How bored are you of games? - The Bear and Badger

equinox_code

Anyone else's entertainment threshold- the point which must be crossed in order for playing a game to be worthwhile- steadily been increasing over the years? I think mine has even been increasing during the last decade of playing virtually nothing at all.

To be fair it probably started back when I was a teen. First beat ups got boring, then platformers, then sports stuff, racing followed shortly after, and the last time I enjoyed a shooter was probably 15 years ago. It just feels like I've seen it all before. Since getting an xbox a few months ago ive set aside so many evenings to try out random stuff on gamepass, and 95% of the time it really doesn't nothing for me. Zero. It often even feels like a chore to try and recapture that excitement I used to feel 15 years ago, and most of the time I fail anyway. It seems decent games just aren't good enough anymore. In fact, i'm not even sure 'great' games are good enough.

Anyone else feel the same? Is this just getting older, or are games not actually as good as we thought they were?

Yossarian

I’ve probably gone the other way thanks to Game Pass, I’m playing more than ever, and playing games that I’d likely have never got around to buying if I had to fork out for them myself.

hylian_elf

Games are still amazing. And there are tonnes of them. No way I’ll get bored for a good decade or more based on my current backlog etc.

davyK

It's cyclical with me. I go through periods of playing nothing. Always go back.

Cos

davyK wrote:

It's cyclical with me. I go through periods of playing nothing. Always go back.

Same for me. I'm not playing much right now but just takes the right game to click and I'm back in.

Wookienopants

I go through phases. It's all quote normal, life sometimes gets in the way so time for gaming is slim. When I do get time I rarely want to do anything more than crash on the sofa and watch some mindless movies

Facewon

I'm a little bit there, but also go through phases.

Still happily playing sts though.

What I'll play has changed. Less AAAs. That may change with more space when we move, we'll see.

Did playthrough and enjoy botw. Am currently enjoying mh rise. Whether I get close to end game I don't know.

Also find that I can get enjoyment from just dipping in to a genre every few years.

If I was buying every racer that came, or even just doing one a year, I'd have stabbed my eyes out, but really, in the last 6 years, I've played dirt (and briefly dirt 2) and brief goes and forza 3 and 5 with a big bash at 4. That's it.

Been feeling the burn more with 2d side scrollers and souls likes. Hollow knight scratched the itch, bounced off a lot of others. Have resigned myself to holding out for elden ring or house move to revisit seriko for souls like.

FPS I just have old man hands.

Might hit warframe or destiny again at some point though.

Real world basketball and board games scratch some itches better than video games these days, and that's fine.

afgavinstan

Nowadays my phases are "just fifa", or "fifa and a smattering of other things". Thankfully right now I'm in a long period of the latter. Its good living just now.

b0r1s

Ups and downs. At the moment very much on the up and enjoying gaming again. I'm sure other stuff will cause my interest to wane, but for now happy playing PS5 and PC mainly.

Minkymu

Im with Noxy. Just cba a lot of the time even though ive got a fancy tv that does all the next gen ready gubbins and a series x

Rev

Having played games since 1984 and seen the improvements in those last 37 years, my interest in games in staying strong. I think the amount of time I have has changed and that in effect has altered the types of games I would be able to spend time with. It's more important to me to have instant checkpoints and saving than anything else now. I can no longer commit to having 5 hour gaming sessions and that also effect what I'm likely to play as well. I'm far from bored.

Kow

Games are like drugs, always trying to find that first experience again. Most things don't hold my attention for more than few minutes anymore, but then something like Elden Ring comes along and sucks me right in. I guess I just need to be able to find those types of games and stop wasting time on the 99% of stuff that won't hold my interest.

dynamiteReady

davyK wrote:

It's cyclical with me. I go through periods of playing nothing. Always go back.

This. I'm sure most of us generally have less time to do anything, but I'll always find time for the right game. Played a lot of Pro Evo 2021 last year, until an official update badgered the option file patch I'd applied. I also couldn't stop playing The Return of the Obra Dinn.

One thing I can say though, is that I don't care much for modern trends. Especially your Fortnites and Overwatch's. Basically, I care a fair amount less about the media's opinion than I used too. I still try to follow video game news though.

Raiziel

My threshold has gone way up. I’ve had Gamepass for a year and a half now and have made hardly any use of it. Even at the cheap £40 a year I’m paying for it (up until the end of next year) it’s not feeling like particularly good value for me. I keep trying things and they hardly ever hold my interest, so over time I’ve just retreated to playing games I’ve played before and know I love, and I tend to spend and inordinate amount of time over a long period of time on each of them.

EvilRedEye

I don't have the time pressures of a lot of people on here but I still find myself drifting in and out of gaming - sometimes I'll just focus on reading or watching films or whatever instead. I'm having a nature documentary phase at the moment. I think it's pretty natural for interests to shift about, to be honest.

Gremill

Raiziel wrote:

My threshold has gone way up. I’ve had Gamepass for a year and a half now and have made hardly any use of it. Even at the cheap £40 a year I’m paying for it (up until the end of next year) it’s not feeling like particularly good value for me. I keep trying things and they hardly ever hold my interest, so over time I’ve just retreated to playing games I’ve played before and know I love, and I tend to spend and inordinate amount of time over a long period of time on each of them.

