My bad habit isn't even that I spend too much of my free time playing games, its that I don't spend enough. I go to work and have hectic days and when I come back home, rather than kick back to a game that I've probably been fantasising about playing all day, I just mindlessly watch a random movie or scroll UA-cam
I've had this happen to me on occasion. If it's a game that maybe is fairly new that you're excited about, save a video to hype yourself up for when you get home to get your mojo up and see if that motivates you to break the spell and play. It's a cool two-for-one special of comfortably aligning with your habit of getting on UA-cam anyway but also stoking the desire to play.
I've been there. I was too tired to start engaging with my games for years, and the only ones I'd manage to commit time to were the ones that offered a familiar daily grind. Most of the time I just sat down with UA-cam or Netflix instead. I think that if you plan ahead and put yourself in a mindset to push through that initial "get started" hurdle, you'll quickly find yourself having a good time with the game. I also started logging my game experiences on Mastodon, which helps me stay focused until I actively decide that I'm done with the game. Be that because I've finished it, 100%ed it, or just realized that I don't want to keep playing it.
1. Too many games at once 2:37 2. Not knowing when to put a game down 4:17 3. Expect to win everything at first try 5:45 4. Not trying different playstyles 7:07 5. Not appreciating the beauty of games 9:03 6. overindulging in competition 10:41 7. Following the discourse too closely 11:54 8. Relying too much on the internet for help 13:30 9. Only playing new and popular games 15:31 10. No adequate balance in life 17:01
I would add point 11. Don't buy games "for later". There is high probability that there will be more good occasions to buy more games "for later" because of great sale, super deal and other reasons - and you will end up with "pile of shame" that may turn your hobby into chore, or strip you of any pleasure doing so,because "you have to play them all". If you buy game, or have it for free - at least run it and check out. And don't feel bad about ditching games you don't like or don't feel like playing - you're probably not a content creator, streamer, or professional reviewer - nobody and nothing forces you to play anything you don't want to. The concept of "Pile of shame" also shouldn't do so. Thus don't build one, and don't cope with one.
Haha, I'm definitely guilty of the "pile of shame" from Steam sales, old Humble Bundles, etc. I've improved on that a lot, though. I completely agree about not feeling bad about ditching a game. That's the number one thing that helped me. I used to always complete games no matter what. Now, once I realize it's not fun anymore, I drop that game SO FAST. I can appreciate the fun I had in the first 20 hours, but don't feel bad about not slogging through the other 30.
@@Kryxx07 It's good you got over with it. For me as a former content creator (w/o success, but that's life) building a pile of shame was easy - I need this stuff and I must get it cheap attitude all along. Same with struggling with games - I must pass at least here, because I want to review it. Those principles grew into habits, and even after years I'm still prone to be tempted by sale or two, and can't help but take EGS freebies - I'm still struggling to avoid getting more that I can play, but at least I spent less money. The massive pile of shame remained of course. Sometimes it's hard to not feel guilty about all these games I still haven't played, but well - I probably never would play them all - and it's fine as long as I have fun playing no matter what I'm playing, I guess.
i agree for digital collections like steam libraries that it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes and personally i'm terrible about going through single player pc games, but i like having a large enough physical collection of console games i can choose from and go through one by one. i feel more sense of accomplishment that way and have a goal to look forward to because i'll want to get to the next game
My personal list: 1 - Hoarding consumables / items with limited uses for that "special moment" that never comes. 2 - Skipping / skimming dialog and/or inferring the meaning just from the dialog options presented. 3 - Optimising the fun out - this could be considered a playstyle I suppose but being finnicky about minutia can really suck the fun out of a game. 4 - Obsessing over / ignoring achievements. Frustrating myself to get an achievement, or failing to challenge myself by ignoring them. 5 - Compulsively collecting everything / breaking/looting every box, chest etc even though I don't need to. 6 - Negative comparisons with other gamers - feelings of inadequacy when comparing my skills to others - this is even true for non-competitive creative games like satisfactory or NMS. 7 - Buying a multiplayer or co-op game then convincing my friends to buy it too so I don't have to "play it alone". 8 - Having something playing in the background while I game. I'm effectively spoiling the game (neglecting immersion / sound design) and not paying proper attention to whatever I'm listening to. Also I feel if I'm not finding the game stimulating enough that I need secondary entertainment while I play, I should probably find a different game to play...That said, sometimes listening to music while gaming can really enhance my gaming experience so this one is situational.
If you want to break #1, play some roguelikes. Not so much the newer ones like Hades, but the classic ones like Nethack, ToME, Jupiter Hell, or Angband. Not using items you need when you need them, even if it's not the perfect time, will end your run then and there, so the perfect time will definitely not come.
ouhh your 8th point is smth that i also noticed 2 weeks ago. i like it if i have a stream in the background with such a low volume that i can 95% focus on the game i'm playing. but that only works for handheld games where the "stream sound" comes from a different source. but for the last months i played a game on my first monitor and was watching videos on my second. the game only had like 10% focus and the video was on full volume and the game on very low. the game just felt like a chore then. and i felt overstimulated.. so i just removed my second monitor and feel way better since then haha
Point 8 really depends on the game. Sure most games it fits, if I wanna play RDR2 I would never watch UA-cam besides it. However a slow burn map painter like most Paradox games or Civ (or finicky turn based games in general that don’t provide story) you can be sure I’m gonna watch that 4 hour Pokémon iceberg in the background.
Teenage me: Why do I have to finish my chores just to play games?! Me now: I can't wait to finish my chores so I can play games! Yeah, our parents were on to something there.
As someone in my 30s, I find it hard to get motivated to play games like I used to. My issue isn't playing too much; it's actually not playing enough. Whenever I do sit down to game, I feel this lingering guilt that I should be doing something more 'productive.' I came across this video hoping to find a solution, to rediscover that joy I used to feel without the weight of guilt hanging over me. It's reassuring to see content like this, reminding me that it's okay to take time to enjoy something for myself. Thank you.
I'm 36 and can't even imagine this. Videogames are one of the rare things I really like in life and I make sure I play every day. Rare are the days I don't play and they have to be something really important or unique for me to skip gaming. Are you too busy, or enjoy many other things or?... just curious : )
31 here. I somewhat get what you mean. I have a girlfriend, a dog, and rich social life. On a good week I get maybe 10 hours of gaming. That’s time I make because it’s a priority for me. That’s how I truly relax, and recharge my social batteries as well as finding some sense of peace of mind. I don’t feel guilty about it and I very open and honest about this to my family and friends. Enjoy my guy
I sincerely love the feeling of finally getting to a modern classic years, even decades after they've been released. There's just something very intimate about feeling like you're probably one of very few people playing this huge game right now. Games i did this with and adore now are the Mass Effect, Persona and Metal Gear Solid series, Red Dead Redemption, Hollow Knight, Super Metroid, Slay the Spire and so many more.
not trying to be rude, but I don't think any of those games you mentioned are ones you were the only person playing at the time. I expected Tony Hawk 1, Tenchu, or Knack 2 Hollow Knight? Slay the Spire? These are hella popular modern games
Yeah, I checked on SteamDB, and all of those games except of Metal Gear and Metroid have 1000+ people playing them at the moment on Steam. Slay the Spire has more than 10 000.
I would add "Playing the game superficially", not engaging with all the variety of systems the game provides, not learning the rules/mechanics, just generally brute forcing through the game, because it requires the least amount of your attention and investment, as a result, the outcome will not be big as well. In the best case you will not get the full enjoyment out of the game, in the worst - you will hate the experience.
This is applyed to all slasher/fighting games I play, I just spam buttons and try to hit the same combos again and again, not willing to get better. For example, I played with my friends in Brawlhalla, and they learned my patterns to the point I could not beat them, but my muscle memory forced me to do that again and again. While they were learning new combos, I was not willing to experiment, so my skill level did not rise.
I am guilty of all of these bad habits, as well as mindlessly scrolling through online sales for hours looking for new games/deals, wasting time I could be spending playing any of the hundreds of games I already own digitally
That’s why I switched to physical copies only. Bought PS5 with disc drive and treated it as a fresh start and I only search for some deals on used games for it. It made me appreciate them much more and I feel urge to finish one game before purchasing another one.
Timestamps and chapter titles (if you copy these into the description Mark, UA-cam should pick these up and add chapter navigation to the video): 0:00 It is possible to develop bad habits from playing games mindlessly 1:08 Bad habits form from prioritizing near-term over longer-term rewards 2:35 1. Trying to play too many games at once 4:16 2. Continuing to play a game when it's no longer fun 5:45 3. Getting upset when a game's difficulty increases 7:06 4. Playing the same way in every game 9:02 5. Not appreciating games holistically 10:41 6. Getting too engrossed in PvP 11:53 7. Allowing others to form opinions of games for you 13:29 8. Defaulting to guides instead of figuring things out on your own 15:30 9. Playing only "the latest and greatest" games 17:00 10. Overindulging in games 19:32 You are not alone. What gaming habits do you struggle with? I do like how this video isn't pessimistic and explores the whys and how you might counteract each of these. It's a good watch!
another habit that’s been a double edged sword for me is multitasking youtube videos/podcasts while playing. with my adhd, it was initially helpful for my grinding and farming. however, i started doing it more and more to the point I was barely following the story and numbing myself out of the narrative overall by not fully engaging.
I started that in my 20s and now I’m almost 40 and my focus is absolutely fried. Try to make better habits now and your future successful self will be thanking you ten years from now with an awesome and successful life.
definitely a valid approach to some games. I play a bunch of rather mechanical games, arcade titles, retro games, that have no relevant plot but revolve around skill mastery and repetition. Grinding through that basic exposure to the controls, mechanics and getting the muscle memory into your system often lets my mind wander. I prefer to have slow storytelling going on in the background, like TTRPG actual plays.
A habit I picked up when playing Warframe. What I do now is that I compartmentalize. I have my chill podcast games, like Warframe or Dungeon Defenders 2, or basically any game I can just engage with on a casual basis repeating simple tasks for progression. And then there are my "main games" where at most I'll be on a call with a friend I'm playing with, like Vermintide 2 or BG3.
In response to number one, I actually had the opposite problem. I only ever focused on one game and I refused to move on until I beat it. Then I just stopped gaming for years cause I didn't wanna play that game but I also didn't want to move on and end up never completing it. I solved this by allowing myself to play multiple games at a time and my gaming hobby is alive and well. I know your second point goes over when to drop games, I've gotten better with that as well :) My gaming life has been pretty good for the last year or so
Same. I'm not very good at putting away a game that is half finished, and that has sometimes led me to game less, since I may not always be sufficiently motivated for my "current" game. I've transitioned to having a pool of 2-4 single player games at a time, so there is always at least one tempting option when I have to opportunity to sit down and play.
I had almost the same thing. The difference for me is that I just played online games only while being stuck on a single player game Being able to drop a game I don't like or playing several games is so liberating
Playing multiples always leads me to start more and more games until I started so many I don't know what to play anymore. I try to limit it to just 1 game but sometimes more.
I beat all of the Dark Souls games solo, and I can say from experience that I don't gain much satisfaction from overcoming difficult challenges. Beating a boss, to me, is just a moment to think about the next one. The trial never actually ends until there's no more game left to play.
That's a you thing not universal,i beat sekiro Alone without using guides or asking for help and i absolutely loved it,the bosses are some of the best in the industry and despite the fact that i Lost a lot against the final boss when i defeated him i felt good cause i didn't give up
The issue with not expecting to fail is why I appreciate games like Shining Force, Monster Hunter World, and Baldur’s Gate 3. While you aren’t getting absolutely destroyed like in a Souls-like game, the games still aren’t afraid to remind you that failure is an option. Difficulty scaling is a lot easier to accept when the game starts with reasonable difficulty than when you’re running around beating up scrubs and there’s suddenly a boss.
