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That time in your life when all your friends suddenly don't care about gaming anymore

N

Notor!ousG

Member
Hi GAF

So I'm a 29 years old guy, living in Belgium, Europe.
I've been gaming since I was 3. In every stage of my life, I always had people (whether it's my brother, schoolbuddies, friends, colleagues, ...) who I can chat with about my favorite hobby. Even play together occasionaly.

But now I've come to a point where everyone bailed out, some time ago or very recently. My brother doesn't care about games years ago, friends and colleagues got married, had kids, don't have the time or interest in it anymore.

I feel sad and alone.... I'm very lucky to have you guys.
Anyone else been in this situation? How do you deal with it?
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
Use the internet like you are now. It's not a big deal and they're just games, be careful not to let them define you. That's a road you don't want to go down.
 
O

oni-link

Member
Yeah but that's life, most of my friends don't play much anymore

I'm lucky in that my friends still want to play 4 player Gamecube games, they just don't play new games or have newer systems

That's what is great about GAF

I'm 28 and it's hard to fit gaming into life when you have work, a girlfriend, bills, chores etc
 
V

Vital Tundra

Member
Ehh I play and talk about games with my younger brother and his friends. Don't care to much for talking to my old friends. Plus I have Gaf.
 
S

Storm360

Member
Find other interests in common with them?

Idk, maybe it's just me but most of my IRL friends don't even know I play games
 
I

IronicSonic

Member
KPxwDJD.jpg
 
O

Omnistalgic

Member
SJRB said:
You're never lonely when it comes to videogames with GAF around, my friend.
Click to expand...
I agree but it's nothing like RL friends that can come over and sit down on the couch with you.

None of my current friends are gamers anymore but I did get one to pick up a PS4 and he's living TLOU and UC4. Still he's in Delaware and I'm in NJ so...

Yeah I miss high school when everyone gamed.
 
A

Akiller

Member
I remember when i was like 14-15 and my friends started not caring about Pokemon anymore because they felt they were childish games. Those people are probably playing Pokemon GO right now.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
Akiller said:
I remember when i was like 14-15 and my friends started not caring about Pokemon anymore because they felt they were childish games. Those people are probably playing Pokemon GO right now.
Click to expand...
Sweet revenge, right?
 
D

Devilgunman

Member
It happened to me years ago. My friends and family stopped playing games after they graduated from collage. Didn't matter much though since I mostly play games alone.
 
Y

Ydelnae

Member
I don't speak about games with the only friend I know that is an active player. We sometime comment on certain announcements like a new Pokemon game or the new FFXV trailer but otherwise we don't bring up gaming in our conversations.

One of my best friends, though, has never been interested in gaming outside of playing the occasional Kingdom Hearts game or those Slenderman maps on PC. But she keeps commenting on how much Konami has ruined Metal Gear with the last announcement, how S-E is shit for selling FFXV's ending as DLC and how ugly the new Pokemon are. Just those things she learns in social media but that she don't really know about.
 
L

low-G

Member
I've had about 2 lulls in my life where I didn't care about games at all for about a year. At this point I know I'll care forever.

I know a LOT of people who mostly dropped off gaming. While real life affects everyone, these people seem to just get more interested in other things, sports, TV shows, online chatting...
 
D

Dee Dee

Member
Notor!ousG said:
I have plenty of other stuff in my life. But gaming still is a big deal for me.
Click to expand...

29 isn't the end times, dude. You'll meet new people. Or you'll find ways to convert people you already know into aspects of your hobby.

Even my mum, who is actively disapproving of my hobby came around and asked me for mobile game tips when she got a new phone. Next time I visited she was proudly showing off her progress in Monument Valley.
 
R

Rei_Toei

Fclvat sbe Pnanqn, ru?
Well, it's thinning out a bit for sure, but there's still a good amount of bros that keep their PCs updated and buy into the new generation of consoles. Same guys I used to shoot the shit with on 360 are now mainly on PS4. With friend lists, some dedicated Skype/Whatsapp groups it's actually never been easier to coordinate some time together. And most of them are still also bigtime into couch co-op, so that's still a steady element of getting together and play the good old stuff from previous gens or cool new stuff such as Alienation and Tricky Towers.
 
D

dragonyeuw

Member
My two closest friends (also gaming buddies) pretty much gave up any serious gaming in the last 3 years, when the 8th gen kicked in. One got an xbox one but uses it basically for media playback, the other built a gaming rig( doesn't want either a XB1 or ps4) but life has gotten in his way so he hardly plays his PC. All of us stopped paying for console online 2 years ago.
 
woopWOOP

woopWOOP

Member
Same happened to my old get-together multiplayer group, only one of them still plays games occasionally like I do. One on one is still fun, tho I do kind of miss the crazy FFA games we had going on. There's plenty of games where playing with randoms is just as fun tho so I'm good.
 
Fermbiz

Fermbiz

Gold Member
This happened to my in my late teenage years. I'm 34 now and I most definitely don't care about. Thankfully theres the internet and I eventually met some new friends who share the same hobby.
 
A

Aggie CMD

Member
Growing up sucks.

