I am no longer a video gamer... but I still love Giant Bomb

A few months ago I lost my job, and I've had to sell a lot of my possessions to stay afloat. Included in those possessions are all of my video game consoles, handhelds, and games on every physical platform. My ebay auction for my xbox 360 is ending within the hour, and I'm coming to terms with the fact that I can't really call myself a gamer anymore in the truest sense. I have 8 games on steam and a ton of cheap games on my ipad, but besides that I've left the industry and the hobby behind.

What's sad about all of this is that I'm not that sad to see any of it go.

I've been gaming less and less since college. My love for actually playing games has turned off like a well running dry. I don't know how or why it happened, I just did. My last love would have been Fallout New Vegas, in which I invested 200 hours or so. Feeling no emotion to leaving my most loved hobby since childhood is strange, but I may be back some day.

That being said, Giant Bomb is still the best website I visit each day. The content produced isn't valuable to me anymore because of learning about games coming out, it's listening to bombcasts and watching the videos of some of my best friends having a great time, enjoying each other's company and partaking in a passion I've harbored for 15 years. I will continue to watch and listen to what is being made, because its my last foothold in gaming, and a piece of me that's, in some ways, waving goodbye.

Anyone else in a situation like this?

i've been in the same boat since a little after the xbox 360 came out. there are only a handful of games that i play, and only a couple that i am actually looking somewhat forward to. however, i only play once in a great, long while, and for only a couple hours at the most. in the case of myself, i think it's more due to growing up (maturing) and getting real about myself as well as life in general.

I don't really buy games anymore, I'm too busy with work and school. So I buy about one a year. I do still go on Giantbomb frequently though, I find the videos very entertaining and it's great to look what is available.

Hopefully you find another job and can game again someday.

@DriveupLife: Not exactly in your position, but I can totally understand your sentiment of losing interest in gaming. After a while, almost every game you play ends up being just another rehashed version of a game you've played before... albeit with different graphics/story. Still though, after a break period, I find myself enjoying playing them again - but in short bursts.

Sad to hear about your job/financial situation though, man. I feel ya... hopefully things turn around for you soon... it's hard these days.

I hardly play games anymore and when I do, I barely enjoy them, yet I still follow the industry and spend far more time on Giant Bomb than any other site on the web. So, yeah, I understand where you're coming from.

I don't play games that often, but I still consider myself a gamer. I spent a lot of my childhood enveloped in the gaming community. Just because I don't actively play a ton of games doesn't mean I'm not a part of the gaming community. I think your criteria is a little off. Anyway, I think you'll find a lot of people born in the late 80's and really early 90's are going through a phase of less gaming right now. We're kind of the first wave of kids that have had a childhood where gaming was moving into mainstream. It's neat, but like all hobbies, you gotta take a break sometime.

I don't think I'll be one of those people who drops games entirely. I enjoy them way too much, even at 20 years old.

However, playing a lesser number of them and for lesser hours is a reality that I am A-OK with. There's a lot of other things for me to do with my time.

While I've not completely given up gaming, I'm in much the same boat. Though I've not owned a console since the SNES & Genesis days, I've kept up with PC games but have reached a point where I can no longer justify the expenditure of this hobby. But like you, GB is my most frequented website. I like all the people involved and I like the community (most of the time). Yet I know I have to stop gaming because I have other matters to attend to and there is only so much time in the day.

For now, I'll keep listening to the bombcast, watching quick looks and livestreams but Lone Survivor and The Walking Dead may be my last game purchases. It is an odd thing, twenty-eight years ago I plopped down in front of the TV with an Atari 2600 joystick in hand and man... I thought quitting smoking was tough.

Sorry to hear about your financial situation dude. But the day i stop gaming is the day you pry the mouse from my cold dead fingers. 

I can't say i've completely given up on playing games but I have seriously cut down a ton. Only game I have touched in the last month is Diablo 3 and I can't really play that for long stretches. I used to play games about 3 to 4 hours a day but now when I go to play them I just decide that I really don't want to. It has saved me alot of money though since I used to buy a couple games every week. I'm sure once darksiders 2 and borderlands 2 come out i'll get back into it. At least I want to anyway.

You'll be back.

Even though I still play games as much as ever, I've considered taking a long hiatus to get my life in order. When you're turning 26 and still rarely leave the computer, somethings fucked up, and you don't need a wizard to see that.

I don't think I'd leave GB if I do put the games aside, though. The problem is kicking the addiction in the first place.

