I think I am going to stop playing videogames

[Antwerp Caveman]

Let's start 20 years ago.
When I was about 7, my dad got a Personal Computer. *wow*
When it turned on, the letters were in bright colors and even that blew my mind.
The computer after that, could even play some games, like platformers and stuff. Needless to say, I was hooked.
A few years later, got the classic Nintendo, a few years after that, the Nintendo 64. And many other videogame consoles followed.

Now, I'm 27 and I have an Xbox 360 and a Playstation 3 below my giant TV.
But it's just not really any fun anymore. It used to be that I got my mind blown by the new stuff, but lately nothing gets me excited anymore. The last game I really enjoyed was Alan Wake.

And now they're announcing the new videogamesystems like the PS4, which is going to be a PS3 with more RAM and social media functions. And the rumors of the new Xbox are similar, with an emphasis that used games can't be played on it.

And I can think of absolutely no reason to get one. Just no reason at all. Am I growing up? Am I growing out of a 2 decade phase? Or is it not me and is this industry the disappointment?

I have a few games left, Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted 3, Assassins Creed 3 and Mass Effect 3. (not an original title among them) and I guess I'm done after that. Putting it all on eBay and be done with it.
If I work up the courage to do it that is.

 

[Pink Gregory]

Then go ahead. What's stopping you.

Also, it is you; nothing to be ashamed of, you don't enjoy videogames anymore; or you just don't like anything new that's coming out. In fact, if you think only the new stuff coming out in the AAA market is worth paying attention to, you're missing out on a lot, but I'm not going to pretend to know what you enjoy. To be honest it sounds like you've been buying games while thinking 'I'm supposed to enjoy this, I guess.'

Hanging on when you don't enjoy it is just going to make you bitter.

Go ahead.

EDIT: Alright, so I'm being a little unduly vindictive; I'm just so tired of people beating the 'OLD GAMES GOOD, NEW GAMES BAD' drum that I have a tendency to lash out. I'll admit, it's not a good time to be a console gamer, but that needn't limit you; there are plenty of indie games that are low spec enough to be run on pretty much any PC and that are fantastic.

 

[Sixcess]

[insert join the pc gaming master race comment here]

Alternately just take a break from gaming. I barely touched games for about five years in the 2000s between when I got bored with the XBox and hadn't got into PC gaming yet. And once you come back you have a backlog of years of good games to sift through.

 

[Meatspinner]

I approve of this

If games no longer hold any appeal to you, then you have no reason to hold on to them. Our tastes change all the time.

Just be sure it that and not just gameing fatigue

 

[Doom972]

Then just stop playing. You'll either want to get back to it eventually, or you won't.
If you're looking for something different to blow your mind, I recommend trying PC gaming - especially some of the indie games out there (and I'm not talking about all those pixelated retro stuff). I can be more specific if you can say what you're looking for, like challenge/story/innovation.

 

[FieryTrainwreck]

I'm in pretty much the exact same boat, and I blame both myself and the industry. On my end, I've simply played too many games. I've completed hundreds by this point, and a lot of them were pretty damn same-y. Little surprise, then, that the same half dozen games, rehashed and reskinned, aren't exactly doing it for me anymore. Doesn't help that the writing and stories found in 99% of games are beyond cliche. This hobby simply doesn't challenge or subvert my expectations on a regular basis any longer, and that's just life. You do stuff, you get bored, you move on.

I will say that I think the video game industry is particularly stagnant, though. I mean if you read a ton, or listen to music nonstop, or even watch a shitload of tv/film, you can generally find "deeper cuts" that will challenge and stimulate you still. Gaming, on the other hand, is very quickly "exhausted"; the cost of production really limits how far out there developers are willing to go. Which is sad, but what can ya do.

 

[MrBenSampson]

I too feel nothing for the upcoming generation. I also haven't bought a new release in well over a year. However, I have a lot of interest in the previous console generations. Growing up, I didn't have many games, so I missed a lot of good titles over the past 2 decades. Pretty much every game I bought in the past year was for the PS2. The year before that, I bought a huge N64 collection, along with dozens of PS1 games. I have a few hundred games in my collection, and more than that are currently on my shopping list.

