I'm 30 in a few months; my passion for gaming has 95% gone...

[Actual_Criminal]

A couple of years ago, my gaming passion had drained down to occasional FPS games a few hours a week. Now, even that is slipping. I work 6 days a week by choice to earn money and on my one day off (Saturday), I just want to be very lazy and watch mindless TV/YouTube and relax. I KNOW it is a toxic way to live, as i'm living for work then burning my freetime but need the energy to recharge. 

 

What makes it worse is that i'm a hardcore introvert, so it's not like i'm using my freetime exploring the world or doing something productive. I'm also a single bachelor and have been a while, so it's not like I have the excuse of a family to care for either. (Don't get me wrong though, I am far from lonely and enjoy/prefer my own company. I am not depressed either. This is not the purpose of this topic.)

 

What is strange is that I love watching the trailers for the new games and can't wait to play them, but never actually do anymore. Occasionally, if I get some actual time-off work for a longer period by using my holidays (1 to 2 weeks) then i'll happily put in some gaming hours. However, it will be 2-3 hours a day before I can't be bothered anymore. Nowhere near the 12-16 hours I was doing around 5 years ago. I would say nostalgia gaming helps sometimes, but it can only help for so long as you soon realise that the original games are not as fun as they were and it is purely nostalgia creating the stimulation.  

 

To give an example, here are some games I own but have never got round to playing: Fallout 4, FarCry 4 and 5, AC Black Flag, AC Valhalla, CP 2077, Elden Ring, Horizon Zero Dawn, RDR 2, NiOh, pretty much all Res Evil games, SW Fallen Order and probably around 100+ more games.

 

It is also the same though with anime. On my watchlist, I have over 300+ including many AAA popular ones. Same for popular movies and series.

 

Another thing that makes it worse is that some of my gamer friends still have their passion and are a couple of years older than me. They can regularly game for hours. When we meet, they will ask me if I have played X or watched Y and it will always be a no. Very lucky now if I complete 1 or 2 games a year. 

 

Has anyone else's passion gone? If so, did you ever get it back?

[Crunchy Dragon]

Mine comes and goes.

I'm also a hardcore introvert who works 5 days a week, so my time is spent largely in 2 ways:

1. At work

2. Recovering from being at work

 

I'll fire up CSGO on weekends with a couple friends typically, I hop on Minecraft every now and again, I picked up Stardew Valley and have been playing that casually for a few months, but that's been largely the extent of my gaming time for the past year or so.

 

What really killed it for me was when I got sick of staring at screens. I do that all day at work, and eventually I just got tired and annoyed with it. Somewhere along the line, my mindset shifted and I decided I no longer wanted to be a person who has video games as their main hobby(not knocking people who do - it's just not for me), so I started playing more card games, reading more books(actual reading paper books, no audio or ebooks here), and kept indulging in some of my outdoor hobbies.

 

I'm pretty much just a weekend gamer now, and I've made my peace with that. I'm also notoriously bad at playing singleplayer games, so I don't really worry about playing the latest newest titles and beating all the campaigns, I'd rather just jump into something I already know with a few friends for a couple hours each week.

[thrasher_565]

i think not having friends to play with is why i lost alot of it. one point in my life i had little moeny and had to get the cheapes enet to save meony. downloading a game would have taking a moth so i watch other play games on youtube at 160p... but it was something. also spent alot of time on paintball forms and buying paintball stuff... when i had moeny. but the gaming never really came back. i do it a few hours a day off and on. like today messing about in mindcraft trying to make an auto potion brewer... 1.8 redstone... for loneliness i listen to music or have a video playing / twitch streamer seems to help. aslo help with sleeping vs listing to music witch i did for years... i too have a crap tone of games and good ones too. i can under stand the new games being meh. it probly because i dont do anything els is probly the problem same old same old. look forward to nothing. 

 

also have a million projects too that need to be worked on but yet i dont do it...

Edited April 23, 2023 by thrasher_565

[aledsav1]

Age is not the determining factor or even part of the reason.

