The dehumanising trance gamer's experience.

[MrBaguette]

Don't you all remember last Christmas or Chanukka or Kwanza or whatever you guys celebrate and your all wrapped with joy at the prospect of getting your hands on the latest game be it Cod3 or Bf3 or something that actually qualify's as a good game such as Deus ex the original. (sorry that was mean on my part, Skyrim was pretty good but I'll come round to that later...or not)and you finally get your hands on that beautiful pristine wrapping paper and pop and lock the cd in whatever game console you got. (If those games you got fall under the Wii category then may the spaghetti monster be with you my poor fellow)

You finally play that game and oh god you wouldn't trade it for anything in the world...xept maybe sex. You play it everyday, whatever bit of free time you have you play...and play...after school...on the weekends. And it becomes less of a fun thing to do but more of a ritual that if you don't complete you won't have any excuses not going to the gym or having a social life (but who the fuck needs a social life right?). Slowly you find yourself saying "All I do is do quests for facial inexpressless guys who don't seem to care what I do!" Or "yay another dead guy and more points for me, gee that sure showed that dude that I played this game more then him" BUT YOU'LL STAY PLAY

After a point in time, the game you played so much just looses the magic, the charm of that first Chrinuzaa you opened it on. After just so much gaming I swear to god I forgot what the sunlight was...no I'm kidding of course. But sometimes I think to myself I wish I felt like I did when I first got the game.

So this brings me to my final point, games like Skyrim, games like Battlefield 3, games like WoW. Everytime I play these games (exept for WOW but I just added that cause it's so damm popular for some eery reason)I'm happy, I am in my element and by grilled cheesus (glee sucks I know but the pun was worth it) noobs will suffer. Until I reach a point where the fun is gone and I find myself desensitized but I still play, I STILL F***ING PLAY. And I'll keep playing for hours on end CONVINCING MYSELF that I'm having fun when if I were to look at myself in a mirror you would see no more joy then when the dinosaurs discovered they all died...of smoking too much weed...in a jacuzi...CRUSHED BY A METEOR!

So the big question to get the most responses because who does not want a little badge is
AM I ALONE!?
(And Ben Yahtzee's the best...at making terrible jokes!!!!) I still laugh at them though.

 

[hazabaza1]

...what?
Honestly, I have no idea what the fuck you just said. Mind providing a summary?

 

[Wolfram23]

Um... I haven't received a game as a gift for many years... I think the last game I got super uber duper excited about as a gift was Zelda: Majora's Mask.

Anyway, as for playing games I really like and then losing interest... yes, of course that happens. I played Skyrim for 5 weeks straight got 105 hours in, and just dropped it cold turkey. Haven't played it since Christmas break though I do intend to go back sooner or later. Instead, though, I got back into BF3 and am having a blast with that. Eventually I will lose interest, though.

My point is that when I stop having fun I stop playing. Maybe I'm lucky that I have a bunch of games I can play but I really don't see the reason to keep trying to convince yourself you're having fun. Maybe you should try a different hobby for a while, or call a friend up to hang out.

 

[MrBaguette]

...what?
Honestly, I have no idea what the fuck you just said. Mind providing a summary?

Games get repetitive and droll after a long time of playing them yet people manage to convince themselves that they are still worth it.

Why?
And do you relate?

 

[Vern5]

...what?
Honestly, I have no idea what the fuck you just said. Mind providing a summary?

I think what he's trying to get at is that New Game feeling where everything is new and unfamiliar thus exciting. Think of it as "New Car smell" except its for whatever game you happen to be playing at the time. It's easier to feel when you're less experienced with game tropes and running design themes.

While that feeling is particularly invigorating it does go away with longer or repeated play time. It especially vanishes when you start over from the beginning of a game and have to run through familiar plot points or architecture/landscapes.

I think the OP is distressed that he's losing that New Game feeling and wondering if everyone feels that. I, for one, feel that all the time and not just about games either. This is the curse of added experience and the generous ability for humans to store and recall memories. Everything becomes familiar given enough time and all novelty eventually dies. It's one of the reasons why we buy New games at all.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

...what?
Honestly, I have no idea what the fuck you just said. Mind providing a summary?

Games get repetitive and droll after a long time of playing them yet people manage to convince themselves that they are still worth it.

Why?
And do you relate?

Because everything gets repetitive and droll after a long time of doing it? Games are no different. The difference is that gamers like playing video games (shocking, I know), but can't necessarily get new ones at a constant steady stream, due to income or just a lull in interesting releases. So you keep playing the old ones, even if maybe you got bored of them some time ago. That's why games like Call of Duty, Diablo 2, WoW, etc. have things like rank progression and unlockable equipment. You may feel you've done everything in the game, but as you inevitably keep playing it past your initial honeymoon you'll still have "stuff" to do, even if you've already done it before. A goal is an adequate replacement for interest, when it comes to justifying time invested.

Also, in regards to your opening post, speak more clearly. The jokes aren't all that funny, and really muddled the point you were trying to make.

 

[MrBaguette]

My jokes are solid gold and yes we came to a conclusion that games get repetitive and boring after a certain amount of time but the trouble is that even though we got to previously mentioned conclusion, we still force ourselves to believe they are worth the trouble.

 

[daveman247]

I have honestly never come across this. When i have had enough of a game i will just stop playing it. There have been A FEW times where i am not enjoying the game as much anymore, BUT I MUST FINISH IT ONCE. Then ill probably just drop it afterward.

