The REAL Reason Gaming Isn’t Fun Anymore

I never got bored with games, they just don't seem to make the kinds of games I like as much anymore

Nothing can beat the anticipation for videogames as the 2000s and early 2010s…

This kid talking about the good ol days of Fortnite, while my good ol days were on the Xbox and Xbox 360. 2000-2010 Favorite years of gaming for me.

I realized that it's not I'm getting older, but I'm getting lonelier years by years. It's just not fun playing everything all alone, what you need is to have someone to play with you.

My biggest problem with modern gaming is the loneliness that comes with it. Even in multiplayer, I am constantly by myself in my own little bubble. Well... I'd like to change that. Most of my favorite childhood games were built so much larger thanks to having a whole neighborhood of friends to experience them with. My goal is to find other people out there who are passionate about video games like me.

Another reason that never gets addressed: gaming is a social event as well. We now have the internet and multiplayer games, but when I was a child I had friends over to play games together. Even singleplayer games, taking turns and watching each other play, encouraging one another, celebrating wins together. As a teenager we had LAN parties, you had to get together in someone's home, bring some beverages, snacks, a sleepover, do it all over again the next day and you really had something to look forward to. It was a social, but very real get-together, with real human beings, instead of "the other end of the headset". That exact experience is now a convention. Your best social experiences in real-life gaming has now been turned into a cashcow by companies and that's why it will never be as much fun as actual gaming with your friends.

Its not about games getting boring, its about you getting bored of them. That's a natural symptom of growing up

as someone over 12 years of age, seeing the thumbnail that implies that 2013 was the golden age of games made me chuckle pretty hard...

Gaming isn’t fun cuz it’s not made around being fun anymore, it’s made around everything being “balanced” so you chase the carrot of fun for as long as it takes to realize it’s purposely kept away from you.

I think the reason why I don't play modern games and instead the old ones is because I think modern games are so focused on realism and graphics to where it's just trying to simulate real life and you don't get to see or experience anything intuitive or creative. Edit: Also there are some games that take realism TOO FAR to the point where it justs ruins the gameplay and makes it not fun.

Because back then they used to make games, now they make services first, games second

I also miss old game communities. Most online games 5 or so years ago had large player bases with fun and interesting interactions. Nowadays most of the people you meet are toxic, sweats, or both.

Funny how Indie games don’t seem to suffer with this issue. In my experience smaller indie games pretty much rely on creative approaches to make up from their lack “AAA gameplay & graphics”. IMO many of the AAA games that come out are lazy because franchises are easy and have established fanbases. They don’t require original ideas. Just reskin it tweak a few things and release it for the price of a new game.

A couple of things I need to say 1. Plenty of games are innovating, you just have to look past the AAA bullshit and take a look at some indie games 2. How the hell are games like PUBG and Fortnite old already? Maybe I’m in denial, and 19 might be older then I realize (to me seeing some people call the Wii “retro” makes my brain melt), but it still feels weird. 3. I do agree that we need to stop expecting games to constantly be this bigger in scope masterpiece, because it just makes games feel bloated, and I feel like it causes things like the PCVR community to focus more on shit like graphics over a game having actually good gameplay.

Another possible factor I’d like to mention is that with age comes more responsibility. I can’t speak for everyone, but these days whenever I try to get into gaming, I can’t escape the feeling that I’m wasting my time. I have responsibilities now; things won’t get done unless I get to them. Your priorities and expectations were never as serious as a child come compared to now. If you were a typical kid, your world was mainly confined to your immediate surroundings and the present, which perfectly lended itself to video gaming since it gave you a “beyond world” to explore and get lost in. Now your beyond world is the future, YOUR future. You have to start thinking about your schooling, your finances, and your purpose in life. These are things you have to start I think that existential burden breathing down our necks may be another thing that zaps the joy from gaming. This may also explain why the only people who seem to still really enjoy games are those who make their living off them. For them, there is overlap between their existential burden and gaming, which allows them to be fully immersed in the experience.

I went back and played some old games I missed when I was younger and they were excellent enjoyable experiences. The nostalgia argument doesn’t hold up when you can literally play older games and they’re still good

You hit the nail on the head here. I remember when I was a kid playing every single game that released and never being disappointed. Now I rarely get excited about anything in gaming. It’s almost as if we’ve played ever video game at this point even with new games gaming out every week because they are all just copies of each other at this point. I think that’s really where we lost the passion and what leads us to be nostalgic of the past.

I think it definitely had something to do with being young too, because when you're young everything feels so unexplored and like unknown terrain

Well as a 21 year old guy who spent most of his teenage years in gaming! I wanna say that I feel like I am wasting my time now! the real world itself is a game that should be explored and this life is the shortest thing you’ve got, I got more comfortable in doing things that are delaying gratification! but still sometimes I miss those 2020 lockdown gaming days:(

Ive been playing games for 10 years now and a couple years ago i felt like gaming was getting stale but then i decided to try a genre i other wise would probably not even look its way and then i loved it and ever since then if i get bored i pick a random genre and give it a go and i feel more people should do this 😊