Am I getting to old for gaming? Life after WoW.

[supaidaaman]

I just cant seem to find time that I want to spend on games. I used to dedicate hours upon hours to my enjoyable past time, but I don't really want to anymore. I'm spending more time working and hanging with the Mrs...Which isnt a bad thing, Its just...gaming has lost its spark.

...Kings Quest, Duke Nukem, Half life, Heroes of Might and Magic series, warcraft, Diablo 1+ 2, Counter-Strike, Civ series...etc. These were all games I was really immersed in... They sucked up many hours of enjoyable play time.

I just got off WoW, 7 or so months ago, and I have no desire to go back... I played that game since beta, so it was a few years of solid, continuous game play. It was great, but once you've done and seen everything there is no point in playing. I seriously cant understand why people are still playing that game. Nothing since then has even gathered my attention for more than a couple weeks.

Call of Duty 4 was fun to play for a bit...same with TF2...

I have some consoles, and played the "best" games out there, but Im just not interested. A couple of my friends around my age feel the same way. We keep hoping and waiting for something to come around and make us feel the same way about games as we did in high school.

Im in my late 20's if you want to know. Has "RL" caught up with me?

 

[Capitalizt]

Find a good single player game...a good old school RPG like FF7 to kick back with over the weekend.. That should get you going again

So you're tired of multiplayer...Try giving some immersive single player games a try...Bioshock, Shadow of the Collosus, ICO, Fatal Frame, Silent Hill 3/4, Mario Galaxy, etc

 

[BlueWeasel]

I'm going through the EXACT same thing right now. Nothing keeps my interest.

I think I played the first 3 levels of COD4. I've not even completed HL2. I'm trying FarCry, and it's a great game, but getting bored with the Trigens with rockets. I picked up the Orange Box for $30, but I probably won't finish that either.

I go through phases of wanting to get a 360, but afraid the investment of the console and a few games won't be worth the time I'll put into it. I got a DS a few months ago, and have yet to complete 50% of any game I've played.

I'm unsure of the exact cause, but I think the combination of being married, having a 12-month old baby, and job related stress/pressure might contribute. However, I enjoy the games, but I just lose interest.

 

[coloumb]

Spring/Summertime may have something to do with it? The weather is nice outside..so you're probably drawn to spend more time outside than sitting in front of a computer...

 

[Zenoth]

Wait during cloudy/rainy days and go play a non-linear game, I think that the predictability of most games (unless it's multi-player) plays an important role here perhaps without you realizing it. If that's not the case then it's certainly something more simple like a moment in your life where your conscience "asks" for realism, since spending hours upon hours immersed in a virtual world isn't the best of brain stimulations. Just going outside, taking some sun, taking a walk in a park, talking to some gentle ladies in a café is certainly more enjoyable and more natural.

It's a good thing that's happening to you and your health, get away from the social life suckers (games) and get sucked in real life instead, gaming should, in my opinion be only considered time burners when you really got nothing else to do, and I mean reaaaaaally nothing else to do. But unfortunately I'm playing games more than I would like to, although I'm considering myself lucky to have a part time job, that's a bare minimum, if I hadn't, I'd get depressed sitting in front of my monitor everyday in the same room playing the same games over and over, that'd kill my sanity.

 

[narreth]

I feel the exact same way. The only problem is that I'm only 17.

 

[ShawnD1]

Same problem here. I end up playing the same games I was playing 5 years ago. Age 22.

 

[ubercaffeinated]

It is because of the MMO part. The human interaction is a game of it's own. The smoother it is, the better the immersion experience. This is how WoW is so successful. They made a decent game, and then made the MMO part of it incredibility smooth and immersive. I quit wow over 2 years ago, and I've been itching to go back to it lately. Metal Gear Solid 4 might save me?

