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Discussion Has creating games ruined your gaming experiences?

Fern

Member
I make games almost for a living now I guess. For the past three years (approximately) I've almost completely stopped playing games. There are games here and there that I fall in love with for briefs moments in time but not anything like when I was younger.

Minecraft will spur my creative side once in a year or two. Recently PlayerUnknown's Battleground has taken over most of my gaming sessions. Anyone else experiencing this?
 
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JealousOfCrows

Guest
I think this is just a symptom of "getting older" and having more important things to do. I don't make games for a living (although I wish and am trying to finish one and currently don't do anything for a living) but I do find myself wanting to work on my game rather than play games. Again every once in a while a game comes up that I play (Zelda BOTW, DS3 DLC, Hollw Knight, etc...) but I find myself not as into them and I treat them almost as research now.

You are definitely not alone!
 

Fern

Member
I think this is just a symptom of "getting older" and having more important things to do. I don't make games for a living (although I wish and am trying to finish one and currently don't do anything for a living) but I do find myself wanting to work on my game rather than play games. Again every once in a while a game comes up that I play (Zelda BOTW, DS3 DLC, Hollw Knight, etc...) but I find myself not as into them and I treat them almost as research now.

You are definitely not alone!
I've heard similar feelings from others. That it comes with age but at the same time all of my closest friends game throughout the day every day (unless they are at work) and many of them are older than me. Perhaps it is more of a sense of urgency or a lessened interest in actually experiencing games?
 
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Darth Binary 1010

Guest
I make games almost for a living now I guess. For the past three years (approximately) I've almost completely stopped playing games. There are games here and there that I fall in love with for briefs moments in time but not anything like when I was younger.

Minecraft will spur my creative side once in a year or two. Recently PlayerUnknown's Battleground has taken over most of my gaming sessions. Anyone else experiencing this?
It's more of a question about finding something more fulfilling to do than losing interest. Yeah, I used to play games a lot when I was younger - because I had no direction in life and it was easy to do. Once I got to a point where I could actually make apps, suddenly any free time I have at home is used to improve any skill that will help with development stuff. Because opening up an app you made is a hell of a lot more fulfilling than any achievement in a video game.

And sitting in front of a screen playing games on the same computer that you used all day for work is a bad idea. Once you have that ability to open up a game while working, you actually have to spend precious willpower to not open it every day, better to just never have the choice.
 
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Curial Lloses

Guest
I make games almost for a living now I guess. For the past three years (approximately) I've almost completely stopped playing games. There are games here and there that I fall in love with for briefs moments in time but not anything like when I was younger.

Minecraft will spur my creative side once in a year or two. Recently PlayerUnknown's Battleground has taken over most of my gaming sessions. Anyone else experiencing this?
In my experience is not developing what halts me of playing games like before but work more than when I was younger. Is a matter of lack of free time :p
 
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Misu

Guest
I get this prob too. I stop playing games just to make stuff, even if I dont finish them.

Last only game I play is Minecraft. I did play a fewe things with family relatives but that is rarely.
 
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nnynas

Guest
The usual pattern: getting older, lack of free time and standards for a good game getting higher --> no games to play, no time to waste. It's the same with movies etc.
 
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Kenjiro

Guest
Hibba dibba da dibba do.
 
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Ethanicus

Guest
The only thing that's happened to me is that issues in games are just unacceptable to me now.
 

JackTurbo

Member
I think its a mix of things. Getting older means more demands on my time, work, housework, girlfriend and related commitments etc which all results in having less free-time/ me-time.

So because my free-time is at a premium (and most of it goes to game dev), I won't waste it on mediocre games, only exceptional ones.

I've also grown a bit jaded towards most AAA games. I can see the formula that so many are built around and its just become boring to me.

I still regularly play indies though. Me and the girlfriend played through Hollow Knight recently which was fantastic! Its also doubly great when I find a game that I can play with the GF as that then occupies "hang with the girlfriend time" rather than my limited "free-time".
 
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Curial Lloses

Guest
Last game I played was StarCraft II.
Nah, don't be wrong, it is not cause of getting older it is because it is impossible to get over Starcraft II! Anything after play SC2 feels like Greenland is melting too fast, sadness everywhere.

If it helps I go to Starcraft Anonymous Players meetings to get over this withdrawal syndrome. I could send you the address...
 
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Kenjiro

Guest
Hibba dibba da dibba do.
 
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Coded Games

Member
I complete disagree. If anything it has made me appreciate and admire what some developers have been able to do with the medium a lot more. The only negative I can think of is that I tend to consider certain games to be poorly designed a lot more often.
 

11clock

Member
I noticed that, after I became interested in mechanical game design, I have been far more aggressive of a critic for gameplay in video games. Basically if the gameplay sucks then I will think that the game sucks as a whole, regardless of how well done the other aspects of the game are. Basically now I am heavily biased against life sims, cinematic AAA titles, RPGs, 'artsy' games, and any other genre that doesn't have gameplay as the core part of its experience.
 