On the bright side, you do have the opportunity to spawn your own little gaming clan. Your results may vary and years of careful cultivation may be required. By default, they are predisposed to be griefers.
 
K

KJRS_1993

Member
I must spend around ten times more time browsing and consuming other computer game related media than I do actually playing the games.

Time is always tight!
 
StereoVsn

StereoVsn

Member
Eh, it's how it usually turns out. Out of my circle of friends pretty much nobody plays games anymore. Everyone is married and most folks have kids (so so I). People have different hobbies which is not a big deal.
 
T

Tyraniboah

Member
Probably going to game all the way through my old age. I used to have a lot of people to talk to but many moved away or lost touch. I'm 26, married, one kid with another on the way, junior in college, full time job, and a fairly solid social life so gaming is generally on the back burner for me anyway. I find time when everyone is asleep since I rarely play when my wife and son are home and awake. Sadly this makes it difficult to play with the few friends I have on Xbox live as well. Either way I still enjoy the hobby more than most other forms of entertainment so having few people to talk about it with doesn't bother me much.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
Probably mid to late 20s as well for me. I'm 37 now and still game and have a couple of close friends who still game and that I play with sometimes. But definitely very different than college and before where tons of my friends were gaming. Especially college with all the nights of Goldeneye, Mario Kart 64, Tekken 3 etc. Grad school and on there were way fewer people gaming, and many friends I stayed in touch with quit after they got careers, had kids etc.
 
F

FallenGrace

Member
Kind of happened to me in real life but before joining GAF I was a regular on Gamespot and made a couple of friends there, we always play the co-op games like Borderlands, Destiny, Division together and chat a lot about everthing outside of gaming, known each other over 10 years now. I even met one of them who came and stayed with me for a week this year as we live in the same country.

I'm finding GAF too large a community to form any real lasting bonds here but there are many people in the same situation. You just need to connect with them :)
 
DJ Incompetent

DJ Incompetent

Member
~ Build an arcade machine and paint it to tastefully match the decor of your family room or game room. Have some accessible games ready. It becomes a conversation piece and the occasional impromptu scorechase amongst guests.

~ Use your knowledge to start a streaming or youtube channel. Being an enjoyable personality to listen to is all you need to get the channel off the ground.
 
E

EhoaVash

Member
Had lots of friends in my neighborhood who I grew up with, super into Pokemon. Hell they got me into it in the first place lol. Then they just stopped around 2003 I think, no one was collecting the cards, Playing the games or talking about it anymore by that time. I still collected the tcg myself but it felt pretty empty with no one to trade cards or talk about it anymore outside some of my classmates. It Bummed me out for a while. When I would see these friends, i didn't bother mentioning Pokemon again lol cause I was afraid theyll say youre still playing with Pokemon etc.

I haven't seen these friends in a long time. I wonder if Pokemon go got them interested in again lol
 
Z

Zareka

Member
I feel you OP. I'm only 20 but my friends have , for the most part, grown out of the hobby. We still talk about fringe stuff like Call of Duty and Halo on rare occasion but that's about it. (Not that I dislike them or anything, I love a few rounds of CoD or Halo, but I'm much more of a JRPG guy)

Playing MMOs has helped me, specifically FFXIV. It doesn't replace irl contact but having an entire guild of people to chat about stuff with, even if it is just online, did wonders. Heck I'm less laser focused on stuff like games when I do talk to my irl friends now because of it, so I'm actually reconnecting with them more by talking about other things.

That said I do hope I meet more people eventually with similar hobbies and interests. Here's hoping you do too!
 
N

NamelessMonk

Member
Holy, I'm just like your friends. Except I'm 18.

I think the problem comes with when you have other interests and other obligations. Gaming was fun when I was a dumb high school kid with no real responsibilities, but now I'm just into so much more now (University, Trying to find Love, Writing, Reading, Music) and gaming seems boring and more toxic than it needs to be. It's like, with all of my other hobbies I actually get something tangible out of it. With gaming I just get a high score.

Not to mention that gaming is expensive as hell now (79.99 for a new game now in Canada), most of the new games are just boring (I think the newest game I've bought at full price was Dragon Age Inquisition. I LOVED that game, but there's nothing like it anymore) and that there's no one for me to play with really. I think it's a normal part of life, OP. Also, imo gaming has become really "self important" nowadays with all the controversies that people kill each other over on the internet. And for me especially, it's hard to love something that tells you that you're not wanted.
 
Nocturno999

Nocturno999

Member
A lot of my friends became like Metal Jesus. Collect crap tons of games but rarely play anything or talk about them. Fortunately I met more that are into fighting games like me.
 
K

Kill3r7

Member
In high school is when a bunch of my friends stopped caring, myself included. Personally I picked it back up in college. However most of my friends were done with it after college or graduate school. Once you are working/career and have a family time becomes very precious.
 
S

Some Nobody

Junior Member
Gaming is the singular interest all of my friends have, aside from obvious ultra-mainstream stuff like going to the movies.

I find more identification with the idea of having no friends who care about comics, my true primary hobby. I read 25-40 comics a week and my friends watch the films and Variant Comics' videos every now and again. It's not the same, lol. But I mean, I'm used to not sharing hobbies after over a decade of it so I barely think about it.
 
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