 

[silpherx]

Same here dude, i'm 23, quit WOW maybe 9 months ago, after being on and off for about 3 years. I find games boring now too, I can get so excited about a game beingreleased, then after i get it i get tired of it within the first hour. It's been probably a good year or so since i've played through an entire single player campaign.

The only games i enjoy now are console games with RL friends, ie Smash bros or NBA 2k8 or Halo3

 

[deptrai]

Originally posted by: BlueWeasel
I'm going through the EXACT same thing right now. Nothing keeps my interest.

I think I played the first 3 levels of COD4. I've not even completed HL2. I'm trying FarCry, and it's a great game, but getting bored with the Trigens with rockets. I picked up the Orange Box for $30, but I probably won't finish that either.

I go through phases of wanting to get a 360, but afraid the investment of the console and a few games won't be worth the time I'll put into it. I got a DS a few months ago, and have yet to complete 50% of any game I've played.

I'm unsure of the exact cause, but I think the combination of being married, having a 12-month old baby, and job related stress/pressure might contribute. However, I enjoy the games, but I just lose interest.

I feel the exact same way as you, but I keep buying games and never play them. I think there's something wrong with me.

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: coloumb
Spring/Summertime may have something to do with it? The weather is nice outside..so you're probably drawn to spend more time outside than sitting in front of a computer...

blasphemy, its hot and scary and bright outside!

 

[coreyb]

Hate to be cliche, but too much of something isn't good for you. I recommend a break from gaming and pick up something more productive (working out, etc). Then come back in a month and I'm sure it will be different for you.

 

[RandomFool]

I stopped playing completely for about a year. Then I started getting back into gaming with NBA Jam and Mario Bros 3 battlemode. Then I got a Wii and it reignited my interest, I got a DS for on the go (which isn't used as much as it could be) I got a 360 after christmas but haven't had a chance to play it much.

The summer is always a slow time for me becuase I feel like such a waste playing games when I could be enjoying the outdoors.

 

[Qbah]

Hmm... pretty much the same for me. I quit WoW a year ago, after playing intensively since the beta. The only game I enjoyed alot so far was Portal. Such an amazing game! I bought alot of games after that, high scores in reviews, yet I get bored after a few hours of playing. Well, the two episodes of HL2 were pretty nice too. But those were the only 3 games I finished after leaving WoW, I think. Have a break now due to waiting for the new-gen video cards. However, I don't miss playing at all. And I used to play alot of SP games and enjoyed it very much. Bought an Xbox 360 two days ago, waiting for it to arrive. Hope it can reignite that gaming spark in me

And yeah, WoW is all about the interaction with other living people, so many of them, it's hard to beat (if possible at all) in a SP game. Sure, the gameplay was pretty nice, but the fact that you were always chatting with someone, while running around and killing/farming/etc is the major addictive factor imo. You just didn't feel alone sitting in front of a computer screen. I ain't going back though, that game is like a drug to me. Messed up too much while playing it to even consider returning Working and spending all the money seems to work well to make me forget about it

26 btw

 

[Soundmanred]

I got out of gaming for the same reasons. Life, a child, a job, etc.
I've recently built a gaming machine and play PS2 games once in a while.
Nothing really grabbed me like games I used to play though. (Started out on a Tandy, moved to Kings/Space Quest, etc). I've owned every console up to the XBox/PS2, and quit collecting.
I played a game recently that gave me the old school feeling again, and you might (or might not) be surprised - LEGO Star Wars. I'm enjoying every minute of it, it's fun, not frustrating, comical, it's based on Star Wars (the best part) and just makes me want to play it and HAVE FUN.
I'm looking forward to the Indiana Jones LEGO game more than the movie!

 

[Aikouka]

Sounds kind of like myself. I have a ton of games and I really don't play any of them because I have no interest in them. The last game I played that wasn't WoW (for more than an hour or two) was Dynasty Warriors: Gundam, but other than that, I don't really get into games other than WoW. I also do not talk to people in game for the most part, so WoW's hold is by far not the social aspect (although the social aspect adds a dynamic to the game regardless of whether or not you're very sociable). I think the hold actually comes from how the MMO is designed overall. The game has a ton of mini-rewards in the form of quests and other methods. This sort of gratification doesn't always exist in other games where you just go from point to point.

