f13.net

So, its come to my attention that I actually donlt game very much anymore.  I sure love to talk about it, but given my schedule I have less and less time to actually spend in games due to the fact 1) I'm simply not home as much 2) when I do have time to game, I really dislike being interrupted, so if I know there are a bunch of possible interruptions, I just don't bother booting anything up.

 Just looking for suggestions about how other people have managed to keep up their gaming as their gaming time has dwindled, and how they make the most out of it.

I'm thinking I need to drop my more serious games.  As much as I love Starcraft 2, Its made me unbelievably frustrated to actually get WORSE at it because my playtime has dropped off so much, I don't have the time to get good at things anymore, not legitimately good like I used to, and thats a problem for me because of how I just do things in general (not just in gaming).   With shooters its a little better because you aren't reminded constantly how much you suck like you are in an RTS, and even if I can't be as good as I used to I can still get fun/exciting/cool kills from time to time.   

MMORPGs are ok because I can get "better" just by spending a bit of time on it every day, even if it isn't much time, but its really only my character getting better and not me, which generally leaves me bored as all hell after a couple weeks and haven't found an MMO that actually compels me to play long term in quite a long time.

What genre's work best for someone like me? What games? Do I just need to force myself to radically shift how I view gaming in my life?  I know this probably all sounds a little silly and possibly a little like a whine post, but its actually causing me legitimate distress and I'm not sure the best way to deal with it.

FAKE EDIT: The reason I have so little gaming over the last 1/2 year or so is because I entered a phd program that is quite demanding (as one would expect).  I love it, but I also want to keep up with my hobbies SOME.

As do I. Its called working an 8 hour day job with browser internet access :awesome_for_real:

My problem is also partly ennui with games: it's still both my leisure habit of choice and an art/cultural form in which I have great intellectual interest, but I feel like game design is spinning its wheels in some respects. There are fewer and fewer titles that both feel like fresh or engaging experiences to me and which accommodate my increasingly crowded life and professional schedule. I have the same sensation in particular that if I put down a title for a while, I find it too difficult to "re-acquire" the basic structure of gameplay in some titles without having to go back and play them over again, which in some cases I don't want to do. I got too busy to finish RDR a while back for example and then when I went back to it I was struggling to remember how to quickshot things and lasso and so on.

Another complicated issue for me is that my daughter is so much more interested in games now that I can't play some of the things that I used to play while she did something else elsewhere in the house: she always wants to come and see what I'm doing. That's fine if it's WoW or DCUO or King's Bounty, not so fine if it's The Witcher or RDR or Saint's Row 2 or Assassin's Creed 2. If I time it right, I can do some of those games, but I have to save some quests or segments or activities for when she's asleep, and when she's asleep I'm often pretty tired myself.

Indeed, this is a problem for me, though not due to children.  I simply spend a lot of my most mentally alert hours getting things done for school, but the game I enjoy most require quite a lot of alertness and dexterity, both of which tank for me after about 8-9pm.  So even if I have an hour or two to play before bed, the kinds of games I want to play are kind of inaccessible.

Try to organise a night to yourself for gaming once a week. Promise your fiancée something in return, but make one night something you can inject some solid time in.

You also need to adjust to the fact you probably won't be buying every game you want on release and will probably be behind in lots of discussions.

Actually, the fiancee is the least of my barriers to gaming, she's happy enough to watch some TV alone for a while if i want to play a game for a while.  We've been living together for a long time and thats never been a problem for us (i dislike TV, she dislikes games, so it works out) Its more the school work load thats utterly smashed my ability to game with any kind of consistency, and consistency is really needed in games like SC2 or anything else competitive for that matter.   

Probably need to pick something that I can do what you say though, play one night a week, and be ok with that.  Unfortunately that is going to take me out of anything remotely competitive.

