Do you grow out of gaming?

Right now, I have a brand new PS4 sat here next to me, still its in box unopened. I have a GTX 780Ti with over 200 games on Steam with no urge to play anything. Games on the X1 look meh, games on the WiiU look meh. Hell, even games that are set for release in the next year look meh...

Am I growing out of gaming SW?

@clyde46: nope, u are just burned out. in the summer holidays i usually play lots of games and after 1.5/2 months i take a break from gaming.

As Ghost said, likely burned out.

But yeah to an extent, you can grow out of gaming; but I think it's pretty tough to grow out of it completely, more likely just genres or types.

I for instance have grown out of Mario games.

WAIT, sheep, let me explain.

It is fine for adults to enjoy Mario, I'm not saying they are kids games, I am simply saying they don't provide me any excitement anymore, and my interest in them lessens with each release of it.

i havent played games in months and months i just come hear to laugh at the fanboys

It's just burnout, happens to me alot aswell, just take a break and one day you'll find yourself not having enough time in the day to play again.

Nope. But this is why I have handhelds, much more BC and a bunch more variety than consoles and about the same as PC, all while being extremely portable.

I remember after The Last of Us, I just ha no incentive to play on my consoles, but there were too many awesome handheld games in my backlog to ignore.

Sometimes you just aren't in a mood to play games, much like you aren't in the mood to watch a movie or go on a bike ride or something.

I imagine next month you'll be excited for something or playing a game in your backlog that will get you wanting to play more. That's what happens with me.

I kind of cut back on gaming when I was still single and dating. Once married and the kids came along, I got a second wind.

You just got burned out. It happens. That fire might come back.

Happened to me before.

I'm 31 and no not really. But every now and then i cant get my self to play games for weeks even months but i always find something interesting to help me return to gaming ( nowdays is Civ V and a couple of old fps games like Blood and Duke nukem 3d ). But i get your point . I as well quite often just like to read about games even watching videos about games or posting here but i dont feel the urge to play games

I kind of cut back on gaming when I was still single and dating. Once married and the kids came along, I got a second wind.

That's the problem with having a glut of everything (software and hardware). You get tired of it easily. Me? I can assemble a much more powerful PC if I want to. But, there's something fascinating about getting the most out of a less powerful (and less expensive) PC. My DIY PCs in the past used to be in the $1600-$2000 range. I'm having more fun now with PCs in the ~$700-$850 range.

I also buy only the games I can play within a reasonable amount of time.

over roughly the past few years i've had less of an urge to play computer games despite buying hitman hd and nfs rivals today i've not really touched them between dying of a hangover and learning to play Kvelertak's new album but tbh i have grown out of it well to an extent you know the whole sitting for hours and hours on end just playing games.

i think you do grow out of it to an extent when you start growing up have a job, a more varied social life and various other commitments gaming slowly gets put to the wayside as a weekend only kinda deal :P

it happens to all of us i dont really know anyone my age who is still gaming religiously like we used to back in the day of cod 4 and GTA SA:MP.

Probably burned out.

When it happens to me i take breaks for a few weeks and watch tv shows instead.(lol i've seen breaking bad like 10 times)That and also do not buy more than one game at a time.When you have like 30+ games sitting around you'll get bored of them easily.

My mom has recently been asking me for some PC games.

I don't know her age, but she could be in the high 40s or mid 50s.

You never grow tired of gaming.

System Wars has grabbed a hold of you.

It's the same way for me. I feel the reason may be due to having experienced near enough everything.

Happens to me sometimes. Just need to take a little break.

Variety about the same as PC

It's happened to me multiple times, including at the start of last gen. When it does, I either take a break from the hobby, or I stick to playing retro games.

Not at all.. actually i seem to get more and more into gaming every year more specifically story focused games while im starting to get a little tired of online games especially shooters.

It has nothing to do with age, just your current circumstances and state of mind.

Do you grow out of watching movies?

@clyde46:

Why did you buy a PS4 at launch?

You only grow out of gaming in the same way you grow out of any other hobby. Your tastes will rarely stay the same. Sometimes things you enjoy will grow tired and you will explore new interests, it's natural.

Either that or you should look into fixing your clinical depression.

Same. I don't wanna play any video games, I'd rather watch a movie/TV show/listen to music. I come to SW still cuz it's hilarious as always and because of habit.

When you see the next Zelda game or when Witcher 3 come out you will drool again

@clyde46: nah you just made a stupid decision not to get xbo. Dats why I see you trying hard to put xbox down. Anyway, I knew you werent the smartest guy, but yes we grow older and we prioritize things differently. Im very happy with my xbo purchase because its for alot more than gaming. Its a media marvel. Sorry you arent in touch clyde

I am the same way.

I am 34 now and over the last few years I just don't have the same urge to play games that I used to, and I don't think it's burnout either I still get the odd game I can really get into but those games are few and far between those days, I just don't think games have the appeal they used too.

For every Papers, Please there is on PC, there's an Ace Attorney. For every Stanley Parable there's a Zero Escape. I could see it being about the same.

Very, very, very, very far off considering the PC hosts games in just about every genre, and sub-genre out there.

