Video games midlife crisis. Essay.

[Deleted]

Part 1

So you have discovered that you are not as easily impressed by games anymore, that only really good games can keep you entertained. You long for the times of years ago when you played a ton of games and liked them all, something which has changed today. You ask yourself if maybe you're just burnt out on video games.

Video games work like a drug. While not as addictive and destructive as, say heroine, video games have similar effects. Hell, some people actually did destroy themselves emotionally or had their careers or family ruined by playing video games too much.

Video games, just like drugs and sex, stimulate the production of endorphine. The problem with drugs, any drug, is that they have diminishing returns, and the more you expose yourself to them, the more the quantity required to obtain the same effects increases. Drugs like heroine have toxic effects that linger in the body long after the euphoric effect has worn off. While the toxicity is eventually flushed by the body if left alone, the body just doesn't enough have time to flush it all out before the user needs a new dose. As the user takes drugs, over time the brain becomes numb to their effects, so the user needs a fix more and more often in order to stimulate the same effects, and thus the toxicity just adds up faster and faster up over time until it eventually causes organ failure.

This obviously doesn't happen with video games, at least not physically. However, the fact that the brain becomes numb to the effects of video games, still applies.

Someone who plays a lot of video games and from young age, is very likely to hit the "video game midlife crisis" very soon. Thing is, games that other people praise and have fun with, just bore you and you don't understand what are these other people seeing in them. You also notice all sorts of defects and glitches, maybe even what you consider to be poor design decisions, that don't seem to bother other people. Thing is you just hit your video game midlife crisis. It's normal...biologically speaking, your brain has become numb the influence of most video games and is no longer stimulated so easily into producing endorphine. On other hand, if your life = video games, well...you may be in big trouble and is highly advisable that you find a new hobby.

Perhaps you have noticed that there is almost no one over the age of 30 that still plays video games. Yes, there are but very very few in number compared to those under the age of 30. So what happens that makes these 30+ yo gamers just vanish? Well I just told you above. Added to this, people get families and start focusing on those rather than games, and is also easier to move from video games to family if you burn out on video games.

Part 2

You may have noticed that a lot of game developers these days are focusing on multiplayer games, that games with deep stories and meaningful dialogues, are almost extinct.

This happens because (see part 1). It's just much harder and more expensive to make games with such a great single player experience that it impresses current gamers, most of which are over the age of 20 and have been playing games since they were little kids and thus their exposure to the "drug" made them more demanding because (see part 1).

However, by creating multiplayer games, developers manage to cheat by switching the focus from their actual game, to that of something much more primal: Competition. Their game becomes merely a platform used for something that has existed since the beginning of time. Their game is much easier and cheaper to make and also the gamer finds their brain once again stimulated into producing endorphine because competition against other human players is always something interesting, we even like to watch total strangers compete.

Single player games fall short these days because of that over exposure to video games, and they become much harder and more expensive to make in order to impress most gamers, and most developers just say "Fuck it" and then they pop out some MOBA or, the latest fad, online FPS games, that are all about pvp and competition and bound to have some sort of success.

[Hisholyness]

I have to agree with the multiplayer contest. As soon as a game becomes multiplayer the game GENERALLY loses all depth and devs just push the easiest route of "pissing contest" gameplay/ads/leaderboards/etc.

If a game is purely based on competition then it has no depth.

[anaxie]

what made me lose interest in the majority of games is open world burnout and the core shift in many genres that drove me from the games

Example

TNC- Cataclysm WoW VS Now
Resident Evil PS1 Survival Horro VS action shooter 4/5/6
Super short or fragmented release RTS campaigns
Rehash shovelware

That said you find diamonds and you can always enjoy the older timeless diamonds to bring that sparkle to your eye. <3 <3 <3 Morrowind / Mafia CoLH / Max payne <3 <3 <3

[dope_danny]

Its a lot simpler than that: Videogames overtook the movie industry in profitability. Then a bunch of media molguls bought majority shares in a bunch of video game companies. Thats it.

Didnt you notice how all the hollywood remakes started to dry up as "AAA" gaming turned to shit?

Gotta please the shareholders, even if they know sweet bugger all about videogames.

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Max payne <3 <3 <3

I love how that was made in a garage in finland by some students with so little money they couldnt afford cutscenes so took pictures of their family members and landlady and put a filter on to make the comics.

and still the best 3rd person shooter ever made.

[Cæli]

Sometimes I just wonder if games weren't just better 15+ years ago.

And I think so.

Best mario game ? Best Zelda ? Best Resident Evil game ? Best Final Fantasy ? Best Crash Bandicoot ? yeah. long ago. Games are not better overall nowadays because it's became a behemoth of a $ factory and almost no one take risks or gets really creative, they deliver more of the same and remake, sequels, all based on what made the golden era of video games.

