Gaming Burn Out

[aozgolo]

No not the exploding car racing game...

Apparently every year around this time I suffer from a bit of burn out, where I have difficulty focusing on any particular one game for more than 1-2 hours at a time (for me this is significant as I usually clock 6-10 hours playtime per session).

I'm sure there's a myriad of contributing factors here from getting older, work and family stress, the sheer intimidating factor of owning as many games as I do, and the games themselves often asking more of me than I wish to put in to experience it.

So I figured this would be as good an excuse as any for everyone to discuss their "gaming burn out" moments, it can be a single game you played into sheer nauseum or gaming in general where you just weren't quite getting that rush anymore.

Share your horror stories, recovery stories, and let us all warn those who've yet to experience it the dangers of becoming burnt out on your favorite past-time.

 

[Elfgore]

I've been in one for quite a while lately. Luckily, about three days ago I came out of it. For the longest time, nothing had my interest for more than three hours. Watch_Dogs, Destiny, even Metro:Redux did nothing to get me really into games again. Then Friday, I bought Warriors Orachi 3: Ultimate and I've pretty much been playing it non-stop in all of my free time. Probably one of the best games I've played in years. Simple, epic, and just so much damn fun. I really hope I can keep this trend going when Shadow of Mordor comes out.

 

[-Dragmire-]

I go through phases. Right now I'm not into long run games, stuff you play in 1 hour+ segments, preferring some mindless grinding games. Sometimes it's tower defense and others it's a word scramble game. Eventually I'll come out of it and get into a mood where I'll want to play something like Wasteland 2 or a jrpg. Something new where I'm more invested in the game. It'll come around eventually.

[small] More of a concern for me is that I'm feeling the itch to be creative but not wanting to start anything. It's frustrating, I just need to start and I'll be good from there. Finding the will to start though...[/small]

 

[Goro]

I'm not burnt out so much as everything is coming out on a console I don't have or is coming out on PC and my ancient desktop won't run it. So I'm a little burnt out on the games I own, and I can't muster the effort and money to get out of my funk.

 

[leberkaese]

My worst gaming Burn Out was after playing World of Warcraft. During a phase of playing a lot of that game I came to one point, where I never thought about "Freetime! what am I doing now?", because the answer was always: WoW.
Even if I didn't had the motivation to play that game, I played it anyways. Because there's always something to do, even if you don't want to play. Farm for stuff to sell, mindlessly playing a twink etc. etc.

When I stopped playing WoW (shortly after release of the Lich King addon), I didn't know anymore what game I should play. I'm not too shure why this was the case. Probably because I played too much before, more than I actually wanted to play. And therefore I stranded in an especially severe case of Burn Out, so maybe I was simply tired of playing games.

I never really recovered from that, because since then I'm having problems to find games I can play for hours without a break.
Also: I played WoW a few times after that, but not nearly as extreme as back then.


(Post #100 - Celebrate!)

 

[WindKnight]

My achievement obsession combined with seriously 3.0 and a 9 month binge to get it done gave me a bad case that I've only recently gotten over 100%. Ok, did play Warframe and a few others in a meantime, but getting the motivation up to start a new game was a bit of a struggle.

 

[fenrizz]

I've burned out on newish games in general.

I find myself mostly playing old games (NES and SNES mainly) recently, and I'm enjoying it much more than with new AAA releases.
It's not that they are bad, or old games are better, I just prefer the old school stuff for now.

Perhaps I'm just getting old and nostalgic.
I even got an old CRT TV to get a more authentic experience.

 

[Mr Fixit]

I'm having a bit of a console game burn out, my pc recently died & I'm really missing it more than I thought I would. The games I have on console are fine, but they just don't scratch that itch. On the bright side though, I'm finishing up most of the games I started & then stopped to play something on pc. I suppose I could put them on my laptop, but I really hate gaming on a laptop.

 

[Something Amyss]

I don't think I've ever burned out on gaming. Usually something else just takes priority, like work, or developing carpal tunnel.

 

[Roxas1359]

This doesn't happen to me with gaming as much as it happens to me when it comes to recording for LPs. Mainly I get tired of recording after a while, but the main thing I'm not a big fan of doing sometimes is editing. Especially audio editing, which was getting longer and longer (last time it took me an hour for one file), and that was because of my Logitech G330 screwing up.

As for gaming itself, I've always been more of a retro gamer than of a newer one. I mean, I'll get new games, but I tend to go back and play older games more.

 

[lowtech redneck]

After Dreamcast failed I was burnt out on new consoles for years....I think it might have been Morrowind (which had already been out for awhile) that dragged me away from playing only retro games. I guess I'm still a retro gamer at heart, outside of handhelds I haven't upgraded past the 360 yet, and probably won't do so until Persona 5 comes out.

 

[Alex Baas]

My usual pattern of gaming is binge-burnout-binge-burnout. I play causually in between those peaks and valleys, but it is mostly an old game I have played so many times that I have enough muscle memory to play with a severe concussion.

 

[Spanglish Guy]

Recently I have found myself almost completely unable to pick anything to play. I tend to cycle through these sorts of moments a lot. I'll get a new game, play it for several hours (maybe 10 to 30 or so) and then suddenly I'm unable to work up the effort to get back in, I have so many unfinished games as a result of this.

Every time I get bored of a game that I had played for a while I lose interest in almost any game at all for some reason. I either find myself playing very small games sporadically or wasting time surfing the web randomly whilst trying to think of something to play.

I still play multiplayer though, I don't really get tired of playing with other people.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Whatever rocks your boat, you know, I play as much as I want whenever I want, unless I'm working or travelling.

 

[COMaestro]

I never really suffer from burnout, especially lately as I don't have all that much time for gaming anyway. I was pleased to get a couple of hours a day the past week to get through The Wolf Among Us, which I just finished last night. Most of my gaming happens on my Vita as of late, as I can game on the go that way. When I am home though, I'm usually taking care of my kids and trying to give my wife a break, so free time usually comes after they are in bed. However that free time has to be balanced between gaming, spending time with my wife, watching a show that we follow or a movie, reading, or just keeping up with housework.

I'm looking forward to when my kids are older and can possibly play some games with me so I can be spending quality time with them AND play games at the same time, whether video or tabletop, I don't care.

 

[necromanzer52]

I haven't upgraded past the 360 yet, and probably won't do so until Persona 5 comes out.

That's gonna be available on ps3 as well, so there's still no reason to move to the new generation. Maybe if the last guardian ever gets released.

 

[Aesir23]

I'm actually going through a bit of a burn out right now. Normally I can spend hours playing a game but right now, like you, I can spend maybe 1-2 hours playing but can't find it in me to be interested.

For me I think it's that I've already repeatedly played through all the games I have accumulated in years past, a desire for a new experience that I haven't had before. So between the Summer Game Drought (even though we're officially in autumn now) and my current lack of funds/employment, that's a good recipe for me to feel burned out.

Heck, I'm not even fond of racing games and I'm tempted to try that Forza game that was bundled with our most recent 360.

 

[pilouuuu]

I've been feeling a bit burnt out by gaming lately, but I found the best antidote to that. Do you what it is? It's called Shadows of Mordor! It's simply an amazing, fun and entertaining game.

The problem is that we've been getting the exact same games with slightly improved graphics for more than a decade and now finally with this Middle-Earth based game we've got a real next gen experience with new interesting mechanics and gameplay. It made me excited about games again!

 

[Weaver]

I've just got so much to worry about right now I find I can't even enjoy a game.