Welcome to adulthood  :awesome_for_real:

Competitive gaming is something for those who have no real schedule I'm afraid. Shift your focus to single player stuff. I think in the last two years, the only online gaming I've really done is a few Borderlands runs, which are quick, and one brief attempt at mutiplayer Civ 5. MMoGs are fine for me, as long as I realize that I'm going to be playing them as if they were single player - raiding or battlegrounds are just not going to happen.

Yea, I'm sure this is the correct way to approach it, but its easier said than done for me :).  In truth I've been dealing with this issue for a solid 1/2 year + at this point but I've been sort of just been powering through it with SC2 which I was bad enough at for a long time that I could improve even with a limited schedule.  Now I've hit the wall there, and its sort of dawned on me that I'm going to have have this problem no matter what I play.   The issue of course is that I really do like to play games to improve at them, and it seems like the types of games you are suggestion (by and large) have a low skill ceiling that won't keep me very interested.

Clearly thats the point of course, I need to shift how I approach gaming.  Its just easier said than done.  Its going to sound pretty quaint, but I was talking with a friend earlier and I observed that in many ways I really identify with the competitive gaming community and in some ways is an issue of redefining myself, not just redefining how I spend my time, and I think that is where some of the issue is coming from.

EDIT: Somewhat ironically if I had a normal 8 hours a day type job, I'd have a ton more time to game than I do now.  As it stands I have 8 hours a day (on average) on campus a day, and then I have loads of reading and writing to do on top of that.  Yes, that is of course the life of a phd student and I don't regret it or dislike it, I think its just affected my life even more drastically than I anticipated actually.  Especially going back to it after having been out of school for a bit and sort of enjoying being in the work/leisure rhythm of a normal job.

If you're doing the Ph.D 'right', you don't have time for gaming...  or anything really.  Really it'll be just about the worst point in your life for any leisure activity since most doctoral programs expect you to be putting in 60-80 hours towards the program.

You'll have to either just tinker around or plan a night for yourself.  It's hard to make it work, but it will get better.

My goal is to make enough money that I can retire and play video games, I'm basically giving up on the next 20 years or so.  Eventually, I plan on spending my dotage in a retirement home with all the latest hardware and an internet connection and just play 20 hours a day.

It's been a problem for me as well, lately; I just have to organize myself a little better: fact is, for me it is quite easy to lose focus, whenever I'm playing a single-player game or a MMO. So I play for a bit, then shut down the game, browse the internet, mess around with other stuff, then start the game up again, rinse, repeat for very short spans.

But also, I  know what you mean Malakili when you say: " when I do have time to game, I really dislike being interrupted, so if I know there are a bunch of possible interruptions, I just don't bother booting anything up.".
Sometimes it's even more of a sensation than a real thing, so even before booting something up you feel like you just don't think it's worth it.

I've shifted my gaming during my crunch periods to MMOG's where I can log in an do something for 1-2 hours at a time, and strategy games where I can manuver turns that have a finality to them. There's stopping points in both those games.

On an on and off topic note, the fact that an MMORPG might be my best option for consistent but limited time to play a game really says a lot about how much they've changed.

I've really pulled back any MMORPG gaming (god, that's a time-sink). I have to share the console with my wife and kid (both of whom get more gaming time than me), and am pretty much stuck with games I can play a few hours at a time, then let sit for several days.

So Mass Effect 2? Fine. Fallout 3? By the time I get back to it, I've forgotten what I was doing or how to do it.

On the other hand, I always have a steady supply of games to play -- I've still got the original Assasin's Creed sitting around, having only played a little of it....

Well, in most now you can actually solo and get something done. It's no longer the EQ model of sit on your butt and hope you get picked for the kickball team.

I do tend to keep a MMO subscription around because it is something I can jump in and out of pretty easily.  Even in group instances if something comes up in an emergency, it mostly doesn't matter if I alt-F4 on the spot (thank you LFD).  I do not raid. That's just not compatible with the time I have available.  I've tried many different ways to raid, but with a non gaming wife and especially now with a young son, it's just not feasible.

