Sooner or later the worst thing happens – loss of interest. You have suddenly lost the desire and motivation to play your favorite games, and new ones cause complete disgust mixed with disappointment? This is often attributed to such widespread and popular exclamations as “the gaming industry has gone downhill” or “games used to be better”; they are much less likely to notice the real problems that caused this to happen to them. Let me make a reservation in advance: this is a completely normal phenomenon, and the problem can be solved.
Why did this happen to you?
There are several common reasons why this happened to you:
Oversaturation – Quite a common thing in the 21st century. Having discovered that you have a lot of free time, you unwittingly direct it into the gameplay. I agree, it’s nice to play something without being distracted every half hour by household chores, but even during such a vacation you need to take breaks. Compare the situation with working in an office, every day you have to perform the same, extremely boring actions. Sitting on a damn chair, dream of a cozy bed or an active holiday at various resorts around the world. The same thing happened with games, although the process is exciting, it gives you a hundred dizzying adventures, introduces you to a lot of new worlds, meanwhile the body perceives it as a routine. You see a different picture, while your hands perform actions like a carbon copy. Who said games can’t be boring??
No alternative – You are furiously stuck in one game, maybe you don’t even launch anything besides it. So to speak, we chose a universal option for ourselves. But one day a stop comes. You freak out without any mood with every lost game, gradually burying yourself in a hole called “apathy”. I’ll tell you this, this is an even deeper problem compared to oversaturation, because in order to dull your feelings you begin to devote even more time to what irritates you so much. Played to win? Developed your gaming skills to the maximum? Well done! Only who will look around for you? The catastrophe of such a reason lies in the realization: “Damn, I wasted a lot of time on one game that did nothing good for me.”!». Gradually, to justify yourself, you will resort to the already mentioned “two years ago the balance was better, and almost playable,” not wanting to face the truth. It seems to me or have you led yourself into this dead end?? By the way, at one time I encountered exactly this reason – I overplayed Dota 2.
Tastes have changed – It can be surprisingly difficult to accept a changed self, which is why you have to deny the fact that you are interested in games of a different genre. Okay, you grew up on turn-based strategies. What’s next? We got carried away by Minecraft, which is so popular among children. Who said it’s bad? And, well, yes, you read the “flattering reviews” of smart guys in the comments, who in serious talk talk about how prestigious it is to be a fan of turn-based strategies and how shameful it is to play unprincipled sandboxes like Minecraft. You need it, the opinion of these nonames? Your tastes have just changed.
Genre crisis – I can’t miss this reason. Anything can happen in the gaming industry: niche games are released too rarely, or your favorite genre has been completely forgotten, giving free rein to indie developers who were not even close to your standards.
Changing priorities – The simplest explanation. You graduated from school and rushed into adulthood, where everything is so “interesting and exciting” that there is no time left for games. Well, what’s so funny? Quite typical, you know. The work bogged you down, leaving no chance for the toys to get you out of it. Video games have been replaced by constant employment, and when choosing between, it’s worth choosing the one you prefer. Well, or combine. Let’s say you know that for normal living conditions you need to work 9-10 hours a day, and when you get home you have no strength left for anything other than to eat and sleep. This is called changing priorities, because you need it. Is it worth sacrificing your future for the dubious pleasure of the next part of Call Of Duty? (I know, I know. I could give a better example)
Problems in life – Why do you deny this option?? If everything is not going smoothly in your personal life, then how can you maintain genuine interest for such a long time?? The problem is growing like a snow globe, looming over you, and is about to collapse. What are you doing? Keep playing. Only now the awareness of the problems does not go away, it gradually creeps in and damnably spoils the impression of any, I repeat, any game. Now the comparison with alcohol is very appropriate. Trying to hide, many resort to drinking, which has a temporary effect, after which it only worsens the situation. In games it’s the same, self-hypnosis won’t work for very long.
What to do?
Above I indicated the reasons why you fell into apathy. If you feel that you have not completely lost interest, then I will tell you about the first steps in the question of how to regain interest in games.
Start planning your time – the most effective method and applicable to absolutely all life situations. Allow very little time for games, but completely limit irritants. Regardless of how long you spend playing the game, make sure that nothing can disturb you. When the allotted hour of the day comes to an end, turn off the game and go do other things.
If you want to play, but large games make you bored, then play a couple of very short and funny games. Those made in Flash are especially suitable. They all must end and have a final goal. Completely exclude from the list anything that requires infinite scoring or any hint of a sandbox loop.
Don’t force yourself. As soon as you feel tired, turn it off immediately. You won’t be able to force your former passion back, don’t even try.
Unwind, find a hobby. If you spend all your free time idleness, then apathy will not go away on its own. I’m not saying that you should immediately sign up for martial arts or a drawing class, start small. Maybe jogging in the morning will help you.
