How to Escape the Gaming Doldrums?

B_Sharp

Have a serious first world problem at the minute, I've self-diagnosed that I'm suffering from gaming ennui, for the lack of a less w**ky term. I started the year ploughing through my backlog, flying through Battlefied, Hitman, Firewatch and couple of others but for the last couple of weeks nothing in my collection has been grabbing me. I seem to be staring at my Steam or Xbox libraries for about 30 minutes every night and then just end up reading a book.

I never feel in the right mood to play anything, if ya get me. I've played 4-5 hours of Doom and enjoyed it but always feel I need to be like really focused to get the most out of it. I had been looking forward to starting Rise of the Tomb Raider, after liking the first one, but I forced myself to start it last night and, again, while it looked good, I still feel a bit 'meh' about it all.

Just wondering what ye do when/if ye go through the same thing? Is it a case of playing something completely different to what you had been playing or just not playing at all until the urge comes back?

Retr0gamer

Honestly it happens to.me every so often. Just came out if a 6 month period of it there. Played a lot of triple A games and just dud nit enjoy them at all. Also tried last guardian and I want to love it but can't. My advice is take a few weeks off games and come back to it. Play something interesting when you come back not the triple A muck. I hadn't been playing much fames the last few weeks so u was catching up on tv and films. Started playing Atelier Totori and Dragon Quest 8 and I'm back to loving videogames.

Potential-Monke

I think i'm currently going through it too. Nothing seems to be holding my interest since Guacamelee and Dust a few months back. I think it's the lack of a decent RPG as they seem to be the games i plough most time into in the last year or two. The Witcher 3 was the last game i really sunk proper time into. And normally, every November, i take 3 weeks off to play the latest CoD (don't judge me, i enjoy them). I couldn't this year due to changing jobs and moving home where there was no internet. I've managed to get a 3 mobile hotspot with constant 4G so about as good as WiMax, so i can game online again, and even MW Remastered is not holding me.

I've been struggling to finish Mafia 3, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Homefront: The Revolution, and multiple indie games.

On the plus side, Mass Effect Andromeda is due out soon, so that should get me back into it!

Generic Dreadhead

I take it you have not played Battleblock Theater? :pac:

Icyseanfitz

i think we all suffer from this at times. I know myself since i started back into college after xmas trying to get time to put into games i really want to play is a bit of a nightmare. Had like 60 hours put into the witcher 3 during the holidays but now i havnt played it in 3 weeks

Generic Dreadhead

Play games that are "Fun" and not "Good AAA releases" is what works for me

RasTa

Sounds like it's time for a 120 hour Civilisation 5 marathon

Digital Solitude

I just take a break from gaming when I get like this, find a new TV show and look forward to watching it in the evenings (I recommend King of the Hill if you're a comedy guy), read, listen to ****e music you enjoy.

And then get stuck into something fun that grabs a hold of you

RedXIV

If you don't do it yet, try doing online multiplayer with a mate maybe?

I have been a single player guy for years and would occasionally delve into online multiplayer sure but only the last year did I start online playing with a mate and now it's the one thing I'm guaranteed to be in a mood for.

Retr0gamer

RedXIV wrote: »

If you don't do it yet, try doing online multiplayer with a mate maybe?

I have been a single player guy for years and would occasionally delve into online multiplayer sure but only the last year did I start online playing with a mate and now it's the one thing I'm guaranteed to be in a mood for.

Multiplayer I find soul destroying but multiplayer with a mate is more like a glorified chatbox in the best way possible.

The_Valeyard

same thing OP

I tend to get gaming fatigue or just bored with genres for a while.

Like you, a work through my Steam catalogue.

Perfectly normal. Eventually you find something that tickles your fancy and your off again;)

aaronjumper

Going through it too, have Dragon Age Inquisition and Far Cry 4 in my library but I'm looking at Final Fantasy and considering it.

Squadding up with a friend/s and dossing in an online game is a good suggestion.

Mickeroo

I'm going through this at the moment too after finishing Witcher 3. i tend to fall back to whatever multiplayer games my mates are still playing but I will also try and get through a few indie games that I know won't require a big commitment of time.

