Ex-gaming-age: what do you think of videogames now?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I used to live and breathe video games as well, so much so that I pursued a career in it. I worked 3-4 years in the industry as a designer and around a year ago I left it to pursue an IT career (people were losing their jobs, the industry is struggling here in Australia).

I suppose if I really wanted to I could have gone overseas and pursued it further, but I think being here with friends and family is more important to me.

I found that after that I changed jobs I was gaming a lot less, I think while working in the industry I persisted with gaming as I felt like I was helping my career by doing so.

Nowadays I hardly ever play games.

I still play starcraft 2 occasionally though, I think I could always come back to playing that.
I play some FIFA occasionally as well, as I play a lot of soccer.
 
Thread reminds me of this video:

http://youtu.be/YKBRG_QgEAM

Before the Internet rose in the 90s and early 21st century, I played video games to escape reality when I was younger. Among school work, tennis, and piano, video games would fill my free time and were the highlight of my day as sad as it is looking back on it.

Throughout high school and the beginning of college, I thought this is how to experience life because that's all I knew. My family never taught me how to socialize with other people as well as they were perfectly content to make me a shut-in.

Half-way through college, I realized I was really upset with what I was doing with my free time. One night, after blasting through a few games of Halo, I went into an epiphany, thinking about if I was happy where I was in life.

That answer was a resounding no. I found myself wanting to be with people, going to parties, attending school sports games (i.e. football, basketball), having fun at parties (i.e. drinking, socializing), working at a part-time job, biking and exploring Chicago, and so on and so forth.

Since that realization, I changed a lot about myself. I did everything to make myself stay active with people although it was quite difficult to balance fun and engineering work.

I still play some video games to this day (blockbuster titles like Halo and Starcraft 2). However, compared to my earlier years, I feel I'm having more fun doing things other than video games.
 
I was actually really thinking about this also. So much time spend but nothing to show for. But, i realize life is about having fun. I wont take anything with me the day I die.

Plus, This sexy baby is coming.

PS-Vita-PS3-Controller.jpg
 
I feel I'm in a very similar boat as the OP. College pretty much killed off any interest in video games. I went into college with virtually every video game system, and by the end of my freshman year I had sold them all off. I can't help but feel like I'm wasting my time by playing a video game and I think to myself, "how will this positively effect my life if I beat this 100%?"

And this is from someone who was absolutely obsessed with playing/beating/owning everything. At my prime I had close to 175 GameCube games. JUST GameCube games. And had put considerable amount of time/beat a huge chunk of those. Now I have to fight with myself just to pick up a controller. I did buy an Xbox 360 again last month but still haven't used it much...
 
OP's 22 and people are saying it's a phase and he'll get back into it. I'm 20 and I don't see myself quitting games any time soon... I can totally understand slowing down with work and life etc. but I certainly won't lose the passion for playing
 
I think what I dislike about video games now is that there are way too many experiences, and all of them do some things good, some things bad. When I used to play games a lot, I often thought of them as "definitive."

I only watch like 3 or 4 shows on TV: the ones I consider the best. Similarly, I don't really buy music outside of 1 or 2 bands' work that I really love. With games, I've lost track of what the "definitive experiences" are. Part of that is that Nintendo's stuff seems really watered down now, and the other good developers' efforts are mostly focused on multiplayer, which I don't really have the patience for.

Lately, I've enjoyed:

Super Mario Galaxy 2
Portal 2
Half-Life 2 and the Episodes (anxiously awaiting whatever 3 morphs into)

but beyond that, the games I remember really loving in the last couple of generations are:

Rhythm Tengoku (does the DS one live up?)
F-Zero GX
Viewtiful Joe
 
Some of you guys are so dramatic. Videogames are fun. How can having fun ever be a waste of time? What kind of life is that? Better to spend money on games than drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes.
 
ajf009 said:
OP's 22 and people are saying it's a phase and he'll get back into it. I'm 20 and I don't see myself quitting games any time soon... I can totally understand slowing down with work and life etc. but I certainly won't lose the passion for playing
Click to expand...

That's what I always believed before I quit. I'm not saying that you'll get sick of games like I did, but you have to realize that a person's views in life change CONSTANTLY. You simply can't know if you'll still like games a few years from now.
 
SuperSonic1305 said:
Some of you guys are so dramatic. Videogames are fun. How can having fun ever be a waste of time? What kind of life is that? Better to spend money on games than drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes.
Click to expand...

But the alternative to that is: drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes are fun too.
 
