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Post by Jave on Apr 14, 2012 10:44:59 GMT -5
I used to be a musician. All I did was play and listen to music, all I thought about was music. I went to concerts, I had a band, we did shows sometimes... Then something just snapped and it was all over. And yeah, it did coincide with some other self-revelatory events. So I understand completely. Dude, you just described a period of my life with frightening accuracy. I used to sing as a bar every Sunday night and wrote new songs at a breakneck pace. Whatever money I could scrounge went to either new albums or guitar trinkets. When I started working for RGIS, I actually looked at it purely as a means of financing the creation of my home studio. Then, at some point, I actually started getting my shit together, giving up the bad habits I'd picked up, looking into therapy and whatnot, and the music just became less and less important to me over time. I still play, I love to improv, but the idea of music as a life-consuming passion makes a lot less sense to me now. |
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Post by robertagilmour on Apr 14, 2012 14:30:12 GMT -5
I made a topic like this a few years ago on this forum, but the difference was that I never was a gaming nut, I just bought the majority of fighting games and a few other things. I kept it going way longer than I should have, with a really silly solution I've tried on several things I was losing interest in: "Why am I not enjoying this anymore? I guess I'm not doing it right, so I'll spend more time on it" ...this is the worst thing to do. If you start to get cold on something, probably best to cut down on it, approach it differently or stop it completely.
I started to get back into games when Bayonetta came out, after a year of not playing anything. Then I got excited about getting into games again and I bought a large pile of games and an N64 and I really went overboard and ignored the voice in the back of my head that was warning me. I ended up giving the majority of these games to friends after the gaming urge worn off after a couple of months of getting back into it. Now I just take an interest in gaming news and play games rarely when the mood takes me. I had fun in the last 2 weeks playing Godhand at the house of the friend I had given it to but with no obligation to finish it. I'm waiting for Dragons Crown, unsure how much I'll put into it.
I'm glad you are doing this Ike, as several people have said: it is really liberating. I've gone through this with movies and comics to different extents and it is a natural healthy thing that happens whenever life gets out of balance and you are willing to admit it rather than keep living a fanboyish lie. And this will happen to many of us further on the decades, you always need to adjust your perspective every now and then. I really hope these concerns reach more gamers, especially the ones who live in rpgs most of their life, I fear how many of them will realise their error far too late in life to make bold changes for a new lasting phase.
Even though I'm more balanced in my purchases I'm still very frustrated by OCD and a general lack of discipline because I'm sure I could be having a wonderful life if I had the strength to get up and take it.
Ike, since you have an ideal vision of the way you'd like games to be, I think when you feel more settled and refreshed you should think about maybe trying to bring this vision into reality, even if in some small way, like being a critic or something. Others have talked about doing something for the benefit of other people in the real world and although games might seem trivial right now, just like other forms of entertainment, they can be magical and important in the real world because at best they are another spice of life that keeps you going.
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Post by robertagilmour on Apr 14, 2012 14:56:07 GMT -5
Whoops! forgot something... about the whole "games were better" thing: Although there are always going to be things that were better, there are probably great things right now that we take so much for granted that they sort of become invisible but will become visible when those virtues start to go away from games. Games are for everyone of all different tastes and and everyone is going to differ on their favorite periods slightly. There will be ups and downs ahead, all the obvious blah blah blah...
But another factor is the newness of this stuff when you were young, the first time you experience these things will usually be more intense. A lot of times we are wrong about why we think past games were so great, I have to reassess why these thing worked. I've had to admit that in retrospect, I was easier to impress when I was a child. Now I'm harder to please, so I'm more selective. Becoming jaded is A GOOD THING, although I always wish I could experience things like I used to, my body/mind is setting me a challenge and demanding I find better things, giving me no choice but to find better and new things, the only other choice is becoming an insufferable deluded nostalgia bore (not that I'm saying playing lots of old games makes you like this, as some things really do need mining and revisiting in order to go forward)
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Sayl
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Post by Sayl on Apr 14, 2012 18:00:37 GMT -5
Sorry to see you go Ike, always up on the latest thing i was excited for, the ever dwindling handheld threads will be more empty without you. I have spent much of my time thinking on this very subject and I have a few thoughts. I think the hardest thing for a hardcore gamer, is trying to find a healthy balance between ones life and ones obsession and I am not entirely sure it is possible without assistance. You have spent so much time,energy,money and any other quantifiable resource in this hobby, that it is hard for one to learn to merely dabble in it. Secondly, trying to find good games takes time and research what is easily accessible and well advertised is certainly less likely to be of any particular value to someone who has seen or played it all. So it is somewhat self defeating as to be happy in this hobby you must a lot of time finding the latest thing you will find fun, and than finding time to play it? If you have a career and some social obligations, I find it hard to believe one will have time to drudge up the latest amazingly designed game made for your particular interests/skillset and than be able to play it.