Handhelds are very far off in that regard.

I mean I agree that they beat consoles pretty handily nowadays, but PC? All one has to do is just browse the games on the front page of Steam, or the greenlight page, to see that's way, WAY off.

I grew out of playing games. I'm still interested to see how the gaming industry develops, but I have no urge to play myself. The transition was iver a few months and I haven't played anything in a year or something now.

I can have days like that. Where I have all these games in my backlog, but I don't feel like playing anything. I think that's perfectly normal.

If this feeling doesn't stop though, then yeah: you might be growing out of it.

Fair enough, but I'll give them a large percentile (although the numbers game is just dumb to bring up). Shame that some genres don't cross over more, ex. FPS on handhelds and JRPGs on PC.

Hardcore pc gamers view it as important as gravity. It's a lifestyle, like thug life but more tame.

It's not so much the numbers game. I mean obviously the PC has more games.

But I mean the point can be made with as simple as something like the FPS genre. On PC you have tactical, stealth, team-based, co-op, arena, spunkgargleweewee, etc etc. There are games like Half Life, STALKER, Hard Reset, and Painkiller (among others).

On handhelds you have.......Killzone? O_O

These same kinds of comparisons could be made for practically every genre outside of JRPGs.

MMOs, Strategy games, RPGs, Racing, Adventure games, Action Adventure, Platformers, etc etc all have huge amounts of variations on the PC, but they just don't on the handhelds. Some rarely even show up on handhelds at all.

Then you have things like simulators, and MOBAs, and games like Minecraft which don't exist on the handhelds at all.

There's no doubt the handhelds get some high quality games though regardless. Handhelds are pretty awesome companions to PC because they fill in some of the gaps.

I mean something like Advance Wars is clearly better than probably 90% strategy games on the PC, but it's one of few games. It definitely has a place amongst games like Civilization, Heroes, XCom, Total War, and Galactic Civ though.

Same with games like Zelda, or Mario.

But the variety comparison overall is just simply not there.

Kind of. I find myself playing games from past gens more and more often. And it's odd, I have all these games to play but I'm perfectly content to play LoL, DotA 2 and retro games.

I've found myself watching let's plays lately as well. Not sure why but watching an entertaining commentator play a favorite game of mine is a lot more fun for me than simply replaying it myself.

Most likely just burnout. Happens to me all the time, especially after I've played something which takes up an insane amount of my time like XCOM or Total War.

I also wouldn't label it as "growing out" of videogames as that implies that people who "grow up" naturally start to dislike gaming. As George Bernard Shaw once said: "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

I don't think you can grow out of gaming the same way that you can't outgrow movies or books, but some times it's good to take a break from it.

I think what the case is is that people keep focusing their energy on the same types of activities, and they conform to some mindset that doesn't allow them to jump into activities they might otherwise enjoy.

I mean like you said. When you play one game an insane amount sometimes you just don't want to do it anymore, and you might be disgusted by the sight of similar games.

But there are also the people who only focus on specific markets of games. Some people get too caught up in hype and eventually grow tired of big-budget titles that aren't very different from each other at times. Some people are so hipster they think only cheap indie games can be good, and might someday want more out of gaming than simple gameplay idea on a 2D backdrop.

Some people have convinced themselves that they could never see themselves sitting at a desk playing PC, and some write off handhelds as inferior.

Sometimes you just have to break the mold. Don't buy a game that's similar to games you don't like simply because critics rave about it. Don't dismiss Japanese games as animu, weaboo, barbie, pink girly. Don't shelve old games or consoles simply because they're "outdated".

Just pick something up, ignore EVERYTHING (System Wars, friends, media hype), and play it.

No, but at times everyone probably gets bored/burnt out for awhile.

In the middle of the PS2/Xbox gen, I probably had a 3 year hiatus where I barely bothered playing games at all anymore, except maybe an occasional game of Madden or Tiger Woods golf (i.e. casual sports games with friends).

But by the end of the gen I started getting back into it (playing GTA: San Andreas and Metroid Prime will do that).

PS4 got no games

I grew out of gaming when I got to college. Didn't play many games from 06-10. Then I had my first back surgery and had nothing but free time and I got back into it 3 years ago.

You need to play more Burnout.

I reinstalled it a few days ago, got only stomach an hour before I got bored.

Just haven't felt the urge to open and play it. Seriously considering scalping it since the PS4 is sold out everywhere in the UK.

Dunno. Just like I said in the OP, I have no urge to play anything.

If you let yourself, yes.

Sometimes you outgrow the games available because they aren't growing with you. Your response should involve introspection about what it is you ask a game to do and either demand it of a developer or make it yourself. Or find something more that gaming has to offer that renews your enthusiasm. There are a number of communities worth getting involved in - find your niche.

(didn't know I had it in me to be a gaming counselor)
(probably giving myself more compliments than I warrant)

Nah, you just have to find some more hobbies. I found investing all my time and money into gaming burned me out on it quite regularly. Now that I work for a living, have a girlfriend and many other responsibilities, I barely find time to game, let alone finish games.