this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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Pretty sure it's not the games that are the problem in most cases. I semi-frequently go through depressive episodes, and it doesn't matter how good the game (or any other hobby) is, I just can't have fun with it
I do feel like there's a high chance a lot of the people complaining about "dead game" or "games just aren't as fun as they used to be anymore" are in fact experiencing either gaming burnout or something else, thinking fondly back on when they used to have fun.
Especially when they're like "I have played 2000 hours of this game and this game isn't fun anymore and is going to die".
Additionally I think it's also just nostalgia and getting older. When I played rollercoaster tycoon when I was younger, the park guests felt alive, I didn't know everything that could be researched yet, and I didn't play to maximize the score. Now I know too much. The guests are just a simple algorithm, everything feels known, and I'm way more focused on actually playing for the objective. I still like RCT, but the magic from those days is gone. As we learn more about the world and get more responsibilities we seem to lose this sense of wonder about everything. Even new games often seem like something you already know, instead of something completely new, just because you've seen so many games already.
That being said, I can personally still get back to that feeling of wonder with the right games. It's not totally as it used to be, but there's still plenty of fun to be had. If I'm in a phase where I keep closing every game I start, I know I'm just not in the right place mentally and it's not because of the games.
Yep this is how I gauge how depressed I am, if I can't pick a game because none seem interesting I know I'm not having a good time