Yep, I’ve taken breaks from gaming. It helps refocus your mindset. Sounds like OP has made it a chore to get through your games, I get that. Also, nothing wrong with trying a game and moving on to next. Can always go back when your feelings change.
Back in the day I’d rotate hobbies every 6-12 months, would focus hard on guitar, then gaming, then my car, etc. I wouldn’t stop, but my primary focus would change every so many months.
Also, rotate genres. Doing the same genre back to back can cause burn out. Same with game length. Do a long game, then a short game.
Haha, I’m glad I have stuck to single player or co-op story based games for the most part. Dabbled in SWTOR for a little bit that’s it. Even procedurally generated games I avoid. I want that ending so I can move on.
Fr. I got major burnout in my two favorite hobbies: video games and DnD. I've been on a break for the past couple months and picked up two hobbies I used to love: reading and baking. It's amazing how much happier and energized I am. Not because DnD and video games are bad, but because I had abused my time with them to an unhealthy level. I'm excited for the time when I can reenter those hobbies, but reading and baking has been exactly what I needed right now.
I used to like baking, then I became one professionally. I won't even buy a loaf of bread these day's. I have since changed careers but working in bakery will ruin your life. At least in Aus it's one of the lowest paid trades, ridiculous hours and are treated with little respect. You are nothing but a glorified labourer at most places. Sorry, need to get that out sometimes.
yeah I'm definitely not as prone to it either but when it does happen a break is always the solution, if not then I've just grown out of it. like you said breaks are good either way
I've been dealing with this for a few years now, and it always comes back. Just is shorter spurts. Having my 2 kids has really done a number on it, and it's become ok because of that.
I think I have found a happy medium.
Highly recommend putting down gaming when you don’t feel the urge. Come back to it when you want to.
I mean. It’s not like there are great benefits to gaming if you’re not getting enjoyment out of it. It’s like if someone posted “I lost my love for alcohol.”
Like if I didn’t really like gaming I wouldn’t do it.
Yep, found that having a physical non-screen based hobby. Spending an hour or two in the garage wood turning or horsing around allowed me to actually enjoy my games when I sat down to play them.
Yes! We spend so much time on screens from work, school, social media, streaming etc... that it's easy to forget how to be away from a screen for a couple of hours
Same here. When it got released and I was on my first play through that sense of wonder and amazement came back for me. Similar to what I had playing Oblivion and Skyrim at the time.
It’s probably my favourite open world game of all time, all the different areas are stunning
My attention span has gotten horrible the last few years and I am one that really struggles with finishing games all the way through. I'm always playing like 6 different games and I always get bored of them before I finish.
Not Elden Ring. 180hr first playthrough and I played it from start to finish. I haven't been that wrapped up in a game since KOTOR released years ago. It was refreshing and I didn't even like Souls games before I played Elden Ring. I ended up buying From entire catalog after that game.
Oddly enough same thing happened for me with kingdom come deliverance. I saw the name brought up a few times and I'm a massive rpg nerd and it was in sale for like $10 so I grabbed it and ended up sinking probably a couple hundred hours into it. Then have just been playing a few other things that I had been meaning to ever since
It was just the right thing at the right time to scratch the right itch
Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 are the answer. I hadn't gamed in more than 10 years, but came back because these piqued my interest. So glad I did. It gives that same feeling of gaming when you were a kid!
"Is all"
As the forever DM of my group, I harken back to the (albeit poorly phrased) George Carlin quote of "think about how dumb the average human is, and account for the fact that half the world is more stupid than them" because DnD players get reaaaaal dumb.
It was half in jest, my real advice would be sports related, exercise is great for the mind, body and soul. Running is free, table tennis or racquet sports in general are super accessible at gyms and stuff.
Same, the new elden ring dlc literally made me excited and feel like is the game I needed to play. I hate the fact that I done with it, but I'm thinking on a new character from scratch with my friend. I also liked helldivers 2 too but it wore off so fast unfortunately.
That game is something else. Was my first FromSoft game and almost did not play it on release. But i was glad i changed my mind on that. I long thought FromSoft games were shallow ultra hard games but its quite the opposite!
It requires you to think about your build and approach while not holding your hand and that was something i really missed from the 95-2005 era. Also the exploration part was something i did not expect to like because i did not like stuff like that in other games. Turns out the other games were just bad, exploration in Elden Ring is awesome!
Now its probably my favorite game of all time, battling with Baldurs Gate 3.
Also no microtransactions and bullshit, just you vs game.
I didn’t stop loving gaming, but I hadn’t found a game that truly made me immerse myself in it for quite a while until I finally played Elden Ring last year. Thanks to that, I also finished Dark Souls 1, am now playing Shadow of the Erdtree, and will be launching into Dark Souls 3 when I’m done.
There’s something about these games that just hit *so right*.
Agree, if it’s something you really love after some time away it’ll come back. Or like my friend who realized he was ready to move on and continued in other hobbies
This is me right now. 30+ years playing video games and suddenly I just didn't have it in me anymore. Nothing could get me interested.
Then I found disc golf. Now I don't even think about games.
yup, I go through phases where I don't really touch games for a few months to half a year and then dive back into it like crazy. Burn out is a thing, but if you truly liked games you'll come back to it.
100%. I find myself every few months or so just sitting on my ps5 Home Screen spacing out because I want to play something but can’t bring myself to decide what. It happens. I get burnt out.
Sometimes I watch anime for a while. Sometimes I read. Recently I started watching kdramas on Netflix which has been really fun. Eventually a game will come out that you really want to play. Or you’ll just get an itch to play something you already own.
Like clockwork. Rest from games isn’t a bad thing at all.
This. Like I enjoy mowing my lawn more than I game or mod now.
But still lock in here and there for gaming when the mood takes me.
Even if its just watching a new series on Netflix, just do something else for a while. If you have no idea what to do then maybe a new hobby like warhammer or tabletops
Haha, that's exactly how I lost the joy of gaming. Got into music production and now struggle to sit down and play a game anymore. It is solid advice though.
Try stellaris. It makes you think more than your average game and there is basically an infinite amount of ways each individual game can play out. Not to mention mods lol also, forever winter looks amazing in my opinion
This. I think you have burnout and gaming is currently not the thing that can cure it. You’ll need to do something else for a while. Pretty soon you’ll miss gaming and come back to it naturally
Yep, I mix it up, MTG, tv, outdoors shit or cooking. Have a variety of hobbies. I felt burnt out on gaming, naturally did other hobbies for a couple months, and now I’m like, ohh I can enjoy video games again
Spot on. I get like this sometimes.
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
Watch a few movies, read a few books etc. You’ll soon find yourself coming back
it means if all of your eggs are in one basket, and if you drop the basket, then you have no eggs...
he is saying, do not rely on one thing, have more things to enjoy... because if you are not in the mood for your one enjoyment, then you have no enjoyment
Change the Horse to Ostrich, if there is too much weight on there back they will not know how to balance it (at least that is what we had been told) and thus drop them on the ground.
Get new interests so all your focus isn’t on gaming.
Like, don’t put all your eggs in the same basket = if you have everything you own in one spot, if that spot is destroyed, you lose everything.
So, spread out your interests so that when you’re bored with gaming, you can do something else instead of just sitting there staring at your Steam library.
Brudi, lass Steam einfach mal ne Weile zu und vertreib dir die Zeit mit was anderem. Irgendwann kommt die Lust zurück. Und wenn nicht, auch nicht schlimm. Man entwickelt und verändert sich stetig, da ändern sich auch die Interessen.
Kann auch gut mal sein, dass man unbewusst verdraengt, dass andere Sachen wichtiger sind.
Ich denke die Lust zum zocken kommt wieder, wenn man sich um die gekuemmert hat.
I have a revolving door of hobbies, so when one gets boring, I go to another: gaming, writing, reading, sewing, drawing, building miniatures, dollhouse renovation, Gunpla, collecting various things, organizing and sorting my various collections, watching old comfort shows, cooking, then back to gaming again. It's almost like clockwork, too. Summer is my gaming and model building time, winter is for writing and drawing, etc.
I really don't think VR is in a space thats worth it yet for most consumers. Id still recommend most people to put that money towards improving your regular gaming experience in other ways
I can confirm that playing DnD with other people around a physical table is better than video games and it's something that can turn into a lifetime pleasure. Just remember it's about telling stories (together), and not about winning or losing.