And like others, as my time has decreased, my indecisiveness has gone up. It's hard to pick something that I know I can only get an hour into before I have to put it down. My habits in general have changed much from just "play everything I can afford".  I tend to only play games I really want to play.  Replays of games from the past usually don't get very far.  And probably the biggest thing is that I tend to just not buy and not play games I would have in the past due to pure lack of time and only a passing interest.  Like that new DC MMO, it sounds kind of fun, but will I really have time to play it and will it be worth a full box price if it has the chance for me just not liking it at all?  I've completely skipped two sequels to Assassin's Creed because the first one, although fun in parts, just kind of missed the mark for me.  These games even get ignored when they drop down to bargin bin prices.  

And games that get bad press/bad worth of mouth? Skipped entirely unless I'm a huge, huge fan of the series/developer/genre.  There are a lot of games that I just can't finish anymore and it drives me nuts. Long RPGs and jRPGs are difficult for me to finish because it takes months.

At least I'm not as indecisive with my gaming as I was when my son was an infant.  "Why bother loading something up, the possibility of him waking up screaming is about 50%".  At that point it was just easier to pick up a book. Marking a page is a lot faster than saving and exiting a game.

On the positive side, I always have something great to play (often installed and waiting for me on Steam or still in its shrinkwrap next to the TV).

I've been shifting my gaming to the DS.

I've had this happen to me gradually over the past year or so, largely due to either picking up new hobbies or expanding my time commitment to older ones. My gaming time is almost entirely restricted to about 30 minutes at lunchtime on 2-3 workdays out of the week, and perhaps an hour, maybe two or three, somewhere during the rest of the week.

My solution has been twofold - one, I still enjoy games like StarCraft II, but I'm not competitive and don't expect to be. I'm rather pleased that I've climbed from Bronze 99 up to the teens. These sorts of games I tend to play more with friends and coworkers during lunch (SC2, BFBC2, etc. - mostly FPSes, aside from SC2), and my preference generally rotates with what the rest of my social circle is playing.

For my solo gaming time, I choose games that are easier to pick up and put down, particularly indie games. Minecraft single-player, Recettear and a goodly list of others. I'm looking forward to picking up SpaceChem when I have time for it in February. The only long mainstream games I bought and completed last year were Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2, and I've already crossed DA2 off my list for this year. I've more or less dropped all MMOs at this point.

Like Rasix says, I find that becoming pickier is pretty much the only solution. There's a lot I'd like to play, but unless it's the one or two "OMG MUST PLAY NOW" games that come out each year, I tend to wait for reactions from the F13 crew and my offline social circle. It's helped me avoid stinkers like Civ5.

I found myself with less and less time for gaming lately too. Something that has worked out well for me was picking up Domions 3. After the first few weeks of getting familiar playing against the computer, I moved into playing human opponents. It works well for me because it seems scalable - when Im crunched for time I can always find enough time to play my turn and mail it in, and when things slow down a bit I can join a 2nd or third game.

What initally got me interested in the game was this lets play on SA I read about it.
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3302467


Another game I fall into and out of is Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Its nice because I can decide to take a 10 minute break and get a few cracks at dungeon sprint mode in. Its not so nice because sometimes I mean to take a 10 minute between looking over lesson plans and then realize I've been playing DCSS for the last 5 hours, and really need to goto bed.

For me it isn't so much about a lack of time (I usually trade sleep for gaming time), but rather a lack of a fun MMO to play.  The factor that has decreased my gaming time most is that the people I used to play MMO's with have all quit playing MMOs.  Since most MMOs require groups to see the endgame content, I've been hesitant to reinvest in them heavily until I can find a new gaming group.  If I can manage that, I'll probably bitch about the difficulty in coordinating schedules.

I'm dying for someone to create a nice MMO that you can play in 30 minute to 2 hour stretches and actually enjoy.  The way most MMOs are centered now it is impossible to do anything other than kill a few rats in that time, or run a battleground (or the equivalent) or two and get mopped by people that play 8-24 hours per day.  