Set up a daily https://slotsanimalcasino.co.uk/mobile-app/ routine. After long nights of gaming, you might feel chronically tired. Go to bed and get up earlier, keep yourself on a simple schedule. Nobody forces you to go to bed at midnight and get up at 6 am. Start by not going to bed at 7 am and waking up in the evening with a buzzing head. It’s corny.
Try something new. Are you a fan of MMORPGs?? No problem, turn on the shooter. Diversify your gaming experience, this will allow you to more clearly understand what you like best. Don’t like the genre? Try it anyway. Interest comes in the process. There are hundreds of games that you didn’t even want to launch, but in fact turned out to be so exciting that you can’t pull your ears away from the monitor.
Don’t go back to what made you fall off track. Played enough of Dota? You don’t need to run it right away, just forget about it. I guarantee you that after a while there will be a relapse. And it will be even more painful.
How to regain interest in games?
The easiest thing would be to quit gaming and do something else. But as we have already found out: the reasons may be different and if you are still interested, then you should do this:
1. Solve the problem of his apathy. Most often, it only takes a couple of days to eliminate it. If you are not a pessimist in life.
2. Give yourself time to find other hobbies and interests. A couple of weeks will be enough. For this period, completely forget about the existence of games. Don’t read about them, don’t watch videos. They don’t exist for you.
3. Rediscover them. Start with small and fast games. There is no need to rush into a 100-hour journey across Tamriel. Don’t forget to limit your playing time even if you really want to. Give yourself an hour a day, not a minute more!
4. Move on to more. After a week, increase the perversity of the games you run. If you decide to start with simple managers on mobile phones, then why not now launch a platformer on PC? Choose something nice. Ori and the Blind Forest for example.
5. Stay away what got you into this situation. I do not rule out that you could form your own guild in an MMO and achieve top performance in some things. Just accept the fact: you shouldn’t return somewhere just because you spent a lot of your time and energy there. This is not the time for regrets, you are a gamer and have been wasting your time on entertainment for quite some time now. Don’t dwell on the past, seriously.
6. Let’s face it: after such apathy, only a few return to their former admiration for the gameplay. If you are no longer squealing with happiness at the next Assassin’s Creed game, then don’t be upset – everyone goes through this. This fact does not mean the quality of the game is poor, you are just not the same person you were before. Humble yourself and don’t expect revelations, then you won’t have to be disappointed in the games.
7. Come back! A month has passed, or even several. You have already joined in and partially regained your interest in games. It’s time to give yourself a try on the latest gaming products. You no longer expect from them the same thing that you expected a month ago, and no matter what the game turns out to be, it cannot upset you. Well, if you could, then you don’t have to step over yourself. They put the “good stuff” on the shelf and launched something else. Fortunately, the choice is now huge.
8. Maintain good habits. Bad things have already happened to you, so stepping on this rake again will be very unpleasant. Try not to make your mistakes again. It would be stupid of you to start staying up all night again.
Best comments
Do you prefer single-player games or do you play online on PS4??
As a Doter player with 2+ thousand hours, banal isolation helped me. Went out of town, got distracted. Upon arrival, without regret, I clicked “delete” and now I’ve been living for a year without suffering. *heh*
Likewise! Changed platform to PS4, started buying games! I paid 1.5 or 2 thousand for it and interest quickly appeared! Moreover, for such sums even the most dull people become “well, nothing will do” and need platinum xD
The problem is in growing up, as an adult gamer (I’m 34), it’s more difficult to adapt to modern games, especially multiplayer games where there are a bunch of angry school kids who simply have a faster reaction time, much more time to study the game. I stopped playing modern online games a long time ago, but I play single-player games with great pleasure all the time and don’t get bored. My recipe is very simple – I play games as beautifully and spectacularly as possible for myself, I play exclusively on a gamepad, I try to smoothly and beautifully turn the camera (as at various exhibitions), at some points switch from running to a slow walk at various moments, use all the possibilities of game design, try to play the role as much as possible. For example, in the same The Last of Us, just walk around the locations on foot, smoothly turning the camera while looking at nature or ruins. This really changes the perception of games, you begin to see various pleasant little things, and become more deeply immersed in the world of the game. Many people neglect such things, rushing into the breach with the run button held down, shooting at everything that moves, not listening to the dialogues, skipping all the videos, and in addition with their music from Winamp.
Interesting post, but in my opinion there is a contradiction from the very beginning.
There are phrases like “a problem for growing gamers” and “Changing priorities,” but even in these cases the text tries to return a person to games. Why? If he no longer wants to play because he found a new interesting job or children were born, etc., then why force him to return interest??
You can also repeat advice to a person who has quit smoking on how to start again.
Changing priorities is why people don’t return to gaming. If these are really priorities.