Monster Hunter Worlds is a bad example. With the Souls series you will eventually win. The rpg system allows you to grind as much as you need to win. Monster Hunter World puts a cap on progression based on where you are in the game. Which is why the two Monster Hunter games I played resulted in as much as a 70+ hour stall on a mission followed by me quitting the game.
@ The Monster Hunter games also allow you to have that same kind of grind until you eventually win. If you keep going at something that you’re failing at instead of doing one of the many things you can to make progress towards a win (fight previous monsters for materials to upgrade gear, try different combinations based on skills/resistances, utilize SOS flares) then that’s a player problem, not a problem with the game. Upgrading gear comes in two ways - crafting better gear and literally upgrading armor to increase your defense. It’s fine if the games aren’t for you. The point is that having a game give you reasonable chances at failure is much, much better than making you be completely godlike until you hit a wall.
@@jolteon345 No, even veteran players above my level recognize there is a difficulty curve which is abnormally sharp even for Monster Hunter World. Even with a wiki and online guides. There is a point where the game requires gear you can only obtain by progressing past the point in the game you are stuck on. That is not a player problem when the only way to win is perfect invincibility frames or some elite tech. A problem I encountered in both Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and World + Icebourne dlc. You are far less skilled than you think and clearly less knowledgeable.
@@lanceknightmare You're making assumptions based on content that is well, well past what most normal players will even get near. I responded based on the reasonable presumption that we aren't talking about that point in the game because most people will put it down after Xeno'jiiva, if they make it that far. There will be people who only call that point "the beginning" but really its the start of the post-game content thanks to the story that was put in. We were simply talking about two different points within the game. It's not a lack of skill/knowledge.
@@lanceknightmare I'm curious what part of the game you're talking about in World + Icebourne. I can't remember a part of the game like that, but it's been awhile.
juggling multiple games is definitely hard because it throws off your muscle memory so much. so many action games have timing mechanics like parrying, so many different types of combos and button inputs.. if youre going back and forth between several games you end up constantly feeling like youre re-learning even the basics for each game. i tried Sifu while i had been playing through god of war and it messed me up so bad.
#1 speaks to me so deeply. Unless I’m playing a game I just bought and have been waiting for months or years to release, I’m all over the place. I think it has a little to do with whatever mood I’m in that particular day, and choice paralysis. Especially when I’ve just finished a big, 40 hour game, I feel a little lost and depressed after. I’m in that mode right now and am jumping all over the place trying to find a game that suits my current mood.
Fighting games have helped me overcome a lot of these bad habits. The patience to get good at one character, knowing that competition is only going to get stronger, and being able to say “this is the last game,” and put it down to go work on something else. RPGs suck you in so easily, and while they are great, sometimes you don’t have time to devote to a game like that, especially when you get older. Plus, the community is supportive, helpful, and very friendly.
FOMO is my bad habit in gaming, I spend too much time roaming and mindlessly exploring for fear of missing an achievement or a hidden path, to the point of ruining the experience sometimes.
I can't juggle between games, specially if they are too similar because I will get muscle memory passing from one to another. Normally I don't even play a game in the same genre right after finishing one. But I do get where people who juggle come from because you're expecting them to "hook you" at the first minutes, and some games simply require some comitment to "click" for you. The last one is definately THE BEST advice. I'm sick of these youtube creators making the "Video games aren't fun anymore" videos. They're all over UA-cam, IG and Tiktok. My borhter in christ you made playing video games YOUR ENTIRE JOB AND IDENTITY of course you're gonna get burned out.
Yeah it's funny, I'm a somewhat jaded, definitely cynical and angry old 32 year old going on 72 but even then I'm not inclined to agree with those "why gaming is dead/where are the good games/etc" and just get mad at them instead lol. They're the types of people to either, as you said, make it their job and identity and burn out, or only play whatever's hot right now, or play a game tens of hours beyond where they feel done with it for the sake of completion for content or otherwise, or ignorantly ignore the thousands of indie games that exist and are fantastic because they're fools.
@@Taima Exaclty. Or when they play older games, they only play games they ALREADY know instead of looking for some hidden gems they might have missed out.
Excellent video. The biggest one for me was getting out of internet discourse. It has a serious effect on which games you think you like/dont like. Once I got out of it my gaming experience improved a lot. For example im a huge AC fan and that community is extremely toxic imo. Most everyone in the hardcore fanbase despises AC Odyssey so i never even gave it a shot. 50 hours deep currently and im absolutely loving it. Just play games
Thanks for this invitation to self-aware behavior. It has been a struggle for me to keep balance in life in general, but I especially struggle to strike a balance with games. Consistency, courage and striking meaningful and personal social contact is adamant to stay clear of vicious self-destructive habits. Being conscious about ill-managed situations and exploring the feelings that might have elicited them are powerful too, but I know first hand how challenging facing our feelings can be. So like any complex system, there are many things to keep in check but there are also many angles in which things can be positively influenced. Videogames are an amazing artistic medium and the interactive marvel of our time, one that I find is worth upholding for its merits but also befits a fair reflection of its drawbacks.
Almost every point resonated with me a lot. Currently in my 40s, so having the financial space to buy too many games, I spend so little time actually playing them, going on to the next new hype/game. It's something I've been trying to do for a while now, to not buy new games until I played/finished some of my already owned games ... And this video inspired me to go and try this again. I've created a list of games that I started, really enjoyed, but at some point left - often just for the reason of boredom / new game being out - ... so I should go back and continue. And the games aren't the small games either: Horizon Zero Dawn, HollowKnight, Tunic, GOW: Ragnarok ... for instance So thanks for this inspiring video 👍
I'm 46 and here's my advice for you (speaking from experience, there): Get married and make children. You'll have much less money to buy games (but also much less time to play them). ;)
@@jamic6107 funny. I'm 43, have 2 kids, 1 wife and 2 cats. And yes, in the first years the time to game was less... but now my kids are in their teens, I get more time again. And it's not that I spend absurd amounts on games... but just too much on unplayed games ^^
Here's another one to add to the pile. Neglecting friendships you've made in and out of games. Especially as a result of them playing something different.
I feel like these videos are helping me figure out whats going on with my backlog of games and my weird behavior of just sitting on the home screen on my consoles and doom scrolling social media instead. this is helpful. Thank you so much for this.
I definetely prefer playing multiple games at the same time because of the variety. Some times you want to play that dense intricate RPG, but sometimes you just wanna chill hop between buildings in spiderman, or even play that slow nintendo game that relaxes you before bed. But you touched gold on tip #1. I always limit it to some extent in the genres, otherwise it becomes a bit of a hassle remembering commands, plots, mechanics and everything everytim. Not only that but the fact that when I think of what i wanna play in a session i normally think in generic terms like: "Today i wanna play a colorful easy game" or "today i wanna play some dark heavy story" etc etc. so its hard for me to pick when there's multiple in the same category. Helps me to only have downloaded one game from each of these made up categories that i already know alligns with certain moods of mine xD
About guides: I remember a friend told me "No guides for the first run. After that do whatever you like", and unless I'm really stuck I do enjoy my first run even if I *later* find out I missed some good optional parts of a game. About the last point: that's some good advice. I'll try it myself so that I'll accomplish more (even just menial tasks) and feel more rewarded both for a clearer conscience *and* for gaming 😊
For me now, one bad habit is to rely too much on achievements and completion. One have to accept that there are games that can never be completed. Recently I got banned for Forza Horizon 5 without any reason, a game where I put more than 820 hours playing, and the ban will be lifted when I get 60 years old. That's out of our control and some games are impossible to complete due servers closure and that sort of things, but it feels bad when you're a completionist and perfectionist yourself...
My worst habit is definitely looking up solutions too quickly and too often. I also have a tendency to try and juggle too many games at once, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Portal 2, and Ni No Kuni Wrath of the White Witch being the three I've been juggling recently.
Remember to play what you actually enjoy, not what you are expected to play. The biggest games these days usually aren't designed to be enjoyed - they are designed to make you addicted and take your money.
The timing of this! I actually am going to be making a video on being a patient gamer. Uninstalling all the games in your library and only picking one. Play it. Experience it. Explore. Discover. Get lost in its world and story. Then move onto the next game. But don’t game hop.
I like to always give any puzzles and anything that stumps me in a game a solid effort and time allowance before I look it up. Once i've put in solid effort and exhausted any ideas, then I finally give in
Kek thats when you are so close to getting it I spent 3 days in final fantasy 7 trying to find what where to find the keystone after wandering around the map I found the lone house and everything went smooth from there , its always so close to the end but you never notice it.
My worse gaming habit is always looking at the trophy list beforehand and allowing it to influence my purchasing decision. If some of the trophies are unobtainable for some reason I'd probably skip. Of course, I don't platinum every game that I play but I want to have this option in case I fall in love with the game.
I never expect to win on the first try. I expect to win on the *second* try. The irony is that the backdrop for this section was Mantis Lords, which was one of the few Hollow Knight bosses I beat first try.
My bad habit is speedrunning new game. I get much more enjoyment out of beating my time, finding alternate routes and bugs than I do out of that game's story. I end up dropping it after 100-300 hours in one game and have no idea what's even going on there. And I hate that I can't just enjoy the game, just be.
Great content! I'm in fact one of those who tried playing too many games at once that it became rare for me to finish games nowadays. I've been struggling with that for a long time since I love the games that I play, but I also get distracted by the other games that I want to play. If anything, I'd definitely want a compilation of advices on how to be patient, consistent and to finish your game while managing the burnout or anything that comes in between that may prevent you from finishing it. Another is how do people manage having multiple games while can still catch up back with their old games later on, which I do by keeping a spreadsheet with the list of my to dos and the last things I did in the said game.
the last advice hit me so hard. I remember when my depression was so intense that I was playing without fun. I played many hours because I couldn't sleep but I wasn't having fun even with my favorite games. Nowadays, I have a better routine at college, go to therapy sessions and I can enjoy games.
One thing I need to stop doing is going onto things like YT to watch videos about the game, pros/cons, reviews, playthroughts, etc., unless the game is like Terraria old and finished because it definitely kills my interest in games.
Excellent video. Most of these points resonated with me. I think the most important part was balance. Using digital tech to suppress and numb out emotions is a real danger. Especially if we have a lot of unresolved trauma as well. It will cause a lot of issues down the road. Our bodies weren't designed to be in these environments, nor to have constant hyperstimuli 24/7. Very important to mindfully use these devices. Simplifying our lives. We don't have to know everything that is happening in all areas of life at all times. There's just too much going on now. It's near impossible, not healthy and not necessary.
My bad habit was trying to get a platinum or 100% achievements in EVERY game i played. It ruined my experience many times. But solution to this problem was really, really simple. Just 100% games you really enjoyed and after finishing the story or campaing you still want more.
Back in the late aughties and early teens achievements in games often unlocked extra bonuses or 'cheats' which made subsequent play-thrus more interesting or quirky. They don't anymore and NO ONE sees my achievements but me, so it is kind of a waste of time. But hey, if they add an extra challenge dimension to gaming to you, have at it; you do you!
@@brianfox771ac4 black flag is really yet another proof of why that game is a gem, almost one of a kind. This game is fairly modern and yet also has the cheat unlocks built in with challenges/achievements. It does so many things right, time will prove that in the future.
This is something I’ve had to work on. I don’t specifically go for platinums but I do get worried about progressing games and missing out of completing everything optional . Then I would just get burned out or not even really care about the main story line. I’m slowly desensitizing to missing out and just moving games along that really are fun but aren’t worth the 100%.
