Not at all. Stop trying to play AAA bait and just look for fun instead. I’m having a blast with Dead Cells, I think the demo for Balatro (poker roguelike) is still available, if you prefer 3d survival, Valheim is a great pick, etc.

I stopped buying games after I noticed I still only open my typical three :/
Also is a good way of saving money :)

I’ve recently completed Metro Exodus, DLCs included. I have most of the achievements, but it don’t feel like getting the remaining ones at the moment. Before that I completed all of the Halo games compatible with the XB360, on coop.

I feel lost. I don’t really know what to play now.

I went back to playing some Insurgency coop, but it wasn’t even too engaging before.

I think something people haven’t mentioned yet is that games are so much a digital media now that where I used to be able to keep infinity games at all times in a CD book, I now have to selectively decide which games get to occupy my limited hard drive space, and installing a new one means uninstalling another, and waiting to redownload it, and between my limited drive space and less than amazing network speed, those can absolutely influence what I’m able and willing to play at any given time.

It’s more logical to keep ten games I know I like installed rather than choose one of those to cut off in place of a new unknown quantity.

Also, compared to other major sentiment I see in this thread, I actually quite like tutorial sections of games. I’m often very interested to see what the game itself has in store in terms of exactly what mechanics and systems it contains and how they execute them, and how that stacks up compared to reviews or word of mouth, which are often vague, biased, or missing portions of the experience.

After I fully understand what a game is trying to do, I fall off the wagon often times as it sinks into a routine instead of a novel learning experience, or maybe I actually love it, but standards continue to increase as more and more novel ideas and fusions of genres are created and become existing products. It becomes more difficult to make something that’s not something you’ve already done, but slightly worse or only slightly better.

I still “get into games” plenty, but it doesn’t happen quite as often, and it’s the “sticking with” them that becomes more desired and elusive.

When I was younger, gaming was all I did as it was my only hobby and I didn’t have many friends. I’d play the same 5-6 games since my catalog was small and my folk weren’t keen to buy more. I didn’t care much about graphics, performance, or length. I was also more of a completionist, searched for collectables, completed challenges and time trials, and completed side quests. Nowadays, I have a larger gaming library. I own hundreds of games on Steam, but I’ve hardly played a handful of them. Over time I’ve realized that I play games for killing time more than anything else. I’ve become more conscious of how I’m spending my free time and now I spend my free time doing other things.

For me the reason is … Decision fatigue!

I often stared blankly at my staggeringly huge game library and lost all interest to play. And instead ended up playing something not too heavy on the brain that I have known for decades and perhaps even watch Netflix on the side. (Like Diablo.)

While researching online I stumbled upon the phenomenon of decision fatigue and it changed my gaming habits and even other parts of my life. I probably understand the concept incorrectly but for me, I apparently tend to avoid decisions all together when there are too many options which leads to heavy procrastination. Doesn’t matter if it’s too many tasks on my list, too many letters on my desk or too many games to choose from.

I Marie Kondoed my gaming library and now it’s a fun activity again!

• btw I am a gamer for over 30 years and my library, including all gaming platforms and consoles, has about 2000 (two thousand) titles

Years ago I made the decision to never play a game on launch, never buy a game full price, never play a game just because it was on the online buzz.

I decide what to play usually days in advance, carve out a chunk of my recreation time to explicitly play, as if it were going to a movie or a party with friends. It’s like a date with the game. I block a couple of hours to it. If the game is good, it will get a second date, if it bored me, we would break up.

I don’t buy on sales pressure either. If I decide I want to play a game, I would wait to buy it on the historical cheapest price. Only then would the game get schedule time to get played. That keeps the FOMO away.

It has made gaming super enjoyable and no longer the dopamine chase that publishers want to make to milk the most money out of me. As a result I usually enjoy my time way more, play older games more frequently, not out of nostalgia but because I never played then. I also spend less money, which lowers stress and anxiety. As a result I haven’t played a AAA game in a long while.

Time is scheduled for a game on what I’m interested in right now. But since the decision is always for a time far away in the future (up to a week in advance) I can make a more directed and intentional decision. Some weeks it’s thematic, some weeks it’s just genre based. Some weeks are retro. Some weeks are for comfort. All with small and concrete goals for each.