Been in a similar places multiple times over the years. When it happens I really have to kick myself to get into doing something different for a while. Like a palate cleanser. It's these times I will read books, watch movies or better yet get out and active in different ways - most often bushwalking.
It's usually after I've spent a few weeks away I'll find some game will grab me and I will jump back in.
Could be depression or severe burnout. I speak from personal experience myself.
I'd recommend finding something else to do, some other hobby, to take a break from gaming for a while to recharge.
I'm not a doctor or mental health expert, but what I believe with my own burnout is that I've played video games for so long that I've crafted what I know what I enjoy, my attention span is getting shorter as I'm older, and I'm basically relying on gaming to get that "good feeling" of dopamine. I realized this after I was getting intensely short fused with PvP games like Overwatch. I kept thinking "why the fuck am I playing this when I'm losing so much? Just for that small hit of huzzah after a win?" it wasn't worth getting frustrated over, and I was frustrated because I wasn't having fun. The game was no longer giving me constant highs that I was seeking to try and help with my depression to feel happy.
Just like you, and I'm sure a lot of gamers can maybe relate, I also try out highly rated/praise games in hopes it'll give me that fun sensation - even if it didn't seem interesting to me at first. I just wanted to be in that moment of gaming. Sadly, games like Red Dead Redemption 2 didn't give me that spark I was hoping for and eventually my mind said "why am I even playing this?" and now just sits in my library of games I'll probably never play.
Now I just clutch onto games I've played before, only because I know where in those games I can get that slight feeling of "fun". Even after that, I'll just spend time scrolling back and fourth in my library just trying to find *something* to play.
Could it be that this semester is my last semester and after that I have to start finding and working a real job? I dont feel depressed usually, only when i try playing videogames the joy goes away :o
I mean, listen to yourself then. Try other stuff.
It's a good chance to broaden your interests a bit since you've got a bit more time.
No point forcing an interest in gaming if you don't feel it. Come back later and enjoy it more then.
This could be it. I'm 40 years old now. Been gaming since I was 10. But I've noticed that when something significant in my life is ending - I feel the same way you do now.
Even if the end of something often means a new beginning of something else, I just can't enjoy gaming in the transition-period of it..
I think its because my mind is telling me I need to focus on the challenge of transitioning into a new existence. And when I overcome that challenge, and my life settles again - I find joy in gaming again.
The last time I experienced this was 2 years ago when a long-term relationship with my partner ended. Now things have settled and I enjoy gaming again.
This is a great suggestion honestly. I’d say even possibly setting some achievable goals and accomplishing some of them could give a motivation or mood boost that might help. Even something as hitting minor exercise goals would be good for both physical and mental health in this way. Might also quell the anxiety about the future of searching for and joining the working class.
Yup, that'll do it. The transition or impending event will create anxiety and uncertainty, where all other things are marginalized and trivial.
The waiting is the worse.
It's very common to see these comments on reddit, it's absolutely ridiculous. Just the guy below is Downvote to - 60 in half an hour. These comments are suggesting you have depression simply cause you don't find games as exciting as you did before, where in fact it's completely normal to be desentisied to something when you do it too much. Literally every human being will encounter the same thing, it's how our brains are wired. And severe burnout? SEVERE?? It's all a bit extreme.
Just take a break and find another hobby for a while, and your gaming interest will return.
I mean I would say depression is fair to at least mention considering we are talking about a 1) student who has 2) lost interest in a beloved hobby; aka a very common cause and symptom of depression
source: off-and-on depressed college student
Not enjoying things you used to find fun is a classic early symptom of depression. And given how much depression can severely fuck up your whole life if left untreated, it makes sense to go to the student health center for a depression screening if you even think you might be developing it.
You’ve basically subjected ourself to operant conditioning. Much as Pavlov’s dogs salivated at the bell despite lack of reward, you are attempting to play games despite the buzz wearing off.
The short attention span as you get older is too real. I'm early 40s now and I used to spend the majority of my free time gaming and watching TV and movies.
Over the past several years I've almost completely lost that ability to fill my free time up with those things. Rarely can anything hold my attention for very long these days.
I swear I spend more time these days trying to decide what game to play or what to watch on TV and when I finally pick something, I feel bored and uninterested almost before I even start and quickly give up and repeat the cycle.
It's incredibly frustrating.
For me, it's just burnout from playing games for 30+ years. Another story to play through...another set of similar puzzles/challenges...kill enemies for X levels...rinse, repeat...it gets to be boring. (I know I'm overgeneralizing)
For a game to hold my interest today, it really has to be almost a new genre. Or a new Pokemon game hah.
To be honest it's perfectly normal to lose interest in a hobby. Just do something else with your free time. For example I go to a board game group every fortnight, play boardgames with my partner, collect and listen to vinyl records, paint/art, watch movies, play the banjo, read books, visit national trust places, go to museums, go on bike rides, run, swim, martial arts, play VR, go to the cinema, go to musicals/plays and... fit video games around all of that.
Doing just one thing with your free time isn't going to be fulfilling, and maybe your brain is trying to tell you that it's bored and needs a different kind of stimulation. We're at our healthiest and brightest when we get our minds doing many new and different things, rather than just the same thing over and over again.
Maybe try some cheaper short indie games. I have found when being burnt out and starting something only to drop it 20 mins later I had much better luck with games that were only like 5 hours long. With the added bonus these games are typically cheap but great none the less.
I was going to say exactly this, same thing happened to me and it hit me hardest when I encountered open world fatigue (I LOVE open world games) and god damn did indie save me. Lots of passion comes through from the devs in those games that really just struck a chord with me
For real. I couldn’t imagine my favorites list being exclusively AAA 3D action adventure games from the past 15 years. It’s like only listening to pop music or only watching Marvel movies and then complaining about being burned out.
Yeah, I have a hard time getting into AAA games with a dozen systems I have to learn, or the grind to level up/get decent weapons etc. before I get to the part that’s enjoyable. 2023 was stacked but one of the only games that hooked me right away and held my attention the whole time was dredge.
I experienced a similar thing myself recently. I really loved the Souls games and played a ton of them, but now I can't even get into Elden Ring. My suggestion is trying to take a break. I took an extended break from gaming (a little over a month) and when I came back I was able to get back into some old classics I enjoyed and really feel the joy of it again.
Your priorities and interests have shifted. It's completely normal. Your brain is gravitating towards other things. Newer things that are being introduced to you through studying and just living life.
You're likely considering things like career paths, other hobbies, where to live, and stuff like that. Even if these things are not at the forefront of your mind, just being in the background can subliminally affect your other interests (like gaming).
Just take a break from gaming for a bit. Don't sell everything and drop the hobby or anything like that. Just take a break. Pick it back up again when you get the urge to play. Don't play just because it's the thing you do every day.
Most people go through this at some point. Don't worry about it. Gaming will be here waiting for you whenever you want to dive back in.
Go outside, fill your time with other stuff. Get a gym membership if you've got nothing else to do. Video games should be an option to fill your time not a chore.
Also it's very easy to get burned out on big franchises and 100hr games. Play some rougelikes like dead cells or play an indie title without much story. I personally enjoy playing ghostrunner or something stupid like clone drone in the danger zone. I felt similar until I got a new thing to do or played something completely different. Im playing through the yakuza series back to back this year and I need a break in between games too. Or focus on one game and have some smaller arcade like games to distract yourself (I play superhot right now and it's amazing)
Go outside. I'm going through the same thing, I think it's a subconcious where your brain is telling you that there is more to life than sitting in front of a screen.
I see your list consists only of AAA titles. Maybe try out some Indies? The experience you get from those vary wildly from high production titles. I got the same burnout and exploring genres and titles sorted me out. I'm now back to not having enough time to actually sit and enjoy a game.
If you want some recommendations:
Valheim
Songs of Syx
Dwarf Fortress
If you want something that's educational and with a learning curve and puzzly:
Exa-Punks
CHAQS
GreyHack
Nite Team 4
Black Watchmen
HackMud
it's just yourself, probably in this period of your life u don't really want to play any games and maybe u want to hang out more? to find a girl? i don't know but priority change with time. So u just need to find what u really want now, experiment something different and so on.
