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Are video games still exciting?


NoXTheRoXStaR

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Hey everyone,

 

I started this Off Topic thread in order to discuss some things with everyone. So I'll start by laying the groundwork by telling you all a little about me and my current feelings.

 

I'm 30 years old and owned almost every video game console from the Nintendo NES to the XBox 360. When I was 14 I was so obsessed with the first two X-COM games and Command & Conquer series that I literally missed over 14 days worth of school to play them (I played hookie or faked being sick). When I was 16 I actually chose a video game over my girlfriend. I had callouses so bad on my right wrist they actually popped from the inside....Gross I know.

 

Let's fast forward to now.

 

I recently bought a PS3/GTA V Combo, plus like 6 games at the local store and like 15 games from PSN. I have yet to finish any of them.

Maybe it's nostalgia that persuaded me into buying games from almost a decade and a half ago, I'm not sure.

 

Also recently, I bought a brand new gaming PC (The specs are amazing) and yet I find myself not in the mood to play any games. I simply have no motivation or drive to play video games anymore. There's a bunch of games coming out soon that look appealing and yet I question myself and ask, "What's the point?"

 

And when I DO find myself playing games, it's usually ones that I've beaten over and over again. Does anyone else have this issue, is it just me? Maybe I just enjoy the games from the past so much that I don't care enough to play the newer ones.

 

I read gaming news forums about the new PS4 and Xbox 1 and none of the upcoming games they've announced even seem remotely interesting. Basically it's just rehash after rehash of the same ole shit every year.

 

Bah, I'm done for now I'll update later.

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Well, NoX, I get what you're saying.

 

What you're describing is common - you've become rather jaded and the new trinkets being outed just don't grab you the way they once might have.

 

This doesn't merely mean you're old and gnarly wink.png, it means another thing entirely, and it's quite literally a natural thing.

 

After decades of gaming we've seen and played pretty much every shade of game imaginable. Our brains are like always-on hungry machines. What our brain consumes are novelties, challenges, learning, that it tackles and processes until it fully or partially assimilates. The outcome is classification, cross-referencing, patterning and storage, which ultimately constitutes added knowledge, experience.

 

Whenever our brain discerns it is facing a new pattern, or a new challenge it is engaged. It wants more yummy material to process, more to store and reference, more to integrate and interlink, which happens with things it never dealt with before or that it hadn't dealt with in quite the same way.

 

"Feed me, feeeeed meeee!" it would say if it ever needed to speak.

 

Another aspect that comes into play too is that nobody likes to feel stupid. And that's why we are also rewarded by our brains when we recognize a pattern we've come across before. Yep, it would say, "I've got that stored right here - pattern located, referenced and activated. Problem computes. I can deal with that all day right fine!"

 

That is familiarity and it is rewarding because the brain fondly remembers when it first met that pattern, was challenged and finally, very pleasingly, managed to achieve a success state with the problem or task repeatedly, feeling especially happy and validated.

 

It is very adaptable, very fast and can store trillions of patterns of all kinds throughout our meagre existence.

 

But when you have over two decades of feeding it, in this case with games, the trouble is it recognizes what you're telling it is "new" (because you've just got it) as the same old thing. It's the same pattern all over again, and your brain is bored. Boredom is something abominable for your brain. It will turn you off. The colours are pretty, your fingers respond, but deep inside your brain is fully aware you're trying to trick it, to trick yourself, and it doesn't work.

 

The pattern is clear, it is there and you can't fool it. The result? No engagement. It does not entertain. It accomplishes no meaningful purpose as your compute box sees it, eliciting your "What's the point?".

 

I certainly don't game nowhere nearly as much as I used to myself. The reasons vary - from real-life commitments, work, and other things, among which, no doubt, my most personal computer in the skull box has a definite say too, telling me "X, Y, Z already stored, no longer challenge - seek alternate, provide refresher, evolve, deliver new meaning, succeed with the feed!".