I would love to see a video on point 10. Like I realize what's important, is to not play out of boredom. Which might seem strange, but when I just play out of boredom, I basically repeat all the bad habits. Like everything for me, games should get love and attention, maybe too for relaxing here and there. There's a saying: how a man does one thing, is how he does everything. What does that say if I just do stuff out of boredom and not any passion whatsoever?
One way to counteract #8 is to see if there are any games any of your friends have played, I have found it extremely rewarding to play a game with a friend so that when you are getting to that point of frustration because you are unsure what to do, they can point you in a solid direction with a tip or hint. I personally find it slightly difficult to play open world games by myself as I get so overwhelmed so having that slight guidance so you can remain blind in your gameplay really does wonders, helped me really enjoy a few games like Elden Ring and Hollow Knight for example. I will also say that it is really rewarding being on the side watching your friend play a game you have played before, giving them hints every so often, it's like replaying the game because they can get just as excited as you once did.
Great video! Another point on difficulty is I've realized that some games I'm just not into overcoming difficult challenges and my interest is more in story and exploration. I am perfectly fine now with turning difficulty settings to easy to steamroll through the parts I don't like as much to get to the parts I do. Baldur's Gate 3 is the latest example of this for me. I'm having a much better, less frustrating time now after just simply setting the difficulty to easy.
As a crossover of competition and consulting the internet, I’ve definitely suffered from overindulging in imaginary competition… It can be tempting to exclusively build metas and min-max even when you realistically have no opportunity or even intention to compete…
I have a bad habit of juggling my games. One thing that helps with that is dividing my steam library into different genre lists so I can pick a game depending on what I'm in the mood for.
As a small channel that is uploading lets plays, and many of them are blind I sit in a weird spot where I hate feeling like I was wasting a viewers time. I hate when anger slips into recordings, but in blind runs if I know we have spent hours on something with 0 progress I don't mind looking up stuff. I can do basic editing to edit out large bits of fails, but to me I just want a viewer to not watch hours of fails. I enjoy save scumming and other little things because I like getting a move on. I leave in anger if I feel my rants had a point, but I often mute the audio in editing if I feel like I got a bit to heated. My problem is the slope of trying to make an easy to watch video, that is not hours of losing to one thing or being 100% lost. Blind runs have been my go to way to play games, on my backlog. Same for my brother as I let him play stuff too, as we do commentary together. The thing is I know the point is not knowing what to do, but once that goes on awhile I feel like I wasted time. Because that makes me feel like I wasted a recording and now need a whole part to correct whatever I feel I ruined. So for me it's a weird mess of trying to be blind and unfiltered while also looking up stuff to save time because I hate feeling like our parts are huge time wasters. I mean we are not super watched as it is, so it makes me double down to try and remove very large time wasting loss.
Biggest bad habit I’ve developed with gaming is this need to get into a flow. When I start a game I absolutely require a stretch of tim full available to get into kind of a flow state and get my brain invested. If at any point I get distracted or interrupted it is incredibly difficult to keep playing without just starting over.
Playing for too long. I’ve fallen in love with games like Jalopy and Hardspace Shipbreaker. They are both very episodic in nature, wherein the game forces you to pause at the end of each game day (20-30 minutes playtime). This pause is amazing because it gives the perfect opportunity to put the game down without worrying about what you’ll miss if you stop, and gives you a moment to reflect on and appreciate the time you just spent playing it.
If I get frustrated to the point I want to quit a game I'm definitely looking up a solution 😆 because that ruins the fun for me too yeah it would feel better if I figured it out on my own but I'm very thankful for UA-cam tutorials nowadays because back in the day I completed way less games because of frustration. But, overall I agree with this list. Nice video.
100% I've only just recently started to just stop and appreciate the game, the world. It's easy to go through the motions of the game and miss out on the sounds, the trees rustling, the steps underneath you. Like an RPG, taking my time to just walk around, not run, has made me enjoy the world so much more
Save scumming has become a problem for me emulating games, I tell myself I'm justified cuz back then, games would be designed to have skill checks to prevent you from completing them in one sitting and stuff... But I know sometimes I just wonder "I don't feel like making up a strategy to beat this, can i just bash my head against it until it budges without wasting resources?" and it cheapens my immersion
I used to enjoy gaming SO MUCH, wouldn’t matter what game. Then, a few years ago, I downloaded Genshin Impact. Immediately fell in love with everything, open world, collecting, story line, characters etc. I played every day for at least 4+ hours for like 2/3 years… but this year, i just couldn’t open the game. I just don’t have the attention span or the motivation to play it anymore. So I tried playing other games but nothing was fulfilling anymore. Playing Genshin ruined gaming for me. I really want to go back to gaming but I just can’t figure out how I could enjoy it again…
You'll get back in time. Same happened to me with destiny. After a got rid of my intoxication from the game I swore I would never play another live service, gatcha, endless game ever again. Gaming was great again.
Interesting, my experience was the complete opposite. Played games all the time as a kid, but lost it completely in my teens. Then Genshin came around and thanks it I finally enjoy games again. I do think a big part is not burning yourself out though; I know countless others like you who have burned out on Genshin, which is obviously awful, and I'm very sorry for you (though like others said, with time that spark WILL reignite again). But for me, I just stick to half an hour a day, maybe an hour or two every other weekend, and it's completely reignited my gaming spark. Thanks to that I can enjoy other games again as well, so I'll always be grateful to Genshin for that.
I experience this in a small way when I have been into a certain game for a long time. It has just become very comfortable and takes very little investment to get your dopamine. But then when eventually you do get bored of that game and the dopamine stops coming, when you try to go to another game it's hard to transition because this game is unfamiliar and it takes some investment before you get the dopamine (you have to learn new mechanics or need to git gud). Your brain has become so used to having this very easy lazy way of getting dopamine that it doesn't see this new game as being worth it since it doesn't immediately reward you. As for what to do about it, yeah like others said try taking a break from gaming. I usually go through periods where almost all my free time goes into gaming, but then I switch to a period where I'm watching a lot more Netflix or something. Don't force it, as that's probably just going to make it worse.
Thank you for making this video Mark! Being mindful of our consumption and habits in life is one of the most important things we can possibly do. You made a fantastic video (with great tips) and am very grateful to have watched it. Cheers!
I love this, I feel like I've been falling out of love with gaming recently due to the overall low morale I've been feeling with games. I used to implement a lot of the solutions to those bad habits, but they have eroded recently. This was very helpful, thanks for making it.
Excellent video, and I find as Ive gotten older I really do have to change the way I play games in order for them to still feel as rewarding as they did in years past. Keep up the great work man, looking forward to future content.
Yes! Mindful gaming is important. You get what you give and if you put forth no effort there will be little fun. Focus your attention on the game, challenge yourself with difficulty, review progress in a game, talk about it with friends, rate games upon completion. If you really dive into the hobby it becomes so much more wonderful
Save scumming sounds like a lame way to tell people "you should play the way i do or you suck/etc/etc/etc". Btw, the "not the intentional experience" is nonsense. We forge our own experiences. Also, forget that "to lose in games is good" mentality. Not everyone love trial and error in games built around dying a lot.
Bad habit I recently got over: being a completionist. I realized this made games a chore rather than being fun. My rule now is that when I play a game, I tell myself I’ll play it again someday. And I ignore trophies. That way, if I miss something, oh well! I’ll get another chance at it. Doing this has really helped.
I actually disagree with point 1. I’m not good at focusing and my mood changes a lot and I like playing a variety of games at the same time to fit my mood
My issue is that I work in video games... It's incredibly taxing mentally, so when I get home I crave something less involved mentally so I can slow down my brain. I've been getting better at hopping on a video game when I get home though ! Which is a relief because playing games is the reason I now work in this industry haha I started by playing open worlds because they were more laid back and easy to progress into (even if Elden Ring was among those, this game puts me in a relaxed trance 95% of the time, and I leave the 5% bosses for the weekend) Astro Bot is the first game in forever that I actively want to get back home to experience ! So much joy packed in this game !
I have a pretty hectic work/life balance. My biggest struggle is staying engaged long enough to finish a game. It's become a big enough issue that I just don't buy new games anymore. Recent rare exceptions for me were Hi-Fi Rush (which I'm still halfheartedly hunting achievements for) and TOTK. The last time I sat down to play a new game was Lies of P which I got really sucked into, but then I got called into work. It's really hard to disengage from a game like that, then try to pick it up later. I'd love to say I could beat this kind of game but at my age and with my commitments, I honestly find it intimidating.
I need to try this in my own gaming life because sometimes, I either feel like I've played all there is to play because it feels too same-like OR I just sit at my desk WANTING to play a game, but I just get paralyzed at what to play; while also contesting with what I **feel** like playing. Very well thought out video essay. Well done. P.S. I love your balance of music and establishing points with them! When it came to the last one, I just felt a weight shift; a melanchoic feel because I INSTANTLY knew that musical piece from Final Fantasy X and the sense those moments in THAT game and feeling how it could tie into this in the end of this video. I applaud you, sir!
My game crashed and saving often saved me from having to replay long stretches to get back to where I was and redoing annoying gameplay before the crash. So I don't think that's a bad habit.
Nothing Wrong With Save Scumming. I Learned My Lesson When A File For A Song I Was Working On, Became Corrupted. Ever Since I Save Multiple Copies of The Same Save, or Same Project.
You definitely don't wanna waste any time. But I think the issue he was actually trying to get at is whenever you have a bad luck you might reload to run the dice until you get the best result which ends up wasting a ton of time and lack the genuine experience. I know this because I actually fell in that rabbit hole in Battle for Wesnoth. It's a good game but I can't not do that for some reason. Forcing the best result when the game does not require it can make it totally daunting. It's an anti-fun habit.
Something you didn’t mention which I feel kind of ties in with the first one is the FOMO of play. Something like TotK I just ended up putting down because there’s SO MUCH stuff to do and explore. In my mind, I want to experience it all! So I end up falling into a pattern of just completing things because I want to say that I’ve done it. After a point I realise I’m ticking boxes off of a list and it becomes a chore. By being invested and wanting to see it all, I’ve just put myself off the game that I like
I have developed the habit of waiting until a title has been released and starts selling at firesale prices before I purchase it. I not only get a great price on the game but I also first experience it after the bugs have been found and generally fixed and any updates or gameplay balance issues have been ironed out as well on my initial playthrough hence giving me a better experience. I have only a very small number of game franchises I buy at full price on initial release more to support the studio and franchise than anything else. The last two games I have pre ordered basically I waited months for the issues to be fixed before ever playing. These days most of the titles I buy are multiple years old and at rock bottom prices but mostly well reviewed and highly rated games I have not played or classics I may have played on a different platform years ago that I want to revisit. I do find that many remastered older games are so much better than the newest titles that are so poorly optimized that they do not even run well with the latest CPU and/or 4090 class GPU. When it comes to newly released titles the older "disc" based releases were usually much more a finished and polished released product than the hot mess we often see the newer games in their initial release state. I wonder sometimes if the devs are just getting lazier or if the gaming community has just gotten more complacent as far as buying games which out of the gate are inherently broken? May its a combination of the two! I do usually limit myself to about two games at a time max and then they must be different genre games as well.
My personal worst habit that I've realized is a doozy that I feel should be mentioned. It's a habit that I think most of the gaming industry seems to be leaning towards to promote, which is a bit sad. That habit is simply forgoing genuine enjoyment of a game in favor of the satisfaction of progress. Or simply put, treating games like a digital checklist of things to do rather than an immersive experience. Too many times I've caught myself doing something I don't want to do for the sake of progress towards "something" and intentionally avoiding things I DO want to do because they are a dead end in terms of progress.
