Anyone else have "situational game burnout?"

[Edmond Dantes]

Something I've had a problem with recently:

It seems like, for awhile, I'm really really into gaming... then I lose interest.

Like of course, two weeks ago I was game enough to record an LP of a Tiny Toons game, beating it a third time just so a friend could watch. But then when I left for my own home, immediately I was bored and not interested in any of the games I have (and I do not have a quaint library!)

Other times, I have a problem where I'm interested in a game... as long as I'm doing well, but when I get killed and have to re-play a level, I tend to just turn it off. Like its almost easier to just restart the game (and I'm not talking about games with "Gradius Syndrome" here).

So how do you guys deal with this seeming boredom/lack of interest in gaming?

[Tanooki]

I've got the same problems you do. I like to, it's just my motivation is all but lost. I know it plays into my current situation being a work at home and having the toddler around as she's not yet ready for school. I'm tired enough once I'm done with her by 8pm at night when she's down that I really don't want to piss time on a game when I have few hours remaining. I'll do it at times, and especially if I have something new, but eventually that wears thin. If I were less tired like back when the 3DS was newer I'd play something in bed for an hour or two like Tales of the Abyss, but now I"ll pass out with the kindle or sometimes the tablet going. Also due to my time constraints like you said, if you start to suck at a point in a game or you're ok with a game but suddenly have moron fingers and blow something yo ushouldn't, I too get fed up and curb stuff maybe not to come back.

Right now I have Mario Golf for the 3DS that maybe as 2 hours on it since it came out. I enjoy using it, but I never make the time to motivate myself to do it, yet when it is on it's fun to whack some balls. I find one thing that breaks the funk is doing a purge, even if it's just a game or two, by photographing and shoveling stuff to ebay or messageboard sales threads. If it means only enough to grow dust and not be touched I'd rather have the cash. I've maintain a collection at about 300 games for the last year and a half roughly despite buying up plenty of new stuff by cycling out other things.

I know once my kid starts doing school 8hrs/day plus some homework I'll have my time back some to game so that's why I'm patient and just hold onto the stuff as I don't hate it, my time is just too limited and I'm too tired to bother with any consistency because when I can pick it up it's still fun and I don't feel like I'm forcing myself through the motions.

[bb_hood]

I used to get bored with games, but about 2 years ago I got Rocksmith for ps3 and thats pretty much all I have played since. Rocksmith 2014 was released late last year and its a huge improvement over the first game (even though the original is excellent). I never get bored with rocksmith 2014 and I play it all the time. Usually put in about 2-4 hours a day and I never get bored of it. Its a absolute must have for anyone who owns an electric guitar.

[JSoup]

Is this really a question that needs asking? Burn out happens all the time, with everyone, about everything. You deal with it by doing things that are not thing they you're burned out on until you're ready to return.

[Edmond Dantes]

Is this really a question that needs asking?

Yes, because discussing a problem helps people understand why something is happening and if they understand it, they can hopefully overcome it.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

Idk, sometimes I just feel like watching a little TV instead of gaming. I work 2nd shift between 5pm and 1am, and when I get home, most of the time I'm tired and just wanna watch a movie or documentary or something, and go to bed. Video games just require concentration and whatnot that I don't always have. I love gaming, but not every second of my life.

I prefer it to TV, and I think it's better for u then TV cuz it's mentally stimulating in a positive way, but sometimes I just wanna veg out and not hafta think.

[JSoup]

Yes, because discussing a problem helps people understand why something is happening and if they understand it, they can hopefully overcome it.

Fair enough.
You're getting older. Things you used to enjoy take their toll on you more than they did when you were a kid. The only real solution is to do other things for a while and return to the thing you're burnt on when you feel ready.

[Rickstilwell1]

It's not because of getting older. Remember the times when we were all kids and we decided to play outside, watch some TV, draw or play with toys instead? It's no different. Nobody can have just one hobby and expect to enjoy themselves all the time.

[GNJMSTR]

I've never completely lost interest in my gaming. But I do know what the OP is referring to.
I don't really play/have any games you can just pick up, play for 20 minutes then be done... Every time I begin to play a game, I never tell myself "I'm only going to play for an hour then go do something else." I always just loose all track of time and play for 6+ hours. Then, when I finally finish that one, it takes me forever to find the next game because I know I'm going to be playing for 6+ hours... and for some reason, I don't wanna do that...
I'm wondering if sticking with a time limit would help prevent the "burnout". Only playing for an hour or two. Not because it will "fry your brain," or I need to get off the couch... but because too much of a good thing could be bad. The last thing I wanna do is make myself hate classic gaming.
I just got over my 4-5 day burnout (after finishing Lunar: Silver Star), and am starting Lunar: Eternal Blue. So, I may try this "time limit" theory and see if I go right into another 60 hour game or get the "burnout".

