Do you have a short attention span?

I collect VHS tapes

I collect VHS tapes

Gold Member
do you tend to stick with games all the way through once you start them? or are you someone who jumps between a bunch of games and only finishes a few?

I'm finding as I get older, my attention span is only getting worse. which is surprising to me, I always thought it would get better the older I get.
 
I collect VHS tapes said:
do you tend to stick with games all the way through once you start them? or are you someone who jumps between a bunch of games and only finishes a few?

I'm finding as I get older, my attention span is only getting worse. which is surprising to me, I always thought it would get better the older I get.
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When I was young I jumped around, now I force myself to stick with games, sometimes to my own detriment. I feel a lot more fulfilled having completed most of the games I start now though
 
I'm a one game andy. Basically become obsessed with one game and one game only for a bit. I kinda wish I wasn't like that, could expand my horizon more. Was playing first descendant for months, now addicted to ER Nightreign...
 
I do my best to stick with games and finish them. But lately as i'm getting older if i'm not enjoying the game i'm moving on. Last major game i lost interest in was Prey but it was because i spent all this time playing it and some areas glitched and i couldnt progress forward.
 
El Muerto said:
I do my best to stick with games and finish them. But lately as i'm getting older if i'm not enjoying the game i'm moving on. Last major game i lost interest in was Prey but it was because i spent all this time playing it and some areas glitched and i couldnt progress forward.
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No not Prey! Give it another chance. The gameplay is fantaaaastic. Are you on pc or console?
 
I play one game at a time and don't play another one until I'm either done or decide to drop the previous one.

That said, my attention span is getting worse with the years. I catch myself alt+tabbing out of a game to check out something else or even looking at the phone. Shit sucks, and I'm trying to do it less.
 
I collect VHS tapes said:
I'm finding as I get older, my attention span is only getting worse. which is surprising to me, I always thought it would get better the older I get.
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Is it your attention span, or your patience?

I definitely have less patience for games than I did when I was younger, because I have more money and less time. If I don't enjoy something, I can afford to just drop it to pick up something else that I might enjoy.

When I enjoy something though, it always gets my full attention.
 
El Muerto said:
I do my best to stick with games and finish them. But lately as i'm getting older if i'm not enjoying the game i'm moving on. Last major game i lost interest in was Prey but it was because i spent all this time playing it and some areas glitched and i couldnt progress forward.
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rubik's dude said:
Is it your attention span, or your patience?

I definitely have less patience for games than I did when I was younger, because I have more money and less time. If I don't enjoy something, I can afford to just drop it to pick up something else that I might enjoy.

When I enjoy something though, it always gets my full attention.
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this could be it
SILKYSMOOTH30FPS said:
No, and those that do, trigger the fuck outta me.
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this brings me joy. thank you for sharing.
 
Yes, and I contribute it not to getting older but to the rate at which new information and shiny distractions are available now compared to 20 years ago.

I can't hardly watch a movie in my home without finding myself on my phone after an hour. I used to never "give up" on a movie prior to smartphones.
 
Hashassin said:
No not Prey! Give it another chance. The gameplay is fantaaaastic. Are you on pc or console?
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PC. There was a key item i was supposed to find on this body underneath the bathrooms and take it to the lab where they were doing experiments on mimics. The item wouldnt spawn for me and there were a ton of complaints about it. I tried replaying the game twice and gave up.
 
Yes, still need to finish Ragnarok and Forbidden West.
Currently bouncing around Star Rail, Genshin, BO6 and a few others on PS5 and GTA trilogy, SMTV:V, Skyrim and some others on PC.
 
I was able to find hundreds of things in Mario Kart World through observation, commitment and memory. Other people complain there was nothing to do and it was empty after 5 minutes.
 
short-attention-span-dog.gif
 
Some games demand or need to demand your attention to get through the story or keep you hooked. We've all left a story heavy and/or gameplay complex game for months only to come back and not know how to reconnect to it and feel completely lost trying to complete it. Some of us want to avoid that by powering through games that start to lose our interest.

For me, I try to do 1 story driving game at a time while still enjoying more replays, multiplayer, and gameplay driven experiences on the side.

There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's, though.
 
I finish maybe 20% of the games I buy, probably less really.
At any given time I'm playing a least half a dozen things, usually with a YouTube retrospective playing in the background.
My attention span gives a two year old a run for their money.
 
I am currently playing AC Shadows, Rematch, Nightreign, TFD, Skull and Bones, Death Stranding 2, Stranger of Paradise and Mechabreak.

There's also 2 games that I am thinking about buying just because they are on sale.

I usually can play 1 to 3 hours per day...

Joe Biden Oops GIF by The Democrats
 
Generally for single player focused games with a set end point it's one at a time for each device I play on. That said, I usually have a bunch of other types of games going at the same time that I can easily dip in and out of.
 