If your life "=" video games, DON'T find a new hobby. Do what you want. Don't let anyone tell you what's best for you. If you like movies, fine, you like reading, fine, you like gems, fine, you like video games, it's EXACTLY the same. Don't "move on".

No one over the age of 30 that plays video games ? Ahah. Not here in France at least.

[dope_danny]

Sometimes I just wonder if games weren't just better 15+ years ago.

And I think so.

Best mario game ? Best Zelda ? Best Resident Evil game ? Best Final Fantasy ? Best Crash Bandicoot ? yeah. long ago. Games are not better overall nowadays because it's became a behemoth of a $ factory and almost no one take risks or gets really creative, they deliver more of the same and remake, sequels, all based on what made the golden era of video games.

If your life "=" video games, DON'T find a new hobby. Do what you want. Don't let anyone tell you what's best for you. If you like movies, fine, you like reading, fine, you like gems, fine, you like video games, it's EXACTLY the same. Don't "move on".

No one over the age of 30 that plays video games ? Ahah. Not here in France at least.

Thats the best thing about retro games. I get older, the content stays the same age.

Yes they do, yes they do.

[slime]

I still love 8 bit games, and I go back and play those and they always seem fun to me... even challenging. Sure you can call it nostalgia, but I like to think 3D ruined video gaming. Everything had to be 3D. A game isn't even seen as new or interesting if it isn't at least 3D. Also, game cheats became the norm. No one wanted to be challenged anymore... like good ol battletoads 8 bit. Even Castlevania 1, ghouls and ghosts... these games were pretty fucking hard.

[Deleted]

The biggest issue I have with games nowadays is that everything is so predictable.
Play a new game > find out after playing for x time that a game you played 5 years ago has almost the same storyline, just looks different.

[Deleted]

If I want good stories in my vidya gayms I go read a VN.

[Rosencrantz]

Nice writeup.

I have definitely felt this myself at 28 years old. I very rarely get that excitement of "I can't wait to get home and play XXXX" that I used to. Most recently it happened with Fallout 4. I didn't even care that I was shirking my adult responsibilities, I was so excited to have that feeling again that I allowed myself to soak it up for an ENTIRE weekend. Like, literally it was all I did. Fallout 4 and sleep. I knew the feeling was gonna go away, and I wanted to "ride the high" (lol just going with your metaphor) as long as I could.

I still enjoy Fallout 4, but that excitement.... I used to hold it much, much longer. I played Morrowind for YEARS with that excitement in highschool, lol.

And perhaps while on the topic of Fallout 4... a lot of people disliked that game. The ones who disliked it near exclusively preferred the older games. Part of me wonders if, in addition to the possibility of new games being too "dumbed down" and shallow, we have just "seen it all" so to speak, so less impresses us? Like, fuck. When I played Prince of Persia for the first time I was amazed that the footsteps sounded different based on what surface I was walking on. Now I just expect it.

Anyhow, hope I didn't ramble to much, but I'll cut it short since my reply is already a storybook. xD

[Deleted]

If your life "=" video games, DON'T find a new hobby. Do what you want. Don't let anyone tell you what's best for you. If you like movies, fine, you like reading, fine, you like gems, fine, you like video games, it's EXACTLY the same. Don't "move on".

No one over the age of 30 that plays video games ? Ahah. Not here in France at least.

I meant that if you feel you're burnt out on video games and up to this point video games were your life, then it's time to move on. Of course, you should keep playing forever if you don't feel the burn out.

[anaxie]

Its a lot simpler than that: Videogames overtook the movie industry in profitability. Then a bunch of media molguls bought majority shares in a bunch of video game companies. Thats it.

Didnt you notice how all the hollywood remakes started to dry up as "AAA" gaming turned to shit?

Gotta please the shareholders, even if they know sweet bugger all about videogames.

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I love how that was made in a garage in finland by some students with so little money they couldnt afford cutscenes so took pictures of their family members and landlady and put a filter on to make the comics.

and still the best 3rd person shooter ever made.

Max payne 3 is an absolute fucking masterpiece.

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Thats the best thing about retro games. I get older, the content stays the same age.

Yes they do, yes they do.

Still miss Parasite Eve 2

[Deleted]

Sometimes I just wonder if games weren't just better 15+ years ago.

And I think so.

Best mario game ? Best Zelda ? Best Resident Evil game ? Best Final Fantasy ? Best Crash Bandicoot ? yeah. long ago. Games are not better overall nowadays because it's became a behemoth of a $ factory and almost no one take risks or gets really creative, they deliver more of the same and remake, sequels, all based on what made the golden era of video games.

