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Gaming was like breathing. It was the biggest part of my life as a teenager, one of my priorities as a college student, and eventually one of my most expensive “hobbies” as a young professional.
Then all of a sudden, after thousands of hours spent playing across genres and platforms, boredom hit me hard for the very first time in my early thirties. Some of my favorite games soon gave me the impression of being terribly long. I couldn’t help but notice all the repeating tropes and similarities in game design between franchises.
I figured it was just a matter of time before I found the right game to stimulate my interest again, but time continued to go by and nothing changed.
Is it that games have failed to innovate, or that real life is ultimately more engaging?
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday January 07 2019, @08:30PM (2 children)
I still amuse myself with games, but one thing I learned over the decades is that there's also a TVM concept to investing in a particular game.
Back in the day I'd happily shell out $40-$50 for a game... I'd get enjoyment out of it for X period of time which seemed to range anywhere from 3 months to 1 year. Then I'd get bored with it, having done everything that I could do in it. Maybe I'd be interested in a couple at the same time. And I was interested in roleplaying and wargaming back then. Probably around $500 per year, maybe $750 tops. That was an appreciable fraction of my income. But I must have dropped at least $6000 over about ten years of both computer, board, and roleplay gaming.
As I aged, though, I found passions that I could get longer enjoyment from. I've probably not spent more than $1500 in the last ten years spread over about three different things - any purchase I make is going to have the question "how long do I think I'll enjoy this?" I'm more discriminating than looking for the hot-flash-in-the-pan that I'll be bored with in six months (or be required by the developer to pay another $X for the latest installment in the series, whatever). I've downloaded Fortnite on my iPhone. Once upon a time I'd have been totally into it. Now, meh. I might spend $10-$20 per year on iPhone games, but they're typicaly of the Gin Rummy / Chess variants. Then again, I do download a lot of free games.... so maybe it's just console/PC gaming that's gone by the wayside except for a couple of titles I've been playing for years and expect to continue to do so.
The other thing to consider is that as people age they do indeed discriminate about what in the world they want to connect with. Part of the dying process (for those actively engaged with a dying process as opposed to a sudden acute accident) is disconnection from all the things that has occupied one throughout life. While there are exceptions they are rare. Someday every person may well find themselves disconnecting from their passions. I'm grateful that I'm not there yet, though.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 5, Touché) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 07 2019, @09:21PM
I can break that for you in one move: buy a boat. Hours of entertainment, a lifetime of work and expense.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Bobs on Tuesday January 08 2019, @03:55AM
I’ve found Sturgeon’s law to hold true for video games: “90% of everything is crap.”
So I usually wait at least a year or two before trying any games. If people still think it is excellent, after the the new and shiny phase wears off, it might be worth spending time on. Also usually cost at least 50% less.