I guess the only thing I think i have learned about this problem is that quitting cold turkey is a sad but probably necessary thing to do. Stop completely, look at your life and try to improve it to where you can till you feel satisfied with the result. Your mental health is linked to your environment, your physical health and your self image. Take care of these first, don't let video games become an escape like many of us do. I think when you quit a serious hobby like this it will give you a new perspective, if you ever find that happy medium between this hobby and a balanced life come back and tell us..cause I personally have not found it yet.
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Post by 9inchsamurai on Apr 15, 2012 2:03:13 GMT -5
Gotta be honest Ike: looking at your backloggery and there's definitely a good number of "meh" stuff. I would really suggest doing what dire51 and others are talking about and being really particular about what you're actually collecting.
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Post by Ike on Apr 15, 2012 3:35:03 GMT -5
Gotta be honest Ike: looking at your backloggery and there's definitely a good number of "meh" stuff. I would really suggest doing what dire51 and others are talking about and being really particular about what you're actually collecting. A good deal of the "meh" stuff is either: 1) Stuff I inherited for free from the store I worked at; 2) Stuff I got as part of something else; 3) Stuff I had gifted to me/already owned from other people. |
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Post by r0ck3rz on Apr 15, 2012 10:16:45 GMT -5
Read through this one last night, so mine will probably be the post that lowers everyones intelligence  I definitely gave way too much time to this hobby. I don't think the way I approached it, combined with Gamestops used game policy helped out at all. It got to the point where I'd buy a lot of used games, but then you only had 7 days to see that they worked, and sometimes RPG's were among the games I bought. So it got to the point where I rushed through games, just to make sure that by 7 days I didn't have to bring anything back. I think this lead to a "need" to rush through games in general. This would make me consider the length of modern gaming, and RPG's, as something detrimental, and I still haven't recovered from that. I've grown to the point where I only emulate retro 2D cartridge games(and GBA if that counts), because I place the blame on 3D(perhaps unfairly, I don't know), as far as even action games starting to become 20+ hours is concerned(I know I don't particularly care for a lot of my favorite series, even if the games are critically acclaimed, once they went 3D). The other thing is I've grown to really dislike discs as a whole. After all, nothing gives you half the trouble when it's second hand like discs. It's a really weak medium, and it started the voice acting/FMV trends that I've also grown to dislike. It had hit me like, I had maybe 80-100 games per console, and out of that, I'd ever feel like playing 5 of them a 2nd(or more) time. I mean taking a good look at it now, I see a ton of reasons I like the 2D era better overall, but at first it was just the few things I mentioned up above. Even now though, I find myself feeling like gaming less and less. I doubt I'd ever fully quit, the hobby's had a hold on me since I was a kid, too many memories and whatnot, though I've always been more of a solo gamer. I guess part of the problem is not knowing when to take it slow, or not finally coming to understand just what it is you do like, instead of wanting to buy(or otherwise "obtain...") everything that "looks good." Best advice I can think to give, if one does get back into gaming, is that it's better to have 1 game per console, that you'll enjoy enough to consistently come back to, than 1000 once and dones, just because you "need a new experience." |
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Post by robertagilmour on Apr 16, 2012 13:50:03 GMT -5
The problem with buying so few games when you become more selective is that I dont want to buy a console if I'm only going to get a couple of games for it unless the console is the price of a game. If my brother hadnt bought and PS3 and X360, I never would have played any games for them. They are still pretty expensive, and if you plan to buy everything when it is supercheap, you might be missing an online experience important to some games when that service shuts down.
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Post by Ike on Apr 16, 2012 13:56:28 GMT -5
The problem with buying so few games when you become more selective is that I dont want to buy a console if I'm only going to get a couple of games for it unless the console is the price of a game. If my brother hadnt bought and PS3 and X360, I never would have played any games for them. They are still pretty expensive, and if you plan to buy everything when it is supercheap, you might be missing an online experience important to some games when that service shuts down. This pretty much sums up why I'm losing interest in the next generation. I'm not the type of person to buy consoles or games new, and it's going to be a while before I get even a Vita due to the price, and I can tell now it's probably going to be several months if not years before I get a Wii U or a PS4 or whatever. If I even get them at all. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2012 14:03:23 GMT -5
That sort of thing seems like an ideal situation, personally. I'm sure we all have hundreds of games from old systems to complete, along with dozens more for the current generation that we haven't even touched. I think it's great to just wait a year or two (or three, even) after a system launches before picking it up. The price comes down, new functionality might be added, and hopefully the bugs will be worked out by then.
