Abundance of games - Scarcity of interest.

[Hedge]

I own countless games but I really struggle to maintain interest in many of them.

Occasionally a game like Elden Ring or Last of Us will capture my attention but the rest just fall into the pile of games that have had 10 minutes on them.

This was never an issue when I used to buy a physical copy of a game and excitedly install it when I got home. There weren't other games distracting me and the fact that I had invested some money made me feel obliged to play through.

In the same way Netflix has given me so much crap to watch, the likes of Gamepass and epic sales gave me so much crap to play. What ultimately happens is I end up watching old movies and TV shows or for games, I seem to get drawn back into older ones I've completed before.

I have a feeling that I am not the only one. The subscription model means good games just fall into a black hole and don't get the attention they deserve. Instead, games like Fortnite or COD can give people a quick predictable fix without the need for substance.


Anyone else feel similar? There are more games than ever, yet only a handful manage to make an impact.

 

[Rroff]

I don't buy a lot of games but I find very few games I'm that interested in these days. Something which puts me off as well so many games have a completely unnecessary amount of keys which need mapping (rather than smart combining actions, etc.) and overly complex or overly clunky to play even when maybe a good game beneath that.

I've also been burnt too many times by developers/spublishers abandoning or sunsetting games and just straight up refuse to buy from certain publishers, or games which have unresolved bugs which should never be a problem in the first place and shouldn't take much effort to fix - often ones I could fix in no time at all.

 

[Haze]

It's called getting old

 

[robertgilbert86]

I think you've got to keep trying different things, or replay old games you know you love until something clicks.

 

[rumple9]

Same for me. I think the issue is games are too long these days usually anything between 25-100 hours. Something new comes out and you start playing that and forget about the game you were previously playing.

The only games I ever finish are COD campaigns simply because they are mostly less than 8 hours

 

[MouthBoy]

I might buy 2-3 games a year and I try to play them enough to get my moneys worth. Generally, this works.

I see my friends on steam jumping between 3-5 games each evening, only spending 20mins a time on them. I ask why, and they say they can't settle, couldn't find a group, no one was online etc. They do this most nights.

It really confuses me.

 

[SpartaP]

Although I don't have a subscription, you're not the only one, I feel the same way.

I put it down to age, we're getting older and don't get the same feeling like we once did.

 

[MouthBoy]

Do you think there is pressure to have to a) have played everything and b) have an opinion on everything? There is so much FOMO.

I find this with netflix and amazon prime. I was asked what I thought of Saltburn a few weeks ago. I said I hadn't seen it, and it shocked people. I said sorry but I was doing things I enjoyed lol

 

[UTmaniac]

I keep buying the odd game or two, in the hope something will really grab me, but my goto game for a quick fun fix for ~7 years is still Rumble for Rocket League.

I heavily rely on good use of power ups rather than decent car skills, usually I'm a Diamond rank, but this season I've often drifted back into upper Platinum.

Loved pc/console gaming since having a ZX81(?) in the early 80s and i turned fifty a few months ago, to still be playing pc games at this sort of age was rare more than a decade or so ago.

 

[Tombstone]

I still play as much as ever, in fact I probably actually play more than ever seeing as now that the kids have all grown up and fled the nest I now have more time of my own than ever. Course it does help that my other half is a huge gamer too, now that its just the two of us and we once again have no responsibilities plus plenty of spending money..it means we have all the freedoms (more tbh) than when we were young.

Upshot of it is that I/we game probably 40+ hours a week (just checked on Steam and it says 88.6 hours in last 2 weeks), play 90% of genres out there, mostly co-oping or at least playing single player games, but side by side so still playing "together". We have a dedicated server set up in the house for co-opey stuff like V-Rising, Project Zomboid, Valheim, Satisfactory etc, so that we can have persistent worlds.

Yup, all in all, been gaming, in some capacity, almost nonstop for 43 years and still having as much fun with it now than ever and it shows no hint of lessening so I fully expect to still be gaming when I'm 80

 

[TonTom]

It's called getting old

Haha came in here to post exactly this.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Got 214 hours into Cyberpunk 2077 and still haven’t finished my second play through.

Haven’t completed Pacific Drive yet as finding it a bit of a crafting grind fest.

 

[Borsch]

One solution is to play games that withstood the test of time, games that are in the "one of the greatest games of all time" list. That's how I played Ninja Gaiden 1 (steam) and Ninja Gaiden 2 (emulator) recently, having never played them before.

New releases are too often aimed at the broadest segment of the market possible and thus end up being bland generic pap. Miyadzaki and his Fromsoftware is one of the very few exceptions.

 

[reflux]

I can see why you feel that way because I feel the same way about music a lot of the time. I remember walking into town to buy a CD and coming home and getting excited about putting it on. Then playing it to death for weeks. Now the abundance of Spotify means that releases don't feel so special and I can't even remember the track names most of the time.

 

[Black Dog]

I think the issue is that there are so many games to buy now it's sort of diluted the market. The choice of games is staggering and to much to choose from. I love playing old games again and keep meaning to go back to them but there are so many cheap games to purchase with steam keys that I never get around to my play my again games. There are some great games out there but finding them is the hard part. What I always do is only play one game at a time and never multi play. If I buy a cheap game on Steam and it's not very good then so be it and go onto the next one. I'm 53 and still enjoying games immensely but much more picky about what I play these days. I think there are to many games to choose from, so if a game is not doing it for you then it's a throw away culture and onto the next rather than giving the game time to get into. Also, there isn't much innovation with games these days, so it's a bit seen it done that before with most games so hard to get into. I mostly play indie games these days for something a little different.

 

[LostCorpse]

try a differant style of game maybe? simulation / automation / thinking / puzzle game?
Palworld for me got me interested in playing something.
subnautica maybe?

that said i have a large game collection and only play a handfull. and honestly dont have a lot of interst in playing games the same way i once used to.
partly time, getting older, interests changing.

i'd say im almost desperate for a socal game(s) with people. i have the VR crew on mondays which help. but also not the same as inperson meet up / games or having other regulars.

 

[Proto]

Games used to be aimed at people who read books.

Games are now aimed at people who can’t read books.

 

[LostCorpse]

Games used to be aimed at people who read books.

Games are now aimed at people who can’t read books.

i think your in part referencing attention span

 

[Proto]

i think your in part referencing attention span

Sounds about right.

Although, I wouldn’t be so sure

 

[Moobert]

Replaying Elden Ring because nothing atm is peaking my interest. I find that when i see something I like the look of on Youtube I seem to like the thought of playing it rather than actually playing it