Bad habit #1 is definitely not me as I'll usually spend most my trying to get the most out of one game with maybe a second or third one at most. Hence my huge backlog. My worst gaming habit is that I'll often buy new games when they just come out paying a premium price for them and not get to them until months or years later. By then I could have waited and purchased them later at a cheaper price but I always fear that they will become rare and/or hard to find at an even higher price.
Thank you very VERY much for this video. It is comforting to know I’m not the only one who struggles like this from time to time. I will be rewatching and making notes!
14:34 I might not have found that out on my own but at least I didn't look it up either. I was playing with friends when it basically came up, "Hey, did you know you could bury a bag of money in that shining hole?" We also exchanged so much other things about that game.
My bad habit is a varient of overindulgence in competition, and thats pushing myself too hard to complete difficult challenges in games. This can be especially bad if i have already had a challenging or difficult day. I made it a point to have 2 games max that i focus on, with one being laid back and one i push my limits in. And ill select which of the 2 to play based on how my day has gone up to that point.
I enjoy hard games, up to a point. Like, on the one hand, I feel like I play some of them to get gamer credibility even though I'm only having a 4.5/10 fun level; on the other hand, pulling off difficult challenges is kind of the fun substance of games, and going for easy wins all the time is a recipe for burnout (research shows that seeking happiness is the fastest way to not find it lol). We've seen it time and time again with WoW Retail vs WoW Classic, retail has such a streamlined and smooth experience, it feels kinda dull, while WoW Classic, and especially Vanilla had more of that friction, tangible annoyances and quality of life issues, actually feels more alive and organic, grounded and immersive. Going from smashing 3000 wild trashmobs a day and feeling nothing, to getting bodyslammed by 1 named npc at level 15 does kinda wake you up, and I did notice I preferred that. Soloing elite mobs is like a puzzle, and I like puzzles. I guess I enjoy the theory part a lot, and then SOME amount of practice. But then you get to Celeste true 100% and it just turns bonkers stupid. Like I could probably do it, I "just" have to spend another 500h practicing to slowly get through that, and I'm like... yeah I don't need the gamer cred that badly lol. My conclusion is: play what you love, and then if it gets stupid, stop :P I loved quake 3 enough to beat it at nightmare difficulty, I loved F Zero X & GX enough to beat them 100% at master difficulty/very hard story mode (minus staff ghosts because: it gets stupid.), I loved megaman X enough to speedrun it until I got a wrist injury lol, anyway. So yeah the closest issue i have is "getting too into competitive stuff" but with solo games, thankfully got none of the other 9 issues hehe.
My list of habits that make games less fun: 1. Using cheat codes before trying to accomplish anything myself. 2. Looking up all secret locations and tricks of the game beforehand, meaning that there is nothing for me to explore any more (surprise is ruined) and the game becomes far less challenging. 3. Watching playthroughs of this video game on the Internet, which spoils the surprise of what is to come in every new level - and how to beat those levels. 4. Watching in-depth reviews of this game, where every single little annoyance and strength of the game is being shown. I prefer to find out about these on my own, rather than opening a game with prior knowledge that will affect my final verdict due to prejudice.
Nice video, some actual useful substance. Regarding 'discourse', I think gamers should understand that most of the discourse surrounding a game immediately after release is highly reactionary. Part of that is inherent, as first impressions can have a big impact, but many people also enjoy just piling on and kind of going with the popular narrative, even if they had no first hand experience with a game. And it can get out of hand early on, both in terms of praise and criticism. If you're trying to get a good idea about a game from user impressions(which is worthwhile), it's often a good idea to let things cool down a bit. If you can be a bit patient, give it a week or so and you'll start to see more grounded and comprehensive views about a game.
#1 never used to be an issue for me because it was a pain to swap disks between games & hard drives were so small that you could never really have more than a couple of big games installed at a time. Then steam & bigger hard drives came along :(
Thank you for the video. You have inspired me to not fall into the depths of maximizing the algorithm over the sole reason I started content creating recently -- Expressing my passion for video games (and in part, internet culture). This is the most genuine content I've watch in a hot minute. May you continue to share everything you have to say with us.
5:20 I had an experience like this I was playing the game ancestors and to be honest the game got repetitive after a while the last straw for me was when I passed a generation(basically leveling up and legacying) the game put my tribe in a horrible position that was the last straw especially after I spent hours trying to fix it
I have a bad habit of mindlessly playing through games and just going through the motions. Sure, sometimes a view catches my eye or I find an interesting quest to take on, but when push comes to shove, I end up interacting with the game's mechanics way less than I should. I sometimes tunnel vision into the main quest because of its flow, but end up missing a significant portion of what the game can offer.
i'd say that for point 2, if a game that you feel invested in starts feeling repetitive, instead of watching the final cutscenes on youtube, put the game down for a couple of weeks or even months and then pick it up from where you've left. If you watch a youtube video for the conclusion of a game, you're robbing yourself of having actually experienced it. There's a reason you've put in 40, 50, 60 hours. Watching the final cutscenes on youtube gives you that instant gratification but doesn't give you the experience of actually going through it yourself, which is a whole different thing.
15:10 yeah, but there are some times that i'm stuck in a fixed screen position and can't figure out where the entrance or exit to something is, and round around the area for like 10-20 minutes and then look it up lol
This video came through at just the right time for me. I’m currently experiencing gaming wanderlust. I just beat a big open world game and now I don’t know what to play. Part of it is having way too many games over all my systems. I have huge backlogs on PS5, Series X and Switch and I find myself unable to make a decision over what to tackle next. You’ve earned yourself a sub. 👍
I recently decided to create a DNF (Did not Finish) collection in my Steam Library. I've been playing Shadow of War and I really want to like it b/c I loved Shadow of Morder which I finished a few years ago, but the last couple of gaming sessions, I've had to admit to myself that they felt like a chore and I wasn't enjoying myself after a certain moment. Then I saw a review video of someone I've been following for a few years who reviews games after 100%-ing them (and who is the most dedicated gamer/reviewer I know of) and he couldn't finish SoW because it became such a grind to him so I've lost all my motivation now. On the other hand, I started Dishonored for the first time and while I wasn't feeling up to it a few days ago, I used the "2 minute rule" from one of your other video's (telling myself I'm just going to play for 2 minutes) and before I knew it, I had been playing for over an hour and was completely immersed in the game. So I guess I shouldn't feel bad to drop Shadow of War in favor of the Dishonored trilogy :)
I’m happy I already expelled these 10 bad habits and i’m very glad you came to the same conclusions! Just one thing, it’s not bad to jump around from game to game, it’s just a different way to consume games. You’ll miss many things but you’ll also get to try many more experiences. Thanks for the great video explaining everything with clarity! Subscribed 😊
My biggest gaming bad habit is a bit of a strange one I strongly admire video games as an art form, and want to be able to experience and appreciate every aspect of it. I know how much work is put into every miniscule detail, and I am going to make sure they're seen, dammit. Unfortunately, this has ended up with me having a strange habit of caring too much about the """intended experience""" of games, which in reality, has led to me experiencing zero player expression. I always use the default names of characters. I never customize any armour or named characters. (If its supposed to be me, I do, if theyre already a character, like link from botw or the dog from chicory, I do not). I always play on the default difficulty. I don't put my characters in silly outfits during cutscenes. I need everyone to shut up during the credits so I can hear the music. I don't do any silly gimmick builds. I end up going for 100% completion beyond what's fun In my quest for completely appreciate every aspect of a game, I end up missing out on very intentional bits of expression and, well, fun
This is interesting. I can relate to this to a less extreme degree. I would suggest forcing yourself to experiment in short bursts or certain context. For example, if it's BotW and you think the Switch shirt is kinda funny but don't want to taint the sanctity of the character that is Link and look a fool while you do the story, maybe just wear it for a few in game days while exploring. If you really like immersion, maybe do something like roleplay a not too unrealistic scenario where your clothes got "damaged" or otherwise "dirty" while you were in a particularly nasty scrap or from wear and tear and so while you're out in the world you're gonna dress a bit differently until x amount of time passes or you get to the best laundromat in the world at Zora's Domain or something lmao.
#7 is the reason why I refuse to take part in any gaming community. There's always something that people will endlessly whine about it and paint the game in such a negative light that I wonder if these people even find any joy in playing games. It sucks the energy out of you.
There's this game reviewer from Australia. Can't remember his name, but if you go through his video list he almost recommends NO games, lmao. Super negative about pretty much every game. Of course I don't listen to a thing he says, but it is kind of hilarious in a shameful way.
Some of them are grifters hating the games because of some hidden agenda. Once you see what they really are, it's easier to ignore the noise and decide for yourself.
Exactly I was so happy when I played silent hill the moment I went into reddit to see what people think it went 180 degrees , same for goes resident evil and specifically the RE3 remake I haven't played it but people were saying its bad and very short having seen the tip of the iceberg I decided to never interact with the resident evil or silent hill communities ever again.
I find that (intentionally or not) I fell into the habit of only playing my nintendo switch when traveling. Given the amount of time that "travel" actually represents for me, I wasn't playing my switch hardly at all and basically haven't finished a switch game aside for BotW since the system launch. Trying to change that by playing it at home sometimes too... might get a TV to hook it up to
I didn't need this video as I've learned all of these and have been trying to get people that I play with to follow these "philosophies". This is how you truly enjoy games and im glad you made the video so that I may share it with my friends.
Its interesting because as an Adult without [as] shitty of a life to escape from I've actually naturally broke most of these habits. Granted there are still games I dump thousands and thousands of hours into (Monster Hunter and Satisfactory) but other than that I play a game 'til I'm satisfied and move on. The difficulty one is something I still need to move past. I dropped Monster Hunter World for a long time because I refused to engage with Alatreon, I still haven't beaten him and rather started over on PC. But other than that being in control of my life, my time, and my money kinda guided me into appreciating the games I have, carefully choosing what I buy, and not playing them more than their worth stopping them from being a chore.
My bad habit isn't even that I spend too much of my free time playing games, its that I don't spend enough.
I go to work and have hectic days and when I come back home, rather than kick back to a game that I've probably been fantasising about playing all day, I just mindlessly watch a random movie or scroll UA-cam
Would definitely like to explore this concept in a future video-I've experienced it a handful of times and others have talked about it as well
I've had this happen to me on occasion. If it's a game that maybe is fairly new that you're excited about, save a video to hype yourself up for when you get home to get your mojo up and see if that motivates you to break the spell and play. It's a cool two-for-one special of comfortably aligning with your habit of getting on UA-cam anyway but also stoking the desire to play.
@@Taima wow, that actually makes sense. Thank you
@@touch2start Glad to be of help :)
I've been there. I was too tired to start engaging with my games for years, and the only ones I'd manage to commit time to were the ones that offered a familiar daily grind. Most of the time I just sat down with UA-cam or Netflix instead.
I think that if you plan ahead and put yourself in a mindset to push through that initial "get started" hurdle, you'll quickly find yourself having a good time with the game.
I also started logging my game experiences on Mastodon, which helps me stay focused until I actively decide that I'm done with the game. Be that because I've finished it, 100%ed it, or just realized that I don't want to keep playing it.
1. Too many games at once 2:37
2. Not knowing when to put a game down 4:17
3. Expect to win everything at first try 5:45
4. Not trying different playstyles 7:07
5. Not appreciating the beauty of games 9:03
6. overindulging in competition 10:41
7. Following the discourse too closely 11:54
8. Relying too much on the internet for help 13:30
9. Only playing new and popular games 15:31
10. No adequate balance in life 17:01
Thank you
thanks , you save my 20 MINUTes
6 is like half of gamers these days
Thanks. these video essays yap too much filling it with filler segments just to make the video longer, making it so hard to watch.
To #8 I cannot relate if the game is wiki-heavy like Terraria or Stardew Valley.