It's win / win all around, really.
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Post by Allie on Apr 16, 2012 14:03:49 GMT -5
The problem with buying so few games when you become more selective is that I dont want to buy a console if I'm only going to get a couple of games for it unless the console is the price of a game. If my brother hadnt bought and PS3 and X360, I never would have played any games for them. They are still pretty expensive, and if you plan to buy everything when it is supercheap, you might be missing an online experience important to some games when that service shuts down. This pretty much sums up why I'm losing interest in the next generation. I'm not the type of person to buy consoles or games new, and it's going to be a while before I get even a Vita due to the price, and I can tell now it's probably going to be several months if not years before I get a Wii U or a PS4 or whatever. If I even get them at all. I'm waiting to hear the fates of Ragnarok and PSO2 before I decide on a Vita, and if I decide yes, it'll be my final system. Otherwise, I may already be done buying hardware. I really want to start forcing myself to do other things, and that's tough if I feel like I have to play games I may be figuratively sitting on. |
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Post by Super Orbus on Apr 16, 2012 15:26:15 GMT -5
That sort of thing seems like an ideal situation, personally. I'm sure we all have hundreds of games from old systems to complete, along with dozens more for the current generation that we haven't even touched. I think it's great to just wait a year or two (or three, even) after a system launches before picking it up. The price comes down, new functionality might be added, and hopefully the bugs will be worked out by then. It's win / win all around, really. That's pretty much my plan. It's what I did with the 360 and PS3 as well. I don't play as much as I used to (and paradoxically, I seem to buy more than I used to.) But I figure if there's a two or three year gap before I get any new consoles, that'll give me time to catch up. Only thing I might buy is a 3DS or maybe DSi XL, because I've got a lot of DS games to play, and I'm sick of squinting at my DS Lite's tiny screen. I really wish Nintendo had seen fit to do some sort of Gameboy Player equivalent for the DS, because the Gameboy Player was, in my estimation, pretty much the best thing that ever happened to the GBA. |
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Post by r0ck3rz on Apr 16, 2012 15:28:36 GMT -5
I used 1 as an absolute minimum, but I'd say the ideal is maybe 10-30 games per console.
Let's say hypothetically you're looking at $300 for the console itself, at 20x$60, you put in $1200 on games....
Damn that looks like such a waste in hindsight... Especially considering, what are the odds you'll go back to replay 75% of it, the way they're designed these days?
Let's say you do the opposite now, you buy 120 used, at let's say $10 a piece, and you're back to the same price, but now what are the odds you'll replay 95% of that?
Honestly, however you do it, it seems to me like you get more for your money going for the 20 over the 120. At first it sound like the 120 is better, because, hey, it's 100 more games.
To compare though, let's say you got an NES, and your options are: Friday the 13th, Super Pitfall, Athena, Bible Adventures, M.U.S.C.L.E., Where's Waldo, Bad Street Brawler, and X-Men; vs., for the same price, Super Mario Bros. 3 & Castlevania 3. Sure you get 75% more games with the first package, but you get way more bang for your buck with the 2nd.
To me, it seems like this is the hardest aspect of gaming, is figuring out what you really like vs. just wanting something more/new.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2012 15:37:02 GMT -5
I really wish Nintendo had seen fit to do some sort of Gameboy Player equivalent for the DS, because the Gameboy Player was, in my estimation, pretty much the best thing that ever happened to the GBA. Great in theory, but completely impractical. There's no way you could get touch support and a microphone onto something like that. Not unless you built them into some kind of custom controller, and at that point, you might as well be using a DS anyway. |
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Post by Super Orbus on Apr 16, 2012 15:39:59 GMT -5
Plenty of DS games don't need touch support. For the ones that do, wiimote pointing would cover most use cases, although might not be optimal for all. Not that many games need the microphone either. Or, you know, a DS model with tv out like the PSP would be acceptable too. (Well, actually preferably better than the PSP's...).
I understand why they haven't made one. The DS design is not terribly conducive to it. But I'd buy it if they did, even given the probably limitations. A lot of other people probably would too.
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