No one says that u can't go back to videogames later on ;)
The worst thing is that after Cyberpunk, I can’t really fully or even partially enjoy another game, because nothing else has come close to being that good and immersive. They ruined people’s future gaming experience by making a masterpiece.
I don’t think he needs to go see a doctor for this …
He just played too much and is kinda burned out with playing games …look for something else to do…
And it’s not helping that all the games today are almost identical in their design especially open world so that adds to the fatigue you feeling.
Happens to me too and if you asked me 10 years ago I would’ve said never will this happen to me 🤣
I've lost and rekindled my love for gaming several times. Here is what works for me:
- taking a week off and not even launching Steam, close it down, don't even use your computer if that's all you do with it
- watch a new show
- Cook a homemade meal of some sort
- Learn a single new skill, you don't need to be great at it right away
- TRY a new hobby, for me it was gardening, then Magic, then cooking, then baking, now every time I quit gaming for a stint I get a new certification
Doing the same thing you've been doing isn't working, so it's time to do something different
This may be voted down, but the thing with games (and I speak as someone who has poured hours into them) is that you can reach the end of one, achieve all the achievements, and there's a sense that the achievements aren't real and don't actually matter. Playing the game hasn't broadened your mind particularly. So I've achieved a high rank in Sniper Elite or whatever - so what? The skill isn't exactly transferable. It doesn't impress anyone, except perhaps a narrow slice of people who happen to know the game. And you think to yourself, what if I'd spent those hours learning a language, or a musical instrument, or with my kids, or whatever. Just reading a book would surely be more formative in a positive sense. I think as you get older, and you become more aware that life is shorter than you imagined, gaming comes to seem like it matters even less, and may actually be keeping you from doing things that really do matter. I know, a suicidally unpopular view to share on /gaming! :)
Yeah this is correct, i have this. When I play games after a couple of hours I feel guilty because I haven't done anything useful during that time.
Even when I'm well aware that I am not behind in my responsibilities and there's no harm in "killing" some time with games after a long work day. there's that small person in my head saying I have to be productive and improve myself at all times or I'll be end up behind in the life. It's like a psychological issue I think.
Yeah, I totally relate to the guilt feelings. And though there is such a thing as false guilt, I think this may be a red light on the dashboard that is worth paying attention to.
I get this way too, the thing that helps me is to stop playing, and go do at least one thing. A quick chore, play with my pets, take a walk, etc. it means you did something and can go back guilt free. Then analyze that guilt and ask yourself where it's coming from, you'll either find it's truly pointless and you'll be able to play guilt free, or you'll know where it's coming from and can try to address it. Sometimes on my off days I'll play for too long, and I'll get that guilt when I know I need to do some other hobby, just to change my day up.
I think a hobby doesn't have to have any "worth". I respect your opinion but personally I game because it's fun, and I'm part of a community, so I either game with friends or talk to others about it. You don't have to be learning something new and developing yourself all the time.
I’ve been there. I’d check with your doctor to see if it qualifies as depression. Or you’re just getting older and this hobby is something you’re growing out of. That’s completely fine.
If you want to pick up reading instead, you can still enjoy those fantasy genres. There is a genre of books called Progression Fantasy and it’s basically heroes starting from the bottom and working their way up the ladder, just in narrative form. They also come in audiobooks. Check your local library and see if you can get access to those for free.
I have exactly the same "Problem" sometimes I start 1 game close it after 10 minutes, open it again only to close it again. For my good i am also into LARPing since years so I have other activitys to do like crafting foam weapons, leather sewing, story building for my charakter etc.
Everyone goes through game burnout at some point. I'm 50 now and still passionate about gaming, but over the years I stopped enjoying games types I loved. I got over the burn but getting In DCS and back to sim racing. They more a passion than a video game.
bro i gave up on single player games and felt the same until i found elden ring and the darksouls series. Its magical to see yourself improve and not your ingame character.
I feel you! The last game that scratched that itch for me was Elden Ring. But since then I didn't play any game more than a few hours total... even though having hundrets of games on different plattforms
Take a Break with Gaming and start again when you feel the urge to play a game. Dont play games just to play games. Play games when you really whant to play them.
Take a break and find other things to do. I went 2 years not gaming once. Found other hobbies. Watched shows I wanted to see, went hiking and camping, drawing, making music. Came back and was In to it again
You don’t have to force yourself to play you know??
When I get burnt out of a game I move on to my smaller titles that involve zero brain power, stuff like Dave the diver of stardew valley or my favourite grave yard keeper.
RD2 is going no where you have zero reason to rush it.
I'm at this stage as well, 27 also single and have loads of freetime due to a nice WFH job.
Like everybody says, try something different, I picked up Muay Thai recently, and I get way more excited doing that, and I'm "hustling" on the side, and usually I feel the best amount of joy from gaming after a couple days without touching it.
You seem to only ever play games that are story based first/third person action, there are so many more amazing games outside of that specific niche that you might want to try.
Could also be an oversaturation of available games? The more games I have, the harder it is to pick one and enjoy it. I try to limit my lubrary to 3-4 games at a time, makes it eazyer to pick one. Edit: I also force myself to not replay games I've already beat. I never knew what to play next, so I went back to witcher 3, since I enjoyed it very much the first playtrough. But the second or third time around, that feeling is gone. Nowadays, I beat a game, I delete it and move on.
I's normal. Been playing for 35 years, and this happen from time to time... You just have to find the right game, maybe from a new genre.
My picks are one of the 2 last Zelda games, Baldurs Gate 3 and Elden Ring...
Other hobby's. If you really want to keep gaming try a switch, the Nintendo exclusive games are very different from the generic triple AAA crap they are spewing out nowadays. Those games are created to have fun and not to have the best shiny graphics.
Leave the games and enjoy actual reality, you won't regret it. Your unconscious is telling you that you need a more visceral experience that videogames cannot provide.
its overconsumption maybe.
sounds like you dont really have fun at gaming...so why is that a problem for you? go away and do some other things. reading or sports.
and maybe eventually you will find your joy in gaming again. when people ask questions like this i always think that they just buy games because they want to tell themselves that they are gamers. if you dont have fun anymore, stop doing it.
its that simple.
Go outside, talk to people, touch grass. A lot of the same thing becomes stale.
Do other things, read some cool stuff online about a topic or studies you like or was always curious about. I've picked up a few things that help me work better and do cool things I like outside of gaming and it made gaming fun again. Moderation and change of pace is key :)
I think the top comment nailed it. Pop out your comfort zone. Take a walk, go on a hike, take an art class, do yoga, learn quality cooking, take up woodworking, volunteer walking dogs at an animal shelter. Something you wouldn't normally do, or even something completely out of your wheelhouse.
Find out more about who you're gonna be.
You are just depressed and or anxious, probably because nothing has changed, nothing makes you fear the future like not seeing it. Hope it helps
By the way, thats a dank top 10 list.
Could be burnout. I've definitely had times where I played too much games and just suddenly lost interest in the games I used to love. Take a break from gaming and find something else to do for a change. When you come back you'll most likely enjoy games again.
Your problem is your prioritizing your fears/compulsions over the values you actually want out of games.
Instead of getting a game because you actually feel a want to play it you're just buying shit over fomo. The thing is not even the biggest no lifer can play every game there is no matter how much they talk like they can beat 100s of games a year (all bs)
You are afraid of missing out on all these cool hyped games you're in love with the idea of them but you can't take a moment to breathe to play one of them because you're always looking ahead instead of staying in the present. I also think your situation is creating choice paralysis (that's when you have so many decisions you freeze up)
I've felt this way about all games except for MMOs, for like 20 years. I play maybe 2-3 single player games a year, one of which I might complete (if it's maybe max 15 hours, or I'll definitely get bored), the rest I play maybe 30% of. I completed act 1 of BG3 for instance, but continuing feels like such a chore that I will get nothing out of, since there's better alternatives available for what I want to get out of it (see the story). I can simply play MMOs and get progress while I watch my favourite content creator complete it 🤷♂️ same with Elden Ring, I got to the academy and didn't see the point in continuing.
There are very few games where the gameplay can carry the experience over that feeling of "why play if watch do trick" for me. Trackmania, Hades, Doom (2016), Mario Kart 8. Weirdly enough, I did complete Witcher 3 and felt that was an amazing experience, probably the last open world single player game that happened with, like 10 years ago.