As for non-MMO fare, it's a mixed bag.  Some folks bitch about games like Uncharted/Uncharted 2 which last only 8-12 hours total, but this is plenty for me for just the reasons Morat stated.  If they're too drawn out I get bored and have to retrack to find where I am at.  Some games are just too complex to fuck with any more.  I have this problem with the Witcher right now.  The quests are pretty convoluted and if you don't say just the right thing you can find yourself in a serious dead end. I have had some games recently that I enjoy, however, and have spent a lot of time on.  

Anyway Malakili, I suspect that you will find your situation even more cramped when (if) you do have children.  Life will continue to get more complex once you get married (things change, even though you've lived together) and progress along your path.  It's not a bad thing-  it's just life.  

Edit:  I think you joined up here about the same time I did.  I find it interesting that the Politics board appears to be exceeding popular here.  I suspect that the makeup of F13 was quite a bit different back in 2004-5 time frame.  I suspect that the board as a whole has gone through a lot of the issues that you are talking about. 

I had a post going but it disappeared because I had something else to do.

I'm more picky and I play things like Just Cause 2 instead of Planescape Torment.  I can't remember what the hell is going on in complex stories in between play sessions.

On the other hand, I am also easily distracted.  I end up playing things like Dwarf Fortress and SP Minecraft due to whimsy, leaving off a Dragon Age play long enough to forget why I'm fighting down that particular hallway.  Sandbox games are great for me since I don't have to remember much besides how to play.

That is actually another bothersome thing, such as how I sometimes try to use Forza buttons when playing GT5.  It doesn't help that Just Cause 2 also uses triggers for "move car forward".  However things are much better on this front than in the past.  Who else remembers when Japanese games used Circle for Cancel?  I sure as hell do.  Now I mostly just have to worry about conflicting camera controls, but that's not actually as huge a deal to me anymore.

Something else that I have is paralysis due to choice.  Like how you keep thinking there must be something better on when you are paying for 500 channels of TV, when I try to decide what game to play it can turn into me staring at the shelves for minutes on end and later worry that I probably should at least boot up GT5 so I can get some Museum cards....  Losing the ability to play my huge pile of PS2 games (God, Sony, you fuckers!) has only helped somewhat.

I don't have much advice.  My skills are worse than before at pretty much every game type.  I can't play with friends due to schedule.  I can't play certain things when the boy is around.  It's a sickness, adulthood.

You can get a PS2 for pretty cheap.   :grin:

I'm afraid that's what happens when people lose hope in the development cycle.  The MMO forum used to be quite active until the recent cycle of failed MMO attempts reminded us all that WoW is the best we have to look forward to for the forseeable future.  While WoW is great for what it is, I think we've all been-there-done-that too many times with the whole fantasy diku stuff. 

This is true.  Clearly that's not the only reason though.  Lifestyles are changing.  You can see it in this thread.  

Edit:  And I would suspect that there are a fair number of people that post here that don't game at all anymore, simply because of the community. 

Yep. There's plenty of hype and chatter on the other MMO sites.. it's just us.  We're all 'adults' now with more responsibilities and less time.  Even the young'uns are mostly out of college (or going for advanced degrees which take more time than Bachelors)

Except for me and my life awash in irresponsibility, unemployment and panic.  But then you don't feel much like gaming.

I never really managed to claw back as many gaming hours after my Master's as I managed before. Kid's getting older and wanting Xbox time, my PC is aging and money to build a new one is less forthcoming...

Xbox turned out to be a good investment, actually. I'd avoided the things (my wife was a huge console fan, I prefer PC) but it's all that's really kept gaming affordable. Otherwise I'd, right now, be playing WoW, Eve, and older 'nostalgic' stuff off Steam or GoG.

And WoW just because they made an effort to keep the requirements so low. I can't play SC2, for instance, and I won't be able to play Diablo III -- not until I upgrade.

I have to constantly make a decision when I sit down at my PC. Play games, or make them. Tie that with I make stuff all day, and sometimes, make does not happen.