If your life "=" video games, DON'T find a new hobby. Do what you want. Don't let anyone tell you what's best for you. If you like movies, fine, you like reading, fine, you like gems, fine, you like video games, it's EXACTLY the same. Don't "move on".

No one over the age of 30 that plays video games ? Ahah. Not here in France at least.

Nope. Pretty sure the games of 15 years were worse and had a lot less content, but they were new to you and you were easily entertained.

[anaxie]

Nope. Pretty sure the games of 15 years were worse and had a lot less content, but they were new to you and you were easily entertained.

How are you enjoying your 1st video game generation in your life?

[Jester Joe]

Sometimes I just wonder if games weren't just better 15+ years ago.

And I think so.

Best mario game ? Best Zelda ? Best Resident Evil game ? Best Final Fantasy ? Best Crash Bandicoot ? yeah. long ago. Games are not better overall nowadays because it's became a behemoth of a $ factory and almost no one take risks or gets really creative, they deliver more of the same and remake, sequels, all based on what made the golden era of video games.

First off, there hasn't been a Crash Bandicoot game in a long enough time anyway, so it's kinda given the best one was long ago.

Second off, I'd disagree personally about the "best Mario game" if you're talking 3D, because Super Mario Galaxy literally blew Super Mario 64 away.

Third off, Resident Evil 4 seems to be the go to RE to praise, and that was just last gen, it's not really considered "long ago".

It's really opinion based though, but I think it's a mistake to just say there's nothing creative anymore. The issue more of I'd say is people expect companies to make something they don't do. There's a reason no one goes looking for games made by Nintendo that are gorey violent games (Just as an example), because it's not what they make.

[Deleted]

No one over the age of 30 that plays video games ? Ahah. Not here in France at least.

Think about it. How many people over 30 do you see at Blizzcons and other video game conventions? Judging by videos, the vast majority are ages 14-25, the oldest guys are actually the game developers talking to the crowd. In the future, we should expect a 65 years old Mike Morhaime talking to a bunch of teenagers at Blizzcon.

Like I said, most gamers quit gaming or become super casual around the age of 30 because of the reasons I have already talked about.

[Vetis]

Nope. Pretty sure the games of 15 years were worse and had a lot less content, but they were new to you and you were easily entertained.

nah the content was focused. FPS? thats what you get. no collectables, towers, mmo style quests that add nothing but time sinks. No cut scenes padding gameplay. Much better than the micro transaction "sandbox" nonsense most games try to be now.

[Cæli]

Nope. Pretty sure the games of 15 years were worse and had a lot less content, but they were new to you and you were easily entertained.

Nope to what ? "Pretty sure" ? They were not worse, how old are you and what is your top 10 games ? I'll have to check before going further in the discussion.

First off, there hasn't been a Crash Bandicoot game in a long enough time anyway, so it's kinda given the best one was long ago.

Second off, I'd disagree personally about the "best Mario game" if you're talking 3D, because Super Mario Galaxy literally blew Super Mario 64 away.

Third off, Resident Evil 4 seems to be the go to RE to praise, and that was just last gen, it's not really considered "long ago".

It's really opinion based though, but I think it's a mistake to just say there's nothing creative anymore. The issue more of I'd say is people expect companies to make something they don't do. There's a reason no one goes looking for games made by Nintendo that are gorey violent games (Just as an example), because it's not what they make.

Saying there is nothing creative anymore is just not true. There is still creative games, hopefully.

[Deleted]

How are you enjoying your 1st video game generation in your life?

My first video games back 1990 were a file named gorilla.bas which was a very basic Worms-like game, and a game named Shadow Ninja which was a platformer. I spent days playing them. If they were launched today with the same content, they wouldn't be worth the attention.

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Nope to what ? "Pretty sure" ? They were not worse, how old are you and what is your top 10 games ? I'll have to check before going further in the discussion.

I'm 35 yo. My favorite games ever are Fallout 2, Baldur's Gate 2, Planescape: Torment, Homeworld: Cataclysm (the expansion, not the vanilla Homeworld), and in the recent years the Mass Effect series.

[Jester Joe]

Saying there is nothing creative anymore is just not true. There is still creative games, hopefully.

Yeah whoops, misread your statement. I agree that companies don't really change drastically from what they make usually, but I think it's more of they choose to stick where they excel rather than change up to make things they might not enjoy, rather than being afraid to take risks.

Might be worth looking at Blizzard as an example though, they tried to branch out and make a brand new game (Titan) and almost failed because they just didn't enjoy it (At least that's the reason they gave), but ended up with something they did enjoy (Overwatch).

Either way was risky, but the deciding factor seemed to come from their own enjoyment of the idea.