I lost my love for video games.... What is wrong with me?

While video games, as a whole, have gone down the crapper for the most part...

I really dont think the issue here has anything whatsoever to do with them.

Ill be blunt, because thats how I am. OP, you make it sound like you have experienced everything already, but that is far from the truth. Someone brought up depression, and I think that would be a good place to start. There are plenty of options to approach it, one of them being pharma (not always suggested..).

I dont think games are your problem, since it sounds like you are bored with everything and video games just happen to be one of those things.

Its not about "growing up," or "being productive," that is an ill-conceived notion back from when the only people playing such games were children.

reply to post by GiulXainx


There are a few games out there which allow you to play an anti-hero, like in infamous, where you can play as either the misunderstood hero, or the thoroughly understood super powered maniac.

But I think what you are after, is a game where the INTENT is to play the dyed in the wool sociopath. Let me tell you, those games just are not out there any more. The mass media portrayal of gamers, as people who are hundreds of percent more likely to confuse their fantasy lives, with their real lives, means that games makers are under an awful lot of pressure from the people who finance their projects, to create games which conform to certain basic principles of morality. Even in games which allow you a very free reign as to how to comport ones self, like Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas (both of which were pretty badass actually), use karma scores, and other modifiers to chastise players who choose morally objectionable paths.

Regarding some of your behavioral changes over the last little while however...

You do not know me, and I do not know you. But some of the things you are saying about what you have been getting up to, suggest to me that something is not quite right with you. The applying for a loan and shunning it when it comes through, the showering, some of the other things you said... Please do not take this the wrong way, because I say it with the greatest possible respect, but have you considered speaking to your doctor about some of these issues? These would be alarm bells for me. If I was doing them, I would be at the doctors office right now, put it that way.

Best regards.

I am mobile right now but.... pills didn't help me in the past, and my doctors can't do anything to prescribe me anything. Because of my violent history behind me I can't take anti depressants.

But you are right about video game developers having a hard time actually creating a fun game.


But I am growing very tired of playing a stupid hero. I own the fallout games. I played through the infamous games. I even played through the latest resident evil games....


I have played so many that I am now very bored of them. I even played I wanna be the guy and I wanna save the kids.

Nothing is fun anymore.

As for those stupid idiots calling games murder stimulators. Movies, books, music, and spoken words have been proven to ignite murder. You can't stop someone from doing bad things because they watch a movie or played a game.

I really wish there would be a game that would finally come out where you do get to play the bad guy. Thief was boring for me.

Fylgje
I'm a gamer and right now I'm addicted to BF4 PS4 multi-player.
I've had all systems since Pong.
Metroid(NES) is my all-time fav game.
I love GTA, Elder Scrolls, Mario, Minecraft, Civilisation, BF4 and many other games.
I haven't slowed down one bit and I'm 42.
I cannot imagine how incredible the games on PS4 will be in a few years-I cannot wait!!!

This being said, I don't know what's wrong with you but you should see a doc immediately and tell him. Maybe it's depression?Maybe just take a break from games for a few months then come back to it and see how it feels. I don't buy into this "you're getting old" BS. You are NEVER to0o old to game!! NEVER!! NEEEEEEVER!!!!! I hate when somebody says that.

I bought battlefield 4 last year for the play station 3.

I never even opened it from the plastic wrap. I also have play station all stars battle royale that I never opened.

for me the whole cheating element in online games these days has kinda ruined it. I used to spend endless hours trying to learn to be the best in any game but after a while it became clear to me that people where becoming just 'to good'. then i started to really look into the availability of aimbots and hall hacks etc.

Once i realized that anyone could get their hands on these cheats it was never the same for me. I think once you figure out that there is always a percentage of any online game that are using cheats it become pointless trying to be the best you can be.

The most popular games are the worst..ill never buy another COD until it become completely 100% cloud based.

Ive just bought titanfall and at the moment it feels great to play but i dont doubt for one min that it will only be a matter of weeks before the cheats come out. Any really hardcore FPS player will know what im talking about. If you have played FPS for long enough you instinctively know how good you are and how good other people can be. A game where no people are cheating feels a LOT different for one with cheaters in it. You dont have to catch people cheating to know its going on.

Edit: i just found this

So far there are two major cheat programs that are circulating on the internet. The first is the Titanfall wallhack, which allows you to see all enemies on the screen by drawing a colored square around their location. To a certain extent this functions similar to the active radar pulse ability built into the game.