Yeah but people change hobbies change and priorities change. Don’t ever try to force yourself to play games because you feel like your supposed to. I don’t eat candy anymore because I stopped enjoying it. I’m not gonna just eat it because I used to love it.

If thats how you play games now just do you, have fun with those games now, don’t need to over think it

My tastes have definitely changed.

I’m old and I’m busy. I don’t have time for fetch quests that are uninspired time sinks. I don’t have time to play through a game with janky mechanics just for a few bright spots. I don’t have time to farm repetitive shit just so I can do X thing.

I’ve found that most AAA games care more about the time you spend playing rather than whether the game is fun or not. Diablo IVs rapid fall from grace is a prime example of this. This will not stop; it is the end point of the business model. A fun game that people sink 40 hours into and drop is much less profitable than a mid-game that demands a perpetual 10 hours per week.

Others have already hit on it, but my best gaming experiences in recent years have been games that I didn’t buy on release and only found through online word of mouth and hype.

Depends on the game…

Really enjoying Gotham Knights currently…

Certainly didn’t have any trouble getting into Red Dead 2.

I have struggled to stick with Cyberpunk 2077 though… Haven’t tried getting back in since this recent update though.

Tastes change. What are you in to now?

Most of my friends don’t play video games anymore but I love em more than when I was a kid. Like in school I had no time to play but now I can work from home and I can automate lots of it so plenty of time for hobbies.

The only issue is my tastes are rather niche, I think I finished every story and choice focused RPG where you make your own character. I do like games like Stardew Valley or Minecraft and I play those while a new RPG comes along.

Currently I’m playing way less and almost refuse to do any grinding activities. I don’t play multilayer anymore except local console such as FIFA or Super Smash. When I’m alone at home I do mostly single player and I like short indie games the most. I’d rather pay 20$ for a 10 hour indie game than 50$ for a 150 hour open world grind. I’ll not play run around and grind like never Assassin’s Creed games but Hades was fantastic.

Takes Two and Cuphead have been great with the wife but I really want to play something like Cyberpunk even though I’ll probably never finish it.

For we now it’s more Paper’s Please and Undertale with occasional Elden Ring and Cities Skylines sprinkled in between.

It’s depression, and other stuff.

Personally, I find that when I feel that way, it’s because I’m actually just kinda tired of games in general. The huge variety available will often trick me into a headspace of “I’m not bored of games just certain games, I need to find the ones I’m in the mood for” but really what I need is a break. Do some crafts/art, get extra exercise, socialize with people that don’t normally game, read a book, visit family. Just shake up the shedule for a bit and do other stuff with your free time, and in my experience, you’ll want to play something, instead of just looking for something good enough to fill boredom.

Been gaming since I was a boy in the early 90s, mostly a computer and retro games since my family didn’t have the money for new consoles as they came out. Got invited a lot to friends who did have consoles to jam out.

These days, Ive found that burnout is a thing but it’s usually temporary. Games I am playing don’t do it for me, or feel like a chore keeping up with dailies or other tasks to unlock content.

Remember that’s all just grind and put that game down and pick something else up, usually an older game I spent a lot of time with or maybe something in my library didn’t have too much time for.

Also found that getting into modding can be an amazing way to breathe life back into games you loved. And can pretty much say my generation is entirely at fault for remasters and remakes becoming prevelant since the games we played in the 90s and 00s have that huge nostalgia factor and a lot of then don’t work on modern hardware. Plus most of us having jobs and families that make playing them harder to find time for, so making a nice flashy nostalgia hit is something we will drop 60 bucks on and never get more than 20 hours for a while.

Its also worth noting that as you get older your likes and tastes can change. Where you might have been big into shooters and racing games as a teen or young adult, you might find yourself going more for strategy and simulations games as you’re older, but for some its the reverse or migrating to a new genre entirely like fighters or even RPGs. Don’t be afraid to dabble and see what works, and consider what you are playing and why, and what makes you put it down quicker than you plan to.