Something funny has been going on with me lately. I’ve been finding myself – hear me out – not wanting to play any games. No games whatsoever. Just not up for it.
What’s going on? I call on the community to play shrink and dispense me some advice. Okay Doc (not that one), here goes with my story…
It seemed to start about a month or so ago. I was playing my PS3 a lot less than ever (and never playing my PSP at all…but what’s new there?) and now I’m just finding myself not touching the thing at all. If I glance over to my right it’s just there, humming away, running Folding@Home. And doing nothing else.
I’ve been online in Killzone 2 once. I occasionally hop onto Burnout Paradise and Freeburn for 10 minutes before getting bored and starting the Folding again. I keep pushing through Bioshock at a rate of 10 minutes a day; at this rate I’ll have the game beaten sometime in 2010.
I’m finding my gaming pursuits being replaced with other tasks that I’d normally deem less fun and would hence avoid; university work has, for the first time since last September, taken a genuine priority over my gaming and I don’t even recall actively thinking that I needed to get this work done. It just sorta happened!
That’s probably why I’ve not been doing much in the way of writing lately (and why SG is missing its usual 12,600 daily articles by myself); the spark between gaming and I seems to have gone, and the flame is dying. I can’t push myself to write about whatever press releases I can get my hands on with the same unbridled enthusiasm (if that’s what you want to call it) that I’m accustomed to.
Is this normal? Have I finally grown up a little from the addicted three year old I’ve been since turning, um, seven, when I had my first go of Ridge Racer Revolution? Am I simply focusing too much on everything else and forgetting about gaming? How can I get the balance back?!
Help me out, part-time psychologists! You are being summoned to duty; I need my gaming groove back! What can you diagnose?
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You and doc should talk about it seems like you are going through the same thing
Dude, I’m totally in the same boat.
I’m starting to hit the upper division courses at my University, so it’s actually starting to require work on my part (wtf! for reals…) and it got to a point where I would play 30 minutes of rock band once a week and that was it! Seriously, that was it. I went from playing several hours at night EVERY night to 30 minutes once a week! At first I had these CRAVINGS to play games… but then it started to die down… I was working full time, school full time, full time family man…. I was putting in a 15 hour day, then hitting the hay, only to repeat myself the next day! Thankfully, Killzone 2 came out and I knocked myself out of this ‘zombie’ mode and upped my play time to maybe 3 hours a week (2 of those hours being on our Friday gamer night).
I’m still not fully cured, but I do see the light and I do feel that I’m coming out of this slump. I just needed a good game(kz2) to knock some sense into me. Maybe you should go rent a came you normally wouldn’t, that you heard was good. Like Bourne Conspiracy.
Or how about this? Give up gaming for a bit! Sell a game or two and go buy you a kick arse surround sound system (hdmi compatible or nothing, my friend!) and get a sweet home theatre system set up and then rent some good blu ray movies and enjoy the overwhelming experience of trueHD sound! Maybe you can become the new ‘tech junkie’ writer!
:thumbsup:
well yamster, i am here for you, i will get you back to the ps3, plies go into your gaming collection and pick out a game you haven’t been playing for a LONG time, may i suggest cod 4 or assassins creed.
i can play some whit you, all you need is to get comfortable get a cold coca cola (or a bear) and then just let go, start to play and enjoy it
relax i will take care of the main page writing for you while you are gone on rehab haha just joking
It’s the writing for the site that’s doing it. Thinking games all day makes you want to play less. I’m having the same issues. Then again…I don’t write much..lol
HA! you’re not alone – this happens to me periodically. I used to try pushing through the slow times and end up basically irritable and abrasive (think Lono level cranky) while gaming.
All I can say is once I learned to embrace it I gained a lot more balance. I now go through periods of a few weeks a year where I dont game then come back with a vengeance; I’m coming back from one now and playing ~8-10 hrs a day.
I HAVE THE CURE!
Like you, I’ve found little interest in playing as of late. The cure: a trip down memory lane. ..
I was feeling a little down so I dusted of the trusty PSX and played through a little Final Fantasy Tactics and Metal Gear Solid. It has help fill the lull between my release wish- list and brought back some great memories. GIVE IT A SHOT! It worked for me!
After looking at 32 BIT graphics for 30-40 hours you’ll find yourself needing a boost of a billion polygons or so. Before you know it, you’ll be hitting up everything there is in playswitch.com wish-list.
