could be called a "quarter life crisis" I've kind of found a more creative and open minded side of myself. One that doesn't always try to resolve everything to cold hard facts. One that pretends that the guests in RCT have feelings, even if I damn well know that they don't. I've started finding plenty of new games that filled me with wonder again, whether they are large games like Cyberpunk or Jedi Survivor, or smaller games like Celeste, Hades, or Cassette Beasts. Coincidentally I also stopped playing live service and competitive games mostly. There's plenty of fun to be had beyond all the lootbox and battle pass grindfests.
Exactly how i felt playing COC like those troops aren't real they are just HP and DMG made graphically good . That kinda thinking ruined it for me
I used to be super excited about games growing up. But today they have lost their charm. It's pretty much the same games all the time with new graphics. Gets really old.
Just like with movies, you have 99% crap and a few good ones that are hard to find.
Kids, and other hobbies.
I still fire up AoE2, Civ5 or GTA5 once a year, but quickly get distracted with other things. Or yelled at for ignoring the kids.
For me, a lot of games just don't grab my attention. I'm not interested in playing online on a team, especially with strangers. I definitely don't want to wade through menus of crap that try to make me buy something.
I don't want to have to invest hours into a game before I get anywhere either. I tried Zelda :TOTK recently, and I watched what felt like half an hour's worth of cutscenes before I could do anything other than follow a predetermined path, and it just bored the crap out of me.
Everything seems to be sports, team multiplayer, or massively in depth stories now, with no room for quick, easy to play games that are not mobile games.
YouTube happened. If it wasn't for it I'd probably still play much more than I currently do.
However I've always had a weird relationship with games anyway. I'm not interested about the vast majority of them but when I find one I like then I really get into it. Examples being games like RuneScape, AOE2, Minecraft, DayZ and the GTA series especially San Andreas Multi Player at which along with RuneScape I probably have the most hours in. Nowdays I only play DayZ which is probably my favourite game of all time despite being over 10 years old but even that I generally only play for few hours a week and then sometimes I go months without touching it.
I was NEVER really a gamer, the only time I spend a large time in games was in college, that is was very little comparing to my friends. I have this one week phase where I would play the game quite religiously (only relatviely speaking) for a week (two to three hours maybe?) and then I would lose all interest in it. I think its because I dislike how much it eats my time? I would rather spend that time reading books.
Then came work, marriage and children (espeically the last two).
Get over-immersed too easily. So now I stick with boring, repetitive stuff with zero social element, with the aim of not finding it engaging enough to take me away from the rest of my life.
I played a lot of Runescape. I looked at my 4000 or so hours that I had put into it and decided that I can probably level up some real life skills instead.
Gaming started giving me anxiety. I stopped for a bit. Then whenever I try and come back, they’ve just gotten overwhelmingly complex.
Life hit hard. But I took up on gaming again during the lockdown. Now I get together with my boomer squad every other day. Laughs and giggles.
Chores, work, socializing and the cost of new games
I play old games because I built my compiter in 2013, so it's Stellaris, Minecraft, Doom (with randomizer WADs), Action Half-Life, and Quake
My brain has degraded. I read a lot alright, but movies, TV shows and games are harder and harder to enjoy. I still think games are the highest form of art and when I enjoy them, I enjoy them hard.
I bought a Wii U, and then nobody made games for it. I didn't feel like making a console switch.
Mainly not enough time, but also expensive games.
I use to have PlayStation and Wii, but once I started with with music collection cd and vinyl, I lost interest in games. Games cost $$, and if you want to buy more than one game, you have to pay $$$. I would pirate games, but I prefer to buy them so I can support the developers.
I lost interest when life became more interesting. I earn a decent living now, but the games I play are around tech and society. Feels less like I’m throwing my time away.
