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Can you "grow out of" games?
monkeycid
Member UncommonPosts: 1
Hi everyone,
I've been gaming since the age of 8 when I was given my sisters' Mega Drive 2 after she left home and since then I've been hooked. Having owned a PC since the age of 12 and a PS, PS2 and PS3. I've since hit a break wall. I find myself wasting money on games and then quitting within a month either through boredom or frustration. I bought the founder package of ArcheAge and I haven't played it for a while. I didn't even take part in the head start which was the main reason for buying it in the first place. It's not just AA either. I've played many games in the past year and none of them have kept me interested for any period of time.
I just wonder if it is just me or if other players are experiencing the same thing. I just haven't been able to find a game I can stick with. Am I getting too old for games now or played too much and burned out? The sad thing is, I've not too long ago ordered a new laptop for gaming and don't have any games to play on it nor currently waiting for any games to come out either.
I just hope something comes along that gets me playing again.
Comments
I think it is completely possible to grow out of games. There was a time in my early adult life (I had as much responsibilities then as I do now), where I spent all of my free time playing video games. Now that I've gotten older it takes a truly fantastic title or something simple and fun to get me playing.
The truth is that video games are just fake, they are flashing lights and colors on a T.V. screen. I want to do things in the real world, I didn't spend X number of years growing up so that I could spend my life sitting on my couch without taking in the outside world or without really interacting with it.
At the end of the day nothing that you do in a video game matters, but I guess that's true for most of life. However, I find that i'd rather partake in things that take shape in the real world rather than care about something that seems relatively meaningless compared to...say... building a garden, helping out the less fortunate, or swimming in the ocean.
I guess part of it is that I played video games to escape, but now I don't want to escape anymore. I don't want to pretend to do things I can do in real life when I can just do them in real life. SURE, I can't fight aliens or race against bowser and mario, but I can go skydiving and race real go-karts. I can do martial arts and play paintball.
To me the "fakeness" of video gaming has really set in and I'm just not super interested in things that aren't happening in the real world and if they are happening in the real world then I would rather be doing them than pretending to do them.
I don't know if that's "growing out" of video games.... but as I've grown in life, this is where life has taken me. I have many friends who are going through the same thing and tend to agree. But that's just our opinion on the subject.
I played a lot of board games (mostly hex-based war games from Avalon Hill) and D&D when I was a kid way back in the 80s when the only alternatives were console games and crappy ones at that. Then once I graduated high school I joined the military, went to college, did a lot of foreign travel - basically got busy and thought I had outgrown games. But then in my late 20s (around 2000) when life slowed down a bit I started playing PC games and by that time the AI and graphics and multi-player had improved so much they just sucked me back in.
Anyway, the point is if you are like most people you will go through different phases of your life. There will be times when games don't seem important, other times you are too busy to play, and times when something new will come along and it will just blow you away. I wouldn't put too much thought into it but if you aren't enjoying yourself please go do something else - read a new book, binge watch a TV series, make some new friends, find a new hobby. Change is good and life's too short to do the same thing over and over again if it's not making you happy.
I know exactly what OP means. I calculated my Steam account yesterday and it was valued at $500+, with 43 games. I've only beaten maybe 2 or 3 of those games. But I don't think this is "growing out" of games, I think its because we have a lot more choices these days, and we want to try everything and finish nothing.
When I was 12, I didn't have 43 games, and a huge Steam catalogue of more games to download. I had maybe 10 Playstation games, and I only got new games for my birthday or christmas, or trading a game with a friend. I had to play what I had, hence why I finished those games multiple times.
So no, you're not "Growing out" of games, you're just an adult in the "throwaway title" generation, where there's literally so many titles to choose from we simply can't finish one before moving onto the next.
I know what the OP means, and I disagree that variety is the primary cause of this.
In fact I would say that lack of variety is the primary cause of game hopping, like you described, but it isn't the same thing as growing out of games, I own a lot of games and do the same thing as the OP but its because in certain ways i've outgrown them, not because I have so much to choose from. The only innovation we've gotten over the last 20-25 years is essentially online/massive multiplayer and prettier versions of the same games we've been playing since the 80's/early 90's. People are bored, that's why titles get dropped early, which isn't the same thing as outgrowing games.
Well said. These days I game mostly just to hang with people I can't meet in person, whether due to schedules or distance etc. Fire up TS and chat while running around blasting things.
Yeah I know what you mean, but personally for me, its definitely too much variety. But me =/= everyone. I download a lot of games, both on PC and mobile, before I find one that actually captures my interest. I've got a bunch of games on my Android phone, but the one that I'm currently addicted to and can't put down is Pixel Dungeon, which is a very simple rogue-like dungeon crawler. And out of my 43 Steam games, the ones I've put the most hours into are Battlefield and Saints Row. OP might be "growing out" of games, but its more likely he hasn't found one that truly captures his attention.
Like I said, unless your parents bought you lots of new games, when you were a kid you were sorta stuck with what you had. I know I beat Metal Gear Solid atleast 5x just because of lack of anything better to play.
I think it is entirely possible to grow out of gaming. For me though, there are two types of gaming. I think this distinction is important to this topic.
Single Player/Non-MMORPGs
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I have been gaming since I was 4, and I started on the NES. In fact, I still have every game system I have ever owned (10+ consoles). I love playing old school games more-so than the new stuff. The 8/16 bit games were just way more of a challenge than what is being put out there on these newer consoles. It seems to be all about the graphics now, and gameplay comes at a distant second. I find myself pulling out the NES and SNES on a regular basis, because the games were that much better.