I'm actually kind of surprised about this, I haven't frequented any other gaming forums, but it seems like genuine enthusiasm is pretty rare these days outside of official forums where people that decide 8 months in advance they will buy the game hang out.  I thought pretty much everyone just kind of floated around between trying random stuff in attempt to recapture their MMO youth, and begrudgingly resubbing to WoW.

You have to remember that a lot of the people that are starting up MMOs are actually pretty young, and therefore have a lot more time on their hands. 

Yeah for every one of us trying to capture our MMO youth there are probably 3 new customers being added at the young end.

It's even more amusing to see the same arguments you've hashed out 4-5 times play out at the other sites and have the same outcome.

Did I say amusing? I meant depressing.

I'm in this boat as well. Between the fact I have job/kids/dogs/wife my gaming time is severely curtailed, but I can partake in F13 from work or on the train so...

I feel old now.

I play single player games or multiplayer games without a big time commitment (like minecraft, blood bowl) and for fun rather than competition.

I'm a bit obsessive, so I tend to only play one game at a time and not want to play more than that, and I rarely watch TV, so I find my gaming time that way.

That said I didn't play games much when I was working and doing my honors at the same time, so I'd say you just have to suck it up with the phd going on. Give yourself a holiday to play games every now and then, but just pick ones that you can enjoy for those moments and don't feel a need to comit to.

I find myself in this category too.  The dropoff really happened over the last 4-5 years, because I got tired of paying big bucks for games that left me cold.  So I started waiting 6-12 months to buy games, but most local stores don't even stock them anymore at that point.

I started playing video games in 1980, and I think since then I have found every conceivable way to kill something.  I joke that I play so much Rock Band/Guitar Hero/etc.. because I'm flat-out tired of killing things.

Supposedly my personality type starts to get out of their head and into reality as well later in life, and I find that to be the case as well.  Doing a hobby with my hands is much more satisfying nowadays than sitting at the PC all night/weekend - especially when it's my day job as well.

Last year, I found that I typically had little to no time at all for gaming in the evenings after work, though I'd sit down and decompress by reading some stuff on the internet (including f13). I played a bit on the weekends and maybe 1-2 nights per week. This year I'll be in much the same situation at work, but will be doing my Masters as well. So I'm not exactly expecting my gaming time to be increasing.

I spent all day yesterday losing to my phone at chess.

Does that count as gaming? Because I only played so long because of offended pride.

Well, and it's easy and quick to play. Which fits into my "I haven't finished Fallout 3 because I simply can't devote that much time, that close together" view. Play a mission or two of ME2, dick around in WoW for an hour, screw around with Lego Star Wars (still so much fun), or decide to play an older game --- it's "how much time I have" both in terms of "chunks of time" and in "roughly contiguous play".

If I can't set the game down for at least a week and still come back to it and pick it more or less right back up, I probably don't have time for it.

One thing that really deters me from mmo (and there's a list) is pausability and endability. It's a game. I'm not committed to it. If my cat runs up and makes a stupid pose, I go tackle him. If my fiancee walks in the room, I talk to her. If I get an idea on the guitar, I go play guitar. With mmo, especially group crap, it's just not an option. You can't really easily walk away unless you're in town or crafting or whatever. With something like FFH2, I can just walk away at any point and come back to it, one of the reasons I love the game so much.

Stuff like Mafia 2 is broken into nice chapters. I like that, play a chapter of Mafia 2, read a chapter of my book, then hit the sack.

That just seems to be a grouping thing.  You can walk away any time at all playing a game like WoW and at worst you're out a handful of gold for repairs.  The problem with grouping is that you are saying "I am making a commitment to play this game with you for the next hour" or whatever.   The problem is that it has the stigma of being "just a game" its not the game you are committed to, its the people.  If you don't want to do that, fine, but I think thats the issue.

Yeah, a "pause" button is required. Thankfully, "you can't save here" is an annoyance, there's not been a lot (if any) games that haven't been pausable.