Isn't this what multiplayer games are for? I can see how simple games may get boring but well executed multiplayer SHOULD have enough options so a game doesn't get stuck in a rut. Against unpredictable humans and all that.

And yeah like others have said, ranking systems and upgrade trees etc to keep you playing. Carrot and stick and all that.

I guess some people may convince themselves they are enjoying a game if so many others like it. And they are in the minority of not liking it. Maybe they figure "they are doing it wrong" or something :/

 

[MrBaguette]

I guess this first hit me during my Skyrim episode where it's started off epic and then after a blinding 80 hours of game-play just lost it's pizazz. But even after I realised it I forced myself to play.

Now after realising what I was doing I noticed this behaviour reflecting off other people, some my friends and some just random strangers on the internet who said similar things. I wanted to know if this was a widespread thing or not.
Also thought this was a pretty interesting thing to discuss.

 

[hazabaza1]

...what?
Honestly, I have no idea what the fuck you just said. Mind providing a summary?

Games get repetitive and droll after a long time of playing them yet people manage to convince themselves that they are still worth it.

Why?
And do you relate?

Ah.
No, if I'm not having fun, I'll stop. Maybe come back to it later, but I stop if it's not fun.
I guess people do it so they can get their money's worth.

 

[Frozen Donkey Wheel2]

I play games because they're fun. If I'm not having fun, I'll stop playing that game. This is largely because I have awesome taste in games, but also because I have very selective taste in games. Basically, I only buy games that I know I'll enjoy.

 

[ReinWeisserRitter]

I don't force myself to play anything. If I'm not having fun anymore, I stop playing it. Don't see why that's complicated.

That said, I'm never looking for that fresh new game feeling any time I play whatever anyway. Hell, Final Fantasy Tactics surprised me during my latest and ongoing playthrough of it, in that I've played the game several times over the course of fifteen years and it still manages to be consistently enjoyable. Even on this latest playthrough, I've still learned things I didn't know about the damn thing. It's ridiculous.

 

[VladG]

...what?
Honestly, I have no idea what the fuck you just said. Mind providing a summary?

Games get repetitive and droll after a long time of playing them yet people manage to convince themselves that they are still worth it.

Why?
And do you relate?

No. If a game stops being fun I stop playing it. Also droll doesn't mean what you think it means.

 

[loc978]

I remember the feeling you outlined back there... only, the last time I was given a game for a holiday, it was Final Fantasy VI(or III, as it erroneously claimed at the time)... so it wasn't on a CD, it was a cartridge. The game never became a job to me, though. I played it obsessively in my free time until I had beaten it thoroughly, then shelved it until I felt the itch to play it again.
Honestly, I think the technical limitations of the day worked in favor of a game not becoming stale before you had finished it. They weren't padded out for play time because they couldn't be, there just wasn't enough space on the cartridge.

Now, for games that I've felt the grind in, to the point where it seems like work... I put the game down. Shelve it, and sometimes I never come back to it. Like with Final Fantasy X. Couldn't stand that fucking travesty... and Morrowind and Oblivion, not that I couldn't stand them, they were just too slow to be any fun to me. I imagine I'll get the same feeling with Skyrim when I eventually pick it up for $20 or less.

 

[Monkeyman O'Brien]

God that opening post was hard to read. You really should add the summary to it to save people the headache.

Anyway, I don't do that. If a game bores me I tend to put it down and leave it. I was getting damn close to the end of The Darkness but it was so boring and depressing and nothing like the real Darkness that I just put it back in its case and it can go fuck itself.
Skyrim began to get boring after like 3 days so I stopped playing that too.
I don't try to force myself if I am not enjoying something.

 

[MetalMagpie]

Games get repetitive and droll after a long time of playing them yet people manage to convince themselves that they are still worth it.

"Droll" means unusual and amusing. I think what you mean is "dull".

(Sorry, I just really like that word and it's annoying to see it misused.)

On topic: I have never experienced this with a video game. When I get bored, I stop playing. But I have experience it with games of Risk and Monopoly.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I do not relate. If a game stops being fun, I stop playing it. I never need to lie to myself and convince myself to play. There are a lot of other games to play and hell, a lot of other things besides video games to do.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Of course games get old and dull over time. It's just like with every other form of entertainment after all. Your favorite movie could be Little Nicky but you can't watch it every day without getting tired of it. It's why new games are made and, announced as often as they are. The thing is, with all the new games coming out we tend to end up in scenarios where we have more than a few games. We get hooked on one, we beat that one, we move on to another one. If the one that was beaten is good we hang on to it, if not we may trade it for another one but the thing is, a good game can be played over and over with new things being noticed that you may not have the first time around. For example, I haven't played Final Fantasy IV in a long while but after having played it this afternoon I remember why that's one of the few Final Fantasy games I beat within the same year I got it: because it's a fucking awesome game.

Yes, games get dull but they're not the only facet of life. I post this right now after having drawn some fan art, which I did after having Yang join my party in FFIV, after having slept, after having played FFIV, after having eatten, after having played Skyward Sword, etc.

Also OP: it's fun to rag on the Wii for its shovelware but Skyward Sword, Kirby's Epic Yarn and, Donkey Kong Country Returns are 3 reasons...well, one and a half reason I'm glad it exists...DKCR and Kirby could have been on the Gamecube.