[Wired]

Maybe I'm not alone in this but as I'm getting older I can't help noticing that my motivation for actually playing games seems to be decreasing more and more. Nowadays I spend more time reading about games than actually playing them and in the rare instances that I actually start playing one I easily lose focus and decide to take a break. These "breaks" then invariably stretch on for days, then weeks and eventually months which means that I eventually forget what the hell the game was all about. Which means I usually never go back to it.

The thing is I haven't been able to pin down why this is happening, it's not as if I have other interests that take precedence, and it's not a matter of a lack of spare time. I'm single without any real obligations so in theory I should love gaming damn it!

Maybe it's just a phase or something, I'm 32 and have been playing games in one way or another for as long as I can remember. Although I think part of the problem is that nothing feels new or fresh any more, by this point I can't help feeling like I've seen it all and then some. Long gone are the days when I felt any real excitement for a new game, I mean it's just the same old crap repackaged slightly.

Or maybe I'm just getting old

[Fury]

I noticed this many years ago. These days I'm lucky to finish a game before I become utterly bored of it. By the time I reach last third of a game, it has become a chore to finish, it is no longer fun. Games which I finish with smile and actually want to keep playing even after finishing it have become increasingly rare.

I'm not sure whether this is because I've grown older or whether games these days suck more than they used to. Indie games have proven that developers and publishers don't need to spend millions to develop a good game.

Creating a game that is sufficiently long without becoming repetitive and boring is an art form in itself. Some games lack that despite being a hyped up AAA+ title. Fun, engaging and well developed gameplay can overcome other bad qualities in a game like poor writing or voice acting. If a game is not fun to play, no amount of great writing, voice acting, graphics and sounds is going to help.

[Wired]

I agree with everything you just said, the more I think about it the more I suspect a big part of the problem is that everything seem so formulaic. Mostly everything feels like a variation of the same thing, with new visuals... so personally I find it hard to care too much. Sure there's exceptions but they are few and far between.

Actually nowadays Indie games has me more excited than the latest and greatest "AAA" game more often than not. At least amongst them you can find games that isn't afraid to take some chances and break the mold.

I'm also cautiously optimistic about Kickstarter, I think that could be a platform to get games that would never get a chance otherwise made. Wasteland 2 is an example of what I'm talking about.

[Mikes]

Could it simply be because games these days rely more and more on this: http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/the-skinner-box ?

[Wobble73]

I have boxes and boxes of games I have started to play and never finished, ones I think when I am truly bored of whats out there, I will return to and play. Unfortunately as technology moves on, the games are no longer compatible (yeah I know about DOSBOX but it's a PITA to set up).

[MatthTheGeek]

wut ?

Dropbox Dosbox is probably the most straightforward emulator to set up ever. Just install and start. What kind of issues are you experiencing ?

[Wobble73]

TBH it's been a while since I used DOSBOX (never heard of Dropbox) and the compatability issues usually stemmed from setting up GLIDE type games, always got lots of artifacting and display errors.

[deathfun]

I myself went through a period of time where I'd rather just watch Netflix on my PS3 than actually play any games
And as of late, I've only sunk 50 hours into Skyrim, skimmed a bit of LA Noire, haven't gone back to Dead Space 2 or Saints Row 3

But what did I do instead? I got Super Mario RPG and have been playing that for the past fifteen hours

I don't think it's anything to do with being bored with the games. It's just getting tired of overly complex things. I started playing Spiral Knights too. It's free, simple, spend a little bit of time on it, done. 250 hours later...

Download an emulator, and grab some of the oldies, or oldies you wanted to play but never did. You'll probably end up sitting there going at it forever

[Colonol Dekker]

I've got game's still wrapped in cellophane, FFXIII 2 for instance. Actually, i should finish FFXIII at some point first.

[BloodEagle]

TBH it's been a while since I used DOSBOX (never heard of Dropbox) and the compatability issues usually stemmed from setting up GLIDE type games, always got lots of artifacting and display errors.

Dropbox is a file / group sharing website / software, with (very) minor SVN capabilities.  It is not an emulator. 

-----------------------------

@OP:

I feel the same way sometimes, and find it is due to 2 of 3 issues.

#1. Things (usually slowly) suck more as you get older.  This is fact.

#2. Games (, the majority of them,) actually are getting worse with every "generation".  You can prove this to yourself by: (a). Missing titles when they come out, and (b). playing new releases before the ones you missed.

#3. So. Much. Filler.  Game's nowadays are so much slower, and have so much more combat to the area explored that it can take (I'm looking at you, Dragon Age: Origins) hours to complete one area, without increasing the 'reward' to account for the time spent.

[Mefustae]

#1. Things (usually slowly) suck more as you get older.  This is fact.

No. As your taste in media becomes more firmly based as you age, the eternal progression of media content will move beyond you. By the time you're an old man, you won't know what the **** is going on, and hate every second of it. If only these people had any taste and did things the way they did it years ago.

#2. Games (, the majority of them,) actually are getting worse with every "generation".  You can prove this to yourself by: (a). Missing titles when they come out, and (b). playing new releases before the ones you missed.

