Gaming has been a hobby of mine for as long as I can remember. From being a kid in school, then a young adult, to a guy in his late 20's with his own home and a steady income to support his beloved hobby. But getting older means life is generally going to crap on you more. You'll have more problems to face and even though gaming can help us with our problem solving skills, there are some things that just can't be solved like that in Portal.
Back in the summer my relationship came to an end. Life had severely sucker-punched me in the gut and I was left reeling on the ropes. In times of hardship, I know people that just throw themselves into what they love to deal with things and spend some time away from everything. By all accounts this is what I should have been doing. I am, for the most part, very passionate about things. I find a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading and I must know everything the author has written. I find a great band and I need to know their other releases and what others band they are associated with and so on. But non of these things made me happy in my post break up phase. My days were spent passively watching crap on Netflix. My music became a repeat of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, The Cure and Jeff Buckley. My PS3 and 360 lay neglected gathering dust while my gaming rig became a glorified social network device. Life and the things I loved had simply stopped.
So July went into August and August slipped into September. Finally the summer heat was coming to an end and the change in weather offered some hope. On the horizon was the something we'd all been waiting for; Grand Theft Auto 5. You know what I'm talking about, you remember seeing that trailer in 2011 and Rockstar had been teasing us for nearly two years. But now the wait was almost over and I was prepared for it. It fell perfectly when I had a week off work. I stocked up on snacks and I prepared myself for a week of mindless fun in San Andreas. But things didn't go ahead like that. The game arrived. I installed it and I settled in to binge on it for a week. I played for a bit, thought it was pretty good and then put the controller down. What was wrong with me? I wasn't disappointed, the game was fine, I just couldn't enjoy it. What was going on? I looked at the stack of games I needed to play or wanted to replay. Ah Demon's Souls and Dark Souls, two of my favourite games of this generation. Maybe I'll start a new character, make some crazy hybrid class and experiment, that certainly would keep me occupied. But I didn't even put the disc in.
Returning to work, my two colleagues (both gamers) asked me my thoughts on GTA V and what I thought of the ending. Despite them both having work, they'd both completed the game and one was even on his second play-through whereas I was barely through my first and had barely touched the game in my week off work. I ask my friend what was going on and why these things didn't appeal to me anymore.
“It's just a sign of growing up” he told me.
No doubt that when you get older you can't do things like you did when you were a kid. I, for example, cannot play a game like I did when I was 15. Granted, I ploughed through The Last of Us in a day but can you blame me? But that's a rare moment. 15 year old me didn't have a job to hold down, bills to worry about or...a social life for that matter. He just had a PS2, a copy of God of War to batter through again and homework to neglect.
But saying it's a sign of growing up made me feel like a child again. Was this hobby I loved really just something I needed to grow out of? Was it time to sadly drag my arm across my shelf, pulling all my games off with it to have them fall into a bin bag to be disposed of? Most important question of all – was it because of my love for things like computer games and high fantasy novels that I was now alone and heartbroken?
Well, I can't answer that question. All I know is the fog did eventually clear. I found myself being sucked into, of all the games, Skyrim I picked up in the Steam sale. It was strange, realising you've just spent five hours in a game and how easily I fell back into it. And by reading this it's obvious my interest in the community came back and the reading of articles and the popcorn munching fun of fanboys arguing. And yes, I did eventually go back and complete GTA V.
I'm not even sure if there is anything beneficial about this blog. I just wanted to share with some fellow gamers a very strange time in my life where I was made to question things I loved doing. I think if I took anything away from the experience it was how I saw things in those months when my head was all over the place. My ex pushed hard at her career and basically became a workaholic and I saw people that saw gaming as something that children did. Which I found incredibly strange as gaming is as popular and accessible as its ever been. I thought most people would recognise that, like a well made film or a well written novel, games have the power to move us and affect us emotionally. Or hey, just offer a fine slice of cathartic entertainment. For awhile I questioned this as well. Did I need to stop simply working to fuel these things I love and work 16 hour days and have a career rule my life? Did I need to put gaming aside as a childish hobby and 'grow up'?
