Steam and games.

[SionIV]

I remember back when i was younger how i would be searching for games and every time I got hold of a game, I would end up spending countless hours on it until I had completed it several times. Even bad games would be played almost religiously, not to mention the good games (Christmas, birthday) were like drugs, that fucking good.

Now I'm looking at my steam account and I have over 200 games, many of whom have amazing reviews. I have anything from adventure to RPG and even some rare action games or simulators. The problem is that I never play these game, most of my 200+ games (150,ish) I haven't even installed yet. This comes from me always looking at special offers and if i find a game or even bundle that seems interesting, I'll take a look at the games and reviews, if it still looks interesting I'll buy it. I've had days where I have bought over 30 games at once, and didn't play a single one of them.

Now the absolutely hilarious thing in my account is the fact that the games I've spent the most time playing, are games I have on a CD and have played for 10+ years. I originally bought them on steam because it's easier to install the games that way, but I still do own the original copy. So all these new and amazing games I don't touch, but the ones I've had since i was a child, I'll keep playing.

So what exactly happened? Did i get too much of the good stuff? My younger self would have locked himself in a room for two years to religiously play every single game.

 

[MicoSelva]

Stop buying games and you will slowly regain the ability to play and enjoy them, instead of gaming feeling like a chore you need to do to tick off a position on the list.

 

[SionIV]

Stop buying games and you will slowly regain the ability to play and enjoy them, instead of gaming feeling like a chore you need to do to tick off a position on the list.

I'm only buying games I'm interested in when they are on sale. So when a game is on sale that looks interesting, I'll buy it now so I won't have to spend twice or even three times the amount of money later on. It might be the major reason for me not playing them, but saving money is something that I have a hard time saying no to.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

part is we're growing up, tastes change and we're harder and harder to please.
part is most of the so called "good" today's games suck.

 

[DwarvenFood]

and another part is your time is probably more valuable now

 

[SionIV]

and another part is your time is probably more valuable now

That is kind of the problem, It's not more valuable. I'm still lucky enough to spend a lot of my time playing games, I just don't spend that gaming time on any new games. It's always the same old games. I've also gotten much more critical when it comes to games, and most games I end up giving a try, I'll find a ton of things I don't like about the game.

I've spent well over 400 hours playing Lionheart, but I can't seem to even start up a game of PoE, Wasteland 2, Divinity, etc.

 

[Hoaxmetal]

I'm only buying games I'm interested in when they are on sale. So when a game is on sale that looks interesting, I'll buy it now so I won't have to spend twice or even three times the amount of money later on. It might be the major reason for me not playing them, but saving money is something that I have a hard time saying no to.

Spending money on games that you don't play = saving money. Especially when most games go on sale a few times per year and the price could be even lower during next sale (or it could be bundled). Steamtard logic at it's finest (I would know, being one myself).

 

[SionIV]

Spending money on games that you don't play = saving money. Especially when most games go on sale a few times per year and the price could be even lower during next sale (or it could be bundled). Steamtard logic at it's finest (I would know, being one myself).

Yes, so much this. I spend money on games I'll most likely never play, but In my head I'm saving money because I bought them for nothing. I've still bought a game that I'll never play, so I guess that's wasting money instead. Damn you steam!

 

[Scroo]

I know the feel. I have over 700 games on steam and I cannot stop buying new bundles and games. It's so bad that I completely forget about games I bought by now, I buy them thinking "wow this looks neat!", install it and then it just vanishes from my mind until I need to clean up my hdd and wonder what all these games are.

So basically steam is making me mentally ill ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Cadmus]

Yeah...don't know what to tell you. Don't be an idiot? This is such basic stuff, how does it need explaining? Don't buy useless shit? Nobody's ever going to play 200 fucking games, you'll play 4-5 a year tops so make them count. If you can't find anything you like, don't play anything until you find something? Are you a child? Are you ten years old? Maybe you're an oldfag like some of these guys and it don't matter to you if you buy 400 games per week cuz you're rich but it makes the game not seem worthwhile to you when you get so many of them and get them so easily. Don't overfeed on your favourite food, don't buy 20 musical instruments when you can't play all and don't buy 300 games when you can play only one at a time. When you got too much stuff it loses its value real fast in your mind.

I play one game that I think I'll like and when I'm finished with it, I wait a few weeks to cool down and get another one where I again sink most of my free time if the game is good.

 

[SionIV]

I complete around 40-70 games every year, sometimes even more than that. I just have a bad habit of playing the same games all the time and don't give new ones a chance. It's like every single year I'll have to complete the Baldur's Gate trilogy, Icewind Dale, Torment, Lionheart, Arcanum, Final Fantasy 6-10, Dark Souls/Demon Souls, The Last of Us, Silent Hill 2, etc.

