Difficulties with starting a new game

[Blowhard]

One of the core problems with the ubiquity and ease of what the internet provides (for all practical purposes an unlimited quantity and variety of outright life affirming entertainment) is that you become stupidly picky and snobbish about being pleased. Even ignorant people these days are basically unwilling connoisseurs of entertainment. There's also the problem of the internet turning every past time into basically a weird mmo or social network, because now you can just share what you're doing with everyone instead of exerting even the most diminutive amount of effort to suspend disbelief. In a way, I think fiction as a means of escape could be outmoded. It is now no longer escapism, but the accumulation of completed media for the sake of empathy and likeability through similar/validation of good taste. It is a twisted virtual reality. Games are the biggest challenge in this regard because they take so much time to get to a point where you can share your thoughts on them or have another title under your belt, matching your fucking compatibility index or what have you with other such cultured individuals. And it's no longer about eacapism. No form of media is about escapism anymore. It's about socializing, and fame (even with an average amount of facebook friends, youtube subs, etc, even as a neckbears on RPGCodex, you are still very famous), and the unconcious, opiate-like addiction that is immortalizing your every trivial thought, then knowing the presence of a human-being any time you want, literally. You don't even need to escape from reality, anymore, as we've already created a damn near perfect drug of VR which in its immediacy is almost more real than actual reality but is mostly devoid of benefit and a bunch of lonely circle jerking on a frighteningly base and deep level such that it may as well be subatomic or ontological.

 

[Tehdagah]

One of the core problems with the ubiquity and ease of what the internet provides (for all practical purposes an unlimited quantity and variety of outright life affirming entertainment) is that you become stupidly picky and snobbish about being pleased. Even ignorant people these days are basically unwilling connoisseurs of entertainment. There's also the problem of the internet turning every past time into basically a weird mmo or social network, because now you can just share what you're doing with everyone instead of exerting even the most diminutive amount of effort to suspend disbelief. In a way, I think fiction as a means of escape could be outmoded. It is now no longer escapism, but the accumulation of completed media for the sake of empathy and likeability through similar/validation of good taste. It is a twisted virtual reality. Games are the biggest challenge in this regard because they take so much time to get to a point where you can share your thoughts on them or have another title under your belt, matching your fucking compatibility index or what have you with other such cultured individuals. And it's no longer about eacapism. No form of media is about escapism anymore. It's about socializing, and fame (even with an average amount of facebook friends, youtube subs, etc, even as a neckbears on RPGCodex, you are still very famous), and the unconcious, opiate-like addiction that is immortalizing your every trivial thought, then knowing the presence of a human-being any time you want, literally. You don't even need to escape from reality, anymore, as we've already created a damn near perfect drug of VR which in its immediacy is almost more real than actual reality but is mostly devoid of benefit and a bunch of lonely circle jerking on a frighteningly base and deep level such that it may as well be subatomic or ontological.

I noticed this in the movie market especially. Watching a movie isn't enough, people feel the desire to be emotionally engaged (hyped) by it years in advance, and be sure to tell everyone else about it.

 

[sovijus]

One of the core problems with the ubiquity and ease of what the internet provides (for all practical purposes an unlimited quantity and variety of outright life affirming entertainment) is that you become stupidly picky and snobbish about being pleased. Even ignorant people these days are basically unwilling connoisseurs of entertainment. There's also the problem of the internet turning every past time into basically a weird mmo or social network, because now you can just share what you're doing with everyone instead of exerting even the most diminutive amount of effort to suspend disbelief. In a way, I think fiction as a means of escape could be outmoded. It is now no longer escapism, but the accumulation of completed media for the sake of empathy and likeability through similar/validation of good taste. It is a twisted virtual reality. Games are the biggest challenge in this regard because they take so much time to get to a point where you can share your thoughts on them or have another title under your belt, matching your fucking compatibility index or what have you with other such cultured individuals. And it's no longer about eacapism. No form of media is about escapism anymore. It's about socializing, and fame (even with an average amount of facebook friends, youtube subs, etc, even as a neckbears on RPGCodex, you are still very famous), and the unconcious, opiate-like addiction that is immortalizing your every trivial thought, then knowing the presence of a human-being any time you want, literally. You don't even need to escape from reality, anymore, as we've already created a damn near perfect drug of VR which in its immediacy is almost more real than actual reality but is mostly devoid of benefit and a bunch of lonely circle jerking on a frighteningly base and deep level such that it may as well be subatomic or ontological.

That's awful, bordering degeneracy. Why would you play games at that point? If you don't feel the attraction of exploring and experiencing awesome virtual worlds then I would say that the games are not for you. And if you need to force yourself to start playing something I would suggest doing some soul searching on why that is, cause something is rotten in there.

 

[Alienman]

It's a bit nihilistic.

 

[Mustawd]

It's a bit nihilistic.

I'll cut off your jahnnsen.

 

[CyberWhale]

Nah, he's just blowing too hard.