I would add point 11. Don't buy games "for later". There is high probability that there will be more good occasions to buy more games "for later" because of great sale, super deal and other reasons - and you will end up with "pile of shame" that may turn your hobby into chore, or strip you of any pleasure doing so,because "you have to play them all".
If you buy game, or have it for free - at least run it and check out. And don't feel bad about ditching games you don't like or don't feel like playing - you're probably not a content creator, streamer, or professional reviewer - nobody and nothing forces you to play anything you don't want to. The concept of "Pile of shame" also shouldn't do so.
Thus don't build one, and don't cope with one.
Haha, I'm definitely guilty of the "pile of shame" from Steam sales, old Humble Bundles, etc. I've improved on that a lot, though. I completely agree about not feeling bad about ditching a game. That's the number one thing that helped me. I used to always complete games no matter what. Now, once I realize it's not fun anymore, I drop that game SO FAST. I can appreciate the fun I had in the first 20 hours, but don't feel bad about not slogging through the other 30.
@@Kryxx07 It's good you got over with it.
For me as a former content creator (w/o success, but that's life) building a pile of shame was easy - I need this stuff and I must get it cheap attitude all along. Same with struggling with games - I must pass at least here, because I want to review it. Those principles grew into habits, and even after years I'm still prone to be tempted by sale or two, and can't help but take EGS freebies - I'm still struggling to avoid getting more that I can play, but at least I spent less money.
The massive pile of shame remained of course. Sometimes it's hard to not feel guilty about all these games I still haven't played, but well - I probably never would play them all - and it's fine as long as I have fun playing no matter what I'm playing, I guess.
Judge, I plea guilty
i agree for digital collections like steam libraries that it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes and personally i'm terrible about going through single player pc games, but i like having a large enough physical collection of console games i can choose from and go through one by one. i feel more sense of accomplishment that way and have a goal to look forward to because i'll want to get to the next game
Damn.
My personal list:
1 - Hoarding consumables / items with limited uses for that "special moment" that never comes.
2 - Skipping / skimming dialog and/or inferring the meaning just from the dialog options presented.
3 - Optimising the fun out - this could be considered a playstyle I suppose but being finnicky about minutia can really suck the fun out of a game.
4 - Obsessing over / ignoring achievements. Frustrating myself to get an achievement, or failing to challenge myself by ignoring them.
5 - Compulsively collecting everything / breaking/looting every box, chest etc even though I don't need to.
6 - Negative comparisons with other gamers - feelings of inadequacy when comparing my skills to others - this is even true for non-competitive creative games like satisfactory or NMS.
7 - Buying a multiplayer or co-op game then convincing my friends to buy it too so I don't have to "play it alone".
8 - Having something playing in the background while I game. I'm effectively spoiling the game (neglecting immersion / sound design) and not paying proper attention to whatever I'm listening to. Also I feel if I'm not finding the game stimulating enough that I need secondary entertainment while I play, I should probably find a different game to play...That said, sometimes listening to music while gaming can really enhance my gaming experience so this one is situational.
#6 is so true for me as a DMC player!! I really have to quit that
heheh, this list you provided in the comment is much better than the actual video
If you want to break #1, play some roguelikes. Not so much the newer ones like Hades, but the classic ones like Nethack, ToME, Jupiter Hell, or Angband. Not using items you need when you need them, even if it's not the perfect time, will end your run then and there, so the perfect time will definitely not come.
ouhh your 8th point is smth that i also noticed 2 weeks ago. i like it if i have a stream in the background with such a low volume that i can 95% focus on the game i'm playing. but that only works for handheld games where the "stream sound" comes from a different source.
but for the last months i played a game on my first monitor and was watching videos on my second. the game only had like 10% focus and the video was on full volume and the game on very low. the game just felt like a chore then. and i felt overstimulated.. so i just removed my second monitor and feel way better since then haha
Point 8 really depends on the game. Sure most games it fits, if I wanna play RDR2 I would never watch UA-cam besides it. However a slow burn map painter like most Paradox games or Civ (or finicky turn based games in general that don’t provide story) you can be sure I’m gonna watch that 4 hour Pokémon iceberg in the background.
Teenage me: Why do I have to finish my chores just to play games?!
Me now: I can't wait to finish my chores so I can play games!
Yeah, our parents were on to something there.
Facts 😅 i get everything else out the way before gaming so i can fullly immerse undistracted
"The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted." - Bertrand Russell
As someone in my 30s, I find it hard to get motivated to play games like I used to. My issue isn't playing too much; it's actually not playing enough. Whenever I do sit down to game, I feel this lingering guilt that I should be doing something more 'productive.' I came across this video hoping to find a solution, to rediscover that joy I used to feel without the weight of guilt hanging over me. It's reassuring to see content like this, reminding me that it's okay to take time to enjoy something for myself. Thank you.
I'm 36 and can't even imagine this. Videogames are one of the rare things I really like in life and I make sure I play every day. Rare are the days I don't play and they have to be something really important or unique for me to skip gaming. Are you too busy, or enjoy many other things or?... just curious : )
31 here. I somewhat get what you mean. I have a girlfriend, a dog, and rich social life. On a good week I get maybe 10 hours of gaming. That’s time I make because it’s a priority for me. That’s how I truly relax, and recharge my social batteries as well as finding some sense of peace of mind. I don’t feel guilty about it and I very open and honest about this to my family and friends. Enjoy my guy
I sincerely love the feeling of finally getting to a modern classic years, even decades after they've been released. There's just something very intimate about feeling like you're probably one of very few people playing this huge game right now. Games i did this with and adore now are the Mass Effect, Persona and Metal Gear Solid series, Red Dead Redemption, Hollow Knight, Super Metroid, Slay the Spire and so many more.
not trying to be rude, but I don't think any of those games you mentioned are ones you were the only person playing at the time. I expected Tony Hawk 1, Tenchu, or Knack 2
Hollow Knight? Slay the Spire? These are hella popular modern games
Yeah, I checked on SteamDB, and all of those games except of Metal Gear and Metroid have 1000+ people playing them at the moment on Steam. Slay the Spire has more than 10 000.
Damn I dont like any of the games you mentioned. I like other underrated games like Wipeout, Soul Reaver, Beyond good and evil, Tomb Raider 😂
I loved NES Metroid. I loved Metroid Prime. I only played Super Metroid this year. Never had time for it. What a fun time. I hear you.
This is true.. finish Silent Hills 1 and man those japaneses fellas know's how to coock
I would add "Playing the game superficially", not engaging with all the variety of systems the game provides, not learning the rules/mechanics, just generally brute forcing through the game, because it requires the least amount of your attention and investment, as a result, the outcome will not be big as well. In the best case you will not get the full enjoyment out of the game, in the worst - you will hate the experience.
This is applyed to all slasher/fighting games I play, I just spam buttons and try to hit the same combos again and again, not willing to get better. For example, I played with my friends in Brawlhalla, and they learned my patterns to the point I could not beat them, but my muscle memory forced me to do that again and again. While they were learning new combos, I was not willing to experiment, so my skill level did not rise.
I am guilty of all of these bad habits, as well as mindlessly scrolling through online sales for hours looking for new games/deals, wasting time I could be spending playing any of the hundreds of games I already own digitally
That’s why I switched to physical copies only. Bought PS5 with disc drive and treated it as a fresh start and I only search for some deals on used games for it. It made me appreciate them much more and I feel urge to finish one game before purchasing another one.
And then you finally buy a game, and you end up not even playing it. Then, months later, you notice it got put on game pass.
and the worst of all is that when you continue buying DLC relating to your digital games library that you have never play them at all !!
Timestamps and chapter titles (if you copy these into the description Mark, UA-cam should pick these up and add chapter navigation to the video):
0:00 It is possible to develop bad habits from playing games mindlessly
1:08 Bad habits form from prioritizing near-term over longer-term rewards
2:35 1. Trying to play too many games at once
4:16 2. Continuing to play a game when it's no longer fun
5:45 3. Getting upset when a game's difficulty increases
7:06 4. Playing the same way in every game
9:02 5. Not appreciating games holistically
10:41 6. Getting too engrossed in PvP
11:53 7. Allowing others to form opinions of games for you
13:29 8. Defaulting to guides instead of figuring things out on your own
15:30 9. Playing only "the latest and greatest" games
17:00 10. Overindulging in games
19:32 You are not alone. What gaming habits do you struggle with?
I do like how this video isn't pessimistic and explores the whys and how you might counteract each of these. It's a good watch!
thank you friendly neighborhood timestamp guy
Thank you! I don't have time to watch this video so for now, I'd like to just get the overview.
Thank you for your service.
Thank you for saving me 20 minutes of my life.
another habit that’s been a double edged sword for me is multitasking youtube videos/podcasts while playing. with my adhd, it was initially helpful for my grinding and farming. however, i started doing it more and more to the point I was barely following the story and numbing myself out of the narrative overall by not fully engaging.
same, adhd conundrum of struggling to focus on just one thing, but struggling with multitasking, too XD
Yessss. I look forward to getting through my podcasts while running some quests.
I started that in my 20s and now I’m almost 40 and my focus is absolutely fried. Try to make better habits now and your future successful self will be thanking you ten years from now with an awesome and successful life.
definitely a valid approach to some games. I play a bunch of rather mechanical games, arcade titles, retro games, that have no relevant plot but revolve around skill mastery and repetition. Grinding through that basic exposure to the controls, mechanics and getting the muscle memory into your system often lets my mind wander. I prefer to have slow storytelling going on in the background, like TTRPG actual plays.
A habit I picked up when playing Warframe. What I do now is that I compartmentalize. I have my chill podcast games, like Warframe or Dungeon Defenders 2, or basically any game I can just engage with on a casual basis repeating simple tasks for progression.
And then there are my "main games" where at most I'll be on a call with a friend I'm playing with, like Vermintide 2 or BG3.
In response to number one, I actually had the opposite problem. I only ever focused on one game and I refused to move on until I beat it. Then I just stopped gaming for years cause I didn't wanna play that game but I also didn't want to move on and end up never completing it.
I solved this by allowing myself to play multiple games at a time and my gaming hobby is alive and well.
I know your second point goes over when to drop games, I've gotten better with that as well :) My gaming life has been pretty good for the last year or so
Same. I'm not very good at putting away a game that is half finished, and that has sometimes led me to game less, since I may not always be sufficiently motivated for my "current" game. I've transitioned to having a pool of 2-4 single player games at a time, so there is always at least one tempting option when I have to opportunity to sit down and play.
I had almost the same thing. The difference for me is that I just played online games only while being stuck on a single player game
Being able to drop a game I don't like or playing several games is so liberating
Playing multiples always leads me to start more and more games until I started so many I don't know what to play anymore. I try to limit it to just 1 game but sometimes more.
10:00 thanks for pointing this out, artist are often not get enough regconized for their work, and i really appreciate that u brought this up
I beat all of the Dark Souls games solo, and I can say from experience that I don't gain much satisfaction from overcoming difficult challenges. Beating a boss, to me, is just a moment to think about the next one. The trial never actually ends until there's no more game left to play.
This is me. Never got that whole argument about overcoming difficult challenges.
The release of the tension built up by challenges.
That's a you thing not universal,i beat sekiro Alone without using guides or asking for help and i absolutely loved it,the bosses are some of the best in the industry and despite the fact that i Lost a lot against the final boss when i defeated him i felt good cause i didn't give up
Same happens to me. I don't enjoy that kind of games at all. It just increase my anxiety.
The issue with not expecting to fail is why I appreciate games like Shining Force, Monster Hunter World, and Baldur’s Gate 3. While you aren’t getting absolutely destroyed like in a Souls-like game, the games still aren’t afraid to remind you that failure is an option. Difficulty scaling is a lot easier to accept when the game starts with reasonable difficulty than when you’re running around beating up scrubs and there’s suddenly a boss.