NazGhuL

NazTaiL
37y+2 kids+2 jobs+gamedev = less time to play games and watch series and movies. I have now more respect to the game I play and I choose them more carefully. I like to play a game from start to end but I must now enjoy the time I can spend on it. 3, 5, 10 hours. (There is exception).
 
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Falconsoft-Industries

Guest
I do 35% make and 25% play and 15% tv and 20% eat and rest each day, and the other 5% my chores like walking the dog and watering the plants and unloading the dishwasher, etc, etc.
 

Roa

Member
I feel this way a lot, but its mostly because got đź’©đź’©đź’©đź’© too do and games just fail to keep me engaged. Feels like games have less and less polish, less and less content and truly innovative and creative execution. 95% of the time I want to play a game, I think about making something small myself to fill the void cause nothing on the market does what I want it to anymore.
 
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MishMash

Guest
Yeah, its an odd one. I've definitely lost interest in single player, story-driven games, as I feel like these games can take a while to yield satisfaction, or atleast a while to get to the point. I don't really have many gaming binge sessions any more. I used to play games for hours upon hours, sometimes all day, or even stretching to overnighters where i'd have mega 10+ hour gaming sessions.
For the last 5 or 6 years, as others have said, i've preferred spending time productively, working on things. Whether that be project work, or even just university/school work. Interestingly however, i've finished my studies now, which has freed up a good 8+ hours a day. Spending a year now working on projects and just seeing how things go. Although so far, I have noticed that i've been spending a lot of my free time away from the computer now. I've been cycling alot, which is odd as I do love playing games, and could easily slip back into that routine.

As far as the games I still play, I tend to play either sandbox games which I can plug a few hours at in a go, or mostly, I tend to play multiplayer games where each session is limited to a small number of matches. I find that this allows me to play an hour or so of games a day, without it consuming my life in the way it did when I was younger.

As far as how game development has changed my perception on games, i'd say that I do appreciate them more, however being quite savvy with computer graphics programming, I constantly notice small little tricks and cheats that developers use to either create the illusion of better graphics, or mistakes as a result of a limited implementation of something. One really noticeable example is that the SSAO (Screen space ambient occlusion) in Black Ops 3 doesn't have any filtering, you can still see the pixelated noise pattern used :p! It's both fun and annoying as it does sometimes break my immersion, though at the same time, I do love reasoning about how developers might have achieved a specific feat :)

I do tend to find that I get tired of single player games these days. I bought watchdogs, and whilst that game was good in theory, I just couldn't get into it. Similarly, I loved the first few hours I played of GTA 5. Thought it was a really fantastic game, however life got in the way and I had to put it on hold. I still have yet to get back to it :L
 

NAL

Ę• á“€ á´Ą á“‚ Ę”
GMC Elder
No effect for me, they're completely different activities. It helps that game creation has been my main source of income since 2010, so I've always seen that as "work" and playing games out of work hours as "play". Although even before then when game creation was still just a hobby, I still played a lot too - my attention span is too poor to do excessive game dev, I need a couple of hours a day to throw in Fallout, GTA, Zelda or whatever else I'm playing at the time and just not have any pressure!
 
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0.Bytes

Guest
Sometimes I dont play as much as I wanted, but it is awesome trying to play whenever I have time. For me playing is good to have some ideas and insights, especially playing indie games I often get some ideas that I would like to try.
 
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Luotigames

Guest
I don't play as much as I used too, but I still enjoy playing games. I usually play small indie games that aren't so time consuming. Playing games like CS GO co-op or RUST are nowadays cancer to me!
 
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nlolotte

Guest
Yes and no. I find myself going for long periods without gaming and just working on my game. Then I’ll find myself just gaming for long periods and not doing any work on game maker what so ever. I’m currently going through a long period of gaming and need to get back to work on my game!
 

Bearman_18

Fruit Stand Deadbeat
Ah, boi. I play very rarely. Unless it's my own game, but that's mainly because of testing. Though, I've been playing lots of smash ultimate.

One thing I find is that I can't play anything without thinking about what it took to make it. Or how hard it would be for me to actually code it. This frequently ruins my gaming experience.

I got a switch, as well as hello neighbor and octopath traveler, but I've barely touched either. I guess I have a hard time getting into games these days.
 
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ajan-ko

Guest
Yes. That's why I'm gonna makes games casually from now on, I don't have what it takes to makes games seriously.
Burnout is real.

Edit: Ah, I'm necroing thread..
 
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CleanWater

Guest
I try to save a time of the week to do my hobbies, this includes gaming.

I make a living of making games, so I treat it as a job just like any other. I have my schedules, my breaks, etc.
 

K12gamer

Member
I used to play a lot of XBOX, Playstation, Sega, Nintendo etc stuff...

...These days I mainly play FREE fan made games from sites like itch.io and GameJolt.

I'm always searching for good games made with Gamemaker.
 