But I agree about the cause of “oversaturation”, I’ll just rename it “saturation”, a more accurate definition. I think this is the main reason. A person has 3000 games on Steam, and with a sad look he scrolls through the library, not stopping at any option..
There is 100% help for this problem – no matter how trite it may sound, play less, or, as the author wrote, “unwind, find a hobby”.
Let me give you an example. I worked on one project for about a year, it wasn’t easy, I had to learn a new program, buy a tablet and work, work, work. During this period I allowed myself to play as little as possible, but it was not easy.
And when I allowed myself to play a little, I didn’t have the feeling of “whatever I want.”. ». After the release, I immediately completed as many AAA projects as I had not completed in the previous 4 years.
So come up with something to do, force yourself not to play, and at the same time check your discipline.
Start streaming, recording let’s plays and in a month completely discourage yourself from playing them, well, yes, yes 😀
It was understood that among those who changed priorities, there remain those who want to return to their former interest.
Let’s say work is tiring. You want to play, but when you get home you stupidly fall on the bed (many will understand).
One of the reasons for “fatigue” from games, when you play not because you want to, but because of the needs of a clan, guild, team, the promotion is going on. Thus, you drive yourself even more into the uninterestingness of the process: the achievements are no longer the same, I’m tired after work, but I can’t let people down, the raid is important, it’s best to take it for free, etc.d… At such moments, you DEFINITELY need to turn off any MMO and turn on something simple – single-player: shooting with a plot, a platformer, a turn-based strategy (whatever suits your liking and mood). The main thing is not to encounter any difficulties during the process, thereby not causing stress.
The article made me happy. Frankly pleased. It’s just that now I’m in the stage of “apathy” towards all games. Delivers nothing! I install the game, play for half an hour and turn it off. There will soon be no room left for shortcuts on a 27-inch desktop.exe. The problem went further: I bought a new Tomb Raider and I see that the game is incredibly beautiful (and I’m a graphic wanker), high-quality, but instead of enjoying the gameplay I sit and stupidly get to every bump in the game. I deleted it so as not to ruin my relationship with her at all. For the last couple of months I’ve been rushing from game to game and thinking: the hangover is about to pass, an irresistible desire to play is about to arise in my soul again. But in vain.
This article pushed me to do what I was most afraid of, but what needs to be done: stop playing for at least a month. It’s very difficult. I am forty years old, of which almost thirty I devote all my free time to games (at the same time, I have a family and sports and a bunch of other hobbies. but games are a priority. so to speak – “games are my life”) I’ll try to tie it up. I’ll start re-reading Fyodor Mikhailovich D., I’ve been reaching out to him for a long time)
Special thanks to the author for the kick, otherwise I would have sat there and delved into myself, continuing the senseless grind. Good article, plus one.
This happened 2-3 times. The most proven method at the moment, IMHO, is to simply score and forget about the games for a week or two. Just don’t play, don’t launch anything. Interest and desire will return on their own after some time. Verified!
I found a clan in Survarium specifically so as not to abandon it. And now I can’t give up this misunderstanding: it’s inconvenient in front of the people, I have to
Did you mean to say "comfortable"?
T.You can be very well challenged about functionality. However, the idea is clear. I agree about the smoothness.
I lost interest in video games more than once, at different periods of growing up, and each time I found a way to regain interest, that’s what helped me personally.
1) Try new genres.
2) Quit piracy, piracy is the main reason for the loss of interest in games, since you can play everything, as a result there is an oversaturation of mediocre projects, and as a result, you cannot get the full range of positive emotions from truly worthy projects. Filter the gaming market and play only really good games.
3) Play old games that you haven’t played before. For example, I really enjoyed playing MAX PAYNE 1-2, I didn’t play it at the time, and in the modern realities of shelters and regenerating health, the game went great.
4) Start working. Due to being busy at work, free time has become scarce, it’s not always possible to play, but when it does happen, I’m very happy and get a lot of pleasure from the process.
4) Buy a console. Firstly, access to many cool games that are not available on a PC, secondly, there is no opportunity to pirate (my computer is already history), thirdly, on the console you certainly won’t buy mediocre projects, learn to be selective and spend time only on good games. Sometimes you have to wait a long time to buy a game at a discount or second hand, this makes the games long-awaited and difficult to obtain, and when they finally fall into your hands, you will enjoy every minute spent in the game. Consoles also brought back my interest in shooters; playing them on a gamepad is more interesting (difficult) than on a keyboard and mouse (of course, with auto-aim turned off).
Where is the guarantee that he plays more than the same 3-4 games in 1 day?? You can get this number of hours in many ways
This has happened to me more than once over the years of gaming experience. Sometimes everything just gets boring. Everywhere you look it’s just crap. I’ll watch TV series for a month, stream checks there (I’m too lazy to play myself, but here it’s like a game and you don’t need to do anything), and then you find something suitable, and you can play again.