I won't group in WoW with people who don't understand "Yeah, my dog just peed on the floor. I'm going to need five minutes" -- and I do hate the lack of a pause on that, but not enough to quit playing. I just refuse to make it worse than it has to be.

I find I have time for gaming from about 2100 to 2400 hrs, but I just don't have the urge to play anything like I used to.  2, 3 years ago, I couldn't wait to turn on the PC or PS3 or whatever and get some gaming in.  Now?  No big deal if I do, no big deal if I don't.  Most single player games have 10 hours of playtime max (some radically less than that), and playing FPS's online is an exercise in frustration because I suck.  There's no MMO I really feel the want to play, and on top of that the crew that I used to play MMOs with has splintered up and lost touch for various reasons.  That's probably my biggest barrier to playing MMOs - having a solid reliable group of guys/girls I enjoy spending my online time with.  I would honestly LIKE to get my wife playing something with me, but she won't have any of that, except maybe some L4D or something and that's an exercise in frustration on my part because she's absolutely terrible.

The chief irony is that I have a fully-functional SCPH-30001 PS2 but I'm not completely willing to use it due to fear that it will stop working.  My brother-in-law is supposed to give me his but I haven't been over to his place to nab it yet.  I do need to worry about how to plug it into the AV system since I'm short on outlets and inlets.

The problem I'm running into in trying to find something to play that suits my time frame is that I really game for the meta game.  I'd really like something that has a fairly deep meta game, but doesn't get me insanely far behind by not playing much.  I'm thinking Diablo 3 is going to be my savior, but its going to be a while.

I think that depends on how much time you can allot to game homework.  Less time for drawing up charts is one of the contributing factors to my not playing Vagrant Story or any of the NIS tactics games.  I also tend to avoid games which expect me to draw my own maps or even that don't have a in-game notepad.  I often lose the paper, as well.  So I end up either playing the game sub-optimally or only play hurr-durr games like Just Cause 2.

This is what has recently surprised me about DCUO. It seems very playable in short periods of time. Granted im not max level yet and dont know what the end game is like but I am enjoying it in 30 minute increments.

I recently stopped playing WoW due to the time required to do anything meaningful. In Wrath, I could login, queue for a heroic or two and make it to bed like 45 minutes later. Now with the longer queues for DPS and gthe longer dungeon times, ranging from 30 minutes at the shortest up to an hour and a half with a slow group, I wasnt even bothering to log in unless I had like 2 hours to spend. I think this is a hugh step backward for casual MMO gaming, I actually think WoW is going to end up losing casual player subs because of it.

Some other games I enjoy right now are Global Agenda, or Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer. Games I can hop on, play for 20 to 45 minutes and then go do something else.

As a few people said on the last page, I think the real trick to being able to game as you get less time is being more picky. I used to buy tons and tons of games, but the last year or so the amount of games I have been buying has drastically dropped off (not counting Steam sales, DAMN YOU STEAM).

I find myself gaming more this month than I have in a while because I'm temporarily laid off!

Other than that yeah I notice that unless I have literally nothing going on I rarely sit down and mess with any of my consoles. I only recently sat down and finished Assassin's Creed 2 after not touching it for like a half a year, and I recently finished VVVVVV just because it was short.

As my gaming time decreased I've found myself relying on FAQs more and more. I don't have time to start a game again or spend a lot of time exploring so I'll at least skim an FAQ to see if there are any areas I can completely botch.

Well, just an update here.   I'm still really at a loss for what to do about this.  I frankly suck at games now because I can't play the way I want to and this diminished my enjoyment in gaming almost to nil.  I feel like I've been playing games just because thats "what I do" for a few months now and I as much as I've been grasping at straws to find SOMETHING that works, I think I might just have to quit the hobby completely.  I must be wired in some way that doesn't allow me to do anything strictly "for fun" because everytime I hit a max in my skill or progression or achievement or whatever for the given time i have to play (which is stupidly low right now), i just immediately want to stop playing.   I'm broken.

