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I turn 29 this year and I sort of look at my hobbies in the last 10 years and it's basically been:

D&D (been playing since high school), video games (of course since I was like 5), and in the last two years , Warhammer 40k.

Lately i've been burning out a great deal when I think of playing video games. It wasnt more than maybe 1-2 years ago I could spend an entire Saturday and sit at my computer and play games, or sit on my couch and play xbox till 2-3 in the morning... SWTOR and Skyrim both released and I've played maybe 15 hours of it and with SWTOR my toon is level 33 and I'm sorta just... bored. I mean the game is phenomenal , its very much like KOTOR or Mass effect.... but I mean I couldn't even finish mass effect when I started last year no matter how much the story drew me in.

Lately when I want to "kill time" I come on Dakka and read threads, or goto Paizo.com and read about pathfinder threads/discussions. I find table top gaming, be it D&D or 40k more rewarding then just plugging away at video games. I like creating characters in pathfinder/D&D, and last night I spent about 2 hours making various 1500 - 2000 point army lists for my Necrons. I think in the last few months I've put more hours total into games like "orcs must die!" and "plants vs zombies" than I have into full fledged games like skyrim or swtor (I Quit WoW about a year ago) because I think those games I can log in, play for 30-60 minutes and then go on with the day and not worry about falling behind in leveling or forgetting where I left off.

I dunno, just sorta started this thread to talk to myself and put my thoughts out somewhere just to see if any of you folks ever hit that "wall" where one of your favorite hobbies started fleeting from you, and what did you do? Seems sorta sad/disappointing I'm losing my interest in video games when they've been such a crucial part of my life... as sad as that sounds lol. Spoke to my best friend who was way more addicted to games than I was and he's in the same boat, we just can't sit there and play games anymore all day. He still plays WoW occasionally but he hasnt even raided in Cataclysm and has no interest too... and I think back to our EQ 1 days, or even WoW vanilla through WOTLK, he and I were HUGE raiders and would spend probably 20-30 hours a week running raids.

Think why I like table top games as well is just the social aspect. I get together with 4-5 guys and we just shoot the gak. We have fun and there's never really any pressure, and both hobbies are modelling and painting which I like to push and improve on and I actually feel accomplished when I finish painting 10 guys vs playing games all day.

Anyway, sorry for the self rant lol.

Nope, it's not just you.

I game for the social aspect myself.

Sitting around a table with beers, roleplaying with mates is where it is at, not pushing pixels around a screen and hearing "until I took an arrow the the knee" umpteen million times.

Depends on how you play.

Immerse yourself in a computer RPG and it can absorb hours and never tire you. If you think of it as an arcade it will. The RPG element can only be supplied by you, add character to your characters, play according to certain moral codes rather than just kill anyone you can get away with exploit. If a man in the village has a nifty sword better than you have instead of finding a method to kill him and take it look at him as a person, and only kill him if he ends up deserving to die.

Get into a character and you double triple, quadruple the world, the seams dissolve, the flaws become forgivable becvause your imagination is working with the graphics rather than against, its not about the +++ but the 'life' of your character.

Do this and your games will never bore you.

For me, I feel that gaming is killing my hobby.

Uni's been really stressful lately and I've not had much free time. I have TONS of Warhammer stuff I want to get done but when I get into my room at about 6 or 7pm, I just find it so much easier to kick back in the chair 'n' fire up SWTOR or BF3.

SWTOR perhaps is the worst because you feel 'productive' for playing, games like Skyrim or BF3 I can usually dismiss as a waste of time. When I do my modelling, even if I don't particularly want to, I at least walk away satisfied that it's some stuff off of my 'to-do' list. SWTOR, which is a new game for me, is sort of detracting from that.

My big fear is that I won't finish my Grey Knight army despite the fact it's so small and would be easy to paint up. Unfortunately I've set myself the goal of fully magnetising it and I just can't be bothered to sit down and work out how to go about it. So there's a bunch of GK sprues and half-built Stormravens on my desk!

My hobby productivity dropped right off when I went to Uni. Considering how much free time students are supposed to have I was too tired and stressed to get much done. For the hobby I have done this and that but no where near the volume I used to paint and game as a teenager. My hobby has changed, I now make far less but concentrate on a small number of high quality figures. I also want to try more RPG gaming.

I rarely play computer games any more. If I want to unwind I go online, this this forum and others. I do play games, but only for very short periods and they are all older games that hold a lot of nostalgia value.

I would like the play Skyrim though because it allows a lot of freedom. Like Morrowind I can take it as fast or slow as I want. If I want to just explore and do odd jobs then I'm free to do so. That's the appeal of the RPG aspect rather than beating the game.