SuperSonic1305 said:
Better to spend money on games than drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes.
Click to expand...

While I understand what you're saying in regards to a person's health, is there a reason why you are against alcohol?

That seems a little strange to me. I can understand drugs and cigs, but alcohol? Do you not drink at all?
 
I used to play quite a lot of video games, but about 3 years ago I have shifted most of my tastes towards film and books.

I love storytelling and I usually only play games with really strong stories, characters, and lore. But video games are so low in quality in that department, which in return, I don't even play that many video games anymore because of it (I haven't played a video game in 2 months). I probably only play 3 games a year.

I use to never read before, now (since I started to really love storytelling) I am reading all the time. (I am reading 1984 by George Orwell, amazing book)
 
I used to be hardcore into gaming, but now i'm more into keeping up to date. I also pretty much a 'buffet gamer' ; I have a gameaccess account, and I rent all the latest releases, I play them for 2-3 days then return them.. I just prefer to get a good taste and a good experience but I rarely finish them.

I also got into what i call THE FINAL STAGE OF THE GAMER, aka arcade collecting.. When I get home after work, I just boot up the Nba JAM machine for a couple of rounds or I play KI or Mk1 and then i'm done for the day.
 
I'm 19 and three months ago, I played every day, probably more than 5 hours a day.

I don't turn my Xbox on for more than a month now. I still love video-games, I'm just not a constant player like I was before. I miss the PS2 era, when I shared and played all my games with my friends. Now I don't bother so much.

Fifa 12 is coming up though, I'll probably play it everyday for months.
 
I grew up with videogames. I play with more moderation nowadays (I spend less and less time on them, honestly), and have less patience for games wasting my time (with poor pacing or whatever).

I don't think I'll ever outgrow them, though, just expand my horizons more. In my list of things to do, I want to learn to operate a nuclear submarine, as well as a Russian co-axial rotor helicopter. Recently, I learnt a bit more about American Civil War tactics through a game (I've always found the 'stand in line and shoot' tactic a tad weird, and learning how to operate around that concept was eye-opening). Just last year, I was able to experience the logistical nightmare and operational challenge of organizing the defense of the Netherlands by Germany during Operation Market-Garden (further enriched by the breadth of available books on the topic - but it was a unique experience that only the gaming medium could provide); it made my trip to the Netherlands that much richer. I don't think these are experiences that I can outgrow, nor would I want to do away with them (or with books, music, or anything else that helps enrich my life).

And at the end of the day, when I just feel like venting away my frustrations, I can just mindlessly mow down a few hundred zombies. Good for stress relief!
 
I used to game consistently since I was about 5 or 6. About a year ago, I started selling my back catalog, because I didn't have the free time to play through them and I was buying games for the sake of buying them, not for the sake of playing. Since then, I'm down to maybe 20 games out of close to 200. I now play games for maybe 1 hour every few weeks if I get the itch. I don't see myself giving it up entirely, but it definitely isn't the force in my life that it used to be.
 
The best part of this generation is watching a lot of people complain about how bad it's gotten with stuff like DLC and it's why they no longer game when in reality it's just most teenagers growing up. Everyone goes through it.
 
I'm 20 now. I began to feel the pressure of loneliness as all my friends and even younger siblings were having relationships, ranging from casual to meaningful, so I began to invest more time in myself so that I could improve as a person. I procrastinated less, I became more organized, started looking for jobs, working out, improving my sense of fashion, taste in music, got rid of my social anxiety, became a better conversationalist,etc. I'm still working on all those areas... It feels like I'm making up for lost time in high school.

As I began to put work in, I noticed that gaming was my only hobby. Though I did not spend all day gaming, it simply being my main interest was consuming me in ways that I wasn't aware of. It sucked any interest I had in doing anything else (I still enjoyed doing other things, but it was really hard to convince me to do them. My obsession (?) with gaming hurt my social life which in turn made me depressed and I screwed up academically. At night I often wonder, as my closer friends ended up going to prestigious schools like CalTech, Harvey Mudd, etc. , what could have been if I had more focus, discipline, and a better upbringing.

Have I given up on gaming? Not at all. I've relegated gaming to be a night hobby when there's no other option left (partying, friends). I even have plans to work in the industry. But it took me until now to pull my act together. Balance was all I ever needed.

Sorry if this seems like a rant. I just needed to vent.
 
claviertekky said:
While I understand what you're saying in regards to a person's health, is there a reason why you are against alcohol?

That seems a little strange to me. I can understand drugs and cigs, but alcohol? Do you not drink at all?
Click to expand...

