I remember a time when I was able to "play the hell out of a game". For example, not only did I get all the endings in Chrono Trigger but I played the game til I maxed out everyones Speed, Magic, and Power with the proper tabs. I would play the Kings Quest games over and over to try to get the max points. I would give myself goals in games such as Rock N Roll Racing where I made myself stick with the starter car to beat the game.
Now things have seemed to change. Playing a game through more than once nearly kills me of boredom. Unless something has a special unlockable or multiple endings (not crappy ones like Bioshock) I usually play a game through once, possibly skipping over some missions and items and then putting the game away for good.
Persona 3 for example. Fantastic game but I could only play through it once. I could go back and get all the persona, go through the "hard" doors in Tartarus, beat all the quests, and max out all my social links. But just the simple thought of doing so just bores me. I can't think of any reason to play it again when I am just going to get the same ending as before.
When I was younger I was able to create little intrinsic goals for myself and now I need something physical (in game terms I guess) to keep me playing a game if it isn't a sports game or a multiplayer one.
Does this happen with anyone else? And if so is it a maturity thing or just simply "Gaming" yourself out?
I've never been the kind of player that arbitrarily lets goals be assigned to me as a gamer, rather than setting my own. I finish games with multiple endings as many times as I want to while it's still fun, 100% games when it's enjoyable to do so and even repeatedly complete games when there's no more reward than the simple joy of playing.
When I was a kid I 100%ed every game I owned. This was because I didn't have enough money to buy more than a few games. Most of that, as a child, was still fun but not as much fun as getting a new game and bounding my way through it.
Now I'm older and with a little spare money now and again, especially when it comes to gaming. So I can afford to pick and choose where I get my thrills. There's no loss of gaming drive, just a selective redistribution of effort.
It's a combination of getting older (so beating a game doesn't carry the reward it once did) and more games that try to be entertaining on many levels. I still speedrun the original SMB because the only point of the game is to get better. There's no story, no in-depth fantasy world, just physics and glitches to be exploited. And you can get in, put yourself to the test, and get out quickly.
Agreed. Back when i was a lad, I scrimped and saved to pony up the $50-75 for a snes game, so you can be sure as hell i played it over and over again in every way possible. This was a necessity seeing as my allowance was only $5 (minus a few good rentals here and there and swaps with friends). Nowadays i can afford all the games I want, and I definitely enjoy the variety.
Yeah you guys make some excellent points. What about with MMORPGs with any of you? I remember from UO to Everquest to City of Heroes I could play with friends/guildmates for 6-8 hours straight just grinding away. Then all of a sudden I got burned out, not just from those games but from MMORPGs all together.
I tried playing WoW a couple of months back and I almost threw up when I started to think about having to grind raids and quests and farm monsters all day in order to be "good".
I think you've got to own up to just getting older with less time to play. Also mindless repetition works for kids, but as adults, things seem to lose the flava. But yeah I lose interest for games fairly quickly. Multiplayer has taken over for multiple endings for most of us.
I think you just start to balance out real life experiences with gaming experiences. You start to realize that draining 80 hours into Dragon Quest VIII, doesn't seem as appealing as investing 80 hours into some hot sexy sex or perhaps having a worthwhile visceral experience with your "homeboys".
I feel you on this one Hero. I have wondered this myself on occasion and questioned my love for the gaming. Then I realized that it's not that I like it any less, it's just that there becomes more fun things to do as you get older and explore a little more. Life becomes more exciting and games have their place but are no longer the only awesome thing to do.
Don't get me wrong, I love me some gamin' as much as the next guy who loves him some gamin', it's just not the only thing to do anymore. I mean really..... what else is there to do when you're a kid?
I do have to say though, that those 80+ hours in Dragon Quest VIII...... all worth it.
What Squirrel said. When you get older, there's way more fulfilling things you could be doing besides games. Like using your education, honing skills, pursuing hobbies, reaching goals, socializing etc. I love em, but I'm perfectly fine without them. It's a healthy balance for me.
Well I meant this less as a priority issue and more of a "how you play your game" issue. I have no problem not playing games 24/7. Like you guys there are other priorities like work/college but I just get disappointed from time to time how I don't play a game out like I used to. Went from playing a game many times through to one playthrough being enough.
I've very rarely played a game through more than once. I'll do it for unlockables or different endings, but not so much for just the sake of playing it through again.
Part of that though is because there are so many new games coming out that I get interested in so I don't have as much time as I'd like to spend on one particular game.
I used to and mostly still do try to get 100% on most games. I do it cause it's fun and because I'm spending $50-$60 on a game so I'm going to get my money's worth. Of course, this is getting harder and harder to do as I get close to graduating from college.
On the whole though I think it's just a part of growing up. Games don't hold as much interest to you as they did when you were young and theres the time factor too.
The only time I get bored of gaming in general is when I overload myself. I start buying all kinds of games at once and I can't keep my attention on one because I have another game sitting there. I keep thinking to myself that the other game could potentially be better then the one I'm playing.
I've began to try and buy one game at a time, but I agree with what some people are saying. Gaming as a kid is a much different than playing as an adult. I got about two games a year growing up. 3 at most. I had to make it last. Now I just throw money at them.
I find myself unable to sometimes even finish a clearly great game. I have had Mario Galaxy for months now, and I only really played it right after I got it. The only games I find myself being able to play for any extended period of time are portable games. I play my DS a couple times a week just to unwind or if I'm bored and the games seem to keep me very interested regardless of genre.