I don't know how you find time for games with all the reading you do.

I still really love and enjoy gaming, there's always something to play and the short sessions that I have mean that whilst I don't play a lot of different things those that I do play trend to last ages. Gamepass has been revolutionary for me - no way could I justify buying everything I do play and as my kids use it as well its very much worth the money.

Moot_Geeza

Short working hours, long commutes and the sheer amount of indies that suit my tastes mean I'm playing more than ever. I can't sit and play games for multiple hours at a time without fatigue setting in (I'm envious of the no sweat big session players) but I tend to play for between 1 and 2hrs most days. It's rare that I won't play anything at all of an evening. General appetite for games = ravenous.

stonechalice

I'm sick to the back teeth of even the big releases after a handful of hours these days. I don't bother at all with videogames in the warmer months. The magic that was there with many games as a lad just isn't there anymore, and as each year passes, the less I give a fuck about them. I think the advent (or lack thereof) of the newest generation has cemented the fact that games are just all about money and how much shite they can flog to the kids. It's cynical but true. I'll play an indie or two, but the days of getting hyped up for a new release are over. Elden Ring was the last game for me to get excited about. There doesn't appear to be anything else of remote interest to me in the coming years.

Shrug.

Funkstain

I'm waiting to enjoy the classics with my kids. Erik is into the Switch stuff to some extent (we don't let him play too much yet though): SMK8, Odyssey, and 3dWorld. Playing 3D world with him isn't great yet - I have to do all the heavy lifting and he doesn't find it amusing when he gets knocked off a platform or whatever - and he's not yet good enough at SMK to be a challenge. But he will be, then Milly will be, and at home gaming rules

Other than that, a brief obsession with SoR4 survival is all I've done recently (as in a year or so)

Funkstain

I can't see myself ever getting into crafting and collect 'em ups, beyond 'green star / extra moon' challenges in Mario type shit.

Quit Bioshock when I realised I had to fuck about collecting nuts and bolts (plus the shooting was shit after Halo3 which basically ruined FPS for me). got some way in to GTAV before realising it felt just like GTAIV and I'd played that so.

Puzzle games, quick burst shooters (geo wars type stuff), playing with the kids, and the occasional big Nintendo release. that's me probably

JonB

There are plenty of occasions when I can't be bothered and stick a football match on instead, but overall I'm very much into games as a medium these days so I want to try as much as possible, even stuff that isn't especially good if it's a little different or has some intriguing feature. Obviously it helps that I get to do some of it during working hours, so it doesn't take up all my free time.

Lord_Griff

I find the sheer amount of choice paralysing. I need to get my teeth into one game, and just play that until completion. I find doing so is more rewarding. Currently churning through Horizon Zero Dawn, which is throughly enjoyable.

drumbeg

I agree with the OP.

To boil it down to a simple phrase. It's about quality, not quantity. GamePass, EA Play etc are the antithesis of what I am interested in. I wait for that 1 or 2 games per year that are going to blow me away. I play them for months. Most AAA is generic dross. Most indies are dull as dishwater.

When I don't have a strong single player narrative driven game to interest me, I tend to fall back to online games that I find highly repayable, such as Overwatch, Rocket League, GT Sport/GT7.

Worth saying that although I feel I am hard to impress upon by games these days, when a gem does come along, I am capable of still being blown away (Returnal).

Dark Soldier

I'm mainly an indie darling these days. I have comfort games such as Spire, Isaac, Luck be a Lamdlord and the recent Peglin which I often choose to jump into when I'm in a game mood.

The odd huge release (Elden Ring of late) will take up my time but give me quick burst fun little rogues to have a crack at.

Most modern games are overlong, don't offer much new and by about the 10-15 hour mark I can't be arsed anymore. I see RDR2 as probably the pinnacle of love and world design but even with that I drop it after a bit.

b0r1s

Peglin is ace. I’m just not very good at it. Haven’t got past the second boss yet.

Dark Soldier

I've got to the third but didn't have the build. With it being early access it's a bit lacking in content though sadly.

Brooks

I thought I was fairly indifferent to them until the Covid hit and now I'm playing two mainstream online RPGs to the exclusion of basically everything else, so who the fuck knows.

Brooks

There are too many games now, and yet still no fighter I like more than 3S, that's a bit depressing.

GooberTheHat

I'm not bored of games at all, but I struggle to find the time or energy to play much at the moment. I can't wait till I'm retired and can play as long as I like.

ZMM

I keep thinking I've reached that stage and then I play something that reinvigorates my interest.

I don't think anything is as good as it was in your youth though? One of the joys of getting older(!)

Raiziel

Gremill wrote:

Raiziel wrote:

My threshold has gone way up. I’ve had Gamepass for a year and a half now and have made hardly any use of it. Even at the cheap £40 a year I’m paying for it (up until the end of next year) it’s not feeling like particularly good value for me. I keep trying things and they hardly ever hold my interest, so over time I’ve just retreated to playing games I’ve played before and know I love, and I tend to spend and inordinate amount of time over a long period of time on each of them.

I don't know how you find time for games with all the reading you do.

I do spend a lot less time on games as a consequence. Watch the amount of books I get through in a month plummet after Starfield comes out (assuming it’s good).

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