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Why can't I ever just enjoy myself and play a video game?

I've been thinking about this same topic too and there are many reasons

  • There are a TON of games that get released of high quality that you can never play all of them and you are overwhelmed (too many games)
  • As an adult, you have enough disposable income to continuously buy games, therefore none of them feel "special"
  • As an adult, it is hard to sit down and "give away" your time to video games when there are more pressing issues in your life that need attention
  • (this one might just be me personally) But the length of "tutorial" sections in games absolutely kills me. I'll play a game and it takes me 1-2 hours before I actually have a sense of what the game is going to be
 
Stop buying games until you're ready to play them, OP. Don't worry about missing a sale because the, albeit less, money is being wasted if you don't play the the game(s).

Also, setting goals helps. NCAA 12 comes out next week and I just finished 2 backlog games (Fable 2 and GTA4: Eps from LC) to trade in. I'm very happy to have cleared out those games. Now I can play NCAA 12 without the nagging thought of my backlog getting bigger.

I plan to play NCAA 12 for a good month before clearing out another backlog game to make room for Gears3. And then do it again for Uncharted 3
 
Adam Prime said:
whew first world problems?
Click to expand...

I hope this meme dies quickly


The biggest hurdle for me starting a game is the fact that I know it will require a couple of hours to get what I want out of it. The problem is that most developers think that people need 10+ hours out of their games. So, they end up putting so much filler in their game to pad that number.

As others have said, you should try mobile gaming. You can play for 5 minutes or 2 hours and avoid all the extra fluff.
 
Here's something I learned from, of all places, that Monkees movie "Head"....

"Where there is choice, there is misery"

Sounds counter-intuitive at first, but in certain areas it makes perfect sense. This is one of them.

Remove Choice. Buy 1 game. Play one game at a time. Either finish that game or decide that you don't like that game and buy your next game. This removes the decision making process and the second-guessing from the mix and you simply accept and enjoy the game.

I'm serious, try it.
 
Procrastination can only be solved by doing something. I know that sounds like a stupid truism, but basically, just play some videogames even if the first few hours isn't clicking. If I couldn't slog through the first 50 pages of a book, I'd never read shit.
 
Yeah I've experienced this, often I just end up watching someone else play something on a streaming site like Justin.tv lol. I think it is mainly do to just being tired and wanting to 'zone out'. I also have quite the backlog and so it just gets intimidating on what to start.
 
I think that a lot of replies here miss the point of what the original poster is actually feeling. It's not that he's playing too many games and needs a break. It's not that there a problem with having so much choice. The problem is that he's not playing games, but actually wants to. Something is keeping him from doing something he really enjoys.

It doesn't necessarily have anything to do with video games, it's simply that video games is what he wants to do. It could just as easily be any other hobby.

It happens to me like this. Get a new game. Be really excited about it. Put it off as anxiety sets in. Really want to play. Mindlessly browse the Internet instead. Fret over money. Fret over school. Fret over the poor state of the economy. Fear going to sleep because you don't want to face the next day.

Game never gets played.

While the original poster must decide for himself the proper course of action, I don't think it's out of line to suggest looking into professional help.
 
Im putting off finishing Castlvania Lord of shadows, Infamous and Fallout New Vegas RIGHT NOW! :S

Thankfully I can control my game buying urges and LoS is the only one ive bought at £8 in the last errr 3 months I think.
 
Like many others here, that happens to me all the time with both games and anime.

I just assumed it was a result of having too much choice and not being able to focus on one series/game at a time. The best solution is to do something else most of the time and leave games as a break from reality, not the other way around. This only ever happens to me during the summer when all I do is work 20-25 hours a week, occasionally hang out with friends, and go on my computer. During the school year all is well and I can't seem to find enough time to play games.

You're never going to enjoy something if you feel like you're forcing yourself through it.
 
I am in the EXACT situation as the OP.

I am addicted to talk about games and buy games, but never actually interested into playing them. I think it has to do with short-attention span. I just can't make myself go through a single game.

What I am doing now is to help is to shift my addiction to iOS games. They are cheap and short. I still buy a lot of games, but they are cheap and disposable, and they are easier for me to actually boot it up to check it out than those console games.
 
