Fall in and out of gaming

I wasn't sure where to post this, but I was wondering how many of you fall in and out of gaming. 

For instance I grew up playing games, but I also lived in the middle of nowhere. There was very little to do. It was a boring town with little education and nothing really great in terms of nature. 

Then I went to college and put all my crap in storage. I pretty much never played games throughout college, save a little during internships.

After college I went to my first job and sold my PSP. Barely played anything expect steam once in a blue moon. 

After moving to another job, for whatever reason I picked up my PS3 and starting playing again. Often two player co-ops with my girlfriend. 

Anyway, it is all back into storage and I'm not playing. 

The thing is since going to college, basically I get really bored with games more often now. It is a lot of the same ole' same ole'. Shoot. Duck. Next area. Level up. Talk to someone. Next area. Drive. Move. Next area. 

Does anyone else have the same problem? It also doesn't help that adulthood is just busy. So finding the time isn't the easiest thing. Between careers, friends, relationships and such, I mean, I don't know.

Thoughts? Nothing? How are you? Yeah!

My situation was/is similar to yours. I played through most of HS until my senior year where I stopped for a while. I didn't pick up video games until the second half of my junior year in college when my parents gave me a ps3 and I got a 360 too at the time. Ever since then I've been into gaming. However, lately I'm starting to get a bit tired of gaming and I imagine I will continue to fall out of gaming in the future once I get a full time career. I'll probably get into gaming again if I decide to pick up the next gen consoles but right now, I'm just busy with other things and interested in other hobbies/activities.

I think it has to do more with gaining interest in other hobbies as oppose to losing interest in gaming. Just my 2 cents

I'm in the same boat. It's not that I don't like gaming, it's just that there's a million other things that I'd rather do. If all else fails and I have literally nothing to do, I usually just start learning some new programming language or library (my favorite hobby). I'd have to be REALLY bored to pick up a video game when I was by myself. On the other hand, I do occasionally play multiplayer games when friends are over. Not often, but every once in a while we'll bust out Mario Kart (which I hate) or PS Move Sports Champions (which is bitchin').

Anyway, you're not alone in this. As you said, adulthood is busy. To me, having no time for video games is a sign that you're doing important things with your life.

You were slaying that vertical demon in college dawg no time for digital video games when you got that shit spread out in front of you my ninja

I played games a lot when I was younger too, N64/Genesis and early PS2 days. Then throughout first few years of high school I stopped playing altogether. Dont' know why but I was really into music for a while. Then my parents bought me an OG Xbox and I soon discovered KOTOR and KOTOR 2 and my love for gaming was re-born, Since then I've been gaming non-stop.

Just a hobby yo. You'll be too busy for that stuff every now and then.

gunnm said:

You were slaying that vertical demon in college dawg no time for digital video games when you got that shit spread out in front of you my ninja

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Perfection

I think a distinction needs to be made between lack of time and lack of interest. If it's lack of time that's affecting you, then sure...we all have points where we're just way too busy for gaming. But if it's lack of interest, I think you have to look at what you're playing. After all, something drew you to video games in the first place, so there must have been something you enjoyed about them. Personally, I think console gaming has gotten extremely stale. Probably 75% (or more) games each year are rehashes...and this has been going on almost this entire console generation.

Most of the small publishers have closed because if you don't sell 4 million copies of a game, it's a failure. The stakes are just way too high with console games. That's why all we see is Call of Duty, Madden, Forza, Halo...over and over. And most other games are trying to imitate them...either in style or in profit margins. And it all becomes the same predictable, mindless crap. Not to mention that the games are often released unfinished and need 2-3 months worth of patching before they even play as advertised. And all for only $60 each!

It's for these reasons that I'm moving to PC gaming. It's just so much more of an open format. Developers don't have to mortgage their home and children's souls to release a game. You actually have variety. You have creative ideas. And I don't even mean just indie developers. I think there's just less pressure overall, and you get games that would never show up on console in a million years. I can say for me personally, playing these unique PC games has given me that same feeling of wonderment that drew me to the NES when I was a child. Console gaming hardly has anything like that anymore (barring a few exceptions). It's all about headshots and yelling "bitch!" into your microphone.

Of course, "adult life" has different things that could attract your attention. But I think the argument that any one hobby is more "valid" than another is silly. Video games get a bad rap for this, but I've known several people who think getting up at 5AM and going and sitting in a boat on a lake for 7 hours is a great way to spend a Saturday. To tell me that that's any more "real" than playing video games is dumb. It's your free time. Do whatever you enjoy.

I come in and out of it too.

As the above post notes, part of it is lack of time. But part is lack of interest at times too. If I'm really stressed games just don't do it for me as they aren't as relaxing as going for a run or vegging out with a movie or book. So just a matter of what type of hobby I feel like doing with precious free time in a given day/week/month.

Games are also huge time sinks relative to movies.  It's nice to sit down for 90 minutes or so and finish a movie, vs. finding 10+ hours in my hectic schedule to get through a game.

Yeah, this all makes sense. I guess back in the day I was so into gaming that it is weird that I'm not anymore. Also, I don't feel like anything has been groundbreaking in a long time.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't the only one.

n8rockerasu said:

Most of the small publishers have closed because if you don't sell 4 million copies of a game, it's a failure. The stakes are just way too high with console games. That's why all we see is Call of Duty, Madden, Forza, Halo...over and over. And most other games are trying to imitate them...either in style or in profit margins. And it all becomes the same predictable, mindless crap. Not to mention that the games are often released unfinished and need 2-3 months worth of patching before they even play as advertised. And all for only $60 each!

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As for that part, well, I don't play a lot of popular games. I've had that attitude for awhile and with the indie explosion it is easier than ever. For instance I have yet to play a ton of the big games because they seem so similar.

Though, maybe that is part of that problem. That is one reason I fell out of gaming. I got sick of the same ole' same ole' (as stated above). Thus far since I've owned a PS3 the list of games I really love is fairly small. MGS4 (fanboy), Heavy Rain, Rayman, Little Big Planet, Darksiders, Infamous, Sound and Shapes....er...yeah are mainly the few I like. I don't get the big deal of uncharted, but I like the story very Indiana Jones, but the gameplay bores me. It is like prince of persia from back in the day with guns, but easier. That is another part of my disinterest...I find many games wayyyyy tooo easyyyyy. Every says Dark Souls, but holy hell, that game is just boring. I will play through it eventually but I'm bored for the most part.

Anyway, right this second I don't have the time, but I know I would fall out of it regardless. Eh, maybe I guess it just comes in waves.

Totally normal. I grew up in a similar situation but have gamed less once I got out on my own. Sometimes I'll pick up a game now and then, but it's usually something shorter and something that is a bit unique. Braid and Portal are two of my favorite games that I played as an adult.

Plus I'm too busy slaying that vertical demon cuz that shit be spread out in front of me my ninja.