A buddy and I are planning to get original Xboxs, and play through the Doom 3 co-op campaign in system link. I also found out that the multiplayer servers for the Star Wars: Battlefront games are still going strong on the PS2. The thought of that has me far more excited than anything current.

A lot of the practices of publishers and developers nowadays are a turn off for me. Online passes, micro-transactions, content being witheld as DLC, and games being broken on day 1 have really soured me. It isn't me that changed, but the industry.

 

[The Wykydtron]

I guess you could try some other types of games you don't normally go for, that's what I did when I was sick of all FPS games last year.

I got into UMVC3 and more recently BlazBlue despite never really having touched a fighting game before then and it's really fun. I also got into League last year and it is AWESOME! Also also, Persona 4 is my favourite game of all time and I have never touched another JRPG before or after I played it. It pretty much transcends genre with its godliness.

Otherwise yeah ok, off you go out the metaphorical Gaming Door. See ya later scrub! BWYE! :3

 

[Christopher Fisher]

Let's start 20 years ago.
When I was about 7, my dad got a Personal Computer. *wow*
When it turned on, the letters were in bright colors and even that blew my mind.
The computer after that, could even play some games, like platformers and stuff. Needless to say, I was hooked.
A few years later, got the classic Nintendo, a few years after that, the Nintendo 64. And many other videogame consoles followed.

Now, I'm 27 and I have an Xbox 360 and a Playstation 3 below my giant TV.
But it's just not really any fun anymore. It used to be that I got my mind blown by the new stuff, but lately nothing gets me excited anymore. The last game I really enjoyed was Alan Wake.

And now they're announcing the new videogamesystems like the PS4, which is going to be a PS3 with more RAM and social media functions. And the rumors of the new Xbox are similar, with an emphasis that used games can't be played on it.

And I can think of absolutely no reason to get one. Just no reason at all. Am I growing up? Am I growing out of a 2 decade phase? Or is it not me and is this industry the disappointment?

I have a few games left, Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted 3, Assassins Creed 3 and Mass Effect 3. (not an original title among them) and I guess I'm done after that. Putting it all on eBay and be done with it.
If I work up the courage to do it that is.

Are you only playing AAA titles or something!? For fucks sake, no wonder you're tired of gaming. Do yourself a favor and buy a gaming PC and get a bunch of indie games like Chivalry Medieval Warfare and the Legend of Grimrock.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

Very few games in the last 4 years have interested me, and fewer turned out to be any good to me.

The only games in production now that I'm excited about are Dark Souls 2 and Shovel Knight.

I'm deludedly optimistic that there will be a surprise that wows me like Metroid Prime 2 did in the future, but I realistically await more of the same crap that has all but turned me off of gaming entirely.

Currently playing the end game of Etrian Odyssey 4, which is excellant, but not as good as the previous in the series. Its far improved in a lot of ways, but its lacking in actual content. Far fewer, smaller, and easier maps. Far easier enemies, FOEs, and bosses.

Classes are well done and battles are fun at least. I had to redo something mostly due to my 3DS randomly crashing like it is wont to do for absolutely no reason all the time rather than because I got wiped out.

EO 1 and 2 are still my favorites in the series, but 3 was great too.

The new consoles on the horizon interest me about as much as the Wii U, which is to say not at all. Sadly aside from probably picking up Fire Emblem: Awakening eventually I probably won't be getting any more 3DS games in the foreseeable future. I got it for Professor Layton and Etrian Odyssey and now that they are finished, I'm underwhelmed once more with its so called library of games. The fact it freezes, necessitating a hard reboot, several times a day also sucks. It was a fairly common problem, that was allegedly fixed with the last firmware update but obviously not for me.

PC gaming doesn't interest me at all, and I haven't the rig for it. Those games are primarily designed around a mouse and keyboard which I don't enjoy as a control scheme.