You just get older, circumstances change and your hobby changes. I don't regret any of it, I have enjoyed my work of the past few years even though it drove me mad at times. I don't play big games, I don't bulk paint figures, but my painting has never been better and I'm trying new things like card games and RPGs

It's funny, I've bought a few of the genesis games on steam for nostalgia and I love those (shining force! Yeah!)

Also with skyrim I did what orlanth suggested and had a character "concept" in my mind where I'm playing him as somewhat a chaotic good character where I don't care about killing somebody if they deserve to die. Maybe I should load up skyrim again...

I did play dark souls for about 30 hours and loved that, but then went on holidays for 2 weeks and haven't been motivated to turn the game back on lol

You might be. Your opinions can always change, as can your habits.

I've never been a gamer. I only like games that are an anime sort of thing. Not into shooters either. Except metroid prime. I actually think I might be a closet anime sort of person. Like, seriously.

Get drunk and ring an ex girlfriend.
Sure to make things interesting.

Howard A Treesong wrote:My hobby productivity dropped right off when I went to Uni. Considering how much free time students are supposed to have I was too tired and stressed to get much done.

For me this happened too, but it might also be said that my hobbies became booze and pretty girls.

Count me in here too.
I play video games to pass time. I also do it a lot, and before the day is over, I realized I hadn't devoted anything to modelling/painting. I'm not exactly addicted, it just seems that they sap the pazzaz out of modelling.

I hear ya, I dont play video games like I used to, not even close really. Ive been playing Skyrim alot lately, as its such a great game, but thats about it. In March the wife and I are getting into WoW again, but thats so we can play together AND play with my brother the giant and his wife as well. So thats more of a Friday night poker game kindda deal more then me playing a video game. Ive been getting into shooting ALOT lately and still work on 40k with the wife and play with her and my other brother alot, but video games seem to just fade out of my things I want to do. Even when a game does grab me, no matter how hard, I soon find Im getting less and less in the mood to play them, and faster as well

KingCracker wrote:I hear ya, I dont play video games like I used to, not even close really. Ive been playing Skyrim alot lately, as its such a great game, but thats about it. In March the wife and I are getting into WoW again, but thats so we can play together AND play with my brother the giant and his wife as well. So thats more of a Friday night poker game kindda deal more then me playing a video game. Ive been getting into shooting ALOT lately and still work on 40k with the wife and play with her and my other brother alot, but video games seem to just fade out of my things I want to do. Even when a game does grab me, no matter how hard, I soon find Im getting less and less in the mood to play them, and faster as well

That's just it, like reading about SWTOR and Skyrim before their releases I was PUMPED... But then I got invited to 4 of the open betas for Star wars... and I didn't participate in any of them. It's not like I wasn't excited... I just dont know why I didnt log in and play them.

My personal belief is that if video games/hobbies are becoming less important for you, it must mean something else is becoming more important, like jobs and money. Happens to everyone I think.

How do you deal with it? Just accept that you're an adult.

That's with every hobby. Sometimes you get too involved in your hobby (as in it takes up most of your time) and you get burnt out.

I'm the same way. Do anything for too long without a break and it becomes monotonous.

Sometimes hobbies become frustrating and you need a break. Restoring a 66 Mustang is my newest hobby and believe me it has sent me off the deep end quite a few times. But after a break I'm good to go to the next step of the project.

Cryage wrote:

KingCracker wrote:I hear ya, I dont play video games like I used to, not even close really. Ive been playing Skyrim alot lately, as its such a great game, but thats about it. In March the wife and I are getting into WoW again, but thats so we can play together AND play with my brother the giant and his wife as well. So thats more of a Friday night poker game kindda deal more then me playing a video game. Ive been getting into shooting ALOT lately and still work on 40k with the wife and play with her and my other brother alot, but video games seem to just fade out of my things I want to do. Even when a game does grab me, no matter how hard, I soon find Im getting less and less in the mood to play them, and faster as well

That's just it, like reading about SWTOR and Skyrim before their releases I was PUMPED... But then I got invited to 4 of the open betas for Star wars... and I didn't participate in any of them. It's not like I wasn't excited... I just dont know why I didnt log in and play them.

Oh same here man, I was SUPER excited, and was invited as well. I only played 1 day. It was a cool game and all, but after the 1 day, I had my fill.

Joey wrote:Get drunk and ring an ex girlfriend.
Sure to make things interesting.

This never ends well!

Samus_aran115 wrote:You might be. Your opinions can always change, as can your habits.

I've never been a gamer. I only like games that are an anime sort of thing. Not into shooters either. Except metroid prime. I actually think I might be a closet anime sort of person. Like, seriously.

Come on and pick one up, you know you want to, DBZ, one piece, Hokuto no ken, Cyber City Oedo 808, Ghost in the Shell.....join us...


-Points at Samus- One of us, one of us, ONE OF US!!!