- The Cleaner
Like others are saying, your not allow, I too am in a phase of not interested in gaming. . . You want to game, but you know that if you start, you will get bored really quickly and thus don’t bother. . . I am just hoping it will pass, I don’t wanna grow up and stop gaming!!! Whaaaaaa
Hi, unlike some other posters here I don’t have any uni work and work-work I generally keep a lid on these days but I do have 2 kids under 7…I still want to play games but eh…setting everything up, switching off GTAIV when their mother brings them home, wires everywhere for the laptop (power)…its no wonder 99% of my gaming is on the DS these days…
You’re getting old yams, your attention span is going. LOL
You and Doc should trade systems for a month. You can at least live off the novelty factor.
I go through this every once in a while too. What happens though is that I’ll hop on after a long brake and get comepletly infactuated with the game and play hard for a few months then repeat the cycle. I’m guessin that you will get to the point where you play a few times a week then you will find a game or rediscover your favorite fps, rpg, or rts. In my view, breaks make the times you start playin again that much better. ……..or you just don’t like games anymore.
try a new type of game, maybe your just bored of the same type of game…
It’s the moon, dude, wait till the old period is over and you’ll be fine, lol.
I’m sorry to hear that YLY. The same thing was happening to me for a while, I didn’t feel like playing anything I had and when I did it was only for a few minutes. But I found the cure: I went to Gamestop and picked up some new games. Good times!
Have you tried chicken noodle soup and sprite?
If that doesn’t work, then try more coffee.
If that doesn’t work, then eat a big heavy meal and wash it down with an energy drink. Sit in front of your TV when you do this.
get an xbox and youll be grand
@daragh,
Yeah, then the blinking red ring can hypnotize him and then he’ll forget completely about video games!
Only play a game that you want to. If Bioshock doesn’t engage you right now, then shelf it for a year or so. With so many games to play I sometimes feel too much pressure to finish them, so I have to remember that I play them for FUN.
Don’t worry It happens. May I suggest a co-op game? Sometimes enjoying a game with a friend will rekindle the fire.
I once thought that I too would grow tired of games, but now I am into them more than ever (at 33 yrs old)
but that sill doesn’t mean that I play them more than ever.
(junquenito I don’t know how you can find time to play 8-10 hours a day! you must be 12 yrs old and do school then games til bedtime or you are 40 and live off your parents and never leave your basement)
I diagnose a hefty dose of one Matthew Hazard and his (sort of) triumphant return!
For some reason, I’ve been experiencing the same thing. I’ve had no urge to play video-games. It’s kinda like I’m playing them as a chore.
Strange…
I go through this every so often. I just won’t feel like playing games. I’ll think about sitting down to play, and I just don’t want to do it. I’ll end up doing something else around the house. Usually, after a few weeks, I’ll either get a new game or just decide to finish what I was playing, and I’ll get right back into it. That’s when the DVR starts filling up with unwatched shows…
Well mate I think your just going through that warm weather lull. Nights are drawing out, weather is warmer (a barmy 16C in UK today LOL) and the incentive to hide yourself away and game is reduced exponentially
Also, it is good to take a break from time to time, let you dip back in to the real world for a bit – don’t worry you’ll be back
I would say it likely has something to do with the other things in your life, suddenly you see things that matter more than a Halo score.
I have done it, I suggest, A. dealing with the important things,
B. Try getting a game that you never got around to, like I never played Ninja Gaiden 2.
It seems that after last years lineup, we have hit a slump.
Try going back and getting games outside of your usual circle.
i can see the problem right now, you aint got an xbox!
im joking btw, i feel like that sometimes its when i need to do something but i cant put my finger on it, ends up being something small but needing to be done, then im back to my 360 (not right now rrod) so maybe thats whats wrong.
@ Krelith
Oh yeah! He’s back. HAZARD’S BACK!! *Throws party* I’m defenatly getting Eat Lead. It looks awesome, then again i’m also planning on buying a ton of other games as well……..]
PMPB if you want to start playing games again just get one of the games you want to play and not buy something just becasue people tell you to like it. I buy games that look good not games that people tell me look good, Killzone 2 was given a lot of hype but appreantly isn’t that good.
Well, I can agree with many people here that a plausible cure may be to buy some new games or explore a new genre of games. You might find something worth while.
But I have to agree with “onehourcleaner” on this one, Retro gaming is damn good option. It explores the question, “Why did I get into games in the first place?” Besides, the life goes, you don’t have time for those games that take a long time to complete. Something and straight forward like the original Super Mario Bros. is extremely easy to get into, and it takes no time at all to get it going and play it.
But I suppose it really depends on where you started. For me, its the NES if you can’t tell. I still love playing that old gray box every now and then. Hell I’m still buying classic NES games off ebay just so I can continue playing it.
Your past has a lot to offer, don’t neglect it no matter what. Mix the old in with the new, and try and make time for both if you can.
Good luck with your problem