I think its more getting old, having a lot of choice but no real push, I don't think its necessarily rising standards. I'm 37 myself and I've bounced from game to game over the past few months. I'm right on the threshold of beating Radiant Historia, LOH:TITS, I've put in significant time on LA Noire and Divinity II and recently I've picked up Fallout:NV which I hadn't placed since December and now I've got about 60hrs. I still have the last few story missions of RDR to do before its done, and that was from last year. I've decided I will get F:NV finished before anything else, and then I need to take down the two portable RPGS.

My advice (that I intend to follow) is pick a game and go into it full force. Don't just play for 30 minutes to see if you like it, keep at it. A lot of today's games take a bit before you really get into them and comfortable, there are so many other easy distractions and its easy to want to play something else if you're not feeling it 100% If you've given it a full effort and you still are drifting to something else, it may be time to part ways with that game. My next task after F:NV (and TITS, RH) is Resonance of Fate. I usually love Tri-Ace games, bad characters and all but I haven't given this one the time of day despite buying it day 1. We'll see what happens.
 
Same thing happened to me before

I think the problem is you don't actually want to play games at that moment, you're simply bored and looking for something to do. Honestly, I don't want to assume too much, but you're probably depressed on some level. If I were you I would go to bed, stop trying to force yourself to play games, you really don't want to anyways. Whatever you really want to do you can't because it's too late at night. Lay down, go to sleep, and wake up that many hours earlier. Try accomplishing what you actually wanted to do the night before at some point during the day or at least take steps toward accomplishing that goal in the future.

If you're not up at 4 in the morning because of your work schedule you're up at 4 in the morning because you're not active enough during the day to make yourself tired at night. Don't get me wrong, there are many nights when I'm up that late these days but it's always because I'm doing something I want to do (and yes, that includes playing games a lot of times) but not just sitting there bored out of my mind.
 
Shut off the internet, throw away you computer and I guarantee you that you'll play and enjoy games.

People (especially here on GAF) tend to declare videogames to be a waste of time (for whatever reason - after all this is a gaming forum). I say its reading and writing here that is the biggest waste of time. Just think about the time you lost writing the OP and reading the responses. Who the fuck cares?

That said, I'm off. My 5 minutes check is over.
 
Happens all the time for me. Usually I will just try a few from my backlog and eventually something sticks.

Lately I revisited Spiderman Shattered Dimensions, a game I started last year and shelved about halfway through. Revisited after having this similar problem last week and ended up loving the experience enough to actually snag all 1000 achievements.

Just a matter of actually putting a game in the system and spending a few minutes and seeing if it keep your attention. Before landing on Spiderman, I went through about 4 games that I wasn't feeling at the moment.
 
maybe because alot of games this gen look like clones of each other, especially the FPS its ridiculous..IDK but out of all the generations of consoles this seems the lamest.There are great games but it just seems like graphics has taken a toll.
 
Happens to me too. Just pick one and go for it. If you don't really want to pick it up a second time, sell it and move on.
 
Buy just cause 2, blow shit up for 30 minutes or longer if you want to. Repeat the next day and son on. Have fun.
 
I like how no one comments on the fact that instead of playing games, he's sitting at his computer until dawn watching videos, as if that's some sort of healthy, normal thing to do.

Do you have a job? A social life? Interests other than gaming?

It sounds like his problem is clinical depression.
 
I have 3 or 4 hobbies that I sort of cycle through when I get a little tired of one, and of course gardening which I do all the time.

A few months ago I was playing a lot of video games, but it kind of fell aside as I started reading a ton of horror novels. I am getting a little tired of them lately, I might get back to work on that quilting project I started last year.
 
Ellis Kim said:
Stop buying games all the time--they'll be there for you to buy later down the line. Just make a note of it, like an Amazon wishlist, to remind yourself later.
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Saves me a lot of money doing it.

TwiztidElf said:
OP, Get Bayonetta. The best game of this generation.
Click to expand...

Bayonetta was horrible
 
I have this same exact problem. For me, my gaming tastes go along with my mood. So I'm not ALWAYS in the mood to same game.

