Losing my patience..

[Orion]

So, another curiosity; is anyone else finding that as they get older, they start to lack the patience to play longer games? It's strange that I can't really get myself to play games for long periods of time anymore. I just seem to get bored with these long adventures. Granted there are exceptions, but I can't do gaming marathons quite like I used to.

However games that are quick and easy, or multiplayer, I still get hooked on. Lumines. Guitar Hero. Mario Kart. NHL. Katamari. These are all games that I still have lots of fun playing. They really don't require much of a time commitment.

I say this because I just bought Okami, and while it is a very fine game, I just can't make myself sit down and play it for very long. It gets boring, and I don't know why. But yet I can go play and play my SNES games over and over again...

Can anyone relate?

[goKi]

You know, i've actually had the same problem.

Most of the time i would spend playing games has migrated to playing poker. I do still play games reasonably often, but unless it's a really good game, i put it down quickly.

[MottZilla]

I know what you mean. I've not bothered finishing several games that are rather recent. It's probably part of being older but also part of the fault of more modern games tending to suck.

[Tygore]

I've noticed it to an extent as well. I think that it's because games these days have become too repetitive, which is the main reason I got excited for the Wii and DS. Nintendo's new approach to games really works out better for me.

[MottZilla]

Repetitiveness is ok if what you are doing over and over is fun and well executed. But generally it isn't and is painfully boring, often sluggish which is the biggest flaw.

[Rainman]

Personally I've never been one to get engrossed in a game for too long. Sure at times I might fall into a gaming binge, but I tend to get distracted midway through long games. It's alway taken commitment for me to play a game all the way through in one go.

[mikeron]

I only get engrossed in a game when I'm supposed to be doing something else. If I have genuine free time, I never play video games.

[Cloral]

I used to be able to play the **** out of games. Like FF6, I raised most of my characters to level 99 and did all the sidequests. Can't be bothered to do that anymore. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I have a job now and so I don't have as much free time anymore. I think it also has to do though with the fact that I enjoy other things more like getting outside, so I just don't play games for as long at one sitting as I used to. An hour at a time is about as much as I ever do anymore.

[Pineconn]

Too bad for all of you. I've got no problems playing games for 4-5 hours. Well, until now, because school has seriously depleted my free time. I just don't have free time. But on the weekends, I might pick up Wind Waker or Pikmin and play it for a few.

I hope this doesn't prevent you guys from playing Twilight Princess. ;)

[AtmaWeapon]

I too am beginning to suffer from this problem. I play Eve Online a lot and just bought that Okami game but I know that what's going to end up happening is I'll play one, then the other, to the point that I don't want to play either.

In fact this doesn't just apply to games, it seems like this has happened to a lot of other things in my life. A lot of things I used to enjoy now I can't seem to motivate myself to even start. What's funny is once I start on these things I get right back into the obsessive worship I did before and I ask myself why I ever quit, only to be distracted by something else for a few days and I'm back to not wanting to start.

What's wrong with us?

[Rainman]

Eve Online

Hey I'm playing that too. Are you in GoonFleet?

[erm2003]

I know that as I have been working in my job over the past year or so that I have been so busy I haven't had time to play games for a long period of time. I do try to get a Saturday to myself (or with a friend) every month or so to kick back and enjoy, but even those are starting to become rare.

[AtmaWeapon]

Hey I'm playing that too. Are you in GoonFleet?Pi Squad 4 lyfe what about you?

[Rainman]

I'm in Goon Platoon, Sigma Squad. I've only been playing for about 3 weeks so far. My main character's name is Bren Sydler.

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

Depends a lot on the game. If the game is fun, I have no problem playing the life out of it, but I can be distracted easily. I'm sort of an impulse gamer, in regards to my collection, because I cannot afford a lot of new games, or until recently, any, outside of the typical Birthday/Christmas/Extra Money cycle.

Like a couple months ago, I felt like playing Earthbound for SNES. So I booted up my emulator and played for a while. Kept it up for a couple weeks, made some progress, and abruptly stopped. Haven't been back to it since. Why? I just don't feel like it. Same thing with Final Fantasy V before that, and Final Fantasy VI before that. Right now, I'm knee deep in Fire Emblem (GBA), and probably will be for the next two weeks while I'm out of the country.

Long games are good, but only if they're consistent enough to carry my attention. My sister recently got Super Monkey Ball Adventure (GC) for her birthday, and since she's really a terrible gamer, I took over the story mode. But the problem with Monkey Ball, the problem that made me stop playing halfway through SMB2, is that the game goes from fun and challenging to not as much fun and ridiculously difficult.

"Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door" is an excellent example of a game that is consistently good throughout. The level progression in the series has always been designed to avoid letting you fall too far behind or get too far ahead. There's no grinding. There's always a challenge, and you're always able to beat it, with a little preparation. And besides that, the game is just plain fun.

So, long story short, I really only have the problem you describe when I'm playing games that are tortureously and pointlessly difficult/unfun.

[vegeta1215]

I just finished playing Skies of Arcadia Legends after putting in around 58 hours into it over a period of 4 weeks. (I'd play in 1-2 hour intervals) Long games are fine for me so long as they keep me interested. I also like short pick-me-up games too. The Game and Watch Gallery games are a blast to play, and even though they are simple games, they are addicting, and trying to beat my old high score never gets old.

[lord_jamitossi]

I used to game quite steadily, but now I'm in college and between not really having a TV here, actually having homework to do, practicing my instruments (I took up guitar recently) and having a real, serious social life for honestly the first time, I just have no time for serious gaming.
I'll get Twilight Princess, probably on the NGC, and beat it over the christmas holidays. Its launch is falling almost perfectly for me.

The worst thing is, my roommate (aka complete idiot) does nothing except play GTA and loud heavy metal music. I actually feel kinda bad after looking at how much time he wastes playing video games, and realizing that I, too, was like that at one point.

[Archibaldo]

Recently I've developed a taste for competitve play. In my apartment we have 2 TVs, and Xbox and a X360. We hook 'em up with the system link and play Halo 2, 2 v 2. I tried to Play Diablo 2 but after playing WoW so long, I get bored from the lack of no player to player competition. I'm planning on getting Harvest Moon DS so I have a nice RPG to get engrossed into.

[{DSG}DarkRaven]

This is slightly off topic to start, but have you ever played Harvest Moon GBA, Archie? I made it about three years into the game before I lost interest, at least for the time being. I know I'll go back to it eventually. But when you geting HM: DS, and if you have played HM: GBA, let me know how they compare. I'd like to get it too, if it's worth it.

[Brasel]

I have the exact same problem. I haven't finished a new game...besides Oblivion...since Metal Gear Solid 3. I'm not counting all the games I played while on deployment, because its a completely different situation over there. I'll get so much free time at times that I will have nothing else to do but to keep myself occupied with games or go insane with boredom. I've been playing Tetris and FFXI lately. Thats about it. I gave up on buying games outside of my favorite franchises because of this.