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my attention spam became 0.
I jump between lots of games, i don't watch tv series (if not max 2 episodes), i watch movies in like 4 different sittings if i'm not at the cinema.

And yes, i don't finish games anymore. Once i kind of got where it's going and i feel i've experienced the bulk of the gameplay, i usually jump to the next one abandoning it forever.

There was a time where i wasn't like this.
Not anymore.
 
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anyone got a tl;dr of the OP? I zoned out half-way through

edit: in all seriousness though, I have ADHD so I've never been really good at beating games even going back to childhood

the fact I've played all the way through the Trails series (currently stalled on Reverie but I'll get back to it eventually) is quite the achievement for me, even some of my favorite games I haven't had the concentration to beat them (I tend to put ~80-100 hours into a RPG but then get distracted by another game)
 
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With so many options, if your game doesn't hook me right away, I'll probably move onto something else. I tried the dem for Karma last night and I'd be surprised if I hit the 15 minute mark before deleting it.
 
I have the longest, and it's really the best, the longest attention span that anyone has ever seen. It's crazy isn't it. They say "how can you pay attention so long" and I dunno, it's just me, I dunno.

When I lock in I really lock in.

I have a friend who watches me game sometimes. They always get bored right before the good part. That is how I know they have a low attention span. Games are developed around 20 minute loops and this person has like, a 15 minute attention span. So I think the average is probably 20 but most people anyone posting here would know are probably more like 15 minute attention span. 15 is serviceable with willpower, but 20 is better. 5 minute attention spans is where you will never be able to enjoy anything.
 
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I think I just have buying issues. I keep buying games on sale and throwing them into my backlog. Now that the Switch/Switch 2 pathway seems to be morphing into a Steam of sorts...I just bought 3 more games this morning.
 
As long as half the screen is subway surfers..


..no but really, I think my patience has become worse with age. I can't stand bullshit anymore, nothing that wastes my time.
 
Not attention span but annoyances at games "wasting my time." I usually stop playing if I feel like the game is locked behind X hours of grind, especially single player games. Great example would be MGS V, middle earth shadow of war, and FF rebirth.
 
Not really, but I do find it hard to come back to a game if I can't commit to it regularly, which sadly is pretty common nowadays. Therefore, longer games really need to be exceptional for me to maintain interest to the end.
 
I do find that with longer games, I've gotten better at finishing them if I go against my instincts to explore everything and stop trying to be a completionist

when I do that, I often get burned out long before the game even ends

I spent something like +60 hours exploring while only completing the first couple quests of KCD and ended up exhausting myself before I even got to the meat and potatoes

nowadays I try to stay focused and push forward and find that I overall have a better experience.
 
If I'm hyped or like a surprise game I'll push trough, my favorite experience still is to enjoy a good experience from start to end undisturbed during a weekend, sweetspot are those 10-15 hour long games.
Then there are these moments in recent years when I start something and then at the same time a new season/event hits in the few GAAS games I like, then of course I'll get distracted... Fuck that, games should not have time limited events...
 
When I was younger I always stuck to one game until I finished it or dropped it because of boredom. But now I bounce around games too much I think. I´m trying to get back to concentrate on one game at a time but there is so many games I want to try that it just becomes impossible. There are so many distractions these days too. Youtube, GAF, movies etc. It eats up a lot of gaming time. But when I find something that holds my attention I can stick with that for a long time. Like Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree that I recently played through. 200 hours without even looking at another game in between. I hope I can get back to my younger self. I want to stay focused and comitted to the game I´m playing.
 
Connificent said:
Im on NeoGAF 24/7 so no
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Magic Carpet said:
Squirrel!
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winjer said:
short-attention-span-dog.gif
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Deerock71 said:
I'm sorry, do I what? Get to the point!
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Rien said:
Tldr?
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nowhat said:
I most certainly... what were we talking about?
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draliko said:
n *tab*
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Skifi28 said:
Not really, I'd like to think that I'm......oh look, a butterfly!
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Spukc said:
didnt read rashida jones GIF by Tiffany

idc laughing GIF

dont care lol GIF

haters gonna hate didnt read GIF

too long didnt read GIF
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Opened thread. All the good jokes are taken...

Sad Arrested Development GIF


Bright side.....found this when searching giphy for "mope"

Nina Agdal Scooter GIF by Sports Illustrated Swimsuit
 
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I stick to games I like. As for gameplay I can last as long as it takes.

I like turned based games and when I played cod a lot back in the day I can camp in the same building all game and not budge. I remember recording some of my games and a bunch of us would share our videos of each of us playing. And they laugh at my vids being in the same spot and ADS like a statue. Loved it.
 
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