MMORPGs
------------
The problem I keep running into these days is comparing every future MMORPG to the ones I started with 10+ years ago. Every MMORPG feels nearly the same now, and it is hard to get excited about a new title coming out when you know that it will never give you that feeling you had back so long ago. It is all about the nostalgia for me. I have tried just about every MMORPG that has released in the past 10 years or so. Nothing is able to hold me longer than the initial month.
PVP
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On a somewhat unrelated topic, Darkfall Online has ruined PVP for me when it comes to MMORPGs. I'm not even saying the game is that good. It's just that actually having to hit your targets and having quick reaction times makes PVP so much more fun. Going back to any tab-targetting MMORPG is impossible for me now.
Playing - Minecraft, 7 Days To Die, Darkfall:ROA, Path of Exile
Waiting for -
Of course one can "grow out of gaming."
Let me ask this, though...
Do you still find older games fun, or pretty much the same as newer games?
The reason I ask is that games have also changed. They have (in general) become simpler, easier, and less thought provoking than in times past.
I am dissatisfied with most modern games. But I still find enjoyment with my collection of older games, so I *know* I have not outgrown games. It is just that modern games are not what the older games were with better graphics.
- Al
Personally the only modern MMORPG trend that annoys me is the idea that MMOs need to be designed in a way to attract people who don't actually like MMOs. Which to me makes about as much sense as someone trying to figure out a way to get vegetarians to eat at their steakhouse.- FARGIN_WAR
Older games are less fun.
They are (in general) more convenient, better production values, better combat gameplay (for example Diablo 3 action combat with physical effects, Dishonor's action stealth gameplay, Borderland's RPG shooting ....), more thought provoking (like Gone Home .. an indie first person "drama") and in general ... gaming is a lot more fun in the past 5 year then the 30 before.
There are better games in both time periods. A truely good, solid game remains so, it doesn't degrade. Examples of this are most of the Legend of Zelda series, the first half of the Final Fantasy series, Thief: The Dark Project and System Shock, The Longest Journey and some of the original Bioware games like Baldur's Gate and Planescape Torment.
Even the NES holds this as true - I can still to this day go back and enjoy games like the original Super Mario Bros, Metroid, Legend of Zelda, Blaster Master, Mega Man, etc.
In all likelyhood it's that.
Been there myself a couple of times.
Read a book, watch a new show or some good movies, take up drawing or some kind of sport activity... just about anything that's not gaming, and before you know it you'll find yourself wanting to play something again.
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
I agree.
Can one "grow out of" watching films, reading books, playing sports?
So much this.
I literally can not pick up a game and play it longer than 10 minutes anymore since I played Darkfall Online. I feel so lost now that the new version of the game is garbage.
So I'm just stuck playing League of Legends with friends and its killing me inside.
I totally get this. I've had my share of ups and downs in gaming and at times, I've contemplated and thought hard if I should continue as I could have been doing something else.
Have you tried another hobby that's not gaming related? maybe you just need time off away from games. I tried scuba diving once and while it did distract me for a bit, I somehow found my way back to gaming and when I did come back, I was into it more than ever.
Like some have said here. You dont grow out of gaming but your tastes mature but often the games do not mature with you.
There is a strange dynamic in TV that appears to be true in gaming as well.
Your demographic (both in gaming and in TV) are older adults but the content is usually targeted toward younger people. Why? because younger people do not have much experience getting screwed so they are easier to market to. Hench people running off and buying games because of hype.
This is so true. As an "ahem" older gamer my tastes are not in sync with what is currently offered, in either gaming or TV.
All these programs such as Breaking Bad, Dexter, Orange is the new black, my 20 something daughters seem to enjoy them immensely, and I try to watch and go.....huh?
I recall back in the day the same phenomenon occurred with my Grandparents, I would tell them about all of these great TV shows, and found out they never watched any of them.
So I don't believe we grow too old for gaming, but they do change in ways that can make them no longer fun based on our preferences.
Fortunately for me, I still have EVE which holds me over until the day comes when perhaps something a little bit more old school comes along that I can adapt to.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
As a side note I watched a really good Vblog on a business website that said because younger viewers are starting to cord cut and go only internet the demographics of TV viewers is getting even older. They suggested that because of this TV content might need to change.
Regarding gaming I think its even more attractive to hype young gamers because unlike a TV show where you really do want repeat viewers in gaming you can take that first box set sale and run....
I don't think you can generalize before your own preference. My elder son is 18, so I am more or less your generation.
And I love Dexter, Arrow, 24, Blacklist .. and many shows my kids enjoy.
I think you can out grow games but it really depends on what you feel grow means. I know I have had the same problem, however being as busy as I am, I don't get to go out with friends anymore or anything like that so I use games for that purpose. These days it's all about the people I am playing with more than the game. When I'm not playing with a group of people I go through games like water. Try them for a week or two and then move onto something new cause they usually won't hold me.
I think this is also an issue with the industry where the "style" of MMO's coming out feels stagnant. They all feel very similar in my opinion which makes them easy to go, try and then put down cause you've played things similar to it recently. Personally I have found a old school indie game in alpha that's f2p and I have been enjoying that thus far, but time will tell if it will keep me for longer. Otherwise I play Tera with some friends and enjoying it purely cause of the company I am keeping.