I am much older and over the years have lost and refound passion for mutliple interests, gaming, my guitar playing etc.

Nothing remains the same and there are potentially to many elements involved to pinpoint why this happens, you have aleady mentioned working alot.

 

I very much think (removing depression and depleted energy) that there is a reduced interest and motivation into whatever due to ultimately seeing its futility, and that pointlessness potentially applies to anything and everything.

 

The purpose of most things we do outside of survival (everything on this planet is biologically programmed for survival and or procreation, the later being survival of the genes) are for pleasure, at some point the amount of pleasure chemicals released in the brain via the same activity will deplete, thus we lose interest and let it go or look for a way to get that hit from the same pursuit via more intense expereinces.

 

It will probably come and go though never be the same for the extended periods previously experienced, maybe a week of highened interest here and there, or not:)

 

 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

1 hour ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

my mindset shifted and I decided I no longer wanted to be a person who has video games as their main hobby

Looks like im a few years ahead of everyone in that regard since ive also gotten bored with games and im only 15 though i do like playing multiplayer stuff either with friends or being a complete troll to strangers and griefing them (russian rider in particular just blocking ppl from progressing on skilltest with my massive van)

 

nowadays with my freetime i just mindlessly watch yt, attempt to help others on the forums, brainstorm random shit mostly related to computers or the buisness, and occasionally look around on fb or local eshops for broken and/or interesting computer hardware

[Crunchy Dragon]

8 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Looks like im a few years ahead of everyone in that regard since ive also gotten bored with games and im only 15 though i do like playing multiplayer stuff either with friends or being a complete troll to strangers and griefing them (russian rider in particular just blocking ppl from progressing on skilltest with my massive van)

 

nowadays with my freetime i just mindlessly watch yt, attempt to help others on the forums, brainstorm random shit mostly related to computers or the buisness, and occasionally look around on fb or local eshops for broken and/or interesting computer hardware

Yeah I got tired of the mindless content consumption, and that's why I started reading books

[Guest]

Get a girlfriend. 

 

Trust me, it helps with your gaming interest so much. 

 

You work hard, you own things. 

If you're not a dick, can hold a conversation, and forget your insecurities, you can get a girlfriend. 

If you offer to play video games with a girl, she'd be stoked because she gets to spend time with you. And since you're "good at them" you will be able to 'protect her'. 

 

It sounds super stupid, but it's true and you won't care. 

 

A lot of gaming fun is who you do it with. 

[Actual_Criminal]

13 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

nowadays with my freetime i just mindlessly watch yt, attempt to help others on the forums, brainstorm random shit mostly related to computers or the buisness, and occasionally look around on fb or local eshops for broken and/or interesting computer hardware

This is sort of what I do with my freetime now. I always regret it though once I go back to work after weekend and be like "This weekend, i'm going to do something really fun or productive." but still end up going mindless stuff. 

 

There is about 10+ different things I could be doing to improve my live, but always end up procrastinating doing the 'mindless' stuff rather than actual fun activities. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

5 hours ago, fpo said:

A lot of gaming fun is who you do it with. 

Main reason i play online

With strangers and friends i can equally be good and help or a sack of shit and grief/annoy

 

5 hours ago, fpo said:

Get a girlfriend. 

I had one for 5 years in elementary and got betrayed

Doesnt look like ill have one anytime soon

[Guest]

34 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Main reason i play online

With strangers and friends i can equally be good and help or a sack of shit and grief/annoy

Yeah it's great!!

34 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

I had one for 5 years in elementary and got betrayed

Doesnt look like ill have one anytime soon

She's in elementary school... Her parents called the police! 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

43 minutes ago, fpo said:

She's in elementary school... Her parents called the police! 

Bruh

From 1st to 6th grade but the fucker betrayed me in the 2nd semster of the 6th grade

 

To add insult to injury once the 7th grade rolled around relatives asking if i got a girlfriend or not

 

MOTHERFUCKER I HAD ONE FOR 6 YEARS AND NOW YOU ARE ASKING WHEN SHE RECENTLY JUST DITCHED ME?

