Has Gaming Run Its Course, or Have We Outgrown It?

[The Reckoning]

i used to play a lot of games, but now i don't care at all to play. for me, games are starting to have that feel of "work" to them...the same rehashed formulas that are glossed over repeatedly by new hardware features and increased performance. a game has to be truly phenomenal for me to invest even close to 100 hours in it, and when that time comes, i don't ever pick it up again. i think that last game was skyrim, but even after i cleared everything i feel like the wonder of the game diminished and all i could see through performance was its mechanics.


the same goes for fps games....maybe it's because all the bugs and glitches are fixed, the people who do find them exploit them to a fault, and underneath all the performance it's still basic trigger finger reflexes and memorization of levels. there's really not that much of a difference between current fps games and goldeneye.

or maybe it's online play...the days of having friends over to throw controllers at and talk shit to are long gone. everything now is online, and chances are you're getting pwned by some 10 year old chinese girl in the back of her family's restaurant.


but maybe it's not the games at all. i'm so busy all the time, and all i can think of when i take time off is work or how i should be developing another skill instead. honestly at the moment that's more entertaining to me than trying to figure out how to win at something i can't put on my CV. the same goes to my friends i used to play with. they're never online anymore.


anyone else experiencing this?

:wakeup

[ElNono]

There's just a lot of garbage out there... I still play quite a bit, it's just that good games are farther and farther apart....

[baseline bum]

I pretty much only play one game a year now. GTAV this year and Skyrim the two before it. Call of Duty and 2k have gotten old and boring, didn't like Diablo 3, bored as shit of the Gears of War and Halo series, and there is nothing out there that I give a shit about in the future. Not impressed with the new consoles focus on social networking and home theater either.

I did love Minecraft but got rid of it quickly because it wastes way too much time.

[resistanze]

I can't remember the last game I cleared....probably The Last of Us in fall 2013. And there's been many games I've skipped (Bioshock Infinite, Batman, Assassin's Creed, COD, Battlefield, etc). Just no time anymore.

I can't even watch TV series I've been meaning to get on.

[Kyle Orton]

Been playing the fuck out of civilization 5. Worth checking out and playing with friends

[Cry Havoc]

I think games lost their way for a while with AAA titles. Call of Duty REALLY fucking ruined gaming and we're just now seeing companies start to work on good, original IP instead of riding the flavor of the year game title to death.

The great games of this era will be remembered though. I'm currently playing through Last of Us, and it's absolutely fantastic.

[leemajors]

I think games lost their way for a while with AAA titles. Call of Duty REALLY fucking ruined gaming and we're just now seeing companies start to work on good, original IP instead of riding the flavor of the year game title to death.

The great games of this era will be remembered though. I'm currently playing through Last of Us, and it's absolutely fantastic.

Counterstrike began the decline for me, but the real nail in the coffin for me and computer gaming was when Valve ruined TF2 by adding the ridiculous super weapons, and the hat fiascos.

[Cry Havoc]

Counterstrike began the decline for me, but the real nail in the coffin for me and computer gaming was when Valve ruined TF2 by adding the ridiculous super weapons, and the hat fiascos.

I love the indie titles that are being produced right now. Stuff like Mount and Blade, Payday 2, Bastion, etc are freaking brilliant and as much fun as I've ever had gaming.

[GoodOdor]

i used to play a lot of games, but now i don't care at all to play. for me, games are starting to have that feel of "work" to them...the same rehashed formulas that are glossed over repeatedly by new hardware features and increased performance. a game has to be truly phenomenal for me to invest even close to 100 hours in it, and when that time comes, i don't ever pick it up again. i think that last game was skyrim, but even after i cleared everything i feel like the wonder of the game diminished and all i could see through performance was its mechanics.


the same goes for fps games....maybe it's because all the bugs and glitches are fixed, the people who do find them exploit them to a fault, and underneath all the performance it's still basic trigger finger reflexes and memorization of levels. there's really not that much of a difference between current fps games and goldeneye.

or maybe it's online play...the days of having friends over to throw controllers at and talk shit to are long gone. everything now is online, and chances are you're getting pwned by some 10 year old chinese girl in the back of her family's restaurant.


but maybe it's not the games at all. i'm so busy all the time, and all i can think of when i take time off is work or how i should be developing another skill instead. honestly at the moment that's more entertaining to me than trying to figure out how to win at something i can't put on my CV. the same goes to my friends i used to play with. they're never online anymore.


anyone else experiencing this?