[JSoup]

It's not because of getting older.

It may not be the only reason, but it's still one of the reasons.

[MidnightRider]

Well, it's interesting that you have the avatar that you do. One thing I do from time to time is check out the cartoons of our youth, see if something doesn't jog the old memory. I haven't caught 3rd and 4th, but I've seen the first couple of seasons of Thundercats, a couple of seasons of G.I. Joe, Scooby Doo Where Are You(though that one kept airing through the years, so it wasn't really about trying to remember anything), been through He-Man, slowly going through She-Ra(the music is awful, but the He-Man characters frequently showing up helps out), but yeah you get the idea.

'70's sitcoms help out a lot too.

I don't really play/have any games you can just pick up, play for 20 minutes then be done...

Not a single Pac-Man, Pengo, Centi/Millipede, Tetris, Columns, Dr. Robtonik's Mean Bean Machine/Kirby's Avalanche, Dr. Mario, Klax, Mr. Driller, Asteroids, Space Invaders, Galaxian/Galaga/Gaplus, Gyrus, Flicky, Frogger, Donkey Kong(non-Country), Kung Fu Master(or without the "Master" on the NES), Joust, Missile Command, Mr. Do, Dig Dug, Tapper, City Connection, Burger Time, Arkanoid, Solomon's Key/Fire'n Ice, Marble Madness, Mario Bros., Q*Bert, Qix, Rampart, Bomberman, Paper Boy, Zoop, Space Harrier, light gun, pinball, fighting/wrestling, sport, or racing game in your collection?

Particularly the genre's at the end, and puzzlers would help out a lot.

[Edmond Dantes]

been through He-Man, slowly going through She-Ra(the music is awful, but the He-Man characters frequently showing up helps out)

... I liked She-Ra's music.

As a show though, I did find that sometimes I enjoyed the He-Man crossover episodes more than the straight She-Ra episodes.

[MidnightRider]

Different strokes I guess. I just don't like that particular synth sound, on top of the way her name is sung. I wasn't keen on He-Man's music either, but it at least sounds like something you'd expect to hear from a Superman flick. I'm talking mainly the transformation/character themes, I liked a lot of the background music otherwise, with both share.

As much as Adam's been on, I haven't seen Cringer yet, and that sucks. Not enough Skeletor crossover either.

Anyway, I go through this a lot myself. Lately I've been thinking about getting through Tinhead or one of the Ecco games, maybe even an RPG, but I also started watching episodes of Laverne and Shirley, and instead of booting up any games, I've been doing more of that(How can you resist wanting to see what Lenny and Squiggy are going to do next?). As long as gaming's on my mind though, I'm sure I'll get back to it.

[Edmond Dantes]

I remember one thing that bothered me about She-Ra (in comparison to He-Man) was that She-Ra's world felt like it was basically defined by the Horde. Like you rarely got a sense of what kind of history or culture it had before it was conquered. By comparison, He-Man's world feels open and like its bigger than the events taking place on it, and that makes it interesting to get a glimpse at.

There's precisely one episode--in season two--that doesn't mention the Horde at all (and isn't a crossover episode) and I remember feeling like that episode felt completely different from your normal She-Ra episode for that reason.

As for video games, I feel like I'm gradually coming out of it. The problem is my mind is trying to find a certain style of game that appeals to me and nothing is sticking just yet. A few things nearly clicked while watching Mike Matei's Top 10 Obscure... videos though, so maybe I need NES and SNES games of the style I would've rented as a kid.

[8-Bit Archeology]

I have had this problem many times. I recently lost my paid off car to an "act of god" and my insurance refused coverage. That equals me losing my job for an obvious reason.

Since then i have been selling tons of stuff and with the stress of making ends meet i almost sold my games. My wife was the one reminding me "yeah you dont play them now, but in a week or two youll get back to em".

I have about 1500 console games and around 350 some pc games. I sometimes dont play just because I am overwhelmed with options. I spend forever looking for a game and end up reading a manual or cleaning my consoles.