The next up is the notorious Titanfall autoaim hack. With a click of a button the program aims at enemies and fires for you. But spotting these Titanfall cheats are not as easy as you might think. The well-programmed hack allows cheaters to adjust the aiming speed, the delay between aiming and shooting, and even the maximum distance targeting distance. This makes the reaction time of the autoaim more “human” and thus makes it more difficult to detect.

Read more at www.inquisitr.com...

I love the idea of hacking but people who hack games should be dealt with "The Hustler" style!!!

The only cheats I have ever used were any game that had a special button, or passphrase. When I finally had the money to buy a cheating device I bought the Gameshark for PS1 and the Action Replay for the PS2. I only used it for Tony Hawk games. I knew hackers on Socom 1 and 2 but I never really cared. I just kept playing.

But it seriously sucks that with every brand new video game that comes out there is an exploit to cheat with. Like MGS4's MGO had the invisible character. Same with Warhawk. Same with a few other games. These were cheats that did not require a game shark.

The biggest problem with video games now is the absolute lack of substance. We're living in a world where the major entertainment consumer only cares about one thing...graphics. Game developers spend countless hours trying to keep up with technology with graphics (sometimes changing their graphics within development numerous times to keep up with the changes...that's why it takes forever for new games to come out) and with those countless hours takes countless dollars to keep it going. As newer consoles come out, developers must spend a lot more money to keep up. Ubisoft said in 2009 that it cost roughly $30 million to develop their major titles for PS3 and X360....and with the newest consoles, (PS4/Xbone) the cost is almost double. LINK

Spending all that money on a game, and the companies knowing their demographic's wants in a game, they spend most of the time/money on graphics and less on good writers. They just don't have it in their budgets anymore. That's why you have tons of FPS out right now...they don't necessarily need to focus on storyline because they know the consumer will spend most of their time playing online...so they focus on graphics.
There are definitely exceptions to this, of course (The Last of Us/Tomb Raider/Beyond:Two Souls/GTA V/etc), but those are huge developers and have the time/money to spend time on a game (Rockstar started developing GTA V in 2008, right after they released GTA IV...that's 5 years of development)

But, as you can see from 2013, stories in games are starting to make a comeback...Forbes "Best Video Games of 2013" is all story.

They're making a comeback because there are a ton of people out there like you who are getting burnt out on the same games every year....they just take a lot more time to develop.

Side note: I'm glad to see that these games were developed with a single player in mind...not to just be a "side order" to an online game. Getting really sick and tired of "everything needs to be online multiplayer now and that must be the focus"

reply to post by GiulXainx


Look, most of the games you are talking about do get BORING. They are not fun after a certain amount of time. Same # different game. If you want to renew your love of games you NEED to play FUN games. Like Super Mario 3D world, New Super Mario Bros U, Mario Kart 8 coming up in a month, Super Smash Bros, Yeah I am talking about Nintendo, their games are FRESH and fun.

Pick up Wii U, which also plays Wii games, If you have not played them, Play these games and I KNOW you will smile and have FUN playing. New Super Mario Bros U, Super Mario 3D world U, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze U, Super Smash Bros (Wii Title), Mario Kart (Wii). There are of coarse WAY MORE, but I would start with those.

Nintendo games are MAGIC. I do not care what anyone says. They will put FUN back into games for you, and btw I am 42.

I too got bored with the same crap over and over again, but Nintendo has made me ENJOY games again

BTW right now I am playing MASS EFFECT 3 and Zombi U, so it is not like I only bright fun games, I just like to mix it up. The Wii U Controller is great for games like these.

reply to post by GiulXainx


BF4 multi-player on PS4 is one of the most incredible things I've experienced in games yet. I still stop and watch a skyscraper fall into it's own footprint; All the dust, the shaking. Then, there's a pile of rubble and rebar. It still gets me every time I see it. The smoke and fire looks incredible. The physics are pretty good. The graphics are awesome. I just love it. There's so many different ways you can play; you can be a tank guy, a fighter pilot, a bomber, a soldier, a boat captain, a sniper(I hate those pricks); But the great thing is that you can abandon any of that at any time and be whatever you like.

Each level has something major happen. In one, a huge ship runs aground. Buildings fall if you keep hitting them. You can place anti-tank mines and hide in the bushes and wait for the next sucker to run over them. Same with Claymores(anti-personnel). The maps are huge and very destructible. COD on PS4 was an amazing looking game. I was impressed and did not expect it to look that good, but the multi-player is the same thing except you have a dog. I need more than just running -N- gunning. But COD is a fine game though.