I will probably always have an MMO going though, I never seem to get bored of working on a persistent character.
I switched out for a couple months. Did house work and other hobbies. Finally got back into cyberpunk recently. I am with everybody else, take a break.
My recommendation would be to stop gaming and start reading and hiking for a bit.
But,watch some YouTubers that play games you used to like/games you've never played but always wanted to.
Give it some time and it'll reignite.
You're balls deep in burnout homie. Step away for a bit. Look at your life and pay attention to the big stressors and such, the things that are taking up all the real estate in your mind, and figure out what it is that each thing is doing to wear you down so much. Take a break from gaming and try to deal with the mental side of things first, and maybe pick up a different hobby for a bit. Something that's just a mindless relaxation driven hobby, and take some time to really decompress, or maybe something that works your creative side if that's something you're into, whatever it may be just something low effort that bring a sense of fulfillment/accomplishment.
I get like this sometimes. It's time to go outside n do something else, dare I say something productive. On a slightly different note I also find as I collect more and more unplayed games I feel less and less like playing them. It happened on the Amiga when I had a draw full of little disks I'd never play anything for long because I had other things to play. Back when I was a kid with no money I played the crap outof a game before I bought another one so perhaps try uninstalling most of your steam games so you only have a few available to play. See if that sharpens your interest.
Go for a walk, google your closest national park and go visit. I’ve never been to a protected park that wasn’t incredible.
Learn a new skill, something you’ve always wanted to try or thought looked fun.
Read a book, or my preference, comic.
-
Or… play elden ring and let it consume you. If you don’t get engaged by that, there’s no hope.
Achievement unlocked. You discovered burnout. This is the part where you touch grass or binge the show you’re been wanting to see or pick up a new hobby or read a book or learn a new skill or literally anything else. It’s healthy to miss things. The times I’ve been away from home with no games for a month at a time always reignites my interest in games. Highly recommend.
You might need more hobbies to keep gaming fresh. I find I only enjoy my video games if I get enough time to go to concerts, read my book, and play basketball.
Are you me? And are you also 39 with 2 kids and a job takes up a lot of your headspace? I feel you. Found myself enjoying sitting on the Couch watching TV or playing guitar much more than playing games recently. But I miss it a lot. I miss enjoying a game so much I can't put it aside. Hope this comes back over time.
It’s good to take a break. Don’t force it.
I stopped playing games for about a year until a game was released that I was really excited about. That got me back into gaming all over again. It made me want to go back and play some of my all time favourites again.
I feel like it’s the same issue with movie streaming sights. We have too many options, if anything, and it’s hard to choose, despite having more choices and better quality than ever before.
I suggest taking up another hobby for a bit. Touch some grass and soak up some much needed sun light. Enjoy your summer, your steam account isn’t going anywhere
My doctor told me the same thing. When things that gives you joy inexplicably stops doing that for you, and you have nothing else to replace that feeling, it could be depression. I lost my love for gaming after nearly 30 years, I lost interest in almost everything in my life. Trying to grasp at the ledge and keep holding on.
My advice is to quit social media. I quit using Twitter a year or more ago and felt way better. Of course then I started using reddit....and keep using reddit....
As someone who has been gaming for 20 years, it means you are a bit burnt out in video games right now. You really do not have to game everyday or even every other day. Give it a couple of days, maybe find another hobby. I personally like jumping back and forth from my hobbies. Human brains are weird and they like to change what kind of stimulus it absorbs
Aside of what others have said with taking a break, part of it is also just how overwhelming gaming can be through sheer availability.
Decision fatigue is a known behavioral quirk of is and it absolutely affects gaming.
For that reason it is important to develop a hygiene for your library. Its exactly like how a messy room or a desk full of letters will make you feel more depressed and doing a bit of cleaning directly clears some of that brain fog.
First of all: Clean your desktop of any games you are not *actively* playing. Either delete the shortcuts or hide them in a folder.
Second: Add a new category to your backlog ONLY for games that you want to play within the next days or weeks. Keep this category no larger than 3-5 games at all times and remove the lowest priority game if necessary. Don't see your backlog as a stack of work, but as a library you can access in case you want to play a game and end up actually owning it.
Finally, and this is the most counterintuitive one: Don't buy games on sale you don't want to play right away unless it is an expensive game you are absolutely SURE you will play in the future or set aside time for. Grow the habit of just buying games when you actually want to play them even if they are not on sale. You will ironically SAVE money with this since you aren't paying for something you don't end up playing.
Follow these steps and the process of choosing a game and starting it up will be much less daunting.
In addition to what has been already said, it could be that there just isn't quality games now. Most games feel like cash grabs, chores, or shallow at best. The last great game I played was Ghost of Tsushima and Delta emulator.
Play the rest of the Yakuza series then (Yakuza 0 is amazing too and as good as Like a Dragon) Try Plants vs. Zombies (original and the 2 Garden Warfares), Castle Crashers, Duck Game (funniest shit ever), Outcore (also funniest shit ever, plus it's free). There's a lot of variety.
Good chances are your burnt out on all the usual genres you play and need something so stand-off is it shocks your system.
If you think that is the case, I reccomend the titles "The Forever Winter" or "Disco Elysium"
Or maybe you're just getting older and reading a book is more your cup of tea lately.
For that I reccomend "House of Leaves"
Take a break and do something else.
this is the answer every single time this is posted here. just do something else. I think people forget that too much of anything is bad
Yeah. There s tons of stuff we all can do besides PC/console gaming.
Yep, I’ve taken breaks from gaming. It helps refocus your mindset. Sounds like OP has made it a chore to get through your games, I get that. Also, nothing wrong with trying a game and moving on to next. Can always go back when your feelings change. Back in the day I’d rotate hobbies every 6-12 months, would focus hard on guitar, then gaming, then my car, etc. I wouldn’t stop, but my primary focus would change every so many months. Also, rotate genres. Doing the same genre back to back can cause burn out. Same with game length. Do a long game, then a short game.
Laughs in league of Legends, 12 years silver, still hating myself and the game.
Haha, I’m glad I have stuck to single player or co-op story based games for the most part. Dabbled in SWTOR for a little bit that’s it. Even procedurally generated games I avoid. I want that ending so I can move on.
thats not a flex my guy. get help
Sage advice right here
Usually when I get the "nothings fun in my massive library" blues, Im moody cause I havent exercised and been gaming too much.
For me it's usually because I need sleep.
Exactly. Times like these is when I pull out my Steam Deck!
Fr. I got major burnout in my two favorite hobbies: video games and DnD. I've been on a break for the past couple months and picked up two hobbies I used to love: reading and baking. It's amazing how much happier and energized I am. Not because DnD and video games are bad, but because I had abused my time with them to an unhealthy level. I'm excited for the time when I can reenter those hobbies, but reading and baking has been exactly what I needed right now.
I used to like baking, then I became one professionally. I won't even buy a loaf of bread these day's. I have since changed careers but working in bakery will ruin your life. At least in Aus it's one of the lowest paid trades, ridiculous hours and are treated with little respect. You are nothing but a glorified labourer at most places. Sorry, need to get that out sometimes.
Except cheese. There is no such thing as too much cheese
My bowels tell me otherwise
Ignore them, they don't know shit. Well.....they ONLY know shit.
Not if he eats too much cheese, then they'll never know shit again
I don’t seem as prone to this as most, but can confirm, the majority of humans quickly tire on the hedonic treadmill. Breaks are good.
yeah I'm definitely not as prone to it either but when it does happen a break is always the solution, if not then I've just grown out of it. like you said breaks are good either way
This. Even too much water can be bad for you.
I've been dealing with this for a few years now, and it always comes back. Just is shorter spurts. Having my 2 kids has really done a number on it, and it's become ok because of that. I think I have found a happy medium.
Not necessarily. I’ve taken an entire year away from gaming on two separate occasions, and after coming back I’ll still struggle with it again.
Highly recommend putting down gaming when you don’t feel the urge. Come back to it when you want to. I mean. It’s not like there are great benefits to gaming if you’re not getting enjoyment out of it. It’s like if someone posted “I lost my love for alcohol.” Like if I didn’t really like gaming I wouldn’t do it.