I buy the games, I have the time to play the games, but for whatever reason I can't bring myself to do it.

 

[pippin]

I'm only buying games I'm interested in when they are on sale.

I think this is the root of the problem.
Games were a luxury back then. 60 bucks is still a lot of money to spend in a videogame, but today it's not that hard to pay for that. You were lucky if you received one game for your birthday and another one for christmas. The first "new" game I received as a gift, without counting the ones which came with my SNES, was Contra 3: The Alien Wars. I played that shit to death, not only because it was good, but also because it was one of the two or thee games I had at the time. But other than that, I had like 6 cartridges in total, half of them stolen borrowed from friends, and I'd rely on trades for playing new games.

Nowadays you just check Steam or GoG during the weekends and you buy what you want if you can. If not, you wait for summer or winter and that's it. There's no urgency on buying new stuff even though there are new games coming out practically every day, which is kind of a paradox for me. Bundles are probably another big problem, since you'd be buying for one or two games out of what, 6 or 8? And when they tell you you'll be saving more than 100 dollars if you purchase this bundle, you think it's kinda saving your life, but it's just a marketing tool.

You are free to do what you want with your time and money, but I get why you feel jaded. It's still kinda weird that this affects us this way, since we play RPGs and they tend to be very slow and long games... You'd think you could enjoy one game for 6 months, before feeling the need to try something new.

 

[Excidium II]

This is not necessarily a recent phenomenon, this happened to everyone when they discovered emulators and the internet. Yesterday you had 9 SNES tapes now you got this cd-rom with every SNES game ever

 

[Cadmus]

I complete around 40-70 games every year, sometimes even more than that. I just have a bad habit of playing the same games all the time and don't give new ones a chance. It's like every single year I'll have to complete the Baldur's Gate trilogy, Icewind Dale, Torment, Lionheart, Arcanum, Final Fantasy 6-10, Dark Souls/Demon Souls, The Last of Us, Silent Hill 2, etc.

I buy the games, I have the time to play the games, but for whatever reason I can't bring myself to do it.

then maybe you're burnt out because this seems insane to me, there's no way there's so many good games so you probably play some time-waster shit

 

[Xathrodox86]

I have that same problem. Thanks to a couple of sales, I now have waaaay too much games to play realistacly. That's why I'm not buying any for quite some time now and advise you to do the same.

 

[SionIV]

then maybe you're burnt out because this seems insane to me, there's no way there's so many good games so you probably play some time-waster shit

There are actually a ton of good games, you just have to look for them and you won't find all of them in the CPRG category.

JRPG - Final Fantasy 6-10, Septerra Core, Dragon Quest, Breath of Fire, Lost Odyssey, Shadow hearts, etc.
CRPG - Arcanum, Fallout 1,2,3, New Vegas, Baldur's Gate Trilogy, Icewind Dale, Torment, Lionheart (underrated), Spiderwebs, M&M, Morrowind, Divine Divinity, Deus Ex, Enclave, Jade Empire, Dust an Elysian tale, etc.
Horror - Silent Hill (5+ games here, all very good), Amnesia, Dark Fall 1-2, Penumbra, Resident Evil 1-3 + Zero and Veronica X, etc.

Throw in some odd strategy games like Commandos (1-4) and Desperados (1-2), Settlers (1-2), Majesty, sprinkle a bit of Age of Empires and Seven Kingdoms on top, let's not forget the Warcraft games.

There are so many awesome games that I've played, It wouldn't be a problem to recycle half of them each year and still complete 50 good games.

[Edited] : And i even forgot to mention awesome adventure games like the Longest Journey, Monkey Island and Indiana Jones. Shit once in a while I'll even boot up some of the Leisure suit Larry games.

 

[Zewp]

The codexer's plight in 2015: spoiled for choice with games but not spoiled for choice with good games.

I know your pain.

 

[Metro]

I'm only buying games I'm interested in...

Apparently not.

Anyway, people need to be more honest with themselves in terms of what they're actually interested in playing. I've only bought three games and one DLC off of Steam in 2015 (two of them I arguably regret buying) and I think maybe the $1 tier of a Humble Bundle. Nothing anywhere else. I used to buy a lot more but that was because there was a gap in my PC gaming and there were more titles I was interested in playing but have since bought.

 

[SionIV]

Apparently not.

Anyway, people need to be more honest with themselves in terms of what they're actually interested in playing. I've only bought three games and one DLC off of Steam in 2015 (two of them I arguably regret buying) and I think maybe the $1 tier of a Humble Bundle. Nothing anywhere else. I used to buy a lot more but that was because there was a gap in my PC gaming and there were more titles I was interested in playing but have since bought.