That_Guy

It is such a first world problem but you're right OP, it does feel like a chore to play games sometimes.

I've been playing a varied genre of game since the turn of the year. Ok, I did start by completing COD: Infinite Warfare and Gears of War 4 but small indie games such as Pocket Card Jockey on the 3DS and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney show that there's a much broader scale to games than generic shooters.

I think once you find "that" game that hooks you in, you'll see a snowball effect and you'll want to jump into more games. There's a multitude of games that I haven't completed because I simply wasn't enjoying them.

I used to think that I should push on through because once you start, you need to finish. But, if you're not enjoying something, why waste your time when there's other great things to play that might rekindle the love of gaming.

I recently played through the Mass Effect trilogy and that was the series that helped in getting my groove back for playing games.

SteoL

Yep, I went off gaming for years. 2009 to Oct 2016. Got rid of everything. I ended up coming back to it with a vengeance in Oct and have spent serious cash on a PS4, PSVR, Xbox 360 and whatever else in games. Pretty much playing non stop for months but I know for a fact I'll stop again in a while. Won't get rid of everything this time though as I always come back to it eventually.

I really feel like I'm suffering from this first world problem. There are **** all games I'm looking forward to playing. I got that recent humble bundle and its just another 30 games to sit in my steam library unplayed. I think I'll give up for a while.

Retr0gamer

Deleted User wrote: »

I really feel like I'm suffering from this first world problem. There are **** all games I'm looking forward to playing. I got that recent humble bundle and its just another 30 games to sit in my steam library unplayed. I think I'll give up for a while.

Nier Automata is almost out and a new Zelda. If you aren't excited about them you need to go to your doctor to check if you are still alive.

Robert ninja

Along with all the advice already in here, I also have a small trick that can help a bit if you have lots of unfinished games. Combine game time with tasty food. Different meals for different genres or moods, not very strict. I personally love eating donuts and sweet, homemade baked goods while playing Neptunia. The anticipation for the lovely food is sometimes the only thing that makes me get through the games.

Skerries

replace food with alcohol and I hear ya

Canis Lupus

World of Tanks and vodka. Happy times. (not so much for my liver though)

techgraphix

Can be so hard to get out of that gaming rut. But god help me when the motivation comes back and I grind away 100 hours on a few pixels....

Dyr

I bought a vive

I was filled with gaming ennui at the time

lawlolawl

B_Sharp wrote: »

I never feel in the right mood to play anything, if ya get me. I've played 4-5 hours of Doom and enjoyed it but always feel I need to be like really focused to get the most out of it. I had been looking forward to starting Rise of the Tomb Raider, after liking the first one, but I forced myself to start it last night and, again, while it looked good, I still feel a bit 'meh' about it all.

Strangely enough i'm not experiencing a slump but i found both of those games to be thoroughly mediocre despite both of them being critically acclaimed.

Doom just does the same thing over and over for 12 hours and the newest Tomb Raider added open world-ish stuff and Ubi-icon-puke to the map for no reason. Tomb Raider 2013 was infinitely better.

Canis Lupus

I got Doom based on the praise it got on Boards. I found it a bit crap as well.

Zillah

I'm not sure I see the problem. Why not just use the time to cultivate some other hobbies? You talk about resorting to a book as though that were a bad thing. I think I would benefit by adjusted my ratio of books:gaming.

Autochange

replace the food with some green. then eat the food and play some age of empires 2 online

Akrasia

Robert ninja wrote: »

Along with all the advice already in here, I also have a small trick that can help a bit if you have lots of unfinished games. Combine game time with tasty food. Different meals for different genres or moods, not very strict. I personally love eating donuts and sweet, homemade baked goods while playing Neptunia. The anticipation for the lovely food is sometimes the only thing that makes me get through the games.

Akrasia

Zillah wrote: »

I'm not sure I see the problem. Why not just use the time to cultivate some other hobbies? You talk about resorting to a book as though that were a bad thing. I think I would benefit by adjusted my ratio of books:gaming.

I was kinda getting fed up of games for a while so I whipped out the auld guitar and now my neighbours hate me.