:wakeup

Man, I feel the same way. For a while I just thought it was the games - back when I was a teen, I enjoyed playing so much - mostly MMO, like Ultima Online, Diablo2, Counter Strike.
I assumed once another great game came along, I will be able to recapture it. I was really excited for D3.......but I think that even if it didn't turn into shit, it's just not the same. Sometimes we just have to grow up:cry

[GoodOdor]

I love the indie titles that are being produced right now. Stuff like Mount and Blade, Payday 2, Bastion, etc are freaking brilliant and as much fun as I've ever had gaming.

FTL and Rouge Galaxy have given me more fun/playtime than any recent AAA titles, tbh...

[ElNono]

Last 3 games I played through: Wolfenstein New Order, Watchdogs, Murdered Soul Suspect...

All 3 took about 2-3 weeks... there's nothing else to play right now...

[DJR210]

i used to play a lot of games, but now i don't care at all to play. for me, games are starting to have that feel of "work" to them...the same rehashed formulas that are glossed over repeatedly by new hardware features and increased performance. a game has to be truly phenomenal for me to invest even close to 100 hours in it, and when that time comes, i don't ever pick it up again. i think that last game was skyrim, but even after i cleared everything i feel like the wonder of the game diminished and all i could see through performance was its mechanics.


the same goes for fps games....maybe it's because all the bugs and glitches are fixed, the people who do find them exploit them to a fault, and underneath all the performance it's still basic trigger finger reflexes and memorization of levels. there's really not that much of a difference between current fps games and goldeneye.

or maybe it's online play...the days of having friends over to throw controllers at and talk shit to are long gone. everything now is online, and chances are you're getting pwned by some 10 year old chinese girl in the back of her family's restaurant.


but maybe it's not the games at all. i'm so busy all the time, and all i can think of when i take time off is work or how i should be developing another skill instead. honestly at the moment that's more entertaining to me than trying to figure out how to win at something i can't put on my CV. the same goes to my friends i used to play with. they're never online anymore.


anyone else experiencing this?

:wakeup

Yup, 100% with you. Attention span gets short when you get this age.. This combined with game engines that visually aren't really groundbreaking currently has me limited to really only a few games, for a small amount of time a week. Next game I will buy will be GTA V, and that will be it for a long while I'm sure.


Payday 2

Loving that shit again..picked up the DLC while it was on sale


Last 3 games I played through: Wolfenstein New Order, Watchdogs, Murdered Soul Suspect...

All 3 took about 2-3 weeks... there's nothing else to play right now...

That's fucking hardcore

[Bynumite]

Haven't bought a game since GTA V and that was 9 months ago. It was a struggle for me to finish the GTA V story, which i finished just a couple of weeks ago and that's probably my favorite gaming series of all time. I've bought every console GTA since they've made the transition from top down to 3D. I must have finished Vice City 10+ times back in the day.

Every time i play a new game i feel like i've been there, done that. I get bored so easily and can't play for more than half an hour. There's no innovation outside of pretty, shiny graphics, gameplay stayed the same since the PS2 days.

[ColinB]

I stopped playing but I thought it was just because I grew up.

[ElNono]

That's fucking hardcore

I don't know. I've just never been much of a fan of online play, and nowadays, single player campaigns are fucking short. Main story you can normally knock it down in a matter of hours, then they pad the game with gimmicky side bullshit.

I mean, Murdered: Soul Suspect was a fine game, but probably a 10-12 hour game tops.

[Death In June]

2014 has been a slow year. I got into Dark Souls 2 in a big, bad way. But outside of that, nothing. Releases and ideas started to stagnate towards the end of the last console cycle and now we're in that transitional period where there is nothing. There's usually little to release in summer anyway, but it's especially dry now that everyone's developing for new hardware and the target dates are all clumped together in 2015. But like any other hobby, interest wanes, comes back, wanes etc. I don't think it's an issue of growth. There's a negative connotation there. You don't typically hear people say they outgrew basketball, or fishing, or hunting, or whatever it is people like to do. I can see where it'd fall to the back burner when you have important shit to do, like building a career or developing a skill. But hobbies are meant to be a break from that grind.