Bluetail7

Member
Actually no, I am used to play an specific genre and to be honest it helps with development like
"I don't like this: I shouldn't do it"
"this game needs this!"
"I like this"
"could be better if we do this"
 

Niels

Member
Yes, it's very recognizable for me. It's not that I don't like gaming anymore, it's just that I find making games more fulfilling than playing most games.
And having a day job, a wife and kids leaves me with far less free time than I had before.
This will make you reconsider how that time is spend, and where others lovr hearing that a certain game has a 100+ hours campaign and a open world the size of Europe, for me that means the game asks for too much commitment, which I can't give.

BUT I had a lot of fun with hollow knight and Celeste this year:)
 
DEFINITELY not alone (as you can tell from the number of replies). I feel like the more I'm designing games and the more I understand how they work, its harder to get lost in the experience of the game and easier to play the game of, "Oh, I know how they did that" or "I wonder why they made that design choice." I've heard actors say the same thing, where its harder to get lost in the story of a movie when you're analyzing acting choices and camera angles. I love game design, but it does take a little bit of your innocence away.
 

Niels

Member
DEFINITELY not alone (as you can tell from the number of replies). I feel like the more I'm designing games and the more I understand how they work, its harder to get lost in the experience of the game and easier to play the game of, "Oh, I know how they did that" or "I wonder why they made that design choice." I've heard actors say the same thing, where its harder to get lost in the story of a movie when you're analyzing acting choices and camera angles. I love game design, but it does take a little bit of your innocence away.
Same goes for music, when you know a bit of music theory you notice the "tricks" musicians do to make you connect to certain songs. And then it's less like musicians write a honest beautiful song, and more like they engineered a song to provoke emotions:)
 
Same goes for music, when you know a bit of music theory you notice the "tricks" musicians do to make you connect to certain songs. And then it's less like musicians write a honest beautiful song, and more like they engineered a song to provoke emotions:)
Wanna share any of these tricks? I need all the music theory I can get. :x
 
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Exabella

Guest
This is one of the main reasons I'm avoiding game development as a career. It honestly scares me a lot. That I could stop enjoying them as a hobby.
 
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Exabella

Guest
I've been keenly aware of this for the last few years. And it has always troubled me quite a bit. I'm kind of hesitant to continue spending this much time in it. Not because I don't enjoy it but rather because I don't want it to detract from the value of playing video games.

Anyway, how can someone avoid getting burned out from video games while developing? Is it even
possible?
 
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GM_Newbie123

Guest
not really :D
big games require a lot of people to create them and Im not worried that I cant achieve a result like this :D
 

Rayek

Member
Nope. Lately I've been working on a personal project of mine (a remake of a very old game called Paradroid) and replaying the original in its various incarnations has been a ball. I've been researching the game mechanics, and testing the original games, and re-playing these games from the perspective of game design has been a whole lotta fun for me. Then coming up with ways to improve on the original.

What I do admit is that it is easier to spot play mechanic failures in existing games while playing.

Does the food critic or a chef grow tired of tasting good food? No. But they do recognize when the food presented is well below par. And sometimes the chef needs to stop eating all the luxury food, and go back to basics to regain his/her fine taste. Same with game development, in my view.
 

OnLashoc

Member
I get sucked into playing a game when I'd rather be working on my own game, by friends that are still playing said games that once used to consume my free time.

So instead of coming home from work, doing the family thing, then gaming, then working on my game in the last hour or so of my free time, it goes more like this now:

Work, come home do the family stuffs, then work on game for an hour or so, get pulled into playing games with friends for an hour or two, then finishing my night with an hour or so working on my game.

I find myself waking up from a dream having to do with my game now lol.

Onnie
 
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zendraw

Guest
game dev has only enchanced my gameplay experiences and im more into games then before. for instance DMC3. as Dante you have a couple of styles to play with and i played only with trickster and swordsman cus they were more cool etc. and didnt even consider royalguard which is like press a button in the right moment to store damage and release it or directly counterattack your enemy, which is quite hard but very OP. now as game dev that style is like a favorite one. basically i rediscover games again. i guess its more about attitude.
 
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zendraw

Guest
Same goes for music, when you know a bit of music theory you notice the "tricks" musicians do to make you connect to certain songs. And then it's less like musicians write a honest beautiful song, and more like they engineered a song to provoke emotions:)
modern "music" IS infact just a sensation, but music as such is not just a sensation. this applies to all arts.
 
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Misty

Guest
For the past three years (approximately) I've almost completely stopped playing games. There are games here and there that I fall in love with for briefs moments in time but not anything like when I was younger.

Minecraft will spur my creative side once in a year or two. Recently PlayerUnknown's Battleground has taken over most of my gaming sessions. Anyone else experiencing this?
This is blasphemy and heresy, games are meant to be played everyday, there is almost not a day that goes by I don't. Glory and Gratefulness to the Game Orb, learn humility young soul.
 

Niels

Member
modern "music" IS infact just a sensation, but music as such is not just a sensation. this applies to all arts.
Not only modern music, even classical music composers knew which harmonies and chords created certain emotions from the listeners... Maybe my wording of "trick" was a bit wrong, and I should have used "tool"
 
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