So I get why someone would be about to stop playing these games, and I haven't even gone into the decreasing quality regarding debugging, the perpetual DLC for games released over 2 years ago, and the 3 ring circus that Ubisoft, Square-Enix, and EA have become.

Also games haven't exactly gotten cheaper.

My advice would be to keep up with new releases, rent a few, and see what you like. I mainly watch Let's Plays on youtube because even crap games can be entertaining with the right player and commentary.

 

[zidine100]

either play different genres, or stop playing and come back in a few years.

and when you do come back to gaming, the wow factor will be back, look at the advancements we have had in the last few years after all.

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I'd throw everything in a closet for a year or two - not throw it up on E-bay just yet. If you change your mind and miss it 6 months from now - well you'll still have it, and if you don't, you don't, but that's my advice.

 

[Weaver]

I actually do think the mainstream gaming industry is getting worse in nearly every way. Every AAA game is basically mechanically identical. If it's an FPS it will basically be a Halo or CoD clone. If it's a 3rd person game it will have slow ass combat, clunky cover based mechanics and huge characters so they can cull more of the screen.

Fights will have maybe 4 enemies at a time because consoles can't handle more, it will be chock full of list after list of "collectables" that are inherently pointless yet are supposed to extend the linear, cutscene filled, poorly written turkey gallery in terms of "replayability"

That not doing it for you? Well I'm sure there will be no less than $80 of DLC because we all know costumes are worthwhile in single player games and an extra 25 minute mission is totally worth $10.

 

[sammysoso]

It's totally fine to stop gaming.

If you're no longer engaged, don't force yourself to be miserable. I hope you find a cool hobby that does interest you.

 

[thiosk]

Oh, its mostly because you still play those baby console games (made for babies. master race ftw)

Spoiler: This is dwarf fortress

Although if you want to really push on your career, nows the time.

 

[scorptatious]

Why do I keep clicking on these threads? They're so darn depressing.

OT: Welp, if you aren't finding any joy in playing video games anymore, then go ahead and stop. Or at least take a break for a while and come back later.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Let's start 20 years ago.
When I was about 7, my dad got a Personal Computer. *wow*
When it turned on, the letters were in bright colors and even that blew my mind.
The computer after that, could even play some games, like platformers and stuff. Needless to say, I was hooked.
A few years later, got the classic Nintendo, a few years after that, the Nintendo 64. And many other videogame consoles followed.

Now, I'm 27 and I have an Xbox 360 and a Playstation 3 below my giant TV.
But it's just not really any fun anymore. It used to be that I got my mind blown by the new stuff, but lately nothing gets me excited anymore. The last game I really enjoyed was Alan Wake.

And now they're announcing the new videogamesystems like the PS4, which is going to be a PS3 with more RAM and social media functions. And the rumors of the new Xbox are similar, with an emphasis that used games can't be played on it.

And I can think of absolutely no reason to get one. Just no reason at all. Am I growing up? Am I growing out of a 2 decade phase? Or is it not me and is this industry the disappointment?

I have a few games left, Metal Gear Solid 4, Uncharted 3, Assassins Creed 3 and Mass Effect 3. (not an original title among them) and I guess I'm done after that. Putting it all on eBay and be done with it.
If I work up the courage to do it that is.

Hmm... pity, sounds like you're missing out on a lot of the indie stuff. I'm guessing because you haven't mentioned it at all.

Speaking of Alan Wake, you might want to check out the book its trying to be: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. (it came out in 2000, so yes, any similarities are likely because Alan Wake was at least inspired by HoL) Brilliant book. I'd recommend getting the 'Full Color Remastered Edition' worth every penny.

 

[Silly Hats]

Trying different things really adds up on the other side of the coin. I was bored with playing Guitar and Music, picked up the a few games that I haven't been able to play, finished two games in about 2-3 weeks and I'm utterly thrilled. Started playing guitar again on the weekend and found more inspiration that I didn't have previously.

Doing something, anything, is going to help. Just make sure that you're not in a bad position when you decide to come back. I would take a break, I wouldn't sell everything you have though.