I'm on the same boat. I barely game anymore due to work, and I have a reason to work.

I just mostly play digital games I own and haven't bought a game in ages. It sucks but that's adulthood.

Hobbies can be cyclical dude. Best of luck getting back on your feet, but it would be foolish to write off gaming forever.

I'm still very much an active "video gamer". Though I can relate, as I am way more excited about the Giant Bomb coverage and E3 Bombcasts than about E3 itself.

I spend a lot more time reading about games than I do playing them. I attribute that to age although I would love to say its because of my career, but there isn't one

You'll be back. THEY ALL COME BACK.

Also best of luck with your financial situation duder.

It's more common than you might think. There is a post like yours every few weeks or so on Giant Bomb. People grow up. They change. Responsibilities and interests evolve, and sometimes that means the exclusion of video games. There isn't anything wrong with that. However, you may find that after a nice break from gaming, and perhaps with the release of an exceptional game, you may be drawn back in, albeit likely to a lesser degree than before.

Good luck finding work man. I know too many friends and family that are in similar financial situations and I'm pretty petrified that I may be just like them once I'm out of college. Lots of good, hardworking people are struggling and that just isn't right.

I only play Starcraft 2, Diablo III, and Minecraft, and still consider myself a gamer. I lost my job about 9 months ago, had a baby since than, and have noticed a large decline in my gaming time. However, most of the time I spend in games now is a lot more enjoyable and productive than it use to. I have real goals, self-motivational log-offs, and everything. Makes you feel in control and not a robot who just throws all responsibility out the window to play games.

I wouldn't sell yourself short, you are visiting this site because you still love games, but life has played you a card that doesn't allow the same type of life style.

I'm still in my prime at 19 years old, but I spend less time on them than i used to. Still, I care too much about games for me to ever quit or to be on a hiatus. I don't buy games that often, as I usually rent short games and beat them quickly before returning them. I also buy steam games more frequently if I want to play something. As I grow with age, I'm starting to realize that paying 60 bucks for a game is just too much.

@KaosAngel said:

I'm on the same boat. I barely game anymore due to work, and I have a reason to work.

I just mostly play digital games I own and haven't bought a game in ages. It sucks but that's adulthood.

But hey, tax payer dollars. Right?

As I get older, I'm actually finding the opposite is happening. There's work, and then there's gaming, that's basically it (living at a remote base doesn't help things).

I got it down to a science here.

@Guided_By_Tigers: Huh?

Sort of. I find myself buying games but not actually playing them very much, or when I do never finishing them and starting something new or picking an old one back up. I should stop doing this.

@DriveupLife said:

The content produced isn't valuable to me anymore because of learning about games coming out, it's listening to bombcasts and watching the videos of some of my best friends having a great time, enjoying each other's company and partaking in a passion I've harbored for 15 years.

Best friends? Do you know the giantbomb guys personally?

o sorry to hear about that. i don't know what i would if i didn't have video games to play.

@laserbolts said:

I can't say i've completely given up on playing games but I have seriously cut down a ton. Only game I have touched in the last month is Diablo 3 and I can't really play that for long stretches. I used to play games about 3 to 4 hours a day but now when I go to play them I just decide that I really don't want to. It has saved me alot of money though since I used to buy a couple games every week. I'm sure once darksiders 2 and borderlands 2 come out i'll get back into it. At least I want to anyway.

I am in the same boat. The only game i have played in the last few weeks is Diablo 3 and I am barley a third through the 4th act, where my friends have finished it 6 or 7 times. Last year I spent way to much on way to mediocre games so i am forcing myself to play the games I need to get through before buying more. I just don't have the time to consume them like I once did.

I still love Giantbomb for keeping up with new games and the industry though. I still just find them enjoyable dudes.

Sorry to hear that, hope you get back on your feet though.

I found myself spending more time on this site and learning about the industry than actually playing games over the last few years. I have only really had a few completely enjoyable game experiences the last few years. With the rest feeling like a chore at times.

I am going to play them even less now because I have to kick some bad habits.

I have less and less time to play games, and I don't see that changing, but I still try and find time once in a while. But I still go to Giant Bomb. I love it because it's entertaining, takes up as much or as little time as you want to waste at that moment. Also, even though it's not actually interactive and I'm not playing, watching them play still satisfies a little part of what I get from playing games.

And the upshot is I only play really good games now. I just replayed Portal 2, after the Community Testing Initiative started, played some good community maps, that took me a couple of weeks.