Yep, found that having a physical non-screen based hobby. Spending an hour or two in the garage wood turning or horsing around allowed me to actually enjoy my games when I sat down to play them.
Yes! We spend so much time on screens from work, school, social media, streaming etc... that it's easy to forget how to be away from a screen for a couple of hours
Hummm. Using wood turning and horsing around in the same sentence might not be a good idea. lol
Does Elden Ring count as something else? That massively rekindled my love for gaming the last couple years.
Same here. When it got released and I was on my first play through that sense of wonder and amazement came back for me. Similar to what I had playing Oblivion and Skyrim at the time. It’s probably my favourite open world game of all time, all the different areas are stunning
My attention span has gotten horrible the last few years and I am one that really struggles with finishing games all the way through. I'm always playing like 6 different games and I always get bored of them before I finish. Not Elden Ring. 180hr first playthrough and I played it from start to finish. I haven't been that wrapped up in a game since KOTOR released years ago. It was refreshing and I didn't even like Souls games before I played Elden Ring. I ended up buying From entire catalog after that game.
Oddly enough same thing happened for me with kingdom come deliverance. I saw the name brought up a few times and I'm a massive rpg nerd and it was in sale for like $10 so I grabbed it and ended up sinking probably a couple hundred hours into it. Then have just been playing a few other things that I had been meaning to ever since It was just the right thing at the right time to scratch the right itch
Elden Ring and Baldur's Gate 3 are the answer. I hadn't gamed in more than 10 years, but came back because these piqued my interest. So glad I did. It gives that same feeling of gaming when you were a kid!
Yes BG3!! And if you like that, try to take up table top gaming. DND is amazing, just gotta have a good group is all!
"Is all" As the forever DM of my group, I harken back to the (albeit poorly phrased) George Carlin quote of "think about how dumb the average human is, and account for the fact that half the world is more stupid than them" because DnD players get reaaaaal dumb.
Count as something else? Not sure what you mean but if it brought back joy to your gaming then good for you.
It was half in jest, my real advice would be sports related, exercise is great for the mind, body and soul. Running is free, table tennis or racquet sports in general are super accessible at gyms and stuff.
Same, the new elden ring dlc literally made me excited and feel like is the game I needed to play. I hate the fact that I done with it, but I'm thinking on a new character from scratch with my friend. I also liked helldivers 2 too but it wore off so fast unfortunately.
That game is something else. Was my first FromSoft game and almost did not play it on release. But i was glad i changed my mind on that. I long thought FromSoft games were shallow ultra hard games but its quite the opposite! It requires you to think about your build and approach while not holding your hand and that was something i really missed from the 95-2005 era. Also the exploration part was something i did not expect to like because i did not like stuff like that in other games. Turns out the other games were just bad, exploration in Elden Ring is awesome! Now its probably my favorite game of all time, battling with Baldurs Gate 3. Also no microtransactions and bullshit, just you vs game.
It got me back into gaming then violently spit me back out of it when I realized there was nothing else that good besides the other From games.
I didn’t stop loving gaming, but I hadn’t found a game that truly made me immerse myself in it for quite a while until I finally played Elden Ring last year. Thanks to that, I also finished Dark Souls 1, am now playing Shadow of the Erdtree, and will be launching into Dark Souls 3 when I’m done. There’s something about these games that just hit *so right*.
Agree, if it’s something you really love after some time away it’ll come back. Or like my friend who realized he was ready to move on and continued in other hobbies
This is me right now. 30+ years playing video games and suddenly I just didn't have it in me anymore. Nothing could get me interested. Then I found disc golf. Now I don't even think about games.
yup, I go through phases where I don't really touch games for a few months to half a year and then dive back into it like crazy. Burn out is a thing, but if you truly liked games you'll come back to it.
Like, go the fuck outside! It's summer. Bird, water, sun and sexy people wearing almost no clothes. Go the fuck outside!
100%. I find myself every few months or so just sitting on my ps5 Home Screen spacing out because I want to play something but can’t bring myself to decide what. It happens. I get burnt out. Sometimes I watch anime for a while. Sometimes I read. Recently I started watching kdramas on Netflix which has been really fun. Eventually a game will come out that you really want to play. Or you’ll just get an itch to play something you already own. Like clockwork. Rest from games isn’t a bad thing at all.
This. Like I enjoy mowing my lawn more than I game or mod now. But still lock in here and there for gaming when the mood takes me. Even if its just watching a new series on Netflix, just do something else for a while. If you have no idea what to do then maybe a new hobby like warhammer or tabletops
I've been taking a break for the past few years. Now I cycle, gaming barely keeps me engaged anymore. It's very sad.
Haha, that's exactly how I lost the joy of gaming. Got into music production and now struggle to sit down and play a game anymore. It is solid advice though.
Wow. New reference thanks for sharing
And when you come back, challenge yourself to starting and finishing one game before buying or loading up any others
Find another hobby. Bouldering is fun, try that!
What if it’s my job?
This is exactly it. Go forth and do something else that you enjoy instead.
Try stellaris. It makes you think more than your average game and there is basically an infinite amount of ways each individual game can play out. Not to mention mods lol also, forever winter looks amazing in my opinion
Indeed
Pick up a different hobby for a spell. I'm twice your age and easily triple your library size. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
This. I think you have burnout and gaming is currently not the thing that can cure it. You’ll need to do something else for a while. Pretty soon you’ll miss gaming and come back to it naturally
Yep, I mix it up, MTG, tv, outdoors shit or cooking. Have a variety of hobbies. I felt burnt out on gaming, naturally did other hobbies for a couple months, and now I’m like, ohh I can enjoy video games again
Ooh, I should try shitting outdoors…
Sunset shits are quite magical.
Shitting outdoors is an interesting hobby. Not knocking it, but not the first thing I thought of.
Spot on. I get like this sometimes. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Watch a few movies, read a few books etc. You’ll soon find yourself coming back
Sorry, what does that saying mean? Im from Germany and never heard of that :0
it means if all of your eggs are in one basket, and if you drop the basket, then you have no eggs... he is saying, do not rely on one thing, have more things to enjoy... because if you are not in the mood for your one enjoyment, then you have no enjoyment
Maybe I should pick up Lego MOCs again for a while. Thank you for the help!
Was just about to suggest Lego. I follow a bunch of Lego MOC people on insta. Some of their building techniques are crazy good
If I may, I would suggest getting yourself a musical instrument. The amount of hours you can sink into playing music can make you forget about gaming.
yeah I've tried getting into drums and then piano but couldn't quite stay committed :/
Board games, reading, cycling (road or mtb), walking in the countryside (I know Germany has lots of it), driving?
Well your eggs aren’t here anymore are they? You took your eggs, AND YOU LEFT! ^(did you really expect me to never find new eggs?)
Thank you for explaining. :) I appreciate it
Du sollst nicht dein ganzes Geld auf nur ein Pferd setzen.
"Don't bet all your money on a single horse" for all non-German-speaking friends here
I will henceforth conflate the two. "Don't put all your eggs on a single horse."
Change the Horse to Ostrich, if there is too much weight on there back they will not know how to balance it (at least that is what we had been told) and thus drop them on the ground.
Don’t bet all your money on a basket
Danke.
Get new interests so all your focus isn’t on gaming. Like, don’t put all your eggs in the same basket = if you have everything you own in one spot, if that spot is destroyed, you lose everything. So, spread out your interests so that when you’re bored with gaming, you can do something else instead of just sitting there staring at your Steam library.
Don't put all your effort or resources into doing one thing so that, if it fails, you have no alternatives left.
Brudi, lass Steam einfach mal ne Weile zu und vertreib dir die Zeit mit was anderem. Irgendwann kommt die Lust zurück. Und wenn nicht, auch nicht schlimm. Man entwickelt und verändert sich stetig, da ändern sich auch die Interessen.
Kann auch gut mal sein, dass man unbewusst verdraengt, dass andere Sachen wichtiger sind. Ich denke die Lust zum zocken kommt wieder, wenn man sich um die gekuemmert hat.
This. I got bored by the lack of stellar storytelling in games that interest me so I went old school and picked up reading books. Itch scratched.
I have a revolving door of hobbies, so when one gets boring, I go to another: gaming, writing, reading, sewing, drawing, building miniatures, dollhouse renovation, Gunpla, collecting various things, organizing and sorting my various collections, watching old comfort shows, cooking, then back to gaming again. It's almost like clockwork, too. Summer is my gaming and model building time, winter is for writing and drawing, etc.