Honestly, I've found myself playing more iOS games lately.
 
Yuripaw said:
I don't know if this is just something I suffer with, or if other people have similar problems but it's something I wanted to discuss because it's troubling me right now. In fact you could say instead of making this thread, I should be deciding on a game to play.

I sit here in my room night after night sometimes thinking I'm gonna play a game tonight. Instead of going ahead with one, I end up just sitting here until the sun comes up wasting time watching videos on my computer, or debating with myself what game I should play. Which is an argument I never seem to win! I don't know if it's a lack of interest in gaming on my part, or maybe I have some kind of ADD.

I'll buy games a lot and instead of ever playing one, I look at my collection, or steam list of games and think "what should I play?". Occasionally, I will boot up a game finally, but I'll lose interest rather quickly. I don't know if it's me becoming less interested in games, but I don't think that's entirely the case. There will be some games where I'm completely engrossed, and I'll love the experience I had with it. Games like Persona 4, Deadly Premonition, any MGS game, Mass Effect, Fallout 3...these are some of the games that once I started playing them, I had such a hard time putting them down. So in my heart, I do still feel like I'm a gamer. I don't think my unwillingness to play a game is because I'm losing interest in the hobby.

There have also been some games I've started recently and haven't finish, like Hunted the demon's forge, Bionic Commando, Assassin's Creed Brotherhood. All of these games I was really enjoying actually and I want to finish them, but I just can't bring myself to do it. I don't know why! It is true that lately I am preoccupied with some personal problems, but it's not like I can do much about them here at 3 in the morning. I wish I could just relax and enjoy a game, but too often it never happens.

Has anyone else had a similar problem with games?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're to lazy to put the effort it takes to actually play a game.
 
Try only buying games you know you want to play and beat.

I bought Ocarina of Time 3d, and then I finished Ocarina of time 3d. try that.
 
MikeE21286 said:
I've been thinking about this same topic too and there are many reasons

  • There are a TON of games that get released of high quality that you can never play all of them and you are overwhelmed (too many games)
  • As an adult, you have enough disposable income to continuously buy games, therefore none of them feel "special"
  • As an adult, it is hard to sit down and "give away" your time to video games when there are more pressing issues in your life that need attention
  • (this one might just be me personally) But the length of "tutorial" sections in games absolutely kills me. I'll play a game and it takes me 1-2 hours before I actually have a sense of what the game is going to be
Click to expand...
I agree with pretty much every one of your points. Competing entertainment sources, like browsing the internet or watching something on Netflix, is also something that hems me up. Sometimes it's just easier to do something more passive like that.
 
Yeah, you got burned out. Maybe go do something else and not play for awhile. You'll get the urge again eventually.

That's what I do when I get tired of my porn
 
1. Try to do other things for a change. Find something else to engross yourself in.

2. Get out of your comfort zone in games. Try other genres or find games that are creative and innovative.

Variation is the spice of life.
 
I think gaming fatigue is something everyone feels once in a while. I know that I am guilty of spending more time browsing the interwebz and wasting time doing absolutely nothing when I could be tackling a game in my backlog. Thing is, I only buy games I have interest in, but I just have a hard time deciding what to play next. Once I actually choose something though, I end up enjoying it and I question why it took me so long to start this to begin with.

Nowdays, it seems we come across more "been there, done that" games, which can put a damper on our enjoyment or excitement to start the game.
 
I have a similar problem, for the longest time after I got tired of World of Warcraft I couldn't bring myself to play any game so I'd sit down surfing gaf every day, doing nothing else.

Slowly but surely, I started to get back with old classic games. and I never regretted it but now I'm back into the thing where I can't bring myself to play anything at the moment. Nor do I want to go back to newer games.
 
You buy too many games. Buy one at a time, and don't buy anything else until you're done with that one.

There are too many games to play, it's a fact of life. One at a time, and you will have no problem.
 
This may sound weird and slightly mechanical and dispassionate, but I find keeping a list of your backlogs (for games, books, movies, albums, etc) in a text file can be useful. When I'm in a rut and not sure what game I want to start, I open up my gaming list and just dart my eyes around... first thing I see, I just fucking play. It takes the difficult decision making away from me, making decisions is sooo haaard. If I don't feel like I'm in the mood to play the game I "picked", I go ahead anyway... I always GET in the mood once I get off my ass and go with it.
 
