video games aren't fun anymore.

Sorry this video is a bit more serious, next video is a return to form. I just felt like I needed to talk about this heading into the rest of 2022. Hopefully my story resonates with a few people, and hopefully i've convinced you to try out some other genres of games.

I’ve been playing video games for, as long as I can remember. I can remember the first time I held a controller in my hands vividly. The sheer size of the Duke way too massive for me at the time, but all that was just background noise in my head compared to the fresh sights and sounds of what is now my second favorite entry in my favorite franchise ever. Gaming during this time period was, limitless. I had no concept of developer or hardware restrictions, the limits of pre-generated responses from NPC’s or content in the game to consume. Halo was an infinite universe to create in and experience, Spyro had no end to the amount of dragons I could rescue, hell I can remember using an action replay in Pokemon Platinum, using the walk through walls cheat, and accidentally finding shaymin at the end of this long path of flowers.

Come early 2021 it was time for me to upgrade, and after managing to walk into a best buy and just randomly come across a 3090 that I wasn’t even looking to buy at the time, I knew it was time to go all out. I managed to get a 5950x, the best motherboard I could buy at the time, and some sick RAM, there were NO compromises to this system, besides the fans I was running out of money. I built the computer, ran some benchmarks, and then didn’t play any games. At first I assumed I was just unmotivated, or maybe even burnt out, but over time I came to realize that I just wasn’t enjoying games anymore. I got scared, scared that I spent all of this money on a hobby I wasn’t interested in anymore, scared that the youtube channel I wanted to start was already dead in the water, scared that I’d be giving up a huge part of what formed my online identity.

I calmed myself down, and took a step back. It makes sense that I’d start feeling this way about gaming, doing anything pretty much every day for long enough would ultimately become mundane and boring, what can I do to have fun with playing games again. For awhile I was stumped, but during my time I decided to just take a break and work on my Ultrakill video, and while that was technically still gaming, it was mostly for work and I could take the time to figure out what I wanted to really do about my problem.

What I found though is that as I was taking a break from playing games for the most part, my desire to play them started rising again. But once I actually managed to get into a game and started playing, my desire to continue playing them would immediately fall, and I’d get off of it within 30 minutes.

What I came to realize is that I had no variety in what I was playing. I would get on my computer and boot up the same FPS games, or just open up Minecraft, which I’ve been playing for years as well. I decided to actually take the the time and figure out other genres of games I could play, and I’ve never been happier for it. I realized that what I was experiencing overall wasn’t me not finding games fun anymore, I just wasn’t finding FPS games as interesting.

Throughout 2021 I decided to take the effort to branch out into different video games, and what I learned was that I still enjoyed playing video games, I just needed a breath of fresh air. I played games like Forza Horizon, Monster Hunter, Ghostrunner, Spent some time on Spyro, replayed Sonic Generations, Sonic Unleashed, Cities Skylines, Dark Souls, Demon Souls, all of these games made me appreciate just, playing playing games in general, and reignited my love for the hobby.

This peaked when Halo Infinite was released. For 6 years I waited for a follow up to Halo 5, I watched any lore video I could come across, scoured reddit posts and twitter threads that discussed what would happen in this game and tried keeping up with the game as much as I possibly could. I’ve already talked about Halo a lot on my channel, so keep my bias in mind, but this game gave me hope for new releases. Did I have issues with Halo Infinite’s campaign, of course, but how GOOD the gameplay was kept me from noticing them as much as I could have.

[civo]

list of varied games i like for those with this problem:

hollow knight - really good metroidvania
factorio - amazing factory building sandbox game, but maybe avoid this one if you want to do anything else for the next 48 hours
portal 2 - favorite game of all time, amazing puzzles
metro exodus - if your pc can run it, it's really good
pretty much any doom game - not the deepest of experiences, but very fun and difficult
a hat in time - great mario-64 like with a surprising amount of content
rimworld - colony building game, enough mods to make a second game
stardew valley - only farming game I've ever enjoyed
dishonored - great stealth/story fps, cool choices, second one if you like it enough
prey (2017) - similar to dishonored, by the same people, but more of a spiritual successor to:
bioshock - 1 and 2, recommend the originals rather than the remasters if you can get them to run on your computer. all time classic
terraria - pretty well-known 2d sandbox game, lots of bossfights and another game with tons of mods
enter the gungeon - funny top-down twinstick shooter roguelike. even if you don't know what some of those words mean, still great game
outer wilds - not to be confused with the outer worlds. cannot recommend this enough. story driven roguelike. DO NOT SPOIL YOURSELF.
valheim - terraria but 3d and viking themed. also really good.
octodad: dadliest catch - hilarious rage-game. there is no reason this has such a low metacritic score, it's a great game.
project zomboid - tough-as-nails zombie apocalypses survival game with permadeath.
vessel - difficult indie 2d puzzle game. very thematic, might require some looking-up.
control - cool 3rd person shooter with a bizarre story and cool brutalist architecture, if that's your thing. made by the people who made alan wake.
dead space - all time classic, really scary if it's your first time playing. slightly less scary once you get a certain weapon.
goat simulator - sadly somewhat short on content, but still entertaining to play around with for a while.
slime rancher - ok maybe i lied about stardew valley. much more chill than some other games on this list.
stanley parable - funny story-driven game about a guy in an office
singularity - relatively little-known linear fps that still holds up today. also a little bit scary.
spelunky - one of the few "rage games" i like. platformer roguelike
the swapper - difficult 2d puzzle game with a dark story and some pretty cool graphics.
deus ex: human revolution - good story driven semi-linear rpg fps game. not *too* groundbreaking, but still fun.
dark souls series - reaaally hard if you don't know what you're doing, but you figure things out eventually. interesting story, mechanics, and really good combat.
titanfall 2 - movement shooter to end all movement shooters. if you're having server problems, look into the northstar client- community hosted servers
ultrakill - doom with a retro 3d style. nuff said.