Things change in life. When I was younger I was really into Video Games, I mean we are talking straight up NES vs Sega Master system days and SNES vs Genesis. I still like to play games some times. I own a full sized arcade game which is rather neat. I also have MAME with about 2-300 roms. I enjoy playing the old arcade games but new games just don't interest me in the least.

I also had a burn out with GW and 40k, although it was due more to the fact that I worked for them and it didn't end well. So I decided why the feth would I support them anymore? I found a different game Force on Force by ambush alley games and just loved it. I now have a USMC and iraqi army, I have a vietcong/Peoples Army of North Vietnam (PAVN) army, and I am planning on getting a NATO army ciera 1986. I am thinking of doing a ad-hoc force with FGR and BAOR troops with american air support ( gotta love the A-10). I am in the process of making a game board for Vietnam which should also dub well also for West Germany/East Germany.

To be abslutely logical, unless you have managed to stop entropy effecting you then you are getting older.

Do the things that will best lead to your future happiness. If you paint your models up and keep the lists you write they will last you the rest of your life and you may be lucky enough to have kids that like them.
Video games only last as long as the console is switched on or the provider keeps them online. They are by thier nature transitory and ephemeral.
Amongst my stuff I occasionally find old character sheets or notes from old RPG campaigns and they spur far more emotional memory than finding an old game CD.

Are you old? no. Come back when you are nearly 40.

Shadowseer_Kim is Seconded.

Come back when we are nearly 50. :-P

One thing I will say is that hobbies change over time.

I used to be just like you with video gaming. I recently picked up Arkham City on my Playstation. When my kid started having nightmares "because" of the game (she's only 2 mind you), I stopped playing when she was awake. Now, it has been off for over 2 weeks, and I have no real desire to play it.

Circumstances in life change, and often times, our hobbies right along with them. Some hobbies we return to, others we only remember as things we used to do.

My wife is always complaining that I change my hobbies too quickly, and I *always* choose expensive hobbies, however I argue that, more often than not, I still partake of most of the hobbies I have chosen since we got married (some were brought with me into the marriage, but that's probably another thread).

I was watching QI the other day and they were discussing the way that Teenagers use their brains differantly to adults.

This just seems to highlight that fact even more. I stopped playing Wargames at university for all the usual reasons and only dabbled until I moved in with the Mrs and started a family. Once you have kids you get a few hours when they have gone to be to sit down and do something different. I got back into wargaming.

When we are younger we have the time to play games excessively but also the idea that it is some how important/necessary. Being a level 20 berzerker is a big deal when you are 17 pretty irrelvent when you are 29+ and have to go to be by 10PM because you have work tomorrow and you know the baby will be up at 2AM!

Now I have a high end PC and an Xbox 360 that I would have killed for when I was younger, I use the former for Dakka, music and the odd game the latter only gets used to play DVDs and the occassional game. Indeed there was a cross over period where I was still buying 360 games but not playing them and as a result have about half a dozen games that have been collecting dust in their cellophane for a few years.

I do occassionally get into new something that catches my eye (Spce Marine was good as was Gears 3) but If i do get an inkling for a game it's something old school (usually a bit deeper I would suggest), so I have been running XCOM Apocalypse, Close Combat 2-5 and catching up with all those DoW expansions I bought but never played.

OP don't see it as getting old, I would suggest you are just growing up like the rest of us old(er?) farts.

Same thing is happening to me and im still a teenager. I used to play ridiculous amounts of xbox and then of the course of about a month i kinda lost interest. I will play the odd the odd PC game and finish it if its really good (Rage, Skyrim) but all the online multi-player games have seemingly lost their allure.

E.G i was super pumped for BF3 and now i have a PC that can spank it to death and i have zero interest in playing it.

I find RPG's, CCG's , Board Games and Wargaming to be much more fun.

chromedog wrote:Nope, it's not just you.

I game for the social aspect myself.

Sitting around a table with beers, roleplaying with mates is where it is at, not pushing pixels around a screen and hearing "until I took an arrow the the knee" umpteen million times.

This.

I love gaming, but I'm putting more effort/time into 40k and DnD now. I have a weekly DnD night every thursday, and 40k on Saturdays...the social aspect is waaay better compared to chatting with some friends on a mic.

chromedog wrote:Sitting around a table with beers, roleplaying with mates is where it is at, not pushing pixels around a screen and hearing "until I took an arrow the the knee" umpteen million times.

Why do you think these two are mutually exclusive?

Most of my friends have moved away and the ones I hang out with most are online. So when I roleplay, we grab our beers (or iced tea in my case), sit down at our desk, get on a map tool of some sort and push pixels (namely, icons on a dnd 4th edition map) around while listening to one of our group inevitably make some stupid arrow to the knee joke (and then be punished by the GM for it)

When my mates moved away, I just found another group to play with. I've since moved away from them - gamers are easy to find. Even for me (who finds many of them to be not-pleasant-company).