You're right, should have changed that to "Games I find interesting" as in something about them catches my attention, which makes me buy them.

 

[Metro]

It's that all enticing 75% off.

 

[Great Deceiver]

Things being easily accessible (only a click away), cheap plus having considerable disposable income means that feeling of SPESHUL can't be there anymore.

It's an unfortunate side effect of modern times, it's happened with music and probably most other hobbies, too. I remember the feeling of hunting for a particular album for literally months and how amazing it felt when you found out about a particular artist, they seemed to truly belong to you. Now everything's a click away and it's forgettable.

Actually growing up and realising most games are shit and a worthless waste of time doesn't help - that comes with perspective.

Videogames have been my main hobby for over 25 years and I can't think of a legit reason why they still are, other than force of habit. Very few games are truly pleasurable activities and don't have me thinking I should probably be doing something else.

I guess as with everything, as we become older we also become more selective (or limited depending on where you're coming from).

TLDR everything is shit, get off my lawn, old people, etc.

Buy and play less games. Do other shit.

 

[Delbaeth]

I don't think it has something to do with Steam, but more with prices. Especially bundles and big sales.
I believe that prices had gone too low, bringing an unhealthy state of biz developer-wise, and too customer-wise. We are really consumers now.
Nothing wrong buying at good prices, but we have been 'educated' to buy games not when we want, but when sales happen. It adds a little frustration, since we aren't necessarily prepared to play games right after that.
So yeah, buy less, don't follow every hype, play the games you already have or you do want to play.
Try to complete at least 15% of your backlog before buying a new game, then 20%, and so on.

 

[Naveen]

I think rats do the same in those skinner boxes.

I assume you also had more tolerance to frustration (with games) when you were younger and you didn't mind that much starting the game again, or reload a save game from two hours ago. I guess it's human nature, with fewer choices there is more dedication, and once you have your preferred games, trying to form the same bond with new ones may be very taxing and it requires too much time. And with 300 possible new best games you could experience your brain says "Why the hell should I choose? That's too much work" and you stick with what you already know well and you know it will not disappoint you.

You can try this: choose a game randomly. And stick with it even if it hurts or even if it is Dragon Age 2. If the experience is disgusting, you'll probably be much less prone to binge-buying. Also, play it like a new experience or as if you were reviewing it professionally; do not expect immediate gratification as with the old games because that's not possible. The mindset required to experience something new is different from the one required to enjoy something you already know well. Also, if you want to develop an addiction, play it drunk, that may help even with the shittiest games.

Or just stick with the old ones, who cares.

 

[pippin]

You're right, should have changed that to "Games I find interesting" as in something about them catches my attention, which makes me buy them.

It's that all enticing 75% off.

Hmmm. Maybe the thing is advertising, then. Most of gaming's advertising campaigns were edgy, risqué or even sometimes plain wrong, but they stuck in the minds of the people who cared about games in the 90s. Nowadays it's just some random dude holding a gun, maybe some sidekick chick to perhaps promise some boob action, and then there's Mountain Dew and Doritos. Quite often it happens that your first impression of the game is bland as fuck because of this, so this could put you in a mindset of not being entirely satisfied by your purchases.

 

[Villagkouras]

That thing bugged me some time ago, I came up with some conclusions, most of them are no-brainers. Just to let you know, I'm 33, so my teen days were the 90's, probably most of us are in the same age range.

Back in the day, each game was an innovation. Even the bad ones had something to offer. Now, when a new game comes up, chances are that you've played something similar in the past. Of course, the whole "gaming" thing was something new and spectacular. Have you ever watched 70's or 80's TV shows? They suck and there is NO WAY that you could endure watching them now. But people watched like crazy back then because it was something fresh (not the shows, TV was new) and there was nothing else to watch! Which leads us to another obvious argument: Abundance. Literally tens of games are released every single day and no one can keep up.

But this is from the aspect of games. What about us?

Aging is an obvious factor. We have more money for games and we don't feel the urge to squeeze every single bit of a game because we know there won't be another. So we buy the and leave them to collect dust. Time is much more limited. Priorities have changed, work, family, friends are more important. Of course, we become more picky and that limits our options.

But for me, the main reason this is happening is due to us growing and maturing as beings. I'm not saying gaming is for kids. The nature of gaming is in contrast with maturing: Picture yourself when you play a game. It's a lonely hobby, with a limited range of vision and repeated patterns of movement. We're not bored by games, but by gaming and I think this is a natural process, to avoid mental disorders like depression which is linked to unhealthy amounts of gaming. We need, unconsciously, something more full as an experience.