 

[mondblut]

I see where the OP comes from. I, too, find the effort required to get into an unknown game an increasingly exhaustive ordeal. That in our genres of choice the fun parts begin, like, 30 hours down the road, doesn't help much either. Every day I glance at a long list of pirated iso's sitting on my hdd crying for my attention, and proceed to mindlessly browse the web instead.

 

[Kev Inkline]

Imo, the worst thing you can do is buy a lot of games and create a huge backlog you will never get through. At some point it begins to feel like work. I only buy and play one game at a time until I'm satisfied.

I think this is the crux of the issue for myself. Plus, there's a feeling that there are so many other games waiting. It's a weird feeling for a hobby.

However, pledging for small indie Kickstarters is the closest thing of doing charity that I know of, and on the other hand, those damn Humble Bundles are so addicting.

I figured I have a backlog, that given the average time (from howlongtobeat.com) for beating each game in it, it would take me some 8 years to play through with my current weekly pace.
- In my youth that would have been just slightly over one year, so I do not know which way of life is better, though.

 

[Deflowerer]

Take a break from games and Codex. Once you have been away for a while, I think finding the energy to start up a new game will be much easier.

 

[Alienman]

What has Codex to do with it? I understand maybe taking a break if you are burnt out.

 

[Blowhard]

That's awful, bordering degeneracy. Why would you play games at that point? If you don't feel the attraction of exploring and experiencing awesome virtual worlds then I would say that the games are not for you. And if you need to force yourself to start playing something I would suggest doing some soul searching on why that is, cause something is rotten in there.

Not sure. I rarely play new games anymore and at no point did I mention myself. But this is fairly evident as a real phenomena, and you could say that those more radical postulations could become true if you are capable of noticing patterns or changes in attitudes over time, or deduce something in the future based on changes in social interaction that have steadily occured pointing in this direction over time, and then go a step further with that realization.

So if I throw s ball, what trajectory would it take? How do I know what a ball will do when I throw it? Assuming I haven't done it myself even, I have definitely seen someone throw a ball up before, so I know if I throw it up and slightly forward it will form an arch. Let's say I've never even seen a ball thrown exactly like that for some reason. I can still connect those two ideas that the ball will do both at once and then say gravity will apply. Because I know all of those things, right? Just apply those fundamental cause/effect relationships to deeper, more abstract levels and you see things like this occurring in society over time.

And it's only degeneracy if you think entertainment has some value beyond escapism, which is not a practical argument, because any value beyond a temporary distraction would have to derive from spiritual or moral concepts. And we were just talking about video games, and now you gotta convince me all this other shit I can't see and has been argued against by other assholes like me since the dawn of time as being pretty dubious at best, since I believe niggas were pulling their hair out over this when togas were in fashion

Part of it could be hardly anyone does hard work anymore, certainly not on the level our biology is used to as primates (ayy maybe there's a correlation between wealth and degeneracy iand delving too deeply into things ie. aforementioned nigs), so in the absense of fufilling truly life preserving needs and venting those base "oh fuck how am I gonna survive TODAY" anxieties, people take on the endless consumation of media as a means of self-betterment or something. Or at least thinking too deeply about things)Now this isn't true for everyone, but is true for a lot of people I've met and the sort of things I see people say validates this to a large extent (like the concept of a "backlog." what the fuck? I thought you were relaxing. Also ideas like I STILL HAVE TO PLAY X. Again, what the fuck? The point i s literally "this is what I'm doing when I'm not planning or stressing myself out"). And I'm sure it's true in some sense for almost everyone, with books or other sorts of escapism (ie. making ambitious plans then immediately bouncing to something new.) There's an escapism in deluding yourself you're going to even engage in escapism. A fantasy of plans of what you would ideally be doing if your mind weren't twisted into celtic knots of backwards ass learned anxieties that all contradict eachother.

In conclusion :mrpresident:

 

[Naveen]

Keep in mind that a game is a skill, not a passive experience like a movie. You actually need an effort to get into them, so it's not surprising that -when you are not a kid anymore- you find it difficult get into new ones or that you keep going back to those you already mastered.

It doesn't help that most of the new ones are shit, of course.

 

[CyberWhale]

What has Codex to do with it? I understand maybe taking a break if you are burnt out.

Spending less time shitposting in this cesspool and inhaling its fumes will free up time for actually playing the games we pointlessly discuss.

 

[Deflowerer]

Spending less time shitposting in this cesspool and inhaling its fumes will free up time for actually playing the games we pointlessly discuss.

And unless you are retarded Codex member to only frequent non-Gaming subforums, then you also get some respite from people titillating you to boot up another game of Deux Ex, etc.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Got no problem with that. I got two systems.
One - install one main game (most of the time it's RPG) and one other that require no brain (like some Doom WAD or hack'n'slash).
Second one - install a bunch of different titles, one of the each genre (of course limited by your preferences) and jump from one to another. One day I got hooked and play certain title far more than usual, sometimes it result in watching end credits.

And for all cost avoid threatening games like something to scratch from list (backlogs). I know these days people do these things but it's cancerous and dumb.