Monster Hunter Worlds is a bad example. With the Souls series you will eventually win. The rpg system allows you to grind as much as you need to win. Monster Hunter World puts a cap on progression based on where you are in the game. Which is why the two Monster Hunter games I played resulted in as much as a 70+ hour stall on a mission followed by me quitting the game.
@ The Monster Hunter games also allow you to have that same kind of grind until you eventually win. If you keep going at something that you’re failing at instead of doing one of the many things you can to make progress towards a win (fight previous monsters for materials to upgrade gear, try different combinations based on skills/resistances, utilize SOS flares) then that’s a player problem, not a problem with the game. Upgrading gear comes in two ways - crafting better gear and literally upgrading armor to increase your defense.
It’s fine if the games aren’t for you. The point is that having a game give you reasonable chances at failure is much, much better than making you be completely godlike until you hit a wall.
@@jolteon345 No, even veteran players above my level recognize there is a difficulty curve which is abnormally sharp even for Monster Hunter World. Even with a wiki and online guides. There is a point where the game requires gear you can only obtain by progressing past the point in the game you are stuck on. That is not a player problem when the only way to win is perfect invincibility frames or some elite tech. A problem I encountered in both Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate and World + Icebourne dlc. You are far less skilled than you think and clearly less knowledgeable.
@@lanceknightmare You're making assumptions based on content that is well, well past what most normal players will even get near. I responded based on the reasonable presumption that we aren't talking about that point in the game because most people will put it down after Xeno'jiiva, if they make it that far. There will be people who only call that point "the beginning" but really its the start of the post-game content thanks to the story that was put in.
We were simply talking about two different points within the game. It's not a lack of skill/knowledge.
@@lanceknightmare I'm curious what part of the game you're talking about in World + Icebourne. I can't remember a part of the game like that, but it's been awhile.
juggling multiple games is definitely hard because it throws off your muscle memory so much. so many action games have timing mechanics like parrying, so many different types of combos and button inputs..
if youre going back and forth between several games you end up constantly feeling like youre re-learning even the basics for each game.
i tried Sifu while i had been playing through god of war and it messed me up so bad.
#1 speaks to me so deeply. Unless I’m playing a game I just bought and have been waiting for months or years to release, I’m all over the place. I think it has a little to do with whatever mood I’m in that particular day, and choice paralysis. Especially when I’ve just finished a big, 40 hour game, I feel a little lost and depressed after. I’m in that mode right now and am jumping all over the place trying to find a game that suits my current mood.
SAME
Fighting games have helped me overcome a lot of these bad habits. The patience to get good at one character, knowing that competition is only going to get stronger, and being able to say “this is the last game,” and put it down to go work on something else. RPGs suck you in so easily, and while they are great, sometimes you don’t have time to devote to a game like that, especially when you get older. Plus, the community is supportive, helpful, and very friendly.
FOMO is my bad habit in gaming, I spend too much time roaming and mindlessly exploring for fear of missing an achievement or a hidden path, to the point of ruining the experience sometimes.
I can't juggle between games, specially if they are too similar because I will get muscle memory passing from one to another. Normally I don't even play a game in the same genre right after finishing one.
But I do get where people who juggle come from because you're expecting them to "hook you" at the first minutes, and some games simply require some comitment to "click" for you.
The last one is definately THE BEST advice.
I'm sick of these youtube creators making the "Video games aren't fun anymore" videos. They're all over UA-cam, IG and Tiktok.
My borhter in christ you made playing video games YOUR ENTIRE JOB AND IDENTITY of course you're gonna get burned out.
Yeah it's funny, I'm a somewhat jaded, definitely cynical and angry old 32 year old going on 72 but even then I'm not inclined to agree with those "why gaming is dead/where are the good games/etc" and just get mad at them instead lol. They're the types of people to either, as you said, make it their job and identity and burn out, or only play whatever's hot right now, or play a game tens of hours beyond where they feel done with it for the sake of completion for content or otherwise, or ignorantly ignore the thousands of indie games that exist and are fantastic because they're fools.
@@Taima Exaclty. Or when they play older games, they only play games they ALREADY know instead of looking for some hidden gems they might have missed out.
Excellent video. The biggest one for me was getting out of internet discourse. It has a serious effect on which games you think you like/dont like. Once I got out of it my gaming experience improved a lot. For example im a huge AC fan and that community is extremely toxic imo. Most everyone in the hardcore fanbase despises AC Odyssey so i never even gave it a shot. 50 hours deep currently and im absolutely loving it. Just play games
Thanks for this invitation to self-aware behavior. It has been a struggle for me to keep balance in life in general, but I especially struggle to strike a balance with games.
Consistency, courage and striking meaningful and personal social contact is adamant to stay clear of vicious self-destructive habits. Being conscious about ill-managed situations and exploring the feelings that might have elicited them are powerful too, but I know first hand how challenging facing our feelings can be.
So like any complex system, there are many things to keep in check but there are also many angles in which things can be positively influenced.
Videogames are an amazing artistic medium and the interactive marvel of our time, one that I find is worth upholding for its merits but also befits a fair reflection of its drawbacks.
Almost every point resonated with me a lot. Currently in my 40s, so having the financial space to buy too many games, I spend so little time actually playing them, going on to the next new hype/game.
It's something I've been trying to do for a while now, to not buy new games until I played/finished some of my already owned games ...
And this video inspired me to go and try this again. I've created a list of games that I started, really enjoyed, but at some point left - often just for the reason of boredom / new game being out - ... so I should go back and continue. And the games aren't the small games either: Horizon Zero Dawn, HollowKnight, Tunic, GOW: Ragnarok ... for instance
So thanks for this inspiring video 👍
I'm 46 and here's my advice for you (speaking from experience, there): Get married and make children. You'll have much less money to buy games (but also much less time to play them). ;)
@@jamic6107 funny. I'm 43, have 2 kids, 1 wife and 2 cats. And yes, in the first years the time to game was less... but now my kids are in their teens, I get more time again.
And it's not that I spend absurd amounts on games... but just too much on unplayed games ^^
Here's another one to add to the pile.
Neglecting friendships you've made in and out of games.
Especially as a result of them playing something different.
I feel like these videos are helping me figure out whats going on with my backlog of games and my weird behavior of just sitting on the home screen on my consoles and doom scrolling social media instead. this is helpful. Thank you so much for this.
I definetely prefer playing multiple games at the same time because of the variety. Some times you want to play that dense intricate RPG, but sometimes you just wanna chill hop between buildings in spiderman, or even play that slow nintendo game that relaxes you before bed. But you touched gold on tip #1. I always limit it to some extent in the genres, otherwise it becomes a bit of a hassle remembering commands, plots, mechanics and everything everytim. Not only that but the fact that when I think of what i wanna play in a session i normally think in generic terms like: "Today i wanna play a colorful easy game" or "today i wanna play some dark heavy story" etc etc. so its hard for me to pick when there's multiple in the same category. Helps me to only have downloaded one game from each of these made up categories that i already know alligns with certain moods of mine xD
About guides: I remember a friend told me "No guides for the first run. After that do whatever you like", and unless I'm really stuck I do enjoy my first run even if I *later* find out I missed some good optional parts of a game.
About the last point: that's some good advice. I'll try it myself so that I'll accomplish more (even just menial tasks) and feel more rewarded both for a clearer conscience *and* for gaming 😊
As a parent of 3, I don’t have enough time to ‘just explore’ on some games so need to use guides a bit more to keep progression.
For me now, one bad habit is to rely too much on achievements and completion. One have to accept that there are games that can never be completed. Recently I got banned for Forza Horizon 5 without any reason, a game where I put more than 820 hours playing, and the ban will be lifted when I get 60 years old. That's out of our control and some games are impossible to complete due servers closure and that sort of things, but it feels bad when you're a completionist and perfectionist yourself...
My worst habit is definitely looking up solutions too quickly and too often. I also have a tendency to try and juggle too many games at once, Animal Crossing New Horizons, Portal 2, and Ni No Kuni Wrath of the White Witch being the three I've been juggling recently.
Remember to play what you actually enjoy, not what you are expected to play. The biggest games these days usually aren't designed to be enjoyed - they are designed to make you addicted and take your money.
The timing of this! I actually am going to be making a video on being a patient gamer. Uninstalling all the games in your library and only picking one. Play it. Experience it. Explore. Discover. Get lost in its world and story.
Then move onto the next game. But don’t game hop.
I like to always give any puzzles and anything that stumps me in a game a solid effort and time allowance before I look it up. Once i've put in solid effort and exhausted any ideas, then I finally give in
Kek thats when you are so close to getting it I spent 3 days in final fantasy 7 trying to find what where to find the keystone after wandering around the map I found the lone house and everything went smooth from there , its always so close to the end but you never notice it.
My worse gaming habit is always looking at the trophy list beforehand and allowing it to influence my purchasing decision. If some of the trophies are unobtainable for some reason I'd probably skip. Of course, I don't platinum every game that I play but I want to have this option in case I fall in love with the game.
Bad habit:
Playing a game to
I never expect to win on the first try.
I expect to win on the *second* try.
The irony is that the backdrop for this section was Mantis Lords, which was one of the few Hollow Knight bosses I beat first try.
My bad habit is speedrunning new game. I get much more enjoyment out of beating my time, finding alternate routes and bugs than I do out of that game's story. I end up dropping it after 100-300 hours in one game and have no idea what's even going on there. And I hate that I can't just enjoy the game, just be.
Great content! I'm in fact one of those who tried playing too many games at once that it became rare for me to finish games nowadays.
I've been struggling with that for a long time since I love the games that I play, but I also get distracted by the other games that I want to play.
If anything, I'd definitely want a compilation of advices on how to be patient, consistent and to finish your game while managing the burnout or anything that comes in between that may prevent you from finishing it. Another is how do people manage having multiple games while can still catch up back with their old games later on, which I do by keeping a spreadsheet with the list of my to dos and the last things I did in the said game.
There already is a video about this in his channel! Check it out later, it's really great!
the last advice hit me so hard.
I remember when my depression was so intense that I was playing without fun. I played many hours because I couldn't sleep but I wasn't having fun even with my favorite games. Nowadays, I have a better routine at college, go to therapy sessions and I can enjoy games.
One thing I need to stop doing is going onto things like YT to watch videos about the game, pros/cons, reviews, playthroughts, etc., unless the game is like Terraria old and finished because it definitely kills my interest in games.
I've always appreciated the ability to reassign skill points so that I can try a new play style without having to start the entire game over again.
Excellent video. Most of these points resonated with me. I think the most important part was balance. Using digital tech to suppress and numb out emotions is a real danger. Especially if we have a lot of unresolved trauma as well. It will cause a lot of issues down the road. Our bodies weren't designed to be in these environments, nor to have constant hyperstimuli 24/7. Very important to mindfully use these devices. Simplifying our lives. We don't have to know everything that is happening in all areas of life at all times. There's just too much going on now. It's near impossible, not healthy and not necessary.
My bad habit was trying to get a platinum or 100% achievements in EVERY game i played. It ruined my experience many times. But solution to this problem was really, really simple. Just 100% games you really enjoyed and after finishing the story or campaing you still want more.
Back in the late aughties and early teens achievements in games often unlocked extra bonuses or 'cheats' which made subsequent play-thrus more interesting or quirky. They don't anymore and NO ONE sees my achievements but me, so it is kind of a waste of time. But hey, if they add an extra challenge dimension to gaming to you, have at it; you do you!