No. Again, you losing interest in games =/= games getting worse. There have been some phenomenal titles this year, and last year, and the year before that. Yes, there's more **** out there nowadays than when I was a pup, but that's because the industry is expanding. We're seeing both ends of the bell curve expand outwards.

#3. So. Much. Filler.  Game's nowadays are so much slower, and have so much more combat to the area explored that it can take (I'm looking at you, Dragon Age: Origins) hours to complete one area, without increasing the 'reward' to account for the time spent.

No. Games have always had filler. Yes, current industry trends have resulted in a significant amount of padding in games to extend play, but if anything it's been a bit on the downslope thanks to the rise of online multi. After all, why justify that AU$100 price tag with a 20-30 hour single player experience when you can just as easily make it a 6-hour campaign with online multi to "pick up the slack".

[TrashMan]

Maybe I'm not alone in this but as I'm getting older I can't help noticing that my motivation for actually playing games seems to be decreasing more and more. Nowadays I spend more time reading about games than actually playing them and in the rare instances that I actually start playing one I easily lose focus and decide to take a break. These "breaks" then invariably stretch on for days, then weeks and eventually months which means that I eventually forget what the hell the game was all about. Which means I usually never go back to it.

The thing is I haven't been able to pin down why this is happening, it's not as if I have other interests that take precedence, and it's not a matter of a lack of spare time. I'm single without any real obligations so in theory I should love gaming damn it!

Maybe it's just a phase or something, I'm 32 and have been playing games in one way or another for as long as I can remember. Although I think part of the problem is that nothing feels new or fresh any more, by this point I can't help feeling like I've seen it all and then some. Long gone are the days when I felt any real excitement for a new game, I mean it's just the same old crap repackaged slightly.

Or maybe I'm just getting old

Word.
I never finished Skyrim.
JA: BIA is also on hold.
Both games are still installed, still waiting.

I got several games on my gamersgate account that I havn't touched yet.
Not enough time, not enough motivation... I have things to do, games to mod, stuff to write. It's kinda sad.


There are games to which I have returned numerous times over (BG 1&2, Outcast, JA2, X-Com, ID 1&2, FS2, Crysis, etc..), but I do notice they are mostly older games...

[Wobble73]

TBH it's been a while since I used DOSBOX (never heard of Dropbox) and the compatability issues usually stemmed from setting up GLIDE type games, always got lots of artifacting and display errors.

Dropbox is a file / group sharing website / software, with (very) minor SVN capabilities.  It is not an emulator. 

I never said it was, MatthTheGeek did. I just thought it was an updated version of DOSBOX because of his reply!

[General Battuta]

play bastion

[Wired]

I don't think games suck more or less than when I was young(er), in fact some of the best games ever has been released this generation. But I think as I get older I have less and less patience with frustration and boredom. No matter how good a game is there's usually a point where it might drag on or is frustrating for whatever reason. This is exacerbated since most games by nature are very similar (hello FPS #12415612) and seem rather afraid to try new things.

When I was younger this wasn't a problem in the same way since my means were very limited, I couldn't afford to simply say "to hell with it" and get another game. However now that I'm an adult this isn't a problem, so it's easier to simply stop playing and look for something else. By this point I have well over a thousand games and I don't think I've even tried half of them

Which in itself is a problem, so hard to decide what to play so I've mostly stopped trying lol

I've played Bastion, bought it when it was released but you guessed it, took a break

[MatthTheGeek]

TBH it's been a while since I used DOSBOX (never heard of Dropbox)

Sorry, I typo'd.

[Nuke]

i was in a gaming decline of sorts up until around starcrack 2 came out. now i play games at least a couple hours a day.

[Nuke]

TBH it's been a while since I used DOSBOX (never heard of Dropbox) and the compatability issues usually stemmed from setting up GLIDE type games, always got lots of artifacting and display errors.

setting up glide games on windows just requires finding the correct wrapper. i play **** like carmageddon2 and mw2 under glide. id love to play carmageddon 1 and descent 2 under glide, but both being dos games makes it impossible to run in dos natively without a voodoo card. it was actually pretty badass running games written that close to bare metal and having 3d acceeleration as well. everything was smooth as ****. there was a dos emulator with glide support called glidos or some such, but they wanted money for it. if its possible to run dosbox with glide, let me know.

fortunately the glide era was short lived and very few games required it exclusively (many could also use d3d or opengl, freespace 2 supported all 3 apis). but ive had far more problems running directx 6 games than i ever did running glide games.

[LHN91]

Apparently there's a couple of methods, look here: http://www.si-gamer.net/gulikoza/glide.html and here: http://www.zeus-software.com/downloads/nglide <- which also links to the first patch

[Rodo]

Same here, the problem for me seems I start a game, get a hold of it and when I discover almost everything about the gameplay and stuff I just ditch it away because there's nothing more to discover after all, nothing new coming...nothing interesting.

It's weird, it's now even happening with games that have good story and all, before when a game had a intriguing storydriven campaign I used to tag along to see how it ended at least.