Getting Old...

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I'm only 19, but I already feel old and cynical. I think people with AS more commonly mature at a greater rate than that of people who do not happen to have it.

At any rate, that's not what I wanted to discuss today. What I did want to talk about is how I feel that my age is kind of making me feel a little jaded towards my interests, gaming most specifically. I've always been a gamer for pretty much as long as I've lived, but I've recently found myself feeling less and less of an attraction towards it. I don't like feeling this way, since it makes me feel like the old times are slipping away and turning me into somebody I don't ever really want to become.

I know it sounds dramatic, but gaming has been a part of my life this entire time. I really don't want to let it go. The problem is that I don't even know if I'm losing interest in it entirely or if it's some kind of phase, maybe my mood. I'm not entirely sure. Truth is that I really want to keep up my hobby, yet each day it appears to slip me by farther and farther. It may be gone entirely someday. I don't want that to happen.

Has anybody else felt this way before?

Maybe there just aren't that many good and unique games these days? That's how I feel.

I am also getting tired of gaming at 27, but I think it's because the games are generally lackluster and repetitive compared to those when we were younger.

I've felt that way, and I definitely go through stints where gaming is not as much an interest as it can be, and there've even been a few times where it has dropped off as an interest completely for a year or few at a time.

I think the reason for losing interest can be that many modern big name game developers have steadily lost their originality in the hunt for a formula that practically ensures a good profit by marketing their titles to just about everyone and their grandmothers(mind, gamers might as well be a niche group compared to the size of marketing to the general public) because of how much modern games cost to make. Also, because of the cost, originality is deemed risky, and is put out in moderation as not to deviate too far from what's deemed safe and shown to turn profit. This in turn creates many shiny games of different themes, that all feel too familiar to the player. That much, I believe, is well recognized in the gaming community.

There's that ugly bit, but the other thing I've found, is that going back to older games I've really liked in the past can help gain a bit of perspective on the issue as well. Yes, I feel some of the games I've enjoyed in the past are still pretty great, but some of the others are so boring, I cannot see what enjoyment I ever could have gotten out of playing them. People and their interests can definitely change. It's common to see people debate when a longwinded series started sucking, but usually, if I try playing them all again to be certain of my stance, I find despite recollection stating where the series dropped the ball, the series often simply didn't change all that much over it's entirety... as in, my interests had changed and I had lost interest in the series, but just didn't notice as to when.

There's also if you play one type of game until you're too familiar with the ins and outs of the genre. That can lead to boredom in itself if there's no higher challenge left to seek out, as, if there's no challenge, all that's left is a game's story and atmosphere, which aren't always so great depending on the genre or how easily you consider yourself amused.

I think in identifying whatever it is that has me uninterested with whatever games I'm playing, helps in deciding what to play instead. At the moment, I'm finding more interest in games that are of genres I'm not familiar with, but have wanted to learn for a good while now.

Almost forgot, I also try not to rule out depression as an issue. Sometimes, depending on my mood, everything I have available to do sounds like a painfully boring idea. If I notice that's the case, I try to choose a game I think I might normally like, and try playing it for fifteen or so minutes. Sometimes doing so picks up and makes me forget my mood and I keep playing, and other times, it doesn't so I try another, or simply do something else.

I agree with Lace bane, games are less immersive and story driven. There is much more emphasis on multiplayer, fetch questing and cash grab DLC, EA and Bioware games are far less story driven as a result. I am bored of fetch quest games in an attempt to add more content to the game.

PC gaming is great because games that are five years old can have a good mod community with support for higher resolutions, I would recommend a PC rig as the catalogue is much more varied and extensive.

I felt that way at one point... and the solution for me was to simply start looking elsewhere for games.

I dont play AAA games anymore. On very, very, very, VERY rare occaisions I'll get one, but mostly they're just all bad to me at this point. Devs for those are obsessed with graphics, cutscenes, and set-piece moments, and do those very heavily while dumbing down everything else (usually dumbing it down ALOT).

And honestly, I realized... graphics had lost the ability to impress me WHATSOEVER. I use a super high-end gaming rig of a PC; I'd already seen the best of the best, all maxed out, over and over. Eventually, I realized... well, I've seen this before, and you know what, it's NOT enhancing my experience or giving me anything of worth. And as for cutscenes... I just hate them. I find most stories in games to be bloody horrible, and really, if a story is what I'm after... I'll go read a damn book. The things are all over my room after all.

So I ended up flocking to mostly indie games, and... yeah, that's what really did it for me. I play something like Isaac, or Nuclear Throne, or Dwarf Fortress (a game rendered ENTIRELY in ASCII, unless you install tilesets into it; I just play it in ASCII, because screw tilesets) and I get more enjoyment, challenge, fun, and depth out of either of those, BY THEMSELVES, than I've gotten out of the "major" games in... probably the last 10 years. And that's just those two games; there's sooooo many others out there, and I really dove into that and have found... so many that I like. I went from only buying new games rarely (because interesting releases were few and far between), to buying them REALLY OFTEN. And it's been great. It totally revitalized gaming for me as a whole. AND, it allowed me to find some types of games that just never appeared. Shmups? I thought that was a dead genre... and then I found a million of them. Roguelikes? Freaking unheard of, among the major games. Now I have.... so many.

I need that kind of depth and challenge for a game to hold my attention; easy and shallow are just a good cure for insomnia. The lack of that was what had been causing apathy for awhile, but now that's gone.