[xellos88330]

i used to play a lot of games, but now i don't care at all to play. for me, games are starting to have that feel of "work" to them...the same rehashed formulas that are glossed over repeatedly by new hardware features and increased performance. a game has to be truly phenomenal for me to invest even close to 100 hours in it, and when that time comes, i don't ever pick it up again. i think that last game was skyrim, but even after i cleared everything i feel like the wonder of the game diminished and all i could see through performance was its mechanics.


the same goes for fps games....maybe it's because all the bugs and glitches are fixed, the people who do find them exploit them to a fault, and underneath all the performance it's still basic trigger finger reflexes and memorization of levels. there's really not that much of a difference between current fps games and goldeneye.

or maybe it's online play...the days of having friends over to throw controllers at and talk shit to are long gone. everything now is online, and chances are you're getting pwned by some 10 year old chinese girl in the back of her family's restaurant.


but maybe it's not the games at all. i'm so busy all the time, and all i can think of when i take time off is work or how i should be developing another skill instead. honestly at the moment that's more entertaining to me than trying to figure out how to win at something i can't put on my CV. the same goes to my friends i used to play with. they're never online anymore.


anyone else experiencing this?

:wakeup

I am experiencing this. I had my own little 4 man Halo team and would participate in small local tournaments all the time. Now, games just haven't been as entertaining as they once were. I got into Call of Duty for a while and was doing pretty well and even got recruited by H20 to participate in a MLG tour on their third team. I didn't go because I kinda knocked up my wife and I am not missing that for anything. LOL!!! I still get game invites from them every now and then, but it is becoming the same old thing over and over again. It has become that way with all games now. I guess I have just played so many different types of games that any new game that comes out, I feel like I have already played it.

This is the problem with being a huge gamer. Eventually you have played every game mechanic and feature in all the games. You become naturally good at the new games because well, you have prior experience. My hope for gaming is resting on the Oculus rift. Hopefully that will give me a taste of the enthusiasm that I once had gaming. Until then.... puzzle games!!! Those don't get old.

[Cry Havoc]

Man, I'm LOVING Star Citizen. Even though it's just an alpha, this game is gorgeous. Anyone who wants the true next level of gaming (as far as what we will see from graphics/immerson), pick up Star Citizen and an Oculus Rift. It's gonna be a treat.

[Cry Havoc]

Also, CS:GO is a fucking BLAST to play. 5 on 5 even the maps out a lot, not to mention having the teams flip sides halfway through.

If you get a knife you can sell it for ~$300 on Steam. :lol

[xellos88330]

Man, I'm LOVING Star Citizen. Even though it's just an alpha, this game is gorgeous. Anyone who wants the true next level of gaming (as far as what we will see from graphics/immerson), pick up Star Citizen and an Oculus Rift. It's gonna be a treat.

Definitely has my attention.

[baseline bum]

Haven't bought a game since GTA V and that was 9 months ago. It was a struggle for me to finish the GTA V story, which i finished just a couple of weeks ago and that's probably my favorite gaming series of all time. I've bought every console GTA since they've made the transition from top down to 3D. I must have finished Vice City 10+ times back in the day.

Every time i play a new game i feel like i've been there, done that. I get bored so easily and can't play for more than half an hour. There's no innovation outside of pretty, shiny graphics, gameplay stayed the same since the PS2 days.

I thought GTA V was spectacular, especially the rampages with Trevor. GTA IV is the one that felt like a chore to play, and I kept playing it waiting for the part it was supposed to get good after loving GTA III, Vice City, and San Andreas so much. I thought GTA V was a lot of fun though and I ran through that game. I don't think I have even turned my XBox on since finishing all the missions on GTA V though.

[phyzik]

(PC) Gaming has not run it's course at all IMHO.... There are a ton of games out there if you know where to look....

If you are talking about AAA games, then yes, it has declined, but there is a HUGE number of games coming out that have great potential.

"7 Days to Die" is a really interesting zombie survival game for example.... There are quite a few others if you know where to look. I might take the time to make a list of the best games you never heard of sometime soon.

[MI21]

In terms of console gaming, I kind of agree. I'm finding myself unwilling to put the time in - last game I completed was GTA V, since that I don't think I've turned on the Xbox. Watch Dogs looks interesting and it is Winter in Australia so maybe I'll pick that up while I hibernate... This year was the first year I didn't buy 2K since about 07' as well. Not sure what it is.