I don't remember how good the PS3 version was but I would play it. Get on Multi-player and have some fun. I laugh so hard when I play. I get mad too. It's a roller coaster and I can't seem to get off after all this time.

*But I agree about new games lacking substance. I still play GameCube and other old systems. I love those old games. Good graphics are key, but so isn't good gameplay mechanics and story.

Jktrout010
Game developers spend countless hours trying to keep up with technology with graphics (sometimes changing their graphics within development numerous times to keep up with the changes...

Snip

Ubisoft said in 2009 that it cost roughly $30 million to develop their major titles for PS3 and X360....and with the newest consoles, (PS4/Xbone) the cost is almost double. LINK

Snip snip

(The Last of Us/Tomb Raider/Beyond:Two Souls/GTA V/etc),

Snip

Forbes "Best Video Games of 2013" is all story.

Snippity snip snip

Side note: I'm glad to see that these games were developed with a single player in mind...not to just be a "side order" to an online game. Getting really sick and tired of "everything needs to be online multiplayer now and that must be the focus"

All of that is true. When you make your target demographic between the ages of 13-18 they only care about whether or not the environments look realistic. Meanwhile the indie scene seems to be doing fine. Not great, not exceptional... not over average. Just fine.

What I care about in online multiplayer is whether or not they have something other than conquest, capture the flag, skirmish, or 1 life death matches.

The Last of Us has the greatest story in a video game for the last 4 years. Even though the story reminded me of I AM LEGEND. (That will smith movie.)

But production has gone up only because they want their games to look good. Good enough to buy. But because it is all about graphics graphics graphics you get games like Titanfall, Warhawk, Starhawk (Even though it had a single player campaign), Socom confrontation, Counter Strike GO, Unreal Tournament, Halo (Has a story but it seems like their screen writer lost a lot of creativity after Halo 1 and 2. Halo 1 is the best Halo game ever created. All the rest really stunk in my opinion.) However it is not all about graphics alone...

Seriously I played Uncharted 1 and it was an awesome game. Without a multiplayer no one even cared about it. It was praised for it's story telling and graphics. But because no multiplayer means no buy for most people it only sold a few million copies. Uncharted 2 comes out (I still love this game!) with a multiplayer and it does very well. Uncharted 3 (I loved the story to it.) comes out with multiplayer and it was another great success. Uncharted: Golden Abyss comes out for the PS Vita. (I wish they would make another vita uncharted like this!) I bought it and thoroughly enjoyed the story, and everything you had to collect and take pictures of. The best Uncharted game yet. But something happened.... It didn't do so well in sales. No multiplayer.

The simple fact that there is no multiplayer mode for any new game that comes out means the title is doomed to fail.

It is not just about graphics. Even in the indie scene if it doesn't have multiplayer then it isn't worth their time.

I purchased Zero Escape: Virtues last reward because individual people left their own detailed reviews on the game itself. I bought it for the PS Vita and HOLY MOLEY! I thoroughly enjoyed that game. Then 1 month later it comes out for free on PS +.

I have enjoyed these types of games since Myst came out. Challenge of the mind to figure out these puzzles. And then finding out the story along the way.


But if that isn't enough... Multiplayer is not the only problem.... Piracy. Yes it actually does affect video games a lot. I know a friend of mine who NEVER pays for ANY PC VIDEO GAME THAT COMES OUT. However he is the elitist PC gamer you see posting on gaming forums making fun of console gamers. Yet he owns a PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, Xbox one, Wii, Wii u, PS Vita, PSP, Gameboy, Gamegear. you name it he owns it.

But if any game comes out for PC he never buys it. Why? he doesn't want to pay more than 20.00 dollars for any new game that comes out. His all time favorite game is Bioshock infinite.... Too bad their development team just shut down. They did not make enough money to cover costs. As a last resort they sold Bioshock infinite to PS +.

A lot of money is spent on DRM. And I believe this generation of children is going to be the ones that start realizing this early on and start paying for video games. What good is playing a great game if the company is no longer in business? It leaves a sour taste in my mouth when I steal anything anymore. Because it ends up going away. In this ever changing world it becomes harder to adapt. Especially when one day your rent gets raised. Or you get fired from your job. or they lay you off. or you suddenly catch an incurable disease.

It becomes a world less worthy to you. And I think that is what is truly wrong with me. I just don't see the point of even doing anything because everyone else ruins it for everyone.

Leave it up to someone, as long as it isn't you.