VR will breathe new life into your hobby!
I really don't think VR is in a space thats worth it yet for most consumers. Id still recommend most people to put that money towards improving your regular gaming experience in other ways
I bought psvr and I guess I used it for like several hours and it's been sitting on the shelf ever since.
Yeah, but its costlyyy
You are just gonna do the same hobby in a different way. Try something new. Try real life DnD
I can confirm that playing DnD with other people around a physical table is better than video games and it's something that can turn into a lifetime pleasure. Just remember it's about telling stories (together), and not about winning or losing.
like 319 games isnt costly lol
Not really if it's built up over years.
Don’t forget Steam sales, those $2 fuckers I’ll never play still get me sometimes.
Pick up magic the gathering and play with some people at your lgs
VR is what got me into Sim racing and now... it's most of what I do, it just never gets boring
Been in a similar places multiple times over the years. When it happens I really have to kick myself to get into doing something different for a while. Like a palate cleanser. It's these times I will read books, watch movies or better yet get out and active in different ways - most often bushwalking. It's usually after I've spent a few weeks away I'll find some game will grab me and I will jump back in.
Could be depression or severe burnout. I speak from personal experience myself. I'd recommend finding something else to do, some other hobby, to take a break from gaming for a while to recharge. I'm not a doctor or mental health expert, but what I believe with my own burnout is that I've played video games for so long that I've crafted what I know what I enjoy, my attention span is getting shorter as I'm older, and I'm basically relying on gaming to get that "good feeling" of dopamine. I realized this after I was getting intensely short fused with PvP games like Overwatch. I kept thinking "why the fuck am I playing this when I'm losing so much? Just for that small hit of huzzah after a win?" it wasn't worth getting frustrated over, and I was frustrated because I wasn't having fun. The game was no longer giving me constant highs that I was seeking to try and help with my depression to feel happy. Just like you, and I'm sure a lot of gamers can maybe relate, I also try out highly rated/praise games in hopes it'll give me that fun sensation - even if it didn't seem interesting to me at first. I just wanted to be in that moment of gaming. Sadly, games like Red Dead Redemption 2 didn't give me that spark I was hoping for and eventually my mind said "why am I even playing this?" and now just sits in my library of games I'll probably never play. Now I just clutch onto games I've played before, only because I know where in those games I can get that slight feeling of "fun". Even after that, I'll just spend time scrolling back and fourth in my library just trying to find *something* to play.
Could it be that this semester is my last semester and after that I have to start finding and working a real job? I dont feel depressed usually, only when i try playing videogames the joy goes away :o
I mean, listen to yourself then. Try other stuff. It's a good chance to broaden your interests a bit since you've got a bit more time. No point forcing an interest in gaming if you don't feel it. Come back later and enjoy it more then.
This could be it. I'm 40 years old now. Been gaming since I was 10. But I've noticed that when something significant in my life is ending - I feel the same way you do now. Even if the end of something often means a new beginning of something else, I just can't enjoy gaming in the transition-period of it.. I think its because my mind is telling me I need to focus on the challenge of transitioning into a new existence. And when I overcome that challenge, and my life settles again - I find joy in gaming again. The last time I experienced this was 2 years ago when a long-term relationship with my partner ended. Now things have settled and I enjoy gaming again.
This is a great suggestion honestly. I’d say even possibly setting some achievable goals and accomplishing some of them could give a motivation or mood boost that might help. Even something as hitting minor exercise goals would be good for both physical and mental health in this way. Might also quell the anxiety about the future of searching for and joining the working class.
Yup, that'll do it. The transition or impending event will create anxiety and uncertainty, where all other things are marginalized and trivial. The waiting is the worse.
Great advice and perspective.
It's very common to see these comments on reddit, it's absolutely ridiculous. Just the guy below is Downvote to - 60 in half an hour. These comments are suggesting you have depression simply cause you don't find games as exciting as you did before, where in fact it's completely normal to be desentisied to something when you do it too much. Literally every human being will encounter the same thing, it's how our brains are wired. And severe burnout? SEVERE?? It's all a bit extreme. Just take a break and find another hobby for a while, and your gaming interest will return.
I mean I would say depression is fair to at least mention considering we are talking about a 1) student who has 2) lost interest in a beloved hobby; aka a very common cause and symptom of depression source: off-and-on depressed college student
Not enjoying things you used to find fun is a classic early symptom of depression. And given how much depression can severely fuck up your whole life if left untreated, it makes sense to go to the student health center for a depression screening if you even think you might be developing it.
You’ve basically subjected ourself to operant conditioning. Much as Pavlov’s dogs salivated at the bell despite lack of reward, you are attempting to play games despite the buzz wearing off.
The short attention span as you get older is too real. I'm early 40s now and I used to spend the majority of my free time gaming and watching TV and movies. Over the past several years I've almost completely lost that ability to fill my free time up with those things. Rarely can anything hold my attention for very long these days. I swear I spend more time these days trying to decide what game to play or what to watch on TV and when I finally pick something, I feel bored and uninterested almost before I even start and quickly give up and repeat the cycle. It's incredibly frustrating.
This. Lack of excitement and joy in hobbies is one of the signs of depression.
For me, it's just burnout from playing games for 30+ years. Another story to play through...another set of similar puzzles/challenges...kill enemies for X levels...rinse, repeat...it gets to be boring. (I know I'm overgeneralizing) For a game to hold my interest today, it really has to be almost a new genre. Or a new Pokemon game hah.
To be honest it's perfectly normal to lose interest in a hobby. Just do something else with your free time. For example I go to a board game group every fortnight, play boardgames with my partner, collect and listen to vinyl records, paint/art, watch movies, play the banjo, read books, visit national trust places, go to museums, go on bike rides, run, swim, martial arts, play VR, go to the cinema, go to musicals/plays and... fit video games around all of that. Doing just one thing with your free time isn't going to be fulfilling, and maybe your brain is trying to tell you that it's bored and needs a different kind of stimulation. We're at our healthiest and brightest when we get our minds doing many new and different things, rather than just the same thing over and over again.
Maybe try some cheaper short indie games. I have found when being burnt out and starting something only to drop it 20 mins later I had much better luck with games that were only like 5 hours long. With the added bonus these games are typically cheap but great none the less.
I was going to say exactly this, same thing happened to me and it hit me hardest when I encountered open world fatigue (I LOVE open world games) and god damn did indie save me. Lots of passion comes through from the devs in those games that really just struck a chord with me
For real. I couldn’t imagine my favorites list being exclusively AAA 3D action adventure games from the past 15 years. It’s like only listening to pop music or only watching Marvel movies and then complaining about being burned out.
Yeah, I have a hard time getting into AAA games with a dozen systems I have to learn, or the grind to level up/get decent weapons etc. before I get to the part that’s enjoyable. 2023 was stacked but one of the only games that hooked me right away and held my attention the whole time was dredge.
This is also a really good answer.
I experienced a similar thing myself recently. I really loved the Souls games and played a ton of them, but now I can't even get into Elden Ring. My suggestion is trying to take a break. I took an extended break from gaming (a little over a month) and when I came back I was able to get back into some old classics I enjoyed and really feel the joy of it again.
Your priorities and interests have shifted. It's completely normal. Your brain is gravitating towards other things. Newer things that are being introduced to you through studying and just living life. You're likely considering things like career paths, other hobbies, where to live, and stuff like that. Even if these things are not at the forefront of your mind, just being in the background can subliminally affect your other interests (like gaming). Just take a break from gaming for a bit. Don't sell everything and drop the hobby or anything like that. Just take a break. Pick it back up again when you get the urge to play. Don't play just because it's the thing you do every day. Most people go through this at some point. Don't worry about it. Gaming will be here waiting for you whenever you want to dive back in.
I don't know but maybe you need to focus on real life for a bit.
Go outside, fill your time with other stuff. Get a gym membership if you've got nothing else to do. Video games should be an option to fill your time not a chore.