 

[bloodlover]

Try to mix the genres up in order to have some diversity. Yeah 30 minute MOBAs are retarded but they are fun and a good change from reading endless lines of text or crawling through dungeons.

 

[Ebonsword]

Keep in mind that a game is a skill, not a passive experience like a movie. You actually need an effort to get into them, so it's not surprising that -when you are not a kid anymore- you find it difficult get into new ones or that you keep going back to those you already mastered.

It doesn't help that most of the new ones are shit, of course.

I know what you mean. I tried to play The Phantom Pain again yesterday after being away from it for, like, six months, and the first firefight I got into gave me sensory overload as I tried to remember how to play the thing while an entire enemy base was shooting at me.

I turned it off and went back to playing Grimoire of the Rift (which I've been playing for months).

 

[Naraya]

While not entirely related to this thread, there is an interesting discussion on reddit with regard to grindy nature of games in general.

 

[eXalted]

Got no problem with that. I got two systems.
One - install one main game (most of the time it's RPG) and one other that require no brain (like some Doom WAD or hack'n'slash).
Second one - install a bunch of different titles, one of the each genre (of course limited by your preferences) and jump from one to another. One day I got hooked and play certain title far more than usual, sometimes it result in watching end credits.

And for all cost avoid threatening games like something to scratch from list (backlogs). I know these days people do these things but it's cancerous and dumb.

This.

I keep the number of games installed at a minimum. Something like 1 serious game, 1 light game and 1 co-op game to play with friends. Having 10+ games installed in the past led to nothing, always jumping from game to game, installing new ones, etc....

When you have 1 main game, the brain starts to want to play that game after investing an hour-two in it.

The scratch list comes from the fact that there are so many games to play - old and new. Having all the games available online at a click distance and being able to buy any one of them anytime (you are a responsible adult now after all) makes the problem worse. How much time are you able to invest is another matter.

 

[Alienman]

Got no problem with that. I got two systems.
One - install one main game (most of the time it's RPG) and one other that require no brain (like some Doom WAD or hack'n'slash).
Second one - install a bunch of different titles, one of the each genre (of course limited by your preferences) and jump from one to another. One day I got hooked and play certain title far more than usual, sometimes it result in watching end credits.

And for all cost avoid threatening games like something to scratch from list (backlogs). I know these days people do these things but it's cancerous and dumb.

This.

I keep the number of games installed at a minimum. Something like 1 serious game, 1 light game and 1 co-op game to play with friends. Having 10+ games installed in the past led to nothing, always jumping from game to game, installing new ones, etc....

When you have 1 main game, the brain starts to want to play that game after investing an hour-two in it.

The scratch list comes from the fact that there are so many games to play - old and new. Having all the games available online at a click distance and being able to buy any one of them anytime (you are a responsible adult now after all) makes the problem worse. How much time are you able to invest is another matter.

Good idea. I should start uninstalling some of these games.

 

[eXalted]

Good idea. I should start uninstalling some of these games.

Okay, this will sound weird but I felt some kind relief when I did that.

 

[Outlander]

When you're young you generally like almost any kind of shit, as you get older your refined taste and available time are mostly going to decide what you play and for how long.

If you still like video games, that is.

 

[Mark Richard]

There are probably lots of reasons for it, not the least of which is a backlog of near infinite cheap games to sift through if the current game doesn’t immediately grab your attention. When finishing a game of great length and girth, I think it’s wise to take at least a few days off, rather than jump right into another one. That backlog can start to guilt you into binging, but it’s important to recharge your batteries and let each experience sink in. You don’t want to still be thinking about X game when starting Y game.

 

[Zombra]

It's so much easier to revisit an old favorite than adjust to a new one. No surprises there. Even if a new game is better, there's an unavoidable period of adjustment where you have to learn not just how to play the game, but how to enjoy it. Whereas in the old game you know just what to do to make yourself happy - even if you're taking a new approach to it.

--------

One related problem I have that hasn't been mentioned above - sometimes I'm averse to continuing a game I'm excited about, because maybe I'm not feeling at my best. For example, I took months to finish Wasteland 2 despite very much enjoying it, because a lot of evenings I was tired or distracted, and just didn't feel "good enough" to really appreciate the game. I admit I still haven't played Age of Decadence partly* for the same reason - my expectations are so high, I don't even want to begin until the weather is just right, I'm feeling mentally sharp, and there are no distractions or guilt about other things I should be doing.

*Of course then there's also the steep learning curve. Nothing worked like I expected it to back in the beta. I "got" how to play, but not how to have fun.

 

[Baron Dupek]

I actually try to avoid old stuff that I played a lot.
I grow bitter the older I get and sometimes find my favorite titles to not be fun anymore.
backlogs? :spit:

Good idea. I should start uninstalling some of these games.

Okay, this will sound weird but I felt some kind relief when I did that.

I also feel some, especially when they weight more than 9.99GB, like 25 or even 50GB (and I have big enough HDD to not worry about space, just big rock dropped from my chest).