That is the mentality I run into every day in my life. So I wish I could win the lottery so I could pick and choose myself the types of individuals that I want to see prosper. Because money is the only power in this world and it shouldn't be that way.

I know I have completely derailed this entire train of thought but that is what happens when I start talking about my personal experiences in life. I have seen a lot, and I have done a lot...... But because what I do bears no direct influence to anyone I feel useless. This world is never going to change for the better.

GO OUTSIDE! Drop the games for a bit, explore outside. Go hiking, go rafting...ect. Instead of spending that money on a game, save it and then go someplace you always wanted to. You CAN do it...it just takes time.

Sounds to me like you a missing something, and its not a good game.

reply to post by Tylerdurden1


Alright. I am not trying to be a constant downer.... And I might sound like a bit of a spoiled little b right now....

But my father... when I was growing up. He worked for American Airlines. If you ever find a friend who works for the Airline industry you will end up loving that person because you can go almost anywhere for free.

And again I might sound like a whiney little spoiled B when I give you this information:

I have been to Tokyo Japan at their time square and seen one of those... Otaku conventions. I rode in a taxi through China (YOU SERIOUSLY HAVE TO TRY THAT ONE! It will freak you to DEATH until you arrive at your destination!) I have been to Paris. I drove with my father on the shores of Australia. We almost got stuck in a wave because my father does not know how to dodge a pendulum. (Like in all of those video games of the past... It is all about timing.)

I have been to Sea World, Disney Land, Disney World, I rode on the Son of the Beast when it had the loop still in it, I have seen a Chicago Bulls home game, A new York Yankee's home game, I have been to Las Vegas Nevada a total of 12 times. I have walked on muscle beach. I have been inside of the mall of America. I have been to Universal Studios theme park. I have been to the grave of Billy the kid. (Both grave sites.) I have traveled through "Death Valley." I have been to Toronto Canada (F'n cold up there....), I have seen that big old tall f'n building in Dubai in 2011. I visited a friend in Brazil. I have taken a cruise with my buddy TJ to the Camen Islands. I have been deep down inside of a cave with an "endless pit." I think it was Mammoth caves....

I have done so much with as little of my time on this planet. And over 90% of those trips were free passes on boats, trains, and airplanes. Oh and I almost forgot. I have also gone skiing and ended up being flown away in a helicopter to the nearest Hospital.


I am sorry but I just don't feel like exploring anymore.

And this is a warning to everyone for the future. If you take your kids with you all around the world before they are old enough to want to go.... It will ruin it for them for the rest of their lives.

reply to post by GiulXainx


Damn! Can I be apart of your family!..LOL. Lets see. I have been to vegas when i was a kid so it dont count. I have been to california 3 times. Six flags once, and disney land.

That is a short ass list..LOL.


Well atleaste you got to see some stuff. So ....hmmm....are you depresed?

From what I am reading in the ops. this isn't about growing up or old or anything. This is actually a sign of depression...I think most of the "your just growing up" folks didn't even read the topic outside of you lost interest in games.

You didn't lose interest in games, you lost interest in simply interacting with anything in life..losing interest in games is like losing interest in television, or stories, or imagination, or etc...(all of which you also said you lost interest in).

Time to figure out whats going on, not just from a gaming perspective, but a general life perspective.
I have gone through phases also randomly. and been depressed also. in some areas of my life, gaming has saved my sanity, in others, I didn't touch a game for years.
I am now in my early 40s and still an avid gamer (my first game was as a small kid with the Atari 2600. Tanks, boned out pacman, etc. now I run around in a obscenely modded skyrim, use virtual reality platforms to build, make mods myself, etc...no, gaming doesn't get old, because its such a wide area. But, life itself and experiencing sensation can seem too much at times when things are glum.

If your worried about getting enthused about gaming once again, no worries..you will eventually..but you got other things on your mind to sort through. the symptom isn't the problem here, it is the sign of a problem.