 

[biostud]

I've been on the same games except for wow. Currently I play a little Hellgate London, and then I've taken up adventure gaming with my GF. It's not at category that has many AAA titles but it's quite relaxing play.

 

[BadRobot]

Portal was short and good for a laugh. i played when I was tired of gaming and it renewed my faith in game developers. its like they made a game and had fun while they were making it. And the song at the end is funny/perfect.

 

[hooflung]

It is definitely not you. You are fine as a gamer. It is the industry crapping out rehash after rehash. There are two types of gamers, those who accept rehashes and those who don't. Those who accept rehashes are the ones on these forums that say, "Crysis is the best game I ever played, I'll be replaying it after a year when the graphics cards can handle it no problems." Not only are they wrong on a great level but they have been duped.

After playing an MMO a lot of people find that they cannot go back to normal games as easy as they did because there is no emergent gameplay today. People can call TF2, CoD4 and all the other games released in the past few months great games but I would put forth the idea that they are great games according to 2004 standards. I think games in 2008 need more. More specifically, more than a developer is willing to invest into PC games. UT3 is a shitty game according to 2008 standards as well.

I am not saying people can't have massive amounts of fun and that they are going to all feel gypped but after you play an MMO the amount of community that a standard game needs to have, and emergent gameplay is quite high. After playing EVE Online for nearly 5 years, which is the hardest core PVP game on the market, I just can't get interested in other MMO's as much ( maybe conan will be different ). So now when I look at a game that is not an MMO I tend to judge it by what it has to offer me for my money. Otherwise, the game will be tossed away shortly after like a cheap movie from the 2 for 10 bin at walmart. While games on the ScumVM and other older titles will pull me back to recapture what I loved about computer gaming.

I want my money's worth these days and not another rehash. I have a PS3 for decent single player games. I want my computer games to be full of life inside and outside the game. I don't want a company to yet again crap out a title, toss an SDK half done to the community, and move on to their next title.

 

[BadRobot]

What are your feelings on portal hooflug?

 

[hooflung]

Originally posted by: BadRobot
What are your feelings on portal hooflug?

As a game, it definitely has emergent gameplay written all over it. It just needs to be longer and more developer support to make a sick story. It has the potential to cross genre's of story archetypes. It could be a survival horror game like Alone in the Dark, and it could be a platform adventure game like Tomb Raider... all at the same time.

Lost opportunity all around really. But its fun and it is refreshing to see. It is the DEFCON of the FPS games.

 

[BadRobot]

exactly.

Also for all we know, they were testing the waters with portal and are going to bust out a full length game that will rock our worlds....i hope at least....

 

[Mide]

I'm in the same boat. I started playing computer games since, Wing Commander II->Prophecy, Everything from Blizzard, Mech Warrior 2, Privateer, Freespace, Doom, SSI RPGs, etc. and they all held my attention for years on end. I am also in my late 20s and everything just seems boring. I complete games, but I do it to clear it, not actually have fun like I used to. Perhaps it's the market and the fact that they haven't really released anything astounding in a long time. Maybe Starcraft 2 will change some of that. I'm hoping that AOC will be as good as it was touted as being in a few months.

 

[BadRobot]

Mide - I liked portal a lot. It was short and left me wanting more. First time in a long time I felt like that after completing a game.

Also it was funny (in a slightly twisted way) which was a nice break from other games that are super serious.

 

[mrCide]

Same boat. I've bought several games, i have an x360 I never touch. I was always a big final fantasy fan but couldn't even finish ff12, couldnt get more than an hour into Lost Odyssey.. I play wow maybe once or twice a week for 30-60 minutes. I just am not into games like i used to be, but i still like to follow them.