and that's it, I've gone through almost all the major games in my steam library. hope this helps

[ElitCombin]

I think the reason people don't enjoy games it's because modern games feel like jobs, absurd amount of missions without any meaning for the game experience, boring farming mechanics, empty open worlds, plain storytelling idk i really enjoy more classic games this days they are more focused in what they want to deliver (sorry for bad English)

[jurassicarkjordanisgreat]

I feel like the whole battle pass system has made games feel like a job to play now. It feels like your forced to play the game or else you will lose the cool stuff nobody will be able to get after a set time.

[Yeij]

Variety literally is the spice of life. Many of those who say games arent fun anymore from what i saw only played one game (usually mc or cod or one of the popular shooters). Taking breaks and trying new things are definitely a couple of the best ways to enjoy games again, another good stryxo video 🥃

[megapeebs]

Imagine eating exclusively from one fast food chain, wondering why you're finding the culinary experience repetitive and feeling physically unwell, than blaming the concept of food itself

[baboin]

I stopped heavily gaming early last year. Took some time to myself. And found out I was never actually captivated by games, but their story. Which is why I became a writer

[htfs]

I feel everything is becoming old for everyone nowadays, not just videogames

[dragoonman]

This is why I always have said that everything can be enjoyed, but IN MODERATION. Playing only an hour or two a day or a few days a week will make the time you get to play more meaningful. If you do what you love too much, you'll start to hate it and that's never a fun realization

[mariposa]

“Video games aren’t fun anymore” mfs after playing cart ride into 17 pregnant hyenas on roblox: 🤯🤯🤯

[MRSprings]

I feel like everybody who plays games should have an open mind when trying new stuff but also have 1 to 3 comfort franchises that youll never get sick of and can just pickup and play anytime

[xjood]

I’ve been a gamer for my entire life (19 years) and I’ve hated learning how video games work because it ruins the magic of video games. Ignorance is bliss and I miss being ignorant

[Mr.Pyromaniac]

It's all about the "best" game rather than the most fun. It's a downward spiral.

[MCatwar]

personally i think it’s because the exposure. when i was growing up video games were rarer and more of a treat. they were harder to access. now, we can buy games without going to the store, we can play practically everything we want. similar to social media or the internet in general. i’m not saying it’s right or wrong, that’s a different topic. i’m just saying we’re probably so over saturated with our options that the novelty is not there

[EricJacobusOfficial]

Me in 2000: spent hours getting stupid capsule toys in Shenmue, even getting all 5 different end positions ranks in the forklift race just to have the 5 different toys.
Now: can't sit through opening cut scene

[mainmanstan]

The way I see it, there are two reasons for this:
1. People growing out of video games as they get older
2. The video game industry has changed a lot in the last decade ( for the worst in my opinion)

[nahx]

I've literally been desperately playing old games and buying old games I fell in love with as a kid to try and keep some sort of joy in this hobby alive if I'm honest.

[facey]

Yeah I think everyone has gone through this. It’s just that some video games start to seem like work instead of having fun.

[GRSsix]

For me, i get bored playing alone, but with THE HOMIES i have lots of fun, we make memories we develope teamwork video games help us make great memories and help us escape reality

[ThemStickers]

For me and basically everyone I’ve talked to about this, it comes down to competitiveness. Most games now have to be a pro league tryout sweat fest, and that’s okay in small bursts but tryharding in every game for weeks straight is just boring.
It’s not even just in FPS or other shooter games. In literally every game I’ve ever played with an online feature will have someone trying their absolute hardest to win. I’ve literally played games in rec room with kids sliding and drop shotting like they’re playing call of duty.

[averypatrick]

I will say, I notice this far more among people who predominantly play online multiplayer games as opposed to single player games. For anyone feeling this way, I heavily suggest looking into other games you never even heard of or would've thought to try. Play those nintendo games you used to scoff at as a kid, try out a popular indie game you don't know much about.