[The Reckoning]

got bored and decided to level up to 80 and take on the ebony warrior on legendary. fun shit if you're still playing skyrim. took him out and a legendary dragon, but i must admit the dragon helped me a lot. took all of 2 hours and it's the most gaming i've down in a month haha. i probably won't pick up anything else for awhile.

[Infinite_limit]

In terms of console gaming, I kind of agree. I'm finding myself unwilling to put the time in - last game I completed was GTA V, since that I don't think I've turned on the Xbox. Watch Dogs looks interesting and it is Winter in Australia so maybe I'll pick that up while I hibernate... This year was the first year I didn't buy 2K since about 07' as well. Not sure what it is.
That's why the Gaming Aps industry has such a market. Many people just want to play some silly quick games when they have free time. The games on console are Month consuming.

For example GTA. At some point the line between daily human (real life) chores and gaming becomes blurred. I know it's in the name of realism but are you wasting free time OR raising an in game child? I think for loners, the new age gaming is perfect. It's an escape from their worthless daily lives.

That's why COD was so attractive. I logged on, shot some shit and called it a day. None of this building up a character and personalizing him. I can do that with my own everyday life.

I did ponder 3 years ago when I played the CFB series. How much I would have completely fell in love with the new age depth if I was still 12 years old: endless free time to spend.

My PS3 busted a few months ago and I'm not fixing it. None of my good friends have logged on lately either. I play CIV 5 on PC from time to time.

All in all. I'm 30. If you are single, then sure you can spend 5 hours a week gaming. But if you plan on progressing in life, there is a whole lot better stuff to invest your time in.

[velik_m]

I don't know. I've just never been much of a fan of online play, and nowadays, single player campaigns are fucking short. Main story you can normally knock it down in a matter of hours, then they pad the game with gimmicky side bullshit.

I mean, Murdered: Soul Suspect was a fine game, but probably a 10-12 hour game tops.

I don't know if the games are really that much shorter - just streamlined. You never get stuck, you never wonder around trying to find something. A month ago i played Half-life again and it was a breeze, because i knew where everything was and what to do next. I wasn't rushing or anything, but it was still really short.

So maybe the games just got too good at hand holding and guiding, so they feel shorter than they should be.

[Infinite_limit]

I don't know if the games are really that much shorter - just streamlined. You never get stuck, you never wonder around trying to find something. A month ago i played Half-life again and it was a breeze, because i knew where everything was and what to do next. I wasn't rushing or anything, but it was still really short.

So maybe the games just got too good at hand holding and guiding, so they feel shorter than they should be.
That's true. Whatever happened to

http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/10499/2484279-9918425303-gfs_4.jpg

[chunticakes]

At some point the line between daily human (real life) chores and gaming becomes blurred. I know it's in the name of realism but are you wasting free time OR raising an in game child? I think for loners, the new age gaming is perfect. It's an escape from their worthless daily lives.

That's why COD was so attractive. I logged on, shot some shit and called it a day. None of this building up a character and personalizing him. I can do that with my own everyday life.

If you are single, then sure you can spend 5 hours a week gaming. But if you plan on progressing in life, there is a whole lot better stuff to invest your time in.

This. I didn't even get to finish GTAV. I just have so much shit to do (in real life).

[Cry Havoc]

I don't know if the games are really that much shorter - just streamlined. You never get stuck, you never wonder around trying to find something. A month ago i played Half-life again and it was a breeze, because i knew where everything was and what to do next. I wasn't rushing or anything, but it was still really short.

So maybe the games just got too good at hand holding and guiding, so they feel shorter than they should be.

Well, a lot of games of the past reused a lot of shit to make their runtime go longer. I mean, how many platformers used to exist where you were just doing the same thing every damn stage until you reached a boss? Yes, there was some variety, but to pretend games back then were longer isn't really recalling what they consisted of. A game that needlessly pads itself out like that today gets lambasted.

[lefty]

I think it's a combination of :

- games being more "realistic" and bigger
- us being grown ups


Today's games are really time consuming and when you have a 9 to 5 job , 5 days a week, you have to find time for yourself : relaxing, friends, gym/sport, fucking bishes, etc,,,,

I've started playing all Arkham games and Infamous; I've reached like halfway point in those games but haven't played them in a while .... too bad, because I love these games, but I have no time anymore...

99.9% of the time I play sport games; 1-2 games on FIFA with 4 minute periods, usually :lol

[Reck]

I bought Watch Dogs a day before it came out and I have still yet to play more than an hour of it. Sad..