How is it strange to be against alcohol?
 
They're still good I think, I've gotten passed the point where I want to try everything and these days I'm playing either an RPG or Street Fighter.

I don't let games dictate my life or anything. It's what I tend to do when I have a moment to myself which would be either books or TV and I don't watch too much anymore.

Can't remember ever ditching someone to play a game. That's messed up.
 
Stumpokapow said:
It's pretty weird that you literally offered to whore yourself out to get an early shot at a beta of a mostly multiplayer FPS, but you're here saying that you don't play or care about games, you hate multiplayer communities, and you think the latest shooter is been there, done that.
Click to expand...
wow...shot down.
 
I play a lot less than I used to. I am well aware that games are pretty much a complete waste of time, but they have a hold over me that I am powerless against. Video games have been with me my entire life. They offer a type of comfort that nothing else can. As much as my life would likely benefit from quitting gaming altogether, I don't know if I have the willpower. And everytime when I get close to a point where I think that I could quit, some amazing new game comes out that I can't resist.
 
I still play a lot of games but now that I'm a single dad I really can only play late at night. It's not a big deal though because I don't get sick of them. Probably going to play games for life.
 
I play less games in general because I don't have money to buy them. Right now I'm just collecting the great old ones I've missed and going through them. Going through older games like FFIX and Skies of Arcadia for the first time now seeing how they're more awesome than many games released today is an amazing feeling. I still read up on gaming news and the like but I admit I have slowed it down a bit, I seem to be lurking OT rather than the gaming side ever since a few months ago.
 
I'm 24. And, yeah, I used to be a lot more interested in video games than I am now. But I think that's very typical of one's childhood hobbies. This is what our generation (80s, 90s, 00s) have been raised on. I'm sure older people could say the same about comic books or TV.

But, the idea of totally giving games up is kind of silly and dramatic and self-righteous. My horizons, now, are just way more broad and eclectic. I enjoy literature, music, film, TV, anime, video games, board games, art, stand up comedy, comic books, and so on. They're just different mediums. Some might be more intelligent (literature) than others but that doesn't mean I like them more. I think eclecticism is very important -- keeps things fresh and interesting and new. There's no point in distinguishing between highbrow and lowbrow in my opinion. And, of course, there's that special thing called fun. I look back now and have very fond memories of playing video games. Those are some magical flashbacks of nostalgia.

I also like games from a creativity standpoint. It's fascinating to see what other people can come up with and design and program. I think Minecraft and Terraria are fascinating.

As far as singleplayer games go, I find I'm only interested in the game if it receives very high ratings. Portal 2 is a great example of this. I haven't played a singleplayer game in years but I bought and loved this game. I'm also interested in the classic series like Mario and Zelda for obvious reasons.

I have become much more interested in multiplayer games as I've gotten older. But, again, I'm not interested in playing every shooter that comes out. I enjoyed Modern Warefare 2 but it'd been a while since I'd played an FPS so it felt fresh to me. Same goes with StarCraft 2. I think Blizzard is one of the most creative companies out there.

I enjoy multiplayer games for the obvious reasons. I can play with my friends. I can play with humans instead of computers. I can pick up and play for as little or long as I want. I can't see how this is any different than doing something else with my friends -- as long as it's kept in moderation.

Regarding moderation, I'd say that MMORPG's like World of Warcraft are the antithesis of what I think games should be. But this is me, of course, and I'm not expecting everyone to agree. But I think games like WoW expect way too much of the player's time and kind of dehumanize us to an extent. Way too much grinding without enjoyment. But I'm not the best or most hardcore MMORPG player.

Overall, the industry is missing something. There's definitely a mainstream (FPS and sport games) that I find uninteresting. But this is unfortunately the state of every industry (Dan Brown books vs. David Foster Wallace).
 
I stopped playing games for a two year period or so, learned how to play the bass, got my grades up, got better with women etc.

Then I started up again. Sure it's a waste of time, but fuck, as long as I watch how much time I'm putting into gaming I won't stop. It's still fun (and Steam has allowed me to get games on the cheap, so it's not a big draw on my funds).

So yeah, they're a fun distraction.
 
I quit in 2000 and returned in 2007. The reasons for quitting were that games started look bad to me and stories were stupid. Now I don't think that I'll quit this hobby ever.
 
I don't play games very much anymore. The only current gen console I had was a 360, beat GTA IV and Saints Row 2, and played a Fight Night and UFC game, and some of the Sega collection and that was it. Outside of that, I've played a lot of this little indie game called Altitude on the PC, off and on, and that's been in.