ETA: What makes it all worse is that this basically applies to any hobby I might pick up, so I guess I should probably just give up on doing anything for leisure ever again.

Play a sport.

I would suggest golf. It's impossible to "win" but very competition oriented.

I'll run into the same exact problem of my expectations/desires not lining up with what is reasonable given the time I have. 

No offense is intended with what I'm going to say here, Malakili, because I've been through what you're going through, but you've really just got to suck it up and move on with your life.  The bottom line is that you are never, ever going to be able to sit around and poopsock through 25 levels of an MMO anymore, nor are you going to be able to crank through 50 hours worth of Fallout 3.  You are in a PhD program, I believe you are going to be getting married, and are therefore joining the ranks of "real life".  If you can't find ways to enjoy yourself because you're too competitive you're going to be a very, very unhappy person for the rest of your life.  I suspect you might want to find a hobby that has no competitive aspect and can be done whenever you have free time, like hiking or biking or photography or the like. 

What you are experiencing, really, is the realization that your time is no longer your own.  Work hard at your job/school, enjoy your relationships with family and friends, and pick up a game or a book or go for a walk, but whatever you do demand of yourself that you enjoy it.  Part of the process of getting out of a funk is just telling yourself that you are going to enjoy whatever it is you are doing.  If you talk the talk long enough to convince yourself that you are happy your body and mind will eventually follow along. 

I didn't read the beginning of the thread, but judging from the title and the recent post you could be struggling either depression or ADD/ADHD.  I would strongly suggest seeing a counselor and let them know your problems.  My personal opinion would be to run away screaming (not literally, lol) if they want to put you on meds right away.  What you're looking for is someone who will help you focus yourself and your goals; if you can't do that on your own you may need help.  

Don't make excuses for not seeing someone.  Just do it, and if I wasted your money/time, my apologies.  But most people can find a reason to talk to a professional, regardless of what they think.  

 :why_so_serious:

I'm pretty sure this is more or less it.  I am enjoying my school, and my relationship, and my work.  I don't even mind having drastically reduced free time, but I do mind that the hobbies I used to enjoy are no longer viable.

As for depression, I've been depressed, this definitely isn't it. Its pure frustration about a hobby I have no one to talk to about it because I don't know any gamers IRL anymore.  So, this thread is basically just my outlet.   I think it seems worse than it is because this is where I come to bitch about it, but it really only gets on my nerves rarely and then I feel the need to get it out somewhere.

Depression can manifest itself in a lot of ways, my friend.  You're under a lot of stress.  I would personally suggest you at least talk to someone about it.  It couldn't hurt, and may help you uncover something you're not noticing at this time.

Malakili, I think you've set a new record for earliest midlife crisis. :why_so_serious:

Play a team sport. Focus on the ability of pulling together with others in competition instead of yourself. You'd be surprised how it changes your attitudes towards fun. Plus getting off you ass never hurts to stop the feeling of "I can't fucking relax."

I've noticed something like this myself, with being unable to focus as much as I'd like on some games. I've found that the best way to deal with that is to just go "oh well", watch a tv-series, read a book or just play another game and try another day. Or, possibly even just going "fuck this PC" and go out of the apartment and do something completely different.

For me, that's usually bringing out the camera and just see if I can find anything to take pictures of. I certainly don't feel like fretting over how something must be hideously wrong with me, as that would just stress me out even further. vOv

The funny thing is, I'm legitimately really happy with everything in my life BESIDES my leisure time.  Maybe I just need to have even less of it, that'd probably solve my problem  :why_so_serious:

Blood Bowl Season 4 is the answer.

I just realized I'm having the exact opposite problem.  Since I've dumped my usual MMO subscription I also have found that I need to actively figure out what to do with my time.  Time that I've got long stretches of unfilled hours these days due to unemployment, but I simply don't want to play anything.