Most of our rpg sessions involved a (Physically) "you had to be there" moment. If you were only doing it online, you would have missed some aspect of it (none of us have the cash for a dedicated high speed HD video connection - "broadband" speeds are a joke in this country).

Hence why I consider them mutually exclusive.

chromedog wrote:
Most of our rpg sessions involved a (Physically) "you had to be there" moment. If you were only doing it online, you would have missed some aspect of it (none of us have the cash for a dedicated high speed HD video connection - "broadband" speeds are a joke in this country).

I know that this was the case with the gaming group that was most "successful" with my wife and I... The group consisted of my wife and I, our upstairs neighbor and his wife, and my buddy was the GM, with his wife playing another character. The sheer amount of off-color, innuendo laden comments and jokes was amazing, and every gaming session was a literal adventure in itself.

Sometimes it sucks finding a new gaming group, and that is something you don't necessarily do with online and video gaming, but at the same time, talking face to face with people is infinitely more fun than talking into a microphone and hearing a response back.

Ensis Ferrae wrote:

chromedog wrote:
Most of our rpg sessions involved a (Physically) "you had to be there" moment. If you were only doing it online, you would have missed some aspect of it (none of us have the cash for a dedicated high speed HD video connection - "broadband" speeds are a joke in this country).

I know that this was the case with the gaming group that was most "successful" with my wife and I... The group consisted of my wife and I, our upstairs neighbor and his wife, and my buddy was the GM, with his wife playing another character. The sheer amount of off-color, innuendo laden comments and jokes was amazing, and every gaming session was a literal adventure in itself.

Sometimes it sucks finding a new gaming group, and that is something you don't necessarily do with online and video gaming, but at the same time, talking face to face with people is infinitely more fun than talking into a microphone and hearing a response back.

I'll second this. I love the fact that when I'm playing the game I'm talking to someone face to face. There's constant communication and there's at least a little bit of humour involved.

I make friends fairly easily, and in warhammer, its even easier, because we both know what we are gonna talk about. There's never any issue about what is to be said.

I haven't taken part in many RPGs, but a lot of my friends [who don't play warhammer, oddly enough] are into GRPS. So, I'll have something to talk about when we play that game.

IF you want a good hobby, you can't look past social gaming. Sure, there's little excercise involved and it can be ardurous work painting literally hundreds of models, but it is rewarding and at the end of the day you can go to a store or to a game's club and be almost assured of a game, and you'll usually make a new friend.




Automatically Appended Next Post:

chromedog wrote:(none of us have the cash for a dedicated high speed HD video connection - "broadband" speeds are a joke in this country).

Chrome, you're an australian, damnit! Your internet connections will forever be a joke. [I'm an australian too, if you didn't guess that.]

That said, The 3MB/s speed I'm getting now works wonders, and it's the only reason I don't hate steam anymore.

chromedog wrote:When my mates moved away, I just found another group to play with. I've since moved away from them - gamers are easy to find. Even for me (who finds many of them to be not-pleasant-company).

Most of our rpg sessions involved a (Physically) "you had to be there" moment. If you were only doing it online, you would have missed some aspect of it (none of us have the cash for a dedicated high speed HD video connection - "broadband" speeds are a joke in this country).

Hence why I consider them mutually exclusive.

We have the same "you had to be there" moments online, and we don't even use video/voicechat.

Scipio Africanus wrote:
Chrome, you're an australian, damnit! Your internet connections will forever be a joke. [I'm an australian too, if you didn't guess that.]

That said, The 3MB/s speed I'm getting now works wonders, and it's the only reason I don't hate steam anymore.

Back atcha.

Heh. I hate steam and I don't even use it. My 'poota gaming is restricted to ps2, and what are glibly referred to as "classics" (or "old stuff") by young people. NO online play and certainly not even networked play. Never went in for the LAN party thing, myself. Had the hardware and the knowledge, but most of the games - and the people who played them - gave me the irrits.

I have one mate with a high speed dedicated data connection that allows real time HD video conferencing (Telstra owed him bigtime for some work. This was part of the legal settlement). 'Course, he lives in Sydney a block from a major exchange hub. He heads an IT consultancy now and uses it to stay in touch with his HK office.

The rest, we're using mostly ADSL at 512Kb/s - Even skype voice chat has issues with it.

Besides, most of us are "old school" - it's not an RPG unless you are in the same room, F2F, rolling dice and hearing the clatter of them on the tabletop.


@Melissia: Our "YHTBTM" are mostly visual/auditory memories. How can you capture that in a non-visual/audio, non-F2F medium? Text can only convey so much.