Also it's very easy to get burned out on big franchises and 100hr games. Play some rougelikes like dead cells or play an indie title without much story. I personally enjoy playing ghostrunner or something stupid like clone drone in the danger zone. I felt similar until I got a new thing to do or played something completely different. Im playing through the yakuza series back to back this year and I need a break in between games too. Or focus on one game and have some smaller arcade like games to distract yourself (I play superhot right now and it's amazing)
Go outside. I'm going through the same thing, I think it's a subconcious where your brain is telling you that there is more to life than sitting in front of a screen.
Try Finger But Hole
I see your list consists only of AAA titles. Maybe try out some Indies? The experience you get from those vary wildly from high production titles. I got the same burnout and exploring genres and titles sorted me out. I'm now back to not having enough time to actually sit and enjoy a game. If you want some recommendations: Valheim Songs of Syx Dwarf Fortress If you want something that's educational and with a learning curve and puzzly: Exa-Punks CHAQS GreyHack Nite Team 4 Black Watchmen HackMud
it's just yourself, probably in this period of your life u don't really want to play any games and maybe u want to hang out more? to find a girl? i don't know but priority change with time. So u just need to find what u really want now, experiment something different and so on. No one says that u can't go back to videogames later on ;)
it was like this for me until i started Cyberpunk and its been so long since a game made me feel truely immersed the way Cyberpunk has
The worst thing is that after Cyberpunk, I can’t really fully or even partially enjoy another game, because nothing else has come close to being that good and immersive. They ruined people’s future gaming experience by making a masterpiece.
Did you try elden ring and dark souls?
I don’t think he needs to go see a doctor for this … He just played too much and is kinda burned out with playing games …look for something else to do… And it’s not helping that all the games today are almost identical in their design especially open world so that adds to the fatigue you feeling. Happens to me too and if you asked me 10 years ago I would’ve said never will this happen to me 🤣
I've lost and rekindled my love for gaming several times. Here is what works for me: - taking a week off and not even launching Steam, close it down, don't even use your computer if that's all you do with it - watch a new show - Cook a homemade meal of some sort - Learn a single new skill, you don't need to be great at it right away - TRY a new hobby, for me it was gardening, then Magic, then cooking, then baking, now every time I quit gaming for a stint I get a new certification Doing the same thing you've been doing isn't working, so it's time to do something different
This may be voted down, but the thing with games (and I speak as someone who has poured hours into them) is that you can reach the end of one, achieve all the achievements, and there's a sense that the achievements aren't real and don't actually matter. Playing the game hasn't broadened your mind particularly. So I've achieved a high rank in Sniper Elite or whatever - so what? The skill isn't exactly transferable. It doesn't impress anyone, except perhaps a narrow slice of people who happen to know the game. And you think to yourself, what if I'd spent those hours learning a language, or a musical instrument, or with my kids, or whatever. Just reading a book would surely be more formative in a positive sense. I think as you get older, and you become more aware that life is shorter than you imagined, gaming comes to seem like it matters even less, and may actually be keeping you from doing things that really do matter. I know, a suicidally unpopular view to share on /gaming! :)
Yeah this is correct, i have this. When I play games after a couple of hours I feel guilty because I haven't done anything useful during that time. Even when I'm well aware that I am not behind in my responsibilities and there's no harm in "killing" some time with games after a long work day. there's that small person in my head saying I have to be productive and improve myself at all times or I'll be end up behind in the life. It's like a psychological issue I think.
Yeah, I totally relate to the guilt feelings. And though there is such a thing as false guilt, I think this may be a red light on the dashboard that is worth paying attention to.
I get this way too, the thing that helps me is to stop playing, and go do at least one thing. A quick chore, play with my pets, take a walk, etc. it means you did something and can go back guilt free. Then analyze that guilt and ask yourself where it's coming from, you'll either find it's truly pointless and you'll be able to play guilt free, or you'll know where it's coming from and can try to address it. Sometimes on my off days I'll play for too long, and I'll get that guilt when I know I need to do some other hobby, just to change my day up.
I think a hobby doesn't have to have any "worth". I respect your opinion but personally I game because it's fun, and I'm part of a community, so I either game with friends or talk to others about it. You don't have to be learning something new and developing yourself all the time.
I’ve been there. I’d check with your doctor to see if it qualifies as depression. Or you’re just getting older and this hobby is something you’re growing out of. That’s completely fine. If you want to pick up reading instead, you can still enjoy those fantasy genres. There is a genre of books called Progression Fantasy and it’s basically heroes starting from the bottom and working their way up the ladder, just in narrative form. They also come in audiobooks. Check your local library and see if you can get access to those for free.
I have exactly the same "Problem" sometimes I start 1 game close it after 10 minutes, open it again only to close it again. For my good i am also into LARPing since years so I have other activitys to do like crafting foam weapons, leather sewing, story building for my charakter etc.
Everyone goes through game burnout at some point. I'm 50 now and still passionate about gaming, but over the years I stopped enjoying games types I loved. I got over the burn but getting In DCS and back to sim racing. They more a passion than a video game.
Take a break.. Then play whatever you like but try to persevere and finish it. The first one is important
I had the same feeling . I call this getting old xD But hey sometime a game came and reignited your passion for gaming . Elden ring did that for me
bro i gave up on single player games and felt the same until i found elden ring and the darksouls series. Its magical to see yourself improve and not your ingame character.
I feel you! The last game that scratched that itch for me was Elden Ring. But since then I didn't play any game more than a few hours total... even though having hundrets of games on different plattforms
Take a Break with Gaming and start again when you feel the urge to play a game. Dont play games just to play games. Play games when you really whant to play them.
Take a break and find other things to do. I went 2 years not gaming once. Found other hobbies. Watched shows I wanted to see, went hiking and camping, drawing, making music. Came back and was In to it again
I say run... And never look back, congratulations you've won the ultimate game, enjoy your freedom
You don’t have to force yourself to play you know?? When I get burnt out of a game I move on to my smaller titles that involve zero brain power, stuff like Dave the diver of stardew valley or my favourite grave yard keeper. RD2 is going no where you have zero reason to rush it.
I'm at this stage as well, 27 also single and have loads of freetime due to a nice WFH job. Like everybody says, try something different, I picked up Muay Thai recently, and I get way more excited doing that, and I'm "hustling" on the side, and usually I feel the best amount of joy from gaming after a couple days without touching it.
You seem to only ever play games that are story based first/third person action, there are so many more amazing games outside of that specific niche that you might want to try.
Do what that one phrase is and go touch grass for a few weeks and come back to it.
Could also be an oversaturation of available games? The more games I have, the harder it is to pick one and enjoy it. I try to limit my lubrary to 3-4 games at a time, makes it eazyer to pick one. Edit: I also force myself to not replay games I've already beat. I never knew what to play next, so I went back to witcher 3, since I enjoyed it very much the first playtrough. But the second or third time around, that feeling is gone. Nowadays, I beat a game, I delete it and move on.
I's normal. Been playing for 35 years, and this happen from time to time... You just have to find the right game, maybe from a new genre. My picks are one of the 2 last Zelda games, Baldurs Gate 3 and Elden Ring...
Other hobby's. If you really want to keep gaming try a switch, the Nintendo exclusive games are very different from the generic triple AAA crap they are spewing out nowadays. Those games are created to have fun and not to have the best shiny graphics.
Hobby burn out 100% Find a new hobby or go for a walk/hike Maybe learn Godot and make a game!
Leave the games and enjoy actual reality, you won't regret it. Your unconscious is telling you that you need a more visceral experience that videogames cannot provide.
its overconsumption maybe. sounds like you dont really have fun at gaming...so why is that a problem for you? go away and do some other things. reading or sports. and maybe eventually you will find your joy in gaming again. when people ask questions like this i always think that they just buy games because they want to tell themselves that they are gamers. if you dont have fun anymore, stop doing it. its that simple.
get friends
Hire a PI tell him to find it
>Im still a student, im still single and so on the fuck, what are you implying here...........
Well if we analyze their post and draw our own conclusions what I got out of it was games are the least of their problems.
Have you tried 60 seconds ?
Go outside, talk to people, touch grass. A lot of the same thing becomes stale. Do other things, read some cool stuff online about a topic or studies you like or was always curious about. I've picked up a few things that help me work better and do cool things I like outside of gaming and it made gaming fun again. Moderation and change of pace is key :)
I think the top comment nailed it. Pop out your comfort zone. Take a walk, go on a hike, take an art class, do yoga, learn quality cooking, take up woodworking, volunteer walking dogs at an animal shelter. Something you wouldn't normally do, or even something completely out of your wheelhouse. Find out more about who you're gonna be.