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about me
Now with epic beard...
Who am I?
A gamer from the South Side of Chicago. Currently going to college for a Computer Science degree and looking into a course for C# certification so I can become a business applications programmer (gaming programming just isn't worth it).
What do I do?
Play games, play sports (european and american football), read a lot, go to the pub (need a new one, got banned from my old one), program crappy little applications, and so on.
Games I am currently playing...
Warcraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients (DOTA)
Team Fortress 2
Super Mario Galaxy
Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
Audiosurf
Dynasty Warriors 6
No More Heroes
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin
Looking Forward to Demigod
Next Pro Evolution Soccer
Smash Bros Brawl
Fallout 3 (sort of)
Spore
Left 4 Dead
Destructoid is an independently-run publication forged by our love of video games and the gaming community's need of accountable enthusiast press living the dream since March 16, 2006
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I've never been the kind of player that arbitrarily lets goals be assigned to me as a gamer, rather than setting my own. I finish games with multiple endings as many times as I want to while it's still fun, 100% games when it's enjoyable to do so and even repeatedly complete games when there's no more reward than the simple joy of playing.
When I was a kid I 100%ed every game I owned. This was because I didn't have enough money to buy more than a few games. Most of that, as a child, was still fun but not as much fun as getting a new game and bounding my way through it.
Now I'm older and with a little spare money now and again, especially when it comes to gaming. So I can afford to pick and choose where I get my thrills. There's no loss of gaming drive, just a selective redistribution of effort.
It's a combination of getting older (so beating a game doesn't carry the reward it once did) and more games that try to be entertaining on many levels. I still speedrun the original SMB because the only point of the game is to get better. There's no story, no in-depth fantasy world, just physics and glitches to be exploited. And you can get in, put yourself to the test, and get out quickly.
Agreed. Back when i was a lad, I scrimped and saved to pony up the $50-75 for a snes game, so you can be sure as hell i played it over and over again in every way possible. This was a necessity seeing as my allowance was only $5 (minus a few good rentals here and there and swaps with friends). Nowadays i can afford all the games I want, and I definitely enjoy the variety.
Yeah you guys make some excellent points. What about with MMORPGs with any of you? I remember from UO to Everquest to City of Heroes I could play with friends/guildmates for 6-8 hours straight just grinding away. Then all of a sudden I got burned out, not just from those games but from MMORPGs all together.
I tried playing WoW a couple of months back and I almost threw up when I started to think about having to grind raids and quests and farm monsters all day in order to be "good".
I think you've got to own up to just getting older with less time to play. Also mindless repetition works for kids, but as adults, things seem to lose the flava. But yeah I lose interest for games fairly quickly. Multiplayer has taken over for multiple endings for most of us.
I think you just start to balance out real life experiences with gaming experiences. You start to realize that draining 80 hours into Dragon Quest VIII, doesn't seem as appealing as investing 80 hours into some hot sexy sex or perhaps having a worthwhile visceral experience with your "homeboys".
I feel you on this one Hero. I have wondered this myself on occasion and questioned my love for the gaming. Then I realized that it's not that I like it any less, it's just that there becomes more fun things to do as you get older and explore a little more. Life becomes more exciting and games have their place but are no longer the only awesome thing to do.
Don't get me wrong, I love me some gamin' as much as the next guy who loves him some gamin', it's just not the only thing to do anymore. I mean really..... what else is there to do when you're a kid?
I do have to say though, that those 80+ hours in Dragon Quest VIII...... all worth it.
What Squirrel said. When you get older, there's way more fulfilling things you could be doing besides games. Like using your education, honing skills, pursuing hobbies, reaching goals, socializing etc. I love em, but I'm perfectly fine without them. It's a healthy balance for me.
Well I meant this less as a priority issue and more of a "how you play your game" issue. I have no problem not playing games 24/7. Like you guys there are other priorities like work/college but I just get disappointed from time to time how I don't play a game out like I used to. Went from playing a game many times through to one playthrough being enough.
I've very rarely played a game through more than once. I'll do it for unlockables or different endings, but not so much for just the sake of playing it through again.
Part of that though is because there are so many new games coming out that I get interested in so I don't have as much time as I'd like to spend on one particular game.
I used to and mostly still do try to get 100% on most games. I do it cause it's fun and because I'm spending $50-$60 on a game so I'm going to get my money's worth. Of course, this is getting harder and harder to do as I get close to graduating from college.
On the whole though I think it's just a part of growing up. Games don't hold as much interest to you as they did when you were young and theres the time factor too.
The only time I get bored of gaming in general is when I overload myself. I start buying all kinds of games at once and I can't keep my attention on one because I have another game sitting there. I keep thinking to myself that the other game could potentially be better then the one I'm playing.
I've began to try and buy one game at a time, but I agree with what some people are saying. Gaming as a kid is a much different than playing as an adult. I got about two games a year growing up. 3 at most. I had to make it last. Now I just throw money at them.
I find myself unable to sometimes even finish a clearly great game. I have had Mario Galaxy for months now, and I only really played it right after I got it. The only games I find myself being able to play for any extended period of time are portable games. I play my DS a couple times a week just to unwind or if I'm bored and the games seem to keep me very interested regardless of genre.