I experienced somethings the OP has stated, I too have lost interest in gaming ( particularly console gaming) and I've been playing video games for a long time of my life (I was born in 1995), thankfully my older brother showed me the great fun it was to play Sega Saturn and Mega Drive, then he showed me Dreamcast and that's where I started getting really into gaming, Alone in the Dark, Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, are some of the games I remember most nitidly, but I also remember Jet Set Radio and the Shenmues, after that we pretty much bought all the primary consoles, xbox, ps2, psp, nintendo ds, gameboy, wii, xbox 360 and PS3, I remember the fun these consoles provided me, and since I sold my Xbox 360 (after selling all the other ones), I never enjoyed games like before. I was addicted to COD since the release of COD 4, I bought all CODs untill I stopped at MW3, where I noticed ' I've played this game before', and I've taken a differente approach on games ever since, shooters do not appeal to me anymore, can't really tell cod and bf apart, I haven't yet found an RPG I truly like (last RPG I played was FFIII and I didn't even finish it), but I haven't lost all my interest in gaming, I moved to PC and found there are some F2P games that are really cool (eg. Warframe, Vindictus, Dragon Nest) and I've become addicted to strategy games, specially in space strategy 4x4.

Ok, this thread has naturally gone in two directions. I'm going to address the gaming part (apologies for not addressing the depression part; i'm not really sure what to say).

I'm KIND OF in the same boat. I liked shooting games before they became so realistic. I think the last one I played was Serious Sam II. Never touched a COD, Borderlands or any of those kinds of games. I also don't like stories/cutscenes in games (mostly). So I may have gotten a head start on being burnt out on the direction console games have gone, but I've still experienced it nonetheless.

So here are a few things that have helped me:

* Indie games. A lot of them a quite unique. Some are nostalgic with their tribute to the 8-bit gen, some are very modern, some are relaxing, some are very creepy.

* Games that look like they're for kids.
- - - Lego City Undercover has, thus far, been one of the very few exceptions to me skipping cutscenes. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much while playing a video game.
- - - Deblob 2. Oh my God. Soaking up paint and coloring buildings? So much fun. So. Much. Fun.
- - - Super Mario 3D World. Pure magic.

* Casual games. Not kidding. These games are simple, fun, and some of them are HARD (not talking about Flappy Bird, btw) because they have challenging puzzle elements that really exercise your brain. Tangrams, Picross, Pathpix, Kami, etc.

* Minecraft. Downloaded a ton of mods that are dedicated to increasing the difficulty in unique (read:unfair) ways. Vanilla hard mode is easy as hell for me. But with these changes? I was dying over and over again, and loving every minute of it!

As far as playing the bad guy, I don't really know much about it, but… have you tried the "Deception" games? I've only payed the first one for the PS1, but I think there are like 4 or so now. The premise of the first one was that you played a villian in a castle and you set traps for the heroes that come to kill you. I dunno, just a thought.

Video games are pathetic these days. Gone are the days of spending weekends, or maybe even weeks doing nothing but playing the same game, trying to complete it. Gone are the days of waiting for the arrival of a games magazine, seeking to find hints and cheats to help you reach the end goal. Gone is the patience. What I mean by this is, for example, Morrowind vs Skyrim. To properly engage in Morrowind takes patience, taking time to build your character (in the beginning, if you randomly engage in battle you will probably just end up dying), but, in Skyrim, it felt like, at least to me, a more mainstream, hack/slash adventure game, with an incredibly dumbed down skills system.

Is it the new young audience who seek this simplicity, in an age when everything is instant, or is it the developers, who see what is going on around them, the digitalization of games, and say # it, why try?

It is sad, and I know that I will never have those experiences again, unless I seek to hunt down the games of my childhood, and I know that the new generation, while they will have memories, they will have missed out on something. The mystery, of playing games and having to figure things out, rather than just go on the internet and find whatever you need.

RIP Games.

reply to post by GiulXainx


Play Dota II

Should fix your problem..

reply to post by UnveilingReality


I cannot agree with your assessment of Morrowind when compared with Skyrim.

The trouble with some of the sword and sorcery games out there, is that while they successfully computerise the sort of experience one could have while playing a table top RPG, such as Dungeons and Dragons for example, they lack the visceral immediacy of close quarters combat. Having as I do, a love for the weight of a sword in my hand, I have always found such games as Morrowind to have features which are a barrier to immersion, simply because victory in combat depends not on reaction speed and tactics, but on mere numbers.

I have no time what so ever for that, simply because the very idea is laughable. Success in bladed combat is about speed, timing, and catching the enemy either unaware, or unprepared. Games which feature swordplay, but do not allow for this visceral element, are not nearly as immersion friendly as games which do make provision for the immediacy of combat.

Oddly, this usually only happens once you've settled down, and have other things to do with your time. I still enjoy playing video games, but yeah, could care less about the story, etc., I just want to have fun for about an hour or so, and that isn't long enough to get completely invested in a game.

Simple fix, if it has lost it's luster, move on to something else. Then, come back, and you'll likely enjoy it more (though in moderation).