How to Love Games Again? Prerequisites for Gaming Apathy. Why We Don't Want to Play

I categorically welcome everyone! Have you ever had the feeling that you are so tired of computer games that you don’t even want to try delve into in them? Query «what can you play” in the search bar in the first place, and gaming time with friends is “on autopilot”. I will try to share with you all my observations and experiments in the hope that this will help you.

There are no specific scientific studies on the topic of gaming apathy and the treatment of this syndrome is based mainly on posts on the Internet with the simplest methods from psychology. I hasten to disappoint you, it works a little differently, as I have seen from my own experience, but instead I will offer other methods for solving this problem.

This particular long post is written by a 23-year-old zoomer (at least that's what wiki thinks), who also suffered from this affliction and is experiencing it slightly now. This article is also suitable for users 16+ minimum (as you read, you will understand why) and for those who really want to understand the causes of the problem and solve them.

My research on this problem was carried out mainly by looking back into the past. I reflected on our primitive instincts, childhood desires, our “today” and drew certain conclusions. One could say that it was a deductive analysis with a pinch of comparison.

The essence of the problem

«It annoys me when, while playing some interesting and praised title, I am overcome by such a strange boredom. I don’t want to be in this game anymore, it’s like I’m playing on autopilot. I can’t immerse myself in the story, feel the characters. I’m not playing anymore, I’m just looking at the screen. I want to play, but… I shouldn’t, right?”

This is roughly the internal dialogue I had when I decided to go into Fallout 4 with the desire to complete it. The same was with many other games. It would seem that everything is simple – “don't play it, play something else.” People, if everything were so simple I would be superman. But in reality, from such words I begin to feel “not like everyone else.” As if I am not allowed to play a specific game, and I don't even know why it is forbidden. After all, others enjoy it. Here you need to go deeper and find the exact reason. And in general, is this your problem?

Why don't I want to play?

First of all, I would like to start by studying the problem itself, because all problems need to be solved at their roots. When and, most importantly, why?

“When” may arise differently for everyone, at different times for everyone, depending on the problem. But I dare to assume that the greatest point of gaming impotents arose at the beginning of the second decade – that is, around 2020. At that time, we were in quarantine, as we all know very well. We sat at home and played games. I would even say that from this year on, all life activities have changed. Many people with serious faces build theories that in 2020 everything stopped and we live in a simulation – the delirium of senile people who want to somehow justify their difficult acclimatization. Now let's move on to “Why”.

Looking back

Why am I not enjoying myself as much as I used to? We always compare our standard of living with the past. Our past. And the realization that we are not having as much fun as we did as children becomes a problem. I want to highlight two points in this chapter – our childhood feelings and ancient instincts that were given to us by our ancestors. I will start with the latter.

Our primitive instincts

Feelings, instincts, call it what you will, I am too incompetent to give it a precise term. When we want to eat, we have some goal to find this food. When we learn something new, we want to explore it. Show me a person who would not like to visit other countries, to gaze at new “biomes” for his eyes, huge and colorful sights. We all want to explore something, and if there is nothing to explore, we think from what we have. We should isolate this feeling into some variable to which we can refer. I will call it “research instinct” and we will return to it when we talk about methods for solving our illness.

Childhood

It is always associated with games. My acquaintance with computer games looked like this: when at the age of 4 I asked what to do in this game, my father literally said “kill monsters” This was my starting point for gaming. By the way, this game was called “Gladiators: Galactic Circus Games“.

I had to play what my dad played, which I experienced already at 5, when I went into third warcruft or Heroes 3 Breath of Death?
Well, first of all, I didn't understand anything, because all the games were in English, and the construction of each building… what's more, pressing each button was accompanied by a wow effect, when instead of the game I turned on the authors' credits…

What happened when I entered BloodRayne? I was scared of the first monster in training! I was afraid even of the pathetic heretic in Warhammer Dawn of War 1. IN NFS HP 2 I felt a wild drive, and the regret of buying a Lotus Elise for myself from the very first races did not leave me until I came of age. And Spider-Man 2despite the cobwebs in the air, continued to cling.

Even as I write this long post, looking back at all these projects, I want to return to them. All these feelings pulled up interest in games, emotional saturation was in full swing even in the simplest moments. Every time we are nostalgic about how the whole company played the third and fifth heroes. Get-togethers in computer clubs in Unreal Tournament and so on. And since this became our starting point – for me, that is, for a person, these feelings should be an unchanging truth. And so it was until a certain moment…

What's wrong with me?

But maybe the reason is not in you? I will describe possible options. Try to find the most suitable one for yourself.

1. You are really sick.

Well, you know, all these references to depression. When I spent a little time on eSVEO, after serving in the army, I was diagnosed with a tendency to develop derealization. Thanks to this neurosis, I couldn’t even live normally, let alone play. Now I’ve managed to tame it without medication and I can more or less soberly assess my gaming addiction. In short, if your apathy extends not only to games, but also to communication with other people, alienation from family, there are psychological problems and isolation at work, dude, you’d better get checked by a psychotherapist. Perhaps this gaming apathy arose as a result of neurosis, which, in turn, arose as a result of a strong emotional experience, followed by burnout. But researching your condition via the Internet is walking the line between diagnosis and self-hypnosis. Google “cognitive distortions” and it turns out that we are all sick people, because you will attribute at least one distortion to yourself. Go to the doctor when nothing else helps and consider yourself sick only when it is confirmed.

