Why are Video Games no longer fun?

Why are Video Games no longer fun?

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Juckus today tries to answer the question of Why video games aren't fun anymore. After Jschlatt moved on from doing video's like A tribute to minecraft i thought I could a video essay in the same vein as the previously mentioned video. Video games over the years have seemed to become more boring than they used to be

About Jackus:
Jackus is a YouTube entertainer/comedian based in England or Britain or whatever. He creates comedy videos on YouTube making commentary videos about various funny topics and poking fun at ridiculous people on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram. He's got some sweet moves as well.

[lewkn]

I am the lew at the start and the lewkn at 5:22, can confirm playing TF2 was one of the best nights of my life. And playing The Forest through with you, tom and thom, single handedly made The Forest my favourite game of all time. It is truly sad to see everyone grow up and the games we loved fade into memories but it is nice to look back, my one hope is that a game comes out and brings us all back together one day. Love you man.

[oneupnerd]

When my friends moved on from games, I realized something that day. I wasn’t having fun playing the game, I was having fun sharing the experience with my friends.

[imarsh]

This hit really hard. i lost a friend i use to play games with all the time. i try replaying those games to feel like he's still there, but it won't ever be the same

[swagsnags]

I think many of us need to have a sense of being "busy" or "self actualised" before we can start to enjoy video games again. I think I found playing video games so fun when I was younger because I had been at school all day or busy all week playing sports or doing some kind of activity. Now that I've finished school and am working I find that I am not capable of enjoying a video game until I feel truly busy or productive. I'm not saying that I'm not busy, but I feel like most of the time I need to be doing something greater before I can earn the reward of enjoying a video game again.

[lockrime]

"Staring at PC for hours, not launching any games"

Yeah, I actualy have that. Though when I do launch a game, I love it. I often worry about how I won't like it before I launch, but then well, it turns out to be fun.

[johnjohnson]

To be honest I used to have this problem till I balanced out my interest in games with other hobbies to prevent burnout. Ive found if you consume them in moderation they can become special again

[GodzillaLevelDawg]

“Every game is fun you just need a friend to play it with” - Me

[mrjamezjc]

For me the biggest thing that stops me from playing is not having someone to game with, gaming with friends will ALWAYS be fun to me

[reptilemark]

Thought i was the only one who sat there at the home screen for hours kinda lost lol

[attackerd]

The problem is that nostalgia only looks at the general good in the past, while leaving out the bad parts. I’m sure in 10 years I’ll have nostalgia for my life now, but I just won’t realize it until then

[frankanon]

Well, I'm glad it's not just me. I'm 55 and everything you described is happening to me. I've got tons of games in my library that I bought and never played. I also don't finish many games anymore even if I'm still having fun. I mainly spend my time trying to find that next game to get excited about or watching youtube. It's depressing because I'm divorced and my kids have moved out to start their own lives. Without gaming, I have nothing

[Impalingthorn]

The thing about videogames is that they USED to be designed in such a way where the act of playing it itself was directly fun and engaging. Certain games still hold up to that; Doom Eternal, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Super Mario Sunshine, etc.

However, I personally noticed games shifted away from this design philosophy. Maybe not intentionally, but they focused way, way more on keeping the Player preoccupied rather than actively engaged. Your attention is held, but you aren't necessarily having "fun". This is what a lot of open world games do and I call it the Minecraft affect; you're not really having "fun", but you ARE immersed. Doesn't have to be a bad thing, a lot of games engage you at this level like Red Dead Redemption and Deep Rock Galactic. They don't make themselves challenging and demanding so much as work you into the groove of playing the game like a well oiled machine and you're still getting some reward out of the experience.

But there ARE certain devs that took this too far. The ones who went "Games as a service" and molded their entire market practice around keeping people's attention and building brand loyalty through predatory means. You know these games; games you play that aren't even enjoyable, but you are distracted and you bought this pretty skin for your character that you get to show off when you play, but oh no! Then new skins come out and other people are showing off their clout as well and YOU need to keep up and keep playing and get the items out of the Battle Pass and so on and so forth.

"F.O.M.O."
Fear of missing out.
This is the philosophy EVERY game on the market is trying to hook you with these days. And it is sad because not only are these games not fun, they are actively manipulative. It is the same as being a little kid in a group of other kids and you are all doing what the group leader wants to do because he thinks it's "fun" and no one wants to speak up otherwise because then you're the odd man out and don't get to play with the group.

[castanon]

I’m now starting to think the reason I play is to keep my self busy rather then play a game for fun

[joseluizpereirafilho]

Spent my whole childhood dreaming of having a nice PC that could run things on ultra. Now i have it and i feel so guilty because i can't even find motivation to play anything, and when i do it is not fun

[joren]

I think we just want to get away from reality through games we we're able to as kids, yet now when you grow older it's getting impossible to achieve that same 'state' so i can totally relate to this video.