In addition to this I also tend to play alot of retro games (I still have all of my old ones, dating back to the 2600) but that's a whole other story.

The only issue with this approach is that it's not really viable on consoles; I had to go to the PC for this (was mostly a console gamer before that point, now I mostly do PCs as the console selections have just gotten really bad to me). However, there's still some decent games like these on consoles, and the number may increase as time goes on and the Big Three make it easier to get games like that onto their machines.


Now that's not to say that I dont do consoles games AT ALL or anything, no. I still do occaisionally, but oddly this is almost exclusively on Nintendo's consoles these days (they're not filled with dull brown FPS games only). But not nearly as much as I did way back when.

But yeah, the big AAA companies would have you believe that games like that are all that is... that's just not true. Explore around, see what ELSE you can find, try new things. It might just do the trick.

So far at two points in my life I've gamed a lot, when I was very young and right now. In my teens and early 20's I didn't game a lot and was focused on other things. I think it's natural to put it down for awhile, a lot of people cut back when they have their first child for example.

Go retro. Download some emulators and play some real games.

Beyond that, you're at an age where most people start to take life a bit more seriously and work towards the things that will hopefully make them more independent in the future (career training, university etc) so maybe it's time to think about any ambitions you might have while you're still young enough to make them happen. Think carefully because the choices you make will define the rest of your life.

Knowledge is a double-edged sword, it is as good as it is bad, at 19, you are starting to see the truth for what it is, you're reaching the ceiling and now you're going to have to work to help either raise or break it.

Adults need to shed that layer of innocence in order to see the truth, because it's only when you recognize that there is a ceilign that you'll be free to touch it. This is the price for knowledge, this is the price for growing up. As you start to recognize more and more truths in this world, the more your heart is going to be inclined towards cynicism and depression.


It's like learning a craft to a point of excellence, once you know how the thing is actually done, it losses its mystique. Mechanical devices are like magic to people who don't understand how they work, and this element of mystery and awe adds a layer of wonder to the world, but once you learn to recognize things in this world for what they are, they lose that poignant aura. As sad as it is, it needs to be done, it's essentially shedding your childhood innocence, either way it's going to be painful and sad, but it needs to be done.

My advice is to have a good network of friends and family to help mitigate the pain, because it WILL get worse, with greater knowledge comes greater sadness. If you want to increase knowledge you're going to have develop a spiritual layer of armor around your heart, and imo, this armor usually comes in th form of good friends and family. if you don't have those things, you can still survive, but it will be much harder.... At 19, you need to learn a lot of discipline, but in order to learn discipline you need to find some kind of meaning, but in order to have meaning, you need to find truth, but if the truth inclines to sadness...well, it's not a good situation to be in.

This stuff drives people to suicide, not to get too morbid... a lot of teenagers commit suicide because they're unable to bear the truth, they're unable to shed that layer of innocence that they wished they could keep.

You have a long journey ahead of you and I wish you the most of luck, life isn't easy for anyone.

Thanks everybody so far for all of your suggestions and advice. I read and fully appreciate all of these posts, despite my being very slow in responding a lot of the time.

Consider it a good thing OP.

In my humble opinion, most good gaming died after about 2010.

The focus is driven far too much by graphics over story or gameplay mechanics and far too unoriginal and formulaic in its execution.

I prefer PS2 game's over PS3.

Surprisingly, I've put more hours into GTA IV and greatly prefer it over that Tryhard of a sequel (GTA V). But of course, they both come second to San Andreas.

I know a lot of older games sucked and lacked coherent, complex story as well, but there was something about them that made them subjectively better to me.

I think modern games are far too ambitious and tryhard. Far too focused on the absolute best graphics, best gameplay, and many try way too hard at making a complex and 'emotional' story.

Many games question morals now, and then go on to make you kill about 100 more people, thereby making it fail. Some games the attempts to add drama or complexity are far too forced and fall flat.

Don't even get me started on FPS games such as COD and Battlefield.

Somehow, most COD games are generic and copy/paste, yet each sequel COD game attempts to one-manupmanship the previous installment with BIGGER, BETTER, LOUDER, FASTER action. The COD series and their love for melodramatic, exaggerated conflict are so bad it's funny. It's become a parody.

Even Halo has fallen into the trap - each new game is so hi-tech looking and whizzy. I prefer H1-H3, when things were more simpler and fun. Reach was borderline.

Older games were better in their simplicity - less is more.

I like the Ratchet and Clank, early Tony Hawk, Early GTA, and Jak series. Each game in these series is so different and unique from the last, without trying to make the previous one look like cråp.

Look for games you do like. There is so many games out now, that there is bound to be many you do enjoy. There's really no good reason to focus on the games you hate.

People love to bash current big name games, but guess what? You can avoid them and play so much else. Plenty of indy stuff out there. Plenty of retro stuff out there too. It may take time to find what you want- but its well worth it, if you really want to play games you enjoy!

This generation of gamers (as well as last generation) have become too cynical, entitled and just whiny IMO. People would rather complain about games they don't like, rather than find games they DO like. Plus there is so many people out there that have the need to pirate because they are cheap and/or lazy to get old consoles and handhelds. It's pathetic really. Most of the old stuff isnt that much money, plus a ton of it has gotten remakes or ports.. so it IS easy to find stuff.

Anyway- what types of games do you like? I could probably find a decent amount of games in those genres that you could look into and play.

The only thing that made me feel jaded was other human beings. I had to cut ties with a lot of people by the time I was 18 but that didn't turn me away from video games it pushed me closer to them xD