 

 

i dont expect to get one any time soon and the only candidate is of diff religion, technically i could marry her cause islam allows interfaith only between a muslim man and a non muslim women with the condition that the women is christian or jewish iirc but like just because you can doesnt mean you should and im leaning towards a no unless i can somehow get her and her family to revert but then theres the risk of flipping families upside down and causing chaos which is definitely not a good look for me nor islam, and unless i can easily backtrack on an admission of feelings (have some sort of aliby) i am absolutely not fucking over a friendship for a petty relationship as ive learned the hard way 3 years back, also i think id prefer being able to stick with my partner in the afterlife, and no im not just gonna start preaching religion here dw =p 

Spoiler

though for any curious christians we do belive that jesus pbuh is the penultimate prophet and the messiah (al masih) and values taught are very similar just to clear up any misconceptions cause the terroristic imbeciles from the middle east (ISIS, al qeada, etc.) Making the religion of peace look like a religion of terrorism and hatred

 

Might aswell take an opportunity to clear up any misconceptions about islam cause i kinda dont want to be labelled as a terrorist ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯ 

 

i do have my own money but ill prefer to conceal it aside from sharing with friends cause i absolutely do not want gold digging hoes

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Bruh

From 1st to 6th grade but the fucker betrayed me in the 2nd semster of the 6th grade

 

To add insult to injury once the 7th grade rolled around relatives asking if i got a girlfriend or not

 

MOTHERFUCKER I HAD ONE FOR 6 YEARS AND NOW YOU ARE ASKING WHEN SHE RECENTLY JUST DITCHED ME?

 

 

i dont expect to get one any time soon and the only candidate is of diff religion, technically i could marry her cause islam allows interfaith only between a muslim man and a non muslim women with the condition that the women is christian or jewish iirc but like just because you can doesnt mean you should and im leaning towards a no unless i can somehow get her and her family to revert but then theres the risk of flipping families upside down and causing chaos which is definitely not a good look for me nor islam, and unless i can easily backtrack on an admission of feelings (have some sort of aliby) i am absolutely not fucking over a friendship for a petty relationship as ive learned the hard way 3 years back, also i think id prefer being able to stick with my partner in the afterlife, and no im not just gonna start preaching religion here dw =p 

  Reveal hidden contents

though for any curious christians we do belive that jesus pbuh is the penultimate prophet and the messiah (al masih) and values taught are very similar just to clear up any misconceptions cause the terroristic imbeciles from the middle east (ISIS, al qeada, etc.) Making the religion of peace look like a religion of terrorism and hatred

 

Might aswell take an opportunity to clear up any misconceptions about islam cause i kinda dont want to be labelled as a terrorist ¯\_ (ツ) _/¯ 

 

i do have my own money but ill prefer to conceal it aside from sharing with friends cause i absolutely do not want gold digging hoes

This is going to derail territory but does your ethnicity do arranged marriages? 

 

I don't know your family and specific culture but I hear from middle east through India they can happen. 

 

Aside from that I have nothing further to say cuz derailing thread. 

[Somerandomtechyboi]

4 minutes ago, fpo said:

This is going to derail territory but does your ethnicity do arranged marriages? 

 

I don't know your family and specific culture but I hear from middle east through India they can happen. 

 

Aside from that I have nothing further to say cuz derailing thread. 

Arranged marriages as in matchmaking for the sake of benifiting eachothers families? Id assume so cause indo has a variety of diff cultures (india, china, etc.)

 

dont think ill bother marrying till its clear the relationship will work out and i can financially support a family cause oh hell no im not gonna go broke and have a horrible quality of life for the entire family nor do i wanna bother with divorce especially with kids just no. And aside from extraordinary circumstances i wont bother with interfaith, dont need more uneccesary conflict

[Stahlmann]

I have the same problem with newer games. There are so many games that are praised by others which i bought but never touched. For some reason i'll rather play an older game i already know in and out for the 20th time. I'm constantly switching through different phases of how i spend my time off. Sometimes i barely touch my PC for months, but watch TV without end. Sometimes i don't touch my TV for months but play games all the time.

 

I'm also an introvert, but after moving out of my parent's house it got pretty lonely pretty fast on my own. So i got a cat and that has significantly improved my mental health. Just knowing someone is at home wating for your return is a huge deal imo, even if it's just a pet.

 

You say you're not depressed, but from your OP it sounds like you're not really happy either. And if you don't do something against that, it can (that doesn't mean it will) devolve into depression.

 

Don't force yourself into a relationship just so you're not lonely. I find that's terrible advice. People doing that often become way too overbearing, eventually just leading to a breakup and dissapointment. I have 2 friends who for some reason need a girlfriend at all times and both of them haven't been able to keep a relationship running more than a few months.

[Mark Kaine]

On 4/23/2023 at 7:04 AM, Somerandomtechyboi said:

Looks like im a few years ahead of everyone in that regard since ive also gotten bored with games and im only 15 though i do like playing multiplayer stuff either with friends or being a complete troll to strangers and griefing them (russian rider in particular just blocking ppl from progressing on skilltest with my massive van)

 

nowadays with my freetime i just mindlessly watch yt, attempt to help others on the forums, brainstorm random shit mostly related to computers or the buisness, and occasionally look around on fb or local eshops for broken and/or interesting computer hardware

i mean maybe, but a thing i noticed is i sometimes lose interest in certain things, maybe find something else instead but then come back to the former thing later, and turns out gaming is one of these things i always seem to come back to, haven't really stopped gaming since ~2005 or so though, and yes obviously im way older than you, but maybe gaming just isn't as important or enjoyable to you and thats pretty much ok obviously,  there's other things, just saying you never know if something sparks your interest (again) 

 

as for multiplayer thats certainly a thing that comes and goes for me, i like fighting games, and i don't seem to have issues keeping up, if anything i often have the impression others are just a bit slow all around, not sure about the age thing therfore... i think its easier for younger people to learn though - what i tend to do in multiplayer is what I'd call bait and switch (playing weak basically)  i like poke characters in fighting games etc... i strongly dislike first person *everything* although i recently started playing Overwatch,  i wish i knew that earlier... its different than most "fps" its also not purely shooting or first person... and yeap, i main Mercy, I love it and I bait people into mistakes a lot, especially Widowmaker, basically its like a fighting game to me - i definitely need to improve my shooting though,  gladly thats not Mercy's main job...!

[Somerandomtechyboi]

3 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

maybe gaming just isn't as important or enjoyable to you and thats pretty much ok obviously,  there's other things, just saying you never know if something sparks your interest (again) 

I mean comparing to when i was a kid before highschool and before i started selling/fixing computers

 

Back then at home i was pretty much a no life on the weekends, just gaming them away with absolutely nothing to do

 

But now i dont think its solely disinterest but theres also stuff that strengthens that disinterest because nowadays i got other stuff to do like making a buisness out of computers and on my freetime aside from just that and games i also just go on the forums and attempt to help others just cause i find it fun (though sorry mods for constantly breaking the forum rules and then some)

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

I mean comparing to when i was a kid before highschool and before i started selling/fixing computers

 

Back then at home i was pretty much a no life on the weekends, just gaming them away with absolutely nothing to do

 

But now i dont think its solely disinterest but theres also stuff that strengthens that disinterest because nowadays i got other stuff to do like making a buisness out of computers and on my freetime aside from just that and games i also just go on the forums and attempt to help others just cause i find it fun (though sorry mods for constantly breaking the forum rules and then some)

yeah its always good when you can make your hoppy into a job, and of course gaming is mostly a distraction - unless someone manages to make that their job...

[Somerandomtechyboi]

8 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

unless someone manages to make that their job...

Either a career as a content creator or as a proffessional gamer (the ones that enter competitions)

 

ill dabble around making minecraft content or trolling/griefing content see if thats viable or not, though i think ill just do it mostly for fun