These questions I can safely answer – no. I love playing games. I love talking about games. I love the community and the stupid fanboys that argue over petty crap like graphics comparisons. I have missed this a lot and it's great to be back and if you yourself are going through a hard time, whatever it may be, this will always be here for you.
The Honkai Star Rail 2.2 banners introduce Robin and Boothill, alongside returning faces Topaz and Fu Xuan to HoYo's space fantasy RPG on PS5.
Available right now on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and PC is the latest from a prolific KEMCO team - Horrific Xanatorium; a horror Visual Novel
Gary Green said: You’ll be forgiven if you haven’t heard of the Ar Tonelico trilogy. The previous two games arrived so late in the PS2’s life-cycle that they simply went unnoticed. While most were tinkering with their shiny new PS3s, Ar Tonelico: Melody of Elemia and Ar Tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica were being ‘returned to sender’ by your local Game stores. Luckily, you won’t need to have played them to understand and appreciate this third and final chapter, Qoga (pronounced k-yoga) tells the story of a racial war between humans and Reyvateils, a breed of biologically produced female cyborgs capable of reproduction, while still having a digital mind.
Oh my god. I kinda wish this would get a remaster on PS5, it would be awesome. One of my favorite games on PS3.
That and 3D Dot Game Heroes. It's a shame that some stuff is stuck on PS3.
Ar Tonelico 3 is good I still prefer the first AT game. The music is solid in all the games and Akiko Shikata is a very talented singer bringing life to the game. Only annoying part is well I find is Saki I always choose Finnel or Tyria. KOEI so needs to HD remaster the franchise along with Ar Nosurge and Ciel Nosurge since it never came to North America. I would day one the Ar Toneliceo games and Ar Nosurge if they were remastered.
I still have the limited edition of Qoga unopened. Unfortunately it never went up in value like I had hoped all these years.
life throws curve balls.
fuck it. you will pull through with positive attitude and patience.
MrHoney_Badger on PS4
this always happen to people that play more games than they should.
I stopped gaming for a good number of years from age 27 to 32. Still had an interest, but I had relocated from New Zealand to the UK. Building up my social life plus the fact that I didn't want to get stuck down with to much stuff if I decided to go back.
Slowly started to get back into it with my laptop, starting Baldurs Gate again. Then built a new PC, got the PS3 when it came out. It helped that there was a flatmate who was into gaming as well.
I'm married now, 37 and established in the UK, got our own house. But there is nothing more I enjoy doing is sitting back with my feet up and a controller in my hand.
But now I can only fit in a few hours play otherwise the wife will feel I'm ignoring her. :-)
I have felt exactly like this before. I still game but not nearly as I used to thou. I think gaming is one of the best hobbies out there to have for sure.
It seemed like the problem you described comes from depression, anxiety and such.
You go through life and hard hits you hard just like every adult out there, not enjoying life like you used to before and not enjoying the things you liked before are sings of depression or anxiety.
Some people will tell you stupid shit like "you've outgrown videogames?" which is the equivalent of saying "you've outgrown watching tv and movies?". As if it's ok for them to do "their" shit but yours is not. That's BS.
What we always need in our lives is to have balance so we can actually enjoy the things we love to the fullest extent.
I've learned that as long as your Health, Family, Financials and Social Life are in order you can enjoy anything you want to do, but if those things are all over the place it's not gonna happen.
You can't really enjoy anything if your too stressed out, at those times, it's just time "reset". Time to focus on yourself and work things out to get your mojo back.
I don't game like I used to before but I'm way happier now, It's way better to game 2 hours in peace rather than 4-5 while stressed out.
We all go through stuff like this at some point, it's how you get back up from life's beatings that really makes you grow up and mature I think.
I am lucky enough that my wife lets me buy whatever i want for gaming. I am pacing myself and only use extra income ( lots of overtime lately )
got my launch ps4 , got a vita the year before , my pc is always upgraded. My wife likes a lot of different TV show and i have no interest and she understands that i would be gaming instead.
She has her own interest and things and i have mine. That is one of the many reason why i married her, she doesn't need me to keep her entertained and she is not expecting me too either.