 

We've had our feed of almost anything games have to offer in their current form. They have images and sound that we respond to, but the experience doesn't vary all that much. It is also something external, limited and simulated - it is in a way 'fake' and we know it.

 

It can't quite compare to the degree of reward we get when we engage other parts of our animal brain either - which generally richly rewards us for things like finding a mate and generating offspring as a way of perpetuating your strand. The biological imperative is built-in and part of the package.

 

So people are, for the most part, far more interesting to our cognitive engagement - because unlike a game that you can 'solve' and never look back to, they're an ever-changing puzzle. A constant challenge that we can directly relate to and that we compare against for refraction and validation.

 

A win against a machine can be pleasant, a few times. But it becomes - and you can feel it - a non-achievement, an empty, non-rewarding thing once we've beaten it. We understand it in all the ways that eventually mattered and our brain then wants to move on to grander things and greener pastures.

 

So, that's essentially the message you're getting. Your brain is tapping away at that internal telegraph and when that happens you should listen, because you're not really going to fool yourself.

 

It's like with sugar. Your body effectively knows when it is or isn't being given real sugar. Saccharose won't do.

 

Don't ignore it. Move on, to something sweeter.

 

::

 

As gaming goes we'll have to wait a while for the next big thing to hit that reset switch. The Oculus Rift is on the right track and bound to engage our brain at yet another new level, so if you've still got some coinage about you don't blow it all - we'll eventually get to The Matrix. cool.png

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Now I'm beginning my thirties, the same old isn't doing it for me any more. I'm drawn to more and more niche things. Frozen Synapse, The Stanley Parable, Analogue, Crusader Kings II, Gone Home, Cinders, Occult Chronicles, Starseed Pilgrim, Lone Survivor, things a lot of normal gamers will never hear of, or dismiss out of hand, or contemplate playing with a feeling of terror and bewilderment. The things that are a little different. Playing just another third-person shooter not only doesn't cut it, it makes me give up almost immediately. There are fresh experiences out there.

 

Lately, I have actually geeked up and started board gaming. Group of friends, most of the game is in the interaction. It's been amazing, like my old school days with a SNES/PS2 and a multitap, except with even more arguing.

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I would like to thank you guys for submitting your thoughts and opinions on my current rant, I've read your responses with much interest. I'm glad I'm not the only person who feels this way. Like F.A. I too engage in non video game-esque like board games and card games. I try to play all types of game genres, Silencer. I'm currently playing; Super Hero League of Hobken. I highly recommend all of you to play this game. And as A pirate I can send you a link to get the CD/Dos Version custom made.

 

What's there to not like; a dystopian USA, Comedy, Strategy/RPG elements. ( If you actually want to play this, just send me an IM, I'll let you borrow it ) Sharing is free.

 

Part II is next.

 

-NoX

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Well, you guys already summed this up much better than I could.

 

As of late my time is very limited and I continue to face exactly what Thor posted. I want to try new games, but it would demand an effort to get to know them. Joined with little time, it would mean a lot of dwindling gaming intervals before I'd be able to actually play the game. However I'd love to be stronger than that, I rarely gather the will. VERY rarely. This, sadly, extends to many new things, not just games.

 

So I'm left with playing games I already know. But those, however great, have been played to no end and it is a pain to kick myself to start a new game.

 

There are some rare exceptions. Frozen Synapse is a game that is simple in principle, yet complex if you want to be good at it against other people. It really is easy to get into, but hard to master. Most of the complexity comes from the fact that there is a human being on the other end and the tools at his disposal are simple enough for both to use them to full potential.

 

Funnily enough, I think of movies as non-interactive games. And of games as interactive movies. They are converging faster and faster, but I did realize there will always be place for both. When you don't have the time or the will to use the interactivity, the non-interactive games that just unfold for you to follow the story are great.

 

The conclusion would be that video games still are exiting to me, but their pull has been significantly reduced.

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