I still like to keep up with the business though, its interesting to see how all these companies combat each other. I would like to go back and play some of the games I can still stand at this point (Mario, Zelda, a couple platformers, and maybe a couple open world games). But for the most part, I feel like I've done it all. There's nowhere else to go after 2D to 3D, its all been downhill from there on.
 
Trojita said:
Nope.

I find myself playing less games though. I'm trying to reverse this. I seem to be collecting games and not playing them.
Click to expand...

OMG this. HALP ME

The only time I play games for hours on end is when it somehow just sucks me in. (Mario & Pokémon & Smash Bros. games) and most recently Bayonetta & Yakuza 4.

It just depends. Right now I'm kind of in a lull state even though I just bought a Japanese 3DS with Gundam, and have another 3DS game on the way for it. But I'm sure something will spark my interest once more. I've been watching anime more than playing games lately.
 
Haven't stopped, but I play less and less, and don't buy many games. I still buy the AAA games (Uncharted recently, Gears of War 3, etc). Last 3 games I bought New, near launch, were L.A. Noire, then God of War 3, and then COD:MW2. The rest (not many) were used.
 
I still love games at 31. I play a lot less though these days. The thing that bums me out is looking over at my collection from this gen and realizing 1) I will never play 95 percent of these games again and 2) I'd probably get only $100-150 in GameStop credit if I traded in all of my games. I'm sure stuff like Prey, Gun and Condemned combined would fetch me about $3 in trade in value for example.
 
TheExodu5 said:
Certainly you can find something to expand your horizons?
Click to expand...

im waiting on crusader kings 2. that seems like my last hope for something fresh and awesome on the horizon. ill get skyrim and deus ex, but im not expecting them to blow me away.
 
Outside of NBA 2k whatever and what ever wii games my lady friends play. I really don't play much at all. My ps3 is my blu ray player. My wii holds my p90 x files. That's it..
 
Trent Strong said:
I still like games, but I spend a lot less time playing them than I used to. I also get frustrated with games a lot more easily as I get older.
Click to expand...
Same here besides the time part. Back in high school I had TONS of patience. Except now I have very little patience, tons of time (thanks unemployment), and to add to it, I get more pissed off each day. I am beginning to be told I'm an angry person by my gf. Wouldn't be so angry if I had a fucking job!
 
It's a miracle that video game journalists aren't all completely insane. Having to play games for hours on end, nearly every day would quickly turn into a nightmare. And they don't just get to play the good games, they have to play the crap too.
 
Pastry said:
I'm pretty much the same as you then. I'm
23 now and pretty much quit gaming around my junior year of college. Now I don't play consoles at all due to real life commitments (friends, work, girlfriend, my family). I do play a ton of iOS games though! I love iOS as a gaming platform, the only times I visit the gaming side now are to see what is going on in the iOS gaming thread.
Click to expand...
I love iOS gaming too! I'm pretty exclusively
iOS. 3 years ago, moved to the US for a job. No need in bringing my consoles with me, and since it was going to be temporary (a couple years) anything I bought I would have to bring back. So I dropped out of consoles.

3 years later, I haven't really found myself getting back into them. When I left, I lent my ps3 to a friend. I'm back now, and haven't asked for it back.

I do miss some of the big titles, but overall I don't mind. A big factor is that I'm 'between' jobs, so I feel games are not constructive use of my time, plus I can't afford them anyway.

Maybe if I were working I'd get back into them.

But man, so expensive. Love iOS games though.

Interestingly, I still listen to player one podcast, but thats mostly about babies now anyway.
 
SyNapSe said:
Opinionated shitborg spoiled a book in the HP series with a "xbledore x's by x" post right after the book released. I'll assume it was because he was a childish fuck, but any time I see him, I cringe at the fact he hasn't been banished. That shithead edited it a couple of hours later so nothing happened. I secretly hope he dies awfully but I randomly see him pop up in threads and it ruins my hope & faith in humanity and justice.

As you get older games are a tougher value/proposition. Steam brings an incredible reprieve to that but decent gaming PC's cost a bit.
Click to expand...
Are you sure this was me? I know I wrote "Harry kills Dumbledore" at some point in the past (if not, I have now), but it wasn't immediately after the book came out.

Darth Vader is *edited out*. Sorry if I spoiled Star Wars for you too. I'll edit my post in a couple hours, so I hope you don't read this before then.

e: I won't be around in 2 hours, so I'll get my edit done now. Synapse, I don't recognize your username or avatar. I do not know who you are or what you are talking about. But if I spoiled Harry Potter for you, I am sorry.
 