Its just something that happens. I find it that setting up a seperate shelf of games you havent completed or interesting games, leads to a more attracting selection. It takes the thought out of it.

The only way I would think that I am done gaming or collecting, is if I didnt think I would regret selling my games.

[Edmond Dantes]

Lately I've also thought the video game related-media I've been consuming hasn't been helping.

Like... I like AVGN, but hearing about shitty games all the time can get depressing, because the more you hear something the more you start to think "all NES games suck" or something stupid like that. For that reason I always liked the Happy Game Nerd... but then HE stopped doing reviews, as did every other happy reviewer I was aware of, so I've had a lot of really critical reviewers with nothing positive to counter-balance them.

Well... except I've been watching a show about DOS games, but that kind of platform-specific focus tends to be just as bad, especially for a platform that's almost exclusively manned by western developers (much like how some people need cups of coffee every morning, I need something eastern at least once a week or I get depressed. Not kidding).

Well, I guess I'll just throw a bunch of games at my systems until something sticks.

By the way He-Man, She-Ra, and Thundercats are still the best cartoons of the 1980s, but I wouldn't mind seeing G.I. Joe again.

[MidnightRider]

Yeah, with G.I. Joe, a lot would most likely argue otherwise, but when I was watching, I started thinking to myself, like it wasn't horribly written to be honest. Especially with the fantasy elements thrown in. It's not Larry Hama(tremendous run at Marvel in the '80's)'s level of writing, but it's not terrible for what it is either.

The trick to watching these old cartoons is to not be expecting something like Batman: The Animated Series. The '80's animations were just fun. Not big storytelling, academy award aimers. Hell, Skeletor is a major part of what makes He-Man watchable. I can remember one episode of G.I. Joe where Cobra was losing, and Cobra Commander is like "Morons! I have morons on my payroll!" It's just fun to watch '80's villains bicker like married couples.

@8-Bit Archeology:
I know what you mean about too many choices being overwhelming. Sometimes you can just choose a game and stick with it until you get better at it. It really comes down to trying to find the few that you can just keep playing time and time again, but at the same time, human nature always demands more.

[Little Miss Gloom]

Oh, this happens to me all the time. And you know what? I embrace it.

I take the temporary boredom in gaming to explore other hobbies, like reading, or scrapbooking, or whatever. Somebody above mentioned that it's impossible to have just one hobby and never get bored of it, and I agree. If you don't feel like gaming right then, don't force yourself; explore other things that you like and may have forgotten about!

[Edmond Dantes]

The trick to watching these old cartoons is to not be expecting something like Batman: The Animated Series.

At the risk of sounding apocryphal, I honestly don't get why B:TAS is always held up as if it was somehow so awesome. For the most part its just as corny and cheesy as many eighties cartoons. It had some neat stylistic choices, but it felt to me like a show that put up the front of being dark and serious without actually following through in the writing department.

The episode "Zatanna" is a good example.

....

In other news, I've lately discovered that I've developed a love of Racing games. I've been playing Moto Racer on the PC almost nonstop, with a few Need for Speeds (PC), Ridge Racer, and Gran Turismo (PS1) thrown in. Gran Turismo is giving me problems though... for some reason, I keep spinning out, no matter what car I drive. I wonder if its because I'm using a PS2 controller (which I've seen to be more sensitive than PS1 dualshocks). Ridge Racer I very nearly beat, but then in one race I did absolutely perfect and still never even saw the car that was in 1st place (which makes me wonder if playing on a PS2 glitched the game). I also really don't understand the Papyrus Software (Sierra On-Line division) Nascar Racing games.

So yeah, my game burnout seems to have been partially solved by playing a genre I've been... not really avoiding, just not playing/collecting a whole lot of.

[Atarileaf]

It's definitely normal to go through bouts where you lose interest in gaming and collecting. I've been doing this off and on for over 22 years and i've sold two very large collections and both times I regretted it.

My current collection which started in the summer of 2008 isn't as large and I did a purge around the end of 2010 because I was getting overwhelmed by the volume of what I had. I resisted the urge to sell it all. Why? Because the desire to play and collect DOES RETURN.

Don't make the mistake that I, and others, have made. Don't sell it all assuming that you're done with it forever. If you have to, pack it up and put it away in a garage or basement. Somewhere you don't see it everyday. Find another hobby, another passion but DON'T assume you're done with game collecting.

This comes from personal experience.