I've got a few time-wasters but I simply don't want to spend 4-5 hours sitting down playing a single game. I'll get in, play an hour or two then quit to fiddle with something else around the house, clean or go shopping.  Very odd since I'd get into WoW or something else and not realize I'd wasted half the afternoon.

I've had a similar thing since I quit WoW. 

The bit that has surprised me however, was how much of my leisure time was spent reading or researching WoW, and not actually playing it.  I would sit down to play WoW for 2-3 hours a night, maybe 3 nights a week (2 days raiding, 1 day doing random stuff).  9 hours a week isn't a huge amount of time.  But it appears I would spend almost the same amount of time every week reading up on strats, watching videos, researching gear upgrades, reading patch notes, arguing on guild forums, all that stuff. 

Its really surprised me, since I considered I didn't spend all that long every week playing WoW - but now I've given all that away, I have mountains of time available.

Same with me. Since I cancelled my sub I play one night a week, and not much at that. I've been going through a backlog of games I haven't finished or started. Right now I'm determined to finish Dragon Age once before DA2 comes out.

This truly the answer.

Like Others I would spend a crap load of time theory crafting when I was playing wow.

With bloodbowl there's no patches, new areas, new raids.

Just friendly banter, a little whining and a lot of forum refreshes of over match reports.

It has the social aspect due to competitive multiplay but with the same kind of guild community feel (in the f13 league and like)

Gaming isn't personally rewarding anymore. There's a "Seen it all before" quality to it. Seems like games that are 8-Bit or low-graphics or solid mechanics get a bigger draw than another Movie On Rails.

I really want to go outside my apartment and meet people, but I'll play the occasional gem like Dead Space 2 or other strong narrative titles. But 50+ hours into a multiplayer experience? Not really interesting anymore. Even Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, which felt strong, was just a huge, giant chore to get into a game and actually sit down and play. 20 minutes spent getting into a 5 minute session is an instant shut-off for me.

MMOs work because I can login and there I am. Most of the time.

While I'm certainly not a good BB coach, the format of having to set up an hour a week works really well for time-constrained gaming. I could really use more pickup games, but without reserving that time in my schedule days in advance, I just don't ever get around to it, other things beckon.

You could also take up painting miniatures!

I personally can't get into a game that I know is on rails. Give me a world, and give me a reason to wander about in it. Even if my choices of where to go and what to do are minor, that's still a huge selling point for me.

Same here. My first big gaming experience was Elite on the C64, which is a sandbox universe to fly around trading and fighting in. My biggest gaming experience was EverQuest 1, a world to wander about in.

The only thing better is a world where there's also an over-arching war or political situation that I can genuinely affect through my actions. For example, holding world PvP territory in Anarchy Online's PvP teams war provided game-wide XP bonuses to everyone on that team, swelling our ranks. Manufacturing the best possible buffs and buffing overt PvP+ members of my faction in SWG encouraged allies to go overt, ensuring our player-built city had a strong defensive force. And in EQ1, building a raid force in GMT +10 time zone created political tension with guilds from the US and EU, creating an exciting era where we could dominate their night and gain prestige on our server.

I need a world, a reason to wander about in it, and an opportunity to really shake things up.

Pirates! always struck a chord with me as being a world that went on without you even though you could directly influence a good bit of it. That's perfect in my view.

The Rome:TW and Civ up to III series is the same. Never the same game twice, but enough flavor that you could do so many different things to achieve dominance.

Also, Morrowind sans Cliff Racers.

I have this vision of millions of computer geeks leaving their houses and looking upon the sun for what feels like the first time to them, blinded by the light after they've left their mancaves for the first time in 6 years. 

I had to take a break during the Rift beta to go out to the woodpile and grab some more logs for the fire  :drill:

That sounds inconvenient, you should stack them near your case, and use the heat off the fans to dry them.


 :grin:

I think this whole situation is why I liked the Uncharted games so much.  They're easy to play in short doses, not interminably long to finish, and the story was fun.  Too bad more games can't be like that for us old farts.