What I would say is I buy a lot less games now. And I hardly ever buy a game at full RRP and on release date.

I think the last game I bought at release was probably CoD:BO. The next game will probably be FIFA12. That's a good 10 months. The last game I bought overall would have been The Witcher 2 which was reduced in a sale.
 
I still do stuff for the industry, but I feel like I'm too old for this shit. I used to be the cool Uncle that could talk to my nephews about games, but now I refuse to talk about it. I tell them to go outside.
 
Trent Strong said:
It's a miracle that video game journalists aren't all completely insane. Having to play games for hours on end, nearly every day would quickly turn into a nightmare. And they don't just get to play the good games, they have to play the crap too.
Click to expand...

That's the boat I fall in. Since leaving the games media, I've come around to the view that the games media has a warped view of the world that is completely divorced from the reality that everyone else works in. It's not entirely their fault - the game companies that encourage them to confuse their greed and self indulgence with good journalism are as much to blame. That's why everyone gets into such a lather over rumors about sequels, reading deeply into controversial developer quotes... the vast majority of the games media is completely brainwashed and product-obsessed; and wouldn't know a real story if it came up and bit them in the ass.
 
I'm basically a 30 year-old gamer dad.

I was the first generation to grow up with home consoles and now I make enough money to pretty much own all the consoles. However now I simply don't have much time to play them.

Many of the marquee games nowadays are too violent, gritty, or sexualized to play around my kids. So that means I can only play family safe games during the day with my kids and then maybe play 20-30 minutes of "mature" games at night every now and then.

Games that I could use to finish in 4-5 days, now take me 4-5 months. If it's a story-based game, I usually ramp down the difficulty to normal or easy just so I can get through the game. Perhaps I've become a casual gamer, but I simply don't have the time anymore to spend 40-60 hours on each game, especially when things get repetitive.

Also I think I've become a bit jaded. I know a lot of work goes into today's games, but this generation seems to be a smaller evolutionary step than in previous generations.

When I was younger, I was always a Sega boy but nowadays I'm pretty interested in Nintendo's stuff the most hardware-wise. Even if it's a bit gimmicky, I like that they're trying to push the boundaries of home consoles and deliver a new experience, instead of just doing the same thing but with better graphics and media features. I just wish Nintendo would step up graphics hardware so the games don't look a generation behind.

Also, I develop independent games for a living so I usually don't want to play videogames in my downtime.

But now I'm just rambling like the old man that I am.
 
ScientificNinja said:
That's the boat I fall in. Since leaving the games media, I've come around to the view that the games media has a warped view of the world that is completely divorced from the reality that everyone else works in. It's not entirely their fault - the game companies that encourage them to confuse their greed with good journalism are as much to blame. That's why everyone gets into such a lather over rumors about sequels, reading deeply into controversial developer quotes... the vast majority of the games media is completely brainwashed and product-obsessed; and wouldn't know a real story if it came up and bit them in the ass.
Click to expand...

I did the game media stint. Believe me, getting free games and swanky press events TOTALLY warps your sense of consumer reality, no matter what they say. I totally burned out on talking to PR folks trying to secure "exclusives" and talking to other journalists about graphics and NPD sales figures. I had to bail for my own sanity.
 
I'm getting to the point where I will stop gaming altogether in the not too distant future. It's getting too expensive and the trend of only having 7-12 hour SP modes and DLC doesn't help none (I'm not interest in multi). It took me a year (!) to force my self into playing FF13, which I'm kicking myself for since the game is actually pretty good (the linearity can suck it, though). I might play Deus Ex:HR and Bioshock 1 and that will probably be it for the rest of the year.

I'm actually surprised at how dramatic my change in attitude towards gaming has become. 5 years ago I was a gaming nut. Now that I can buy most games I want, my interest in gaming decreased, not increased, which you'll think would be the opposite now that I can buy consoles and games with no problem.

I do admit that I regularly check up on the gaming side. If only to entertain myself with the hilarious meltdowns, fanboy antics, and other drama that comes with console/PC warring.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

what do you think of Nathan Fielder?
13
647
Jsisto replied
what do you think of Disney Adults?
2
81
4K
diffusionx replied
  • Locked
what do you think of the new banger 'Trump Gaza'?
39
2K
EviLore replied
Berserk fans...what do you think about this question?
20
1K
EviLore replied
Mammoth Mice - Probably not what you think.
News Drama Science 
23
1K
Lunarorbit replied
Top Bottom