I Quit: Why I Stopped Playing A Bunch Of Games In 2015

GI:
When you play a lot of games, it also means that you stop playing a lot of games, too. Sometimes it’s because you finish the campaign and there’s nothing else to do. Other times, the round is over and it’s time for bed. Then there are those other times where you just have to put the controller down – out of rage, frustration, boredom, or some combination thereof. That last scenario certainly happened to me several times over the course of 2015. Here are some of the reasons I gave up.

[Apollosupreme]

Once you make it to career and family life it's more a matter of not having time to play everything. It's more like you have a much smaller window than in the past and you better choose wisely.

[himdeel]

Or choose games that are robust with gameplay that you can play for weeks/months at a time.

[Razputin]

I find that an issue personally. While it is amazing to catch those RPGs and such longer games. Its more of a hindrance.

Games like that require a few hours at a time to get things either accomplished or moving forward. With the Witcher 3 for instance, amazing title but I still can't get through it, too long of a game, and sometimes if I don't play for periods at a time, I'm at a complete loss.

[Apollosupreme]

Yeah I bought fallout 4 when it released and it's the only thing I've played since. These huge games are a lot of fun but I sometime wonder if nowadays games like Wolfenstein or the Order are a better fits for me because they're less of a time commitment to finish and so I'd get to experience more throughout the year. The funny thing about that is the gaming community in general knocked games like these for campaign length and lack of online multiplayer.

[shammgod]

Yep, when you are young you have the time, but don't have the money. When older, you have the money, but don't have the time.

At least that is how it is for me. I have to pick and choose my games wisely cause time is precious between work, family and friends.

[guyjean]

Agree very much.

Totally overbought myself with games in 2015. Guess that's what happens when skipping everything after ps1 (jr. high) until I finally got a ps4 last year (married with two kids and a job in finance)...
Now I got 5 games still untouched standing on my shelves, and am beating myself for buying them at full price when they got released just to see them being sold at 50-60% off during the year end sales.

Definitely learned my lesson and will stop buying games before finishing what I already got lying around. (*except Uncharted 4, FFXV, Horizon Zero Dawn, Mafia 3, Tom Clancy's The Division, Tomb Raider, and maybe some VR stuff) :))

[jb227]

I think you hit the nail on the head...I also think that's why gaming is going in the wrong direction in certain regards. We have polling & data that shows that those original kids who grew up on Nintendos & Segas all kept an eye on their controllers, which is why the average age of gamers is around 32 years old. Considering like you mentioned people are growing up and starting families themselves and have less time to devote to gaming, there needs to be more of a market for those gamers (doubly so considering they are typically the ones w/ the most disposable income).

We need more pure fun all ages 3d platformers like your Ratchet & Clanks and we need more pointed & compelling experiences that pack great spectacle & adventure into any given short burst of an hour or two. I guess online mp offers that for some folks, but on the adverse, it seems like more family people would rather do that kind of gaming inside their own family, so we also need more couch co op games. Gaming is taking the complete opposite stance on content, and couch co op is dying off, quality all ages content is few & far between, and a solidly built linear adventure is becoming a thing of the past. Instead we have the proliferation of things like online mp & open world rpg's, one to push subscription sales, the other to essentially be considered a valuable purchase by simply shoving a lot of side content of varying quality into the game.

I think there is a place for all kinds of gaming, online mp & open world rpg's have just as much reason to exist as any of those I've named, but the problem is when it leans far too heavily in any single direction, your core crowd of 30 something family oriented gamers are ignored to the point where they may not feel much need to pick up the next console when it rolls around.

Just look at the major software releases this year for proof

MGSV (open world)
Fallout 4 (open world)
Just Cause 3 (open world)
Witcher 3 (open world)
Bloodborne (rpg)
Battlefront (online mp only)
CoD (mp focus, last gen devoid of sp entirely)
Halo (mp focus, sp campaign considered letdown by many)

Those are the main heavy hitters of the year, and the only other options were
Until Dawn
The Order
Rise of the Tomb Raider (quasi open world)

In terms of new content, the indie realm was basically the only place to get more focused experiences, and out of the 3 major titles that fit that more focused criteria (may be forgetting a couple on either side) 2 of them were very well received (the other potentially unfairly judged but quality in many gamers' eyes), potentially because people are just thirsty for those kinds of experiences.

[Tzuno]

We get older and older eh, well that's life.