2. “Just to look”

This is typical for all those who fulfilled their childhood dream and bought a powerful computer. You know the memes like “I bought a computer that can handle all the games, but I don’t want to play them” — that’s it. Looking at myself, I just want to download most games to see if they will run on my PC. Just watch, feed my “arrogant ego”, laugh at my past self, praise myself and… delete the game. In this case, you ask the question “Which game should I download?” instead of “what would I like to play now?” You just want to fulfill your past “dreams of playing this or that game,” which are distorted into “dreams of this or that game being able to run on your PC.” Stop! Create a vacuum around your information field and realize that you are not playing, but conducting a stress test for your uber-PC.

3. You've become spoiled

This is not surprising. Today, the gaming community is a greedy community, ready to humiliate developers for any shortcoming. Although, I would say the same about all of humanity. Well, first of all, look back into the past and envy yourself for playing with pleasure at 25-30 frames per second, or even less. On a wooden Soviet chair. Why? Because you had nothing to compare with, you didn't care 🙂

4. You are the same as everyone else

As I said, people are social creatures. There are so many opinions on the internet now that you don't even know who to listen to…Have you tried listening to your own opinion? “If Minecraft is for schoolchildren, then I shouldn't play it.” Is that what stereotypes told you? You shouldn't hinder your desires just because people, and unqualified simpletons at that, say so. This stereotype is deposited in your subconscious, creating that very cognitive distortion from the category “I seem stupid playing this” or “this game is bad because it has bad reviews, I'm wasting my time.” This shit poisons our existence…

5. You have grown up

The way it is presented on the Internet is the delirium of humanity. Look at the elderly “gamers” who continue to play. Maybe their interests have changed a little, but this cannot be the main and only reason for your illness.
Specifically, I mean that your daily routine has changed a lot. You have objectively less free time and objectively more duties and responsibilities that do not allow you to concentrate on the game. Solve them or set aside 2-4 hours a day (let everyone know so that no one dares to disturb you), and do not even dare to think about your problems and worries during the game. They should not distract you.

6. Your attention space is already filled

Remember how I said that there are too many opinions on the Internet? Each of us has had a huge increase in the information field in recent years, the information from which we consume with enviable greed. Then, after each piece of news, a chain reaction is launched and we get absorbed in each piece of news that interests us and get lost. Imagine that you have not only long memory, but also short memory – operational – the space of attention. When it is full, you cannot concentrate on anything and information passes by. Have you ever thought that the abundance of publics in different messengers has given rise to ADHD (Attention Deficit Syndrome) in us? Maybe you should limit your information field in the same way?

7. Habits

For the last 3-4 years, I slept for 5-6 hours and considered my condition absolutely normal. In turn, when I slept 7-8 hours, I felt a surge of energy. I thought that I was buffed, although in fact I just felt my normal a state that I should have every day. This state of sleep has become a habit and I couldn't even believe that I should and can be “buffed” every day. What am I getting at? Maybe playing the game every day has become some kind of “duty” for you? Work? Routine? You don't travel, as if you are clicking buttons on autopilot. In addition, the game helps you, telling you where to press, leading you by the hand, and you can't even put in an ounce of your own effort. And so you play in a trance, not understanding why… for what purpose… what is the meaning of life…

These were your possible personal reasons, now I will tell you about the reasons that do not depend on you.

8. General background

We live in fear. The people who live on the border have no time for games. And the situation is tense: after the global quarantine, a tough armed conflict, and if you didn't care about foreign policy as a child, now you fit the criteria (for those 18 and older). And there is also a fear of the future. What will happen next? Should we just wait it out?

9. Games without soul

Maybe the problem is not in you, but in modern games? Nowadays, the gaming markets are ruled by “effective management”. Games have ceased to be art, having become a product for the consumer. The emphasis of modern game development rests on visuals, that is, graphics. I dare to assume that such an emphasis was caused by the indignation of schoolchildren in 2012-2016 about “soap in graphics”. This gave rise to a stereotype that the consumer only needs graphic execution. But this is a huge mistake, because graphics are like pictures in a book. Schoolchildren love books with pictures. But more or less adult gamers prefer the text version with an emphasis on gameplay + plot. And will you force yourself to play “modern crap”?

10. The sterility of the Internet

Now the entire Internet space is being thoroughly sterilized. There is no longer the freedom that we could afford 10 years ago. Society sets us rules on how to behave on the Internet, which should be free. Do not take this statement literally for everything, but think about how many diverse potential projects have been ruined under the weight of social stereotypes?

To be continued

This post is already too long. That's why I'll write out my suggestions and solutions in the next one, attaching a link here. I'll touch on both the methods recommended by bad psychologists on the Internet, and the methods I've experimented with myself.

Get nostalgic in the comments. Share your first encounter with computer games.