Nowadays it takes me a REALLY long time to finish even shorter games, because sometimes I go weeks without playing anything, or maybe playing half an hour or an hour a day. So I never pirate anymore, because it's not necessary, I don't have to feed my voracious appetite for games anymore, and I have some money.

Of course, once in a while, there comes along a long, rainy day, and I have no studying, working to do, no commitments - 12 hours of Civ V here I come!

Does not compute. Gaming for over 30 years and my interest and enjoyment I get from it has only intensified. Maybe it will come back around for ya.

I haven't played a video game in two weeks and even then I was only playing COD MW3 for like a month straight.

Am I out of the He-Man-Women-Haters-Club now? :(

@yakov456 said:

You'll be back.

They always come back...

I kinda slowed down w/r/t gaming too. It's been a few years since I really put a lot of time into gaming. Haven't had any consoles for a few years, and my PC isn't exactly a powerhouse. I use Steam exclusively. I thought I had been playing a lot more in the past couple weeks due to some recent purchases, but I looked up how much time I've spent on Steam and it's only 13 hours. Not even an hour per day. I guess that says something about how much I usually game nowadays when an hour a day feels like a lot.

I'm on a video game hiatus, but I still love Giantbomb.

@KaosAngel said:

@Guided_By_Tigers: Huh?

You're making money at our expense, so that makes up for it.

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Sorry to hear about your financial situation dude. But the day i stop gaming is the day you pry the mouse from my cold dead fingers.

Me too, I've been playing games since I was 3 years old. It is hard wired into my genes.

I've been unemployed for about 7 months now and I don't buy games that much altogether. As I got older I had to change the way I spent my money and $60 is a lot. The only games that I come back to that I own is only Forza 4 and Gran Turismo 5. I'm lucky to have a friend who almost buy all the good games on release day so I can borrow it from him later. The only weird thing is that I never really finish the games I borrow from him. I guess games are too much of the same these days for me to get interested.

I feel you man, I hope you can get back on your feet soon.

@KaosAngel said:

@Guided_By_Tigers: Huh?

You're making money at our expense, so that makes up for it.

Oh god, I hope I never hear the words video gamer ever again

This is exactly my situation. Money is tight, and I can't really afford to buy games as they come out. I might buy a used one every few months. Also, I have a full time job (plus some volunteering and contract work on the side), so I just don't have as much free time as I used to.

Planning a wedding also eats into a lot of time that would otherwise be spent playing video games. And when I do have some free time, I'd just as soon spend it working in my garden (I guess that's my new nerdy and potentially-expensive hobby).

And yet I love GB, even if I'm not super into gaming anymore, it's still fun to read the site and listen to the podcast.

I don't know. People just change, I guess.

@JeanLuc said:

@DriveupLife said:

The content produced isn't valuable to me anymore because of learning about games coming out, it's listening to bombcasts and watching the videos of some of my best friends having a great time, enjoying each other's company and partaking in a passion I've harbored for 15 years.

Best friends? Do you know the giantbomb guys personally?

if not the person needs to take a step back because that is super creepy.

@KaosAngel said:

I'm on the same boat. I barely game anymore due to work, and I have a reason to work.

I just mostly play digital games I own and haven't bought a game in ages. It sucks but that's adulthood.

RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE

When did you get back?

@TheDudeOfGaming said:

Sorry to hear about your financial situation dude. But the day i stop gaming is the day you pry the mouse from my cold dead fingers.

Sorry to hear about your financial situation dude. But the day i stop gaming is the day you pry the mouse rat from my cold dead fingers.

It's been on and off for me over the years, and a lot of it depends on circumstances. I'm at an age now (36), where most people would say I should hang it up and grow up and all that shit. I was a certifiable gaming addict as a kid, but when I was in college I didn't play them at all for a number of years, except for some old school shit here and there. It wasn't until about 28 or so that I got back into them heavy again, which partly had something to do with my daughter turning 4 at the time and starting to get into them herself. I started having so much fun playing them with her that I went out and bought an Xbox, then a Gamecube, then a PS2, then restocked all my old school gear, and haven't stopped since. So it's different for everybody. Being a gamer isn't some monolithic thing anymore.

Haha I didn't mean the GB crew are my actual friends, its just a way to say it.

I haven't been a "gamer" in years and shit I'm still here...

That being said, Giant Bomb is still the best website I visit each day. The content produced isn't valuable to me anymore because of learning about games coming out, it's listening to bombcasts and watching the videos of some of my best friends having a great time, enjoying each other's company and partaking