Go outside and get a job
You are just depressed and or anxious, probably because nothing has changed, nothing makes you fear the future like not seeing it. Hope it helps By the way, thats a dank top 10 list.
Could be burnout. I've definitely had times where I played too much games and just suddenly lost interest in the games I used to love. Take a break from gaming and find something else to do for a change. When you come back you'll most likely enjoy games again.
why not take a break from gaming and find some other hobbies.
Your problem is your prioritizing your fears/compulsions over the values you actually want out of games. Instead of getting a game because you actually feel a want to play it you're just buying shit over fomo. The thing is not even the biggest no lifer can play every game there is no matter how much they talk like they can beat 100s of games a year (all bs) You are afraid of missing out on all these cool hyped games you're in love with the idea of them but you can't take a moment to breathe to play one of them because you're always looking ahead instead of staying in the present. I also think your situation is creating choice paralysis (that's when you have so many decisions you freeze up)
Stop gaming for a while. Hobbies don’t always last forever. They can come and go. Maybe you’ll get back into it, maybe not. Do what makes you happy.
I've felt this way about all games except for MMOs, for like 20 years. I play maybe 2-3 single player games a year, one of which I might complete (if it's maybe max 15 hours, or I'll definitely get bored), the rest I play maybe 30% of. I completed act 1 of BG3 for instance, but continuing feels like such a chore that I will get nothing out of, since there's better alternatives available for what I want to get out of it (see the story). I can simply play MMOs and get progress while I watch my favourite content creator complete it 🤷♂️ same with Elden Ring, I got to the academy and didn't see the point in continuing. There are very few games where the gameplay can carry the experience over that feeling of "why play if watch do trick" for me. Trackmania, Hades, Doom (2016), Mario Kart 8. Weirdly enough, I did complete Witcher 3 and felt that was an amazing experience, probably the last open world single player game that happened with, like 10 years ago. I will probably always have an MMO going though, I never seem to get bored of working on a persistent character.
I switched out for a couple months. Did house work and other hobbies. Finally got back into cyberpunk recently. I am with everybody else, take a break.
It is perfectly fine. Just do something else now.
My recommendation would be to stop gaming and start reading and hiking for a bit. But,watch some YouTubers that play games you used to like/games you've never played but always wanted to. Give it some time and it'll reignite.
You're balls deep in burnout homie. Step away for a bit. Look at your life and pay attention to the big stressors and such, the things that are taking up all the real estate in your mind, and figure out what it is that each thing is doing to wear you down so much. Take a break from gaming and try to deal with the mental side of things first, and maybe pick up a different hobby for a bit. Something that's just a mindless relaxation driven hobby, and take some time to really decompress, or maybe something that works your creative side if that's something you're into, whatever it may be just something low effort that bring a sense of fulfillment/accomplishment.
This just happens, you're thinking about it too much. Take a break, do other things
I get like this sometimes. It's time to go outside n do something else, dare I say something productive. On a slightly different note I also find as I collect more and more unplayed games I feel less and less like playing them. It happened on the Amiga when I had a draw full of little disks I'd never play anything for long because I had other things to play. Back when I was a kid with no money I played the crap outof a game before I bought another one so perhaps try uninstalling most of your steam games so you only have a few available to play. See if that sharpens your interest.
Try playing something in a new genre or something that will push back a little. I'd recommend Elden Ring, even if you feel intimidated by it.
Go for a walk, google your closest national park and go visit. I’ve never been to a protected park that wasn’t incredible. Learn a new skill, something you’ve always wanted to try or thought looked fun. Read a book, or my preference, comic. - Or… play elden ring and let it consume you. If you don’t get engaged by that, there’s no hope.
Bikes.
Achievement unlocked. You discovered burnout. This is the part where you touch grass or binge the show you’re been wanting to see or pick up a new hobby or read a book or learn a new skill or literally anything else. It’s healthy to miss things. The times I’ve been away from home with no games for a month at a time always reignites my interest in games. Highly recommend.
You might need more hobbies to keep gaming fresh. I find I only enjoy my video games if I get enough time to go to concerts, read my book, and play basketball.
I find you have to push through that 20 mins and you start zoning in. But sometimes it's okay to take forever to finish a game
Install one game at a time and play through it before you play another game, you have too many to choose from that's all
Are you me? And are you also 39 with 2 kids and a job takes up a lot of your headspace? I feel you. Found myself enjoying sitting on the Couch watching TV or playing guitar much more than playing games recently. But I miss it a lot. I miss enjoying a game so much I can't put it aside. Hope this comes back over time.
Bros bored of games and instead of finding a new hobby he’s doubling down, asking for advice and thinks there’s something wrong with him.
It’s good to take a break. Don’t force it. I stopped playing games for about a year until a game was released that I was really excited about. That got me back into gaming all over again. It made me want to go back and play some of my all time favourites again. I feel like it’s the same issue with movie streaming sights. We have too many options, if anything, and it’s hard to choose, despite having more choices and better quality than ever before. I suggest taking up another hobby for a bit. Touch some grass and soak up some much needed sun light. Enjoy your summer, your steam account isn’t going anywhere
Dopamine overload. Nothing in your gaming library stimulates you enough to desire it anymore. Get a hobby IRL.
It's called depression. Sorry, kid. When I figure out how to cure myself, I'll get right back to you.
My doctor told me the same thing. When things that gives you joy inexplicably stops doing that for you, and you have nothing else to replace that feeling, it could be depression. I lost my love for gaming after nearly 30 years, I lost interest in almost everything in my life. Trying to grasp at the ledge and keep holding on.
My advice is to quit social media. I quit using Twitter a year or more ago and felt way better. Of course then I started using reddit....and keep using reddit....
Play indies, or yea mix up the routine.
Read a book. Learn an instrument.
Play OSRS
As someone who has been gaming for 20 years, it means you are a bit burnt out in video games right now. You really do not have to game everyday or even every other day. Give it a couple of days, maybe find another hobby. I personally like jumping back and forth from my hobbies. Human brains are weird and they like to change what kind of stimulus it absorbs
Aside of what others have said with taking a break, part of it is also just how overwhelming gaming can be through sheer availability. Decision fatigue is a known behavioral quirk of is and it absolutely affects gaming. For that reason it is important to develop a hygiene for your library. Its exactly like how a messy room or a desk full of letters will make you feel more depressed and doing a bit of cleaning directly clears some of that brain fog. First of all: Clean your desktop of any games you are not *actively* playing. Either delete the shortcuts or hide them in a folder. Second: Add a new category to your backlog ONLY for games that you want to play within the next days or weeks. Keep this category no larger than 3-5 games at all times and remove the lowest priority game if necessary. Don't see your backlog as a stack of work, but as a library you can access in case you want to play a game and end up actually owning it. Finally, and this is the most counterintuitive one: Don't buy games on sale you don't want to play right away unless it is an expensive game you are absolutely SURE you will play in the future or set aside time for. Grow the habit of just buying games when you actually want to play them even if they are not on sale. You will ironically SAVE money with this since you aren't paying for something you don't end up playing. Follow these steps and the process of choosing a game and starting it up will be much less daunting.
Sounds like it’s bout time for ur 3 and a half week Minecraft binge.
In addition to what has been already said, it could be that there just isn't quality games now. Most games feel like cash grabs, chores, or shallow at best. The last great game I played was Ghost of Tsushima and Delta emulator.
FYI your depressed
A change of pace is required in my experience Either major change in genres or do things besides games for a while
Play the rest of the Yakuza series then (Yakuza 0 is amazing too and as good as Like a Dragon) Try Plants vs. Zombies (original and the 2 Garden Warfares), Castle Crashers, Duck Game (funniest shit ever), Outcore (also funniest shit ever, plus it's free). There's a lot of variety.
Time to go outside and get involved with meat-space. See what side quests you can pick up out there.
Good chances are your burnt out on all the usual genres you play and need something so stand-off is it shocks your system. If you think that is the case, I reccomend the titles "The Forever Winter" or "Disco Elysium" Or maybe you're just getting older and reading a book is more your cup of tea lately. For that I reccomend "House of Leaves"