@@brianfox771ac4 black flag is really yet another proof of why that game is a gem, almost one of a kind. This game is fairly modern and yet also has the cheat unlocks built in with challenges/achievements. It does so many things right, time will prove that in the future.
@@Ganara426 I loved AC4 Black Flag. Awesome game!
This is something I’ve had to work on. I don’t specifically go for platinums but I do get worried about progressing games and missing out of completing everything optional . Then I would just get burned out or not even really care about the main story line. I’m slowly desensitizing to missing out and just moving games along that really are fun but aren’t worth the 100%.
I would love to see a video on point 10.
Like I realize what's important, is to not play out of boredom. Which might seem strange, but when I just play out of boredom, I basically repeat all the bad habits. Like everything for me, games should get love and attention, maybe too for relaxing here and there. There's a saying: how a man does one thing, is how he does everything. What does that say if I just do stuff out of boredom and not any passion whatsoever?
One way to counteract #8 is to see if there are any games any of your friends have played, I have found it extremely rewarding to play a game with a friend so that when you are getting to that point of frustration because you are unsure what to do, they can point you in a solid direction with a tip or hint. I personally find it slightly difficult to play open world games by myself as I get so overwhelmed so having that slight guidance so you can remain blind in your gameplay really does wonders, helped me really enjoy a few games like Elden Ring and Hollow Knight for example. I will also say that it is really rewarding being on the side watching your friend play a game you have played before, giving them hints every so often, it's like replaying the game because they can get just as excited as you once did.
Great video! Another point on difficulty is I've realized that some games I'm just not into overcoming difficult challenges and my interest is more in story and exploration. I am perfectly fine now with turning difficulty settings to easy to steamroll through the parts I don't like as much to get to the parts I do. Baldur's Gate 3 is the latest example of this for me. I'm having a much better, less frustrating time now after just simply setting the difficulty to easy.
As a crossover of competition and consulting the internet, I’ve definitely suffered from overindulging in imaginary competition… It can be tempting to exclusively build metas and min-max even when you realistically have no opportunity or even intention to compete…
I have a bad habit of juggling my games. One thing that helps with that is dividing my steam library into different genre lists so I can pick a game depending on what I'm in the mood for.
As a small channel that is uploading lets plays, and many of them are blind I sit in a weird spot where I hate feeling like I was wasting a viewers time. I hate when anger slips into recordings, but in blind runs if I know we have spent hours on something with 0 progress I don't mind looking up stuff. I can do basic editing to edit out large bits of fails, but to me I just want a viewer to not watch hours of fails. I enjoy save scumming and other little things because I like getting a move on. I leave in anger if I feel my rants had a point, but I often mute the audio in editing if I feel like I got a bit to heated. My problem is the slope of trying to make an easy to watch video, that is not hours of losing to one thing or being 100% lost. Blind runs have been my go to way to play games, on my backlog. Same for my brother as I let him play stuff too, as we do commentary together. The thing is I know the point is not knowing what to do, but once that goes on awhile I feel like I wasted time. Because that makes me feel like I wasted a recording and now need a whole part to correct whatever I feel I ruined. So for me it's a weird mess of trying to be blind and unfiltered while also looking up stuff to save time because I hate feeling like our parts are huge time wasters. I mean we are not super watched as it is, so it makes me double down to try and remove very large time wasting loss.
Biggest bad habit I’ve developed with gaming is this need to get into a flow. When I start a game I absolutely require a stretch of tim full available to get into kind of a flow state and get my brain invested. If at any point I get distracted or interrupted it is incredibly difficult to keep playing without just starting over.
Playing for too long. I’ve fallen in love with games like Jalopy and Hardspace Shipbreaker. They are both very episodic in nature, wherein the game forces you to pause at the end of each game day (20-30 minutes playtime). This pause is amazing because it gives the perfect opportunity to put the game down without worrying about what you’ll miss if you stop, and gives you a moment to reflect on and appreciate the time you just spent playing it.
If I get frustrated to the point I want to quit a game I'm definitely looking up a solution 😆 because that ruins the fun for me too yeah it would feel better if I figured it out on my own but I'm very thankful for UA-cam tutorials nowadays because back in the day I completed way less games because of frustration. But, overall I agree with this list. Nice video.
100% I've only just recently started to just stop and appreciate the game, the world. It's easy to go through the motions of the game and miss out on the sounds, the trees rustling, the steps underneath you. Like an RPG, taking my time to just walk around, not run, has made me enjoy the world so much more
Save scumming has become a problem for me emulating games, I tell myself I'm justified cuz back then, games would be designed to have skill checks to prevent you from completing them in one sitting and stuff... But I know sometimes I just wonder "I don't feel like making up a strategy to beat this, can i just bash my head against it until it budges without wasting resources?" and it cheapens my immersion
I used to enjoy gaming SO MUCH, wouldn’t matter what game. Then, a few years ago, I downloaded Genshin Impact. Immediately fell in love with everything, open world, collecting, story line, characters etc. I played every day for at least 4+ hours for like 2/3 years… but this year, i just couldn’t open the game. I just don’t have the attention span or the motivation to play it anymore. So I tried playing other games but nothing was fulfilling anymore. Playing Genshin ruined gaming for me. I really want to go back to gaming but I just can’t figure out how I could enjoy it again…
Sounds like burnout. Just take a break from gaming and come back to it later. Your brain needs a breather.
In a very similar boat
You'll get back in time. Same happened to me with destiny. After a got rid of my intoxication from the game I swore I would never play another live service, gatcha, endless game ever again. Gaming was great again.
Interesting, my experience was the complete opposite. Played games all the time as a kid, but lost it completely in my teens. Then Genshin came around and thanks it I finally enjoy games again. I do think a big part is not burning yourself out though; I know countless others like you who have burned out on Genshin, which is obviously awful, and I'm very sorry for you (though like others said, with time that spark WILL reignite again). But for me, I just stick to half an hour a day, maybe an hour or two every other weekend, and it's completely reignited my gaming spark. Thanks to that I can enjoy other games again as well, so I'll always be grateful to Genshin for that.
I experience this in a small way when I have been into a certain game for a long time. It has just become very comfortable and takes very little investment to get your dopamine. But then when eventually you do get bored of that game and the dopamine stops coming, when you try to go to another game it's hard to transition because this game is unfamiliar and it takes some investment before you get the dopamine (you have to learn new mechanics or need to git gud). Your brain has become so used to having this very easy lazy way of getting dopamine that it doesn't see this new game as being worth it since it doesn't immediately reward you.
As for what to do about it, yeah like others said try taking a break from gaming. I usually go through periods where almost all my free time goes into gaming, but then I switch to a period where I'm watching a lot more Netflix or something. Don't force it, as that's probably just going to make it worse.
Thank you for making this video Mark! Being mindful of our consumption and habits in life is one of the most important things we can possibly do. You made a fantastic video (with great tips) and am very grateful to have watched it. Cheers!
I love this, I feel like I've been falling out of love with gaming recently due to the overall low morale I've been feeling with games. I used to implement a lot of the solutions to those bad habits, but they have eroded recently. This was very helpful, thanks for making it.
Excellent video, and I find as Ive gotten older I really do have to change the way I play games in order for them to still feel as rewarding as they did in years past. Keep up the great work man, looking forward to future content.
Yes! Mindful gaming is important. You get what you give and if you put forth no effort there will be little fun. Focus your attention on the game, challenge yourself with difficulty, review progress in a game, talk about it with friends, rate games upon completion. If you really dive into the hobby it becomes so much more wonderful
Knowing when to disconnect from a game is a tough one for me. I like to 100% games XD
Save scumming sounds like a lame way to tell people "you should play the way i do or you suck/etc/etc/etc".
Btw, the "not the intentional experience" is nonsense. We forge our own experiences.
Also, forget that "to lose in games is good" mentality. Not everyone love trial and error in games built around dying a lot.
Bad habit I recently got over: being a completionist. I realized this made games a chore rather than being fun. My rule now is that when I play a game, I tell myself I’ll play it again someday. And I ignore trophies. That way, if I miss something, oh well! I’ll get another chance at it. Doing this has really helped.
I actually disagree with point 1. I’m not good at focusing and my mood changes a lot and I like playing a variety of games at the same time to fit my mood
My issue is that I work in video games... It's incredibly taxing mentally, so when I get home I crave something less involved mentally so I can slow down my brain.
I've been getting better at hopping on a video game when I get home though ! Which is a relief because playing games is the reason I now work in this industry haha
I started by playing open worlds because they were more laid back and easy to progress into (even if Elden Ring was among those, this game puts me in a relaxed trance 95% of the time, and I leave the 5% bosses for the weekend)
Astro Bot is the first game in forever that I actively want to get back home to experience ! So much joy packed in this game !
I have a pretty hectic work/life balance. My biggest struggle is staying engaged long enough to finish a game. It's become a big enough issue that I just don't buy new games anymore. Recent rare exceptions for me were Hi-Fi Rush (which I'm still halfheartedly hunting achievements for) and TOTK. The last time I sat down to play a new game was Lies of P which I got really sucked into, but then I got called into work. It's really hard to disengage from a game like that, then try to pick it up later. I'd love to say I could beat this kind of game but at my age and with my commitments, I honestly find it intimidating.
I need to try this in my own gaming life because sometimes, I either feel like I've played all there is to play because it feels too same-like OR I just sit at my desk WANTING to play a game, but I just get paralyzed at what to play; while also contesting with what I **feel** like playing. Very well thought out video essay. Well done.
P.S. I love your balance of music and establishing points with them! When it came to the last one, I just felt a weight shift; a melanchoic feel because I INSTANTLY knew that musical piece from Final Fantasy X and the sense those moments in THAT game and feeling how it could tie into this in the end of this video. I applaud you, sir!
My game crashed and saving often saved me from having to replay long stretches to get back to where I was and redoing annoying gameplay before the crash. So I don't think that's a bad habit.
As someone living in a 3rd-world country, power interruptions are a normal occurrence and it has made me obsessive about saving.
Nothing Wrong With Save Scumming.
I Learned My Lesson When A File For A Song I Was Working On, Became Corrupted.
Ever Since I Save Multiple Copies of The Same Save, or Same Project.
You definitely don't wanna waste any time. But I think the issue he was actually trying to get at is whenever you have a bad luck you might reload to run the dice until you get the best result which ends up wasting a ton of time and lack the genuine experience. I know this because I actually fell in that rabbit hole in Battle for Wesnoth. It's a good game but I can't not do that for some reason. Forcing the best result when the game does not require it can make it totally daunting. It's an anti-fun habit.
@@One_of_Many750 please stop capitalizing every word
@@ethor7676yeah why do ppl like that do it? I never understood, doesnt it get annoying pressing shift constantly....
Something you didn’t mention which I feel kind of ties in with the first one is the FOMO of play. Something like TotK I just ended up putting down because there’s SO MUCH stuff to do and explore. In my mind, I want to experience it all! So I end up falling into a pattern of just completing things because I want to say that I’ve done it. After a point I realise I’m ticking boxes off of a list and it becomes a chore.
By being invested and wanting to see it all, I’ve just put myself off the game that I like
I have developed the habit of waiting until a title has been released and starts selling at firesale prices before I purchase it.
I not only get a great price on the game but I also first experience it after the bugs have been found and generally fixed and any updates or gameplay balance issues have been ironed out as well on my initial playthrough hence giving me a better experience.
I have only a very small number of game franchises I buy at full price on initial release more to support the studio and franchise than anything else.
The last two games I have pre ordered basically I waited months for the issues to be fixed before ever playing.
These days most of the titles I buy are multiple years old and at rock bottom prices but mostly well reviewed and highly rated games I have not played or classics I may have played on a different platform years ago that I want to revisit.
I do find that many remastered older games are so much better than the newest titles that are so poorly optimized that they do not even run well with the latest CPU and/or 4090 class GPU.