[TooManyCatsRyan]

Story of my life, recently. I'm 45 years old. I'm desperately trying to experience passion and fun again in my life like it used to be. Attempting to do this through video games - like it used to be. Had a $6K 3090 gaming computer custom built by Origin. Bought everything needed for VR, in addition to a G9 ultrawide screen and separate 32" triple screens. Bought the haptic Woojer Vest. Bought lots of games on Steam. I rarely play them. I start playing, and within 20 minutes, I realize I'm not having any fun, and I return to YouTube. I'm constantly searching YouTube for "best PC games" yet not finding much.

I have been experiencing depression since COVID took out my brother. I seem to be coming out of it, albiet slowly. I'm wondering if my inability to enjoy video games might have something to do with depression? It is encouraging to learn that I am not the only one experiencing this debacle with video games. Maybe we're all depressed? Or there might be more to this...

All of the money I have spent recently on this video game journey came from an insurance payoff from my brother's death. He had a life insurance plan in my name. I had no idea. I have been feeling guilty that I spent all this money on something I'm not enjoying and not utilizing.

I'm hoping the new generation of Unreal Engine 5 games will break new ground and capture my heart like it used to be captured.

In addition to the computer and other gaming hardware, I spent $30K on a 6DOF servo actuator controlled motion platform for sim racing. This sim rig is still in boxes. I'm holding out hope that when I finally build it and start a YouTube channel, I will somehow find enjoyment again, yet I'm not all that motivated because when I play the sim racing titles using a game pad, my opinion is that these racing titles are lacking. They are not good enough. There's no sense of speed. The exception being rally games. I'm just not having any fun with them, and I love auto racing. These sim racing titles lack everything that makes auto racing so awesome. The sound sucks. The feeling of speed sucks and the graphics are too perfect. Auto racing is fast, brutal and messy. Sim racing is reserved, clean and slow. I have a glimmer of hope when I play rally games. The rally games do a much more accurate job of capturing the essence of auto racing.

I'm wondering if alcohol might be the solution. If I could manage alcohol consumption in a controlled setting and not allow it to destroy me, it might just be the thing to make video games fun again?

I have a theory. It's possible that fun is absent from games as of late, as the profit-driven gaming industry has become more and more commodified, where short cuts are taken and true innovation is avoided. Rehashing old game tech is the status quo.. more accurately, rehashing old game tech while increasing resolution is the status quo. It's the cheap and easy way out. All FPS games are basically, fundamentally the same game, just with different narratives and different eye candy. The same could be said with racing titles. Rehashing the old, worked for a while, yet it has run its course. The human brain adjusts. What was once amazing is no longer amazing. Now we are like sheep blindly chasing a brain state that once was, but can only be achieved again through new innovation. Yet there is no new innovation. What we need are radically new rendering models and new coding philosophies, and new business models within the industry. It's going to require risk-taking, time, and investment; devs who are willing to risk putting profit second in line to new innovation. A new generation of video games that captures the essence of the human experience. More detail, yet this does not mean more resolution. Smarter coding. Tiled rendering. More randomization and imperfection. Incorporate photogrammetry and other techniques that break from the status quo. This takes work, yet we have devolved into a society where cell phone games are more profitable than all else. There is no motivation for major devs to invest in new innovation when we keep chasing after and eating up the same old stuff they are feeding us. This plateau we hit stopped being fun 5-10 years ago.

[DrakesdenChannel]

Nothing will ever top my first time playing Minecraft at 10 or 11, the sense of wonder and danger knowing no mechanics and their operation. I used to block out cave entrances as I thought monsters came from there.

[mrfool]

This video was a slap of reality.
Recently I have just been sitting and watching YouTube, tempted to play the bunch of games I have, but I just don't feel like launching them. And when I do, like you said, I only play for an hour then go back to watch videos. I hate just staring at my computer bored, tired, and feeling unfulfilled. I really do hope a game comes one day that I sit and play for hours, where I lose track of time and go to bed 3 hours late.

[TatsumiOga]

This video is relatable af. Its almost like I find videogames as a chore now. I think its because I'm an adult now and always have the thought of doing something productive in the back of my mind instead of just being in the moment and enjoying the game like I used to when I was a kid. Take me back to those simpler days :/

[joemama]

I think it’s because of how society re-wires us as we age. It changes us to constantly want an end goal and know how to get there and to stay busy. I used to play games like Minecraft just, to play them. If I did happen to have an end goal who knew how I would do it? I just played along and had fun. Now, everytime I play Minecraft I can’t just relax and go with it, I have to think of what to do first, how to make these farms and do things efficiently, what my base must look like, the resources, and how I will get food. Video games don’t feel the same because we aren’t the same anymore.