Happens to me all the time.

I go "i'm going to play this game" and a few hours go by where I do nothing of the sort, until I finally (at 10pm) decide to start playing and realize at 1am that I really need to go to bed.

Of course I'm too wound up playing at that point :\
 
I have the same problem. Pretty much whenever I have free time, I become very indecisive. I'll often think about which game I should be playing for a few hours. Realize how much time I've wasted and then repeat the process at a later date.

I think willpower definitely factors into it.
 
I'm still procrastinating Shadows of the Damned. I'm in 5-1. I can't get myself to play more.

On the other hand, I played Ocarina of Time on 3DS and couldn't stop until I finished it. (this has nothing to do with the familiarity with the game. I haven't played the game in 13 years, and forgot pretty much everything about it)

I find certain games I enjoy once I start playing, but have to motivate myself to do so. Other games I'm so excited to play, I don't need to drum up motivation.

It's game by game for me.
 
Yeah, I go through the same thing. I guess all of us do at one point or another.

I don't understand it either.

1. There are some games I get hooked on and I can't put them down. It doesn't matter if I'm stressed from work or everyday life. These games actually help me cope and relieve stress. It's so weird. I don't know what it is about them, but whether it's my current mood at the time or something I relate to within the game, these titles just hook me. Mass Effect 2 and the Ace Attorney games come to mind.

2. Then there are those games where I really enjoy, but I don't want to finish them right away. So I procrastinate and come back to them later. Eventually, I do come back to them and pick up where I left off. I think it's because I like them too much which is why I don't want to beat them too quickly. Donkey Kong Country Returns is an example. I'm still going through it and loving every second of it.

3. Then there are those games where I still really like, but I never have the desire to finish them for some reason. These are titles that I'm still willing to keep around and like having them as apart of my library. Whether they're a chore to play through or I just lose interest, I just don't get hooked on them. The irony is that games are supposed to help relieve stress, but it could be because of stress that's preventing me from wanting to play through these games. Weird. Yet I still like them. Final Fantasy XIII, Red Dead Redemption, Fallout 3, Tales of Vesperia, and Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2 are some games that I really like, but I just don't have the desire to finish them.

4. Then finally there are those games that I just can't get into. I buy them, wanted them, but end up losing interest, mostly after the long tutorial or first couple of chapters. These are the games that I usually end up selling. I can name a crapload of titles that go here.
 
IcyBlueStrawberry said:
Like many others here, that happens to me all the time with both games and anime.

I just assumed it was a result of having too much choice and not being able to focus on one series/game at a time. The best solution is to do something else most of the time and leave games as a break from reality, not the other way around. This only ever happens to me during the summer when all I do is work 20-25 hours a week, occasionally hang out with friends, and go on my computer. During the school year all is well and I can't seem to find enough time to play games.

You're never going to enjoy something if you feel like you're forcing yourself through it.
Click to expand...

my solution is to force myself to pick one game to play and just start playing. I know I will have a lot of fun playing it, just need that extra will to actually start the game, after that, usually I got engrossed into it and have hard time putting it down.
 
Avoid getting cheap games only cause you can. See each game as an time investment everytime you are about to buy a game.

"I can buy this game, it's cheap... but do I really wanna play it?"

Things like this will help you concentrate one games that you really like it, not games that you got it cheap. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Play one game at the time. Sometimes I used to buy 2 or 3 titles. Then played bits of them at the same time and ended not playing them again because it's been to long since the last time I played them and I dont even remember the history or the controls.

You can always do like I do, have always 2 games. One is your game with history that you play relaxed, with time, etc. The other one is a multiplayer which you play some quick matches and just go for the quick satisfaction of playing in short bursts.

Some people have Backlog lists for games that need to play/finish it, I have a list of games I finish montly. Makes me feel better when I write another finished title on my list instead of having a list with a large ammount of yet to play games.

I hope you find some of this things helpfull, it worked for me when I was on the same boat as you. ;)
 
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