When it comes to newly released titles the older "disc" based releases were usually much more a finished and polished released product than the hot mess we often see the newer games in their initial release state.
I wonder sometimes if the devs are just getting lazier or if the gaming community has just gotten more complacent as far as buying games which out of the gate are inherently broken?
May its a combination of the two!
I do usually limit myself to about two games at a time max and then they must be different genre games as well.
My personal worst habit that I've realized is a doozy that I feel should be mentioned. It's a habit that I think most of the gaming industry seems to be leaning towards to promote, which is a bit sad.
That habit is simply forgoing genuine enjoyment of a game in favor of the satisfaction of progress. Or simply put, treating games like a digital checklist of things to do rather than an immersive experience.
Too many times I've caught myself doing something I don't want to do for the sake of progress towards "something" and intentionally avoiding things I DO want to do because they are a dead end in terms of progress.
Bad habit #1 is definitely not me as I'll usually spend most my trying to get the most out of one game with maybe a second or third one at most. Hence my huge backlog.
My worst gaming habit is that I'll often buy new games when they just come out paying a premium price for them and not get to them until months or years later. By then I could have waited and purchased them later at a cheaper price but I always fear that they will become rare and/or hard to find at an even higher price.
Comprehensive, concise, entertaining, and well scripted. Very well done with great advice I try to use myself.
Thank you very VERY much for this video. It is comforting to know I’m not the only one who struggles like this from time to time. I will be rewatching and making notes!
Awesome content that puts focus on a very important topic - how we play games, and how to relate to gaming. Subbed.
14:34 I might not have found that out on my own but at least I didn't look it up either. I was playing with friends when it basically came up, "Hey, did you know you could bury a bag of money in that shining hole?" We also exchanged so much other things about that game.
My bad habit is a varient of overindulgence in competition, and thats pushing myself too hard to complete difficult challenges in games. This can be especially bad if i have already had a challenging or difficult day. I made it a point to have 2 games max that i focus on, with one being laid back and one i push my limits in. And ill select which of the 2 to play based on how my day has gone up to that point.
I enjoy hard games, up to a point. Like, on the one hand, I feel like I play some of them to get gamer credibility even though I'm only having a 4.5/10 fun level; on the other hand, pulling off difficult challenges is kind of the fun substance of games, and going for easy wins all the time is a recipe for burnout (research shows that seeking happiness is the fastest way to not find it lol). We've seen it time and time again with WoW Retail vs WoW Classic, retail has such a streamlined and smooth experience, it feels kinda dull, while WoW Classic, and especially Vanilla had more of that friction, tangible annoyances and quality of life issues, actually feels more alive and organic, grounded and immersive. Going from smashing 3000 wild trashmobs a day and feeling nothing, to getting bodyslammed by 1 named npc at level 15 does kinda wake you up, and I did notice I preferred that. Soloing elite mobs is like a puzzle, and I like puzzles. I guess I enjoy the theory part a lot, and then SOME amount of practice. But then you get to Celeste true 100% and it just turns bonkers stupid. Like I could probably do it, I "just" have to spend another 500h practicing to slowly get through that, and I'm like... yeah I don't need the gamer cred that badly lol. My conclusion is: play what you love, and then if it gets stupid, stop :P I loved quake 3 enough to beat it at nightmare difficulty, I loved F Zero X & GX enough to beat them 100% at master difficulty/very hard story mode (minus staff ghosts because: it gets stupid.), I loved megaman X enough to speedrun it until I got a wrist injury lol, anyway. So yeah the closest issue i have is "getting too into competitive stuff" but with solo games, thankfully got none of the other 9 issues hehe.
My list of habits that make games less fun:
1. Using cheat codes before trying to accomplish anything myself.
2. Looking up all secret locations and tricks of the game beforehand, meaning that there is nothing for me to explore any more (surprise is ruined) and the game becomes far less challenging.
3. Watching playthroughs of this video game on the Internet, which spoils the surprise of what is to come in every new level - and how to beat those levels.
4. Watching in-depth reviews of this game, where every single little annoyance and strength of the game is being shown. I prefer to find out about these on my own, rather than opening a game with prior knowledge that will affect my final verdict due to prejudice.
Never clicked a video so fast. I realize I’m taking gaming too seriously but I can’t stop. Trying to change that.
Nice video, some actual useful substance. Regarding 'discourse', I think gamers should understand that most of the discourse surrounding a game immediately after release is highly reactionary. Part of that is inherent, as first impressions can have a big impact, but many people also enjoy just piling on and kind of going with the popular narrative, even if they had no first hand experience with a game. And it can get out of hand early on, both in terms of praise and criticism. If you're trying to get a good idea about a game from user impressions(which is worthwhile), it's often a good idea to let things cool down a bit. If you can be a bit patient, give it a week or so and you'll start to see more grounded and comprehensive views about a game.
For some games, like Starfield, a week or even a year is not enough.
#1 never used to be an issue for me because it was a pain to swap disks between games & hard drives were so small that you could never really have more than a couple of big games installed at a time.
Then steam & bigger hard drives came along :(
Thank you for the video. You have inspired me to not fall into the depths of maximizing the algorithm over the sole reason I started content creating recently -- Expressing my passion for video games (and in part, internet culture). This is the most genuine content I've watch in a hot minute. May you continue to share everything you have to say with us.
5:20 I had an experience like this I was playing the game ancestors and to be honest the game got repetitive after a while the last straw for me was when I passed a generation(basically leveling up and legacying) the game put my tribe in a horrible position that was the last straw especially after I spent hours trying to fix it
I have a bad habit of mindlessly playing through games and just going through the motions. Sure, sometimes a view catches my eye or I find an interesting quest to take on, but when push comes to shove, I end up interacting with the game's mechanics way less than I should. I sometimes tunnel vision into the main quest because of its flow, but end up missing a significant portion of what the game can offer.
i'd say that for point 2, if a game that you feel invested in starts feeling repetitive, instead of watching the final cutscenes on youtube, put the game down for a couple of weeks or even months and then pick it up from where you've left. If you watch a youtube video for the conclusion of a game, you're robbing yourself of having actually experienced it. There's a reason you've put in 40, 50, 60 hours. Watching the final cutscenes on youtube gives you that instant gratification but doesn't give you the experience of actually going through it yourself, which is a whole different thing.
Thanks to your video I started playing Baldur's Gate 3 again, all I needed was to change my class to a more fun one and quit savescumming
Absolute gold what you are saying here. Every single point is a good thing to keep in mind to evolve a stale gaming experience into a pleasant one.
15:10 yeah, but there are some times that i'm stuck in a fixed screen position and can't figure out where the entrance or exit to something is, and round around the area for like 10-20 minutes and then look it up lol
This video came through at just the right time for me. I’m currently experiencing gaming wanderlust. I just beat a big open world game and now I don’t know what to play. Part of it is having way too many games over all my systems. I have huge backlogs on PS5, Series X and Switch and I find myself unable to make a decision over what to tackle next. You’ve earned yourself a sub. 👍
I recently decided to create a DNF (Did not Finish) collection in my Steam Library. I've been playing Shadow of War and I really want to like it b/c I loved Shadow of Morder which I finished a few years ago, but the last couple of gaming sessions, I've had to admit to myself that they felt like a chore and I wasn't enjoying myself after a certain moment. Then I saw a review video of someone I've been following for a few years who reviews games after 100%-ing them (and who is the most dedicated gamer/reviewer I know of) and he couldn't finish SoW because it became such a grind to him so I've lost all my motivation now.
On the other hand, I started Dishonored for the first time and while I wasn't feeling up to it a few days ago, I used the "2 minute rule" from one of your other video's (telling myself I'm just going to play for 2 minutes) and before I knew it, I had been playing for over an hour and was completely immersed in the game. So I guess I shouldn't feel bad to drop Shadow of War in favor of the Dishonored trilogy :)
I’m happy I already expelled these 10 bad habits and i’m very glad you came to the same conclusions!
Just one thing, it’s not bad to jump around from game to game, it’s just a different way to consume games. You’ll miss many things but you’ll also get to try many more experiences.
Thanks for the great video explaining everything with clarity!
Subscribed 😊
Ooohhh that Nier Automata music at the begginning! Nice
Tunic being the poster child of number 8 is +chef's kiss*
My biggest gaming bad habit is a bit of a strange one
I strongly admire video games as an art form, and want to be able to experience and appreciate every aspect of it. I know how much work is put into every miniscule detail, and I am going to make sure they're seen, dammit.
Unfortunately, this has ended up with me having a strange habit of caring too much about the """intended experience""" of games, which in reality, has led to me experiencing zero player expression.
I always use the default names of characters. I never customize any armour or named characters. (If its supposed to be me, I do, if theyre already a character, like link from botw or the dog from chicory, I do not). I always play on the default difficulty. I don't put my characters in silly outfits during cutscenes. I need everyone to shut up during the credits so I can hear the music. I don't do any silly gimmick builds. I end up going for 100% completion beyond what's fun
In my quest for completely appreciate every aspect of a game, I end up missing out on very intentional bits of expression and, well, fun
This is interesting. I can relate to this to a less extreme degree. I would suggest forcing yourself to experiment in short bursts or certain context. For example, if it's BotW and you think the Switch shirt is kinda funny but don't want to taint the sanctity of the character that is Link and look a fool while you do the story, maybe just wear it for a few in game days while exploring. If you really like immersion, maybe do something like roleplay a not too unrealistic scenario where your clothes got "damaged" or otherwise "dirty" while you were in a particularly nasty scrap or from wear and tear and so while you're out in the world you're gonna dress a bit differently until x amount of time passes or you get to the best laundromat in the world at Zora's Domain or something lmao.
#7 is the reason why I refuse to take part in any gaming community. There's always something that people will endlessly whine about it and paint the game in such a negative light that I wonder if these people even find any joy in playing games. It sucks the energy out of you.
There's this game reviewer from Australia. Can't remember his name, but if you go through his video list he almost recommends NO games, lmao. Super negative about pretty much every game. Of course I don't listen to a thing he says, but it is kind of hilarious in a shameful way.
Some of them are grifters hating the games because of some hidden agenda. Once you see what they really are, it's easier to ignore the noise and decide for yourself.
Exactly I was so happy when I played silent hill the moment I went into reddit to see what people think it went 180 degrees , same for goes resident evil and specifically the RE3 remake I haven't played it but people were saying its bad and very short having seen the tip of the iceberg I decided to never interact with the resident evil or silent hill communities ever again.
I know how to be a UA-camr now: talk about feelings, then queue up Final fantasy X music.
I hate to say, I love it
This is a very mindful and mature take on gaming. Thanks for sharing
I find that (intentionally or not) I fell into the habit of only playing my nintendo switch when traveling. Given the amount of time that "travel" actually represents for me, I wasn't playing my switch hardly at all and basically haven't finished a switch game aside for BotW since the system launch. Trying to change that by playing it at home sometimes too... might get a TV to hook it up to
I didn't need this video as I've learned all of these and have been trying to get people that I play with to follow these "philosophies". This is how you truly enjoy games and im glad you made the video so that I may share it with my friends.
Its interesting because as an Adult without [as] shitty of a life to escape from I've actually naturally broke most of these habits. Granted there are still games I dump thousands and thousands of hours into (Monster Hunter and Satisfactory) but other than that I play a game 'til I'm satisfied and move on. The difficulty one is something I still need to move past. I dropped Monster Hunter World for a long time because I refused to engage with Alatreon, I still haven't beaten him and rather started over on PC. But other than that being in control of my life, my time, and my money kinda guided me into appreciating the games I have, carefully choosing what I buy, and not playing them more than their worth stopping them from being a chore.