Are Games Losing My Interest, or Is it Just Me?

[Tropical]

Back in the days when i played top-level CS i always listened to japanese lessons and repeated what they said in the chat.

It did confuse alot of people when i blurted out seemingly random lines of japanese, such as, "Is that your vase?"

 

[cszs]

Maybe games don't hold your attention because you got used to them, but if you experience a game that is more 'novel' in some way, you will snap back. Try playing something unusual.

 

[Firestorm Neos]

I do this quite often, especially on PC games like League of Legends.

 

[Zeitgeist1983]

I think the Market tends to replicate formulas. I didn't touch any of the hundred ubisoft open world games after, maybe, Far Cry 3 and Assasins Creed 2. The latter I didn't even finished. There is nothing special about it anymore after the nth time. What really keeps me going are storydriven games. The ones by telltale, like the wolf among us or life is strange worked best for me. The majority of games use their aestetics rather as a setting for mechanical interactions than for a stage for compelling human drama. That's why Papers Please works and so many AAA games fall flat.

 

[Skratt]

I could never do the job of a game reviewer. They play games because they have to, not because they want to. They don't have the option of putting down a bad game and moving on to something else. And all those games have the same bullshit grind in them that has been plaguing video games for the better part of a decade and yet they keep making them because we keep buying them. So, I guess that is what most people want.

If you have to watch or listen to something else while you grind that next level of XP because it would be boring otherwise, how is that any different that working in the stock room of Macy's with the radio on? Food for thought.

 

[aragond]

In this age of instant-gratification user-choice-driven entertainment, am I losing the ability to focus on video games, and consequently finding it harder and harder to get immersed?

Yahtzee, you have been playing games for a job for a fair few years now. I'd be surprised if you didn't get a little glassy-eyed at times, though this does seem to be a deeper funk. Is a several month break an option for you? I know I'd still be waiting for your return, but I can't speak for the majority of fickle folk you call "fans".

Is it only you? Well, speaking personally as a fellow decades-as-a-gamer, there's not many games that make me flip cartwheels, but it does occasionally still happen. The Lara Croft reboot made me sit-up and play through in only a few sittings. But, I'll confess, I haven't replayed it. And though ten years a GTA fanboy, I haven't really played "V" much. If I wanted to play a poorly-written movie, I'd act out the scenes from Batman/Superman. I do think the industry is suffering the same problem Hollywood is: they found "the formula" and now they're gonna milk it for every penny they can. So many samey games, too little innovation. Except, of course, amongst indies. And too many "story" games need better scriptwriters.

Do we expect too much? Well, given how many talented people are in the industry now, you'd think brilliant ideas would flow like torrential rain. That it doesn't is ultimately because money got involved. Too many studios get "made" from a game series and refuse to die. There needs to be a LOT MORE "creative destruction" in the industry of labels dissolving after that series is milked, or new blood brought-in and less preciousness applied. Creativity is a hard business to be in. What I mean is this: I LOVED FarCry3, but not 4, and I am avoiding Primal like the plague. I LOVED Just Cause 2, while 3 has been... "yeah... good, I guess". And GTA... wew lad!

So, yes, I think games have gotten a little worse as time rolls on. Too much conservative precious self-preservation at the expense of new ideas. That said, having to play and review whatever tosh emerges from the sludge of the games industry EVERY SINGLE WEEK... gotta be a hard ask. Still, it wasn't four years ago, so I'm betting you're just a little jaded.

 

[Dragonbums]

My interest in games haven't waned. But I certainly never over indulged in them either. I was most hard core gaming when I was still in highschool and just into college where I had relatively little expectations and responsibilities required of me.
Nowadays if I had to choose between playing videogames, doing art, hanging out with friends, or getting a well deserved time outside or a nap I'm going to pick the former.

 

[4Aces]

Fast releases with cut and paste content. There is not enough to keep interest steadily. When the Michael Bays of the game world begin to go under (looking at you Howard), the publishers will need to start taking chances again. Until then, we are mired in mediocrity.

 

[mastocklkaksi]

Yahtzee, just stumbled upon your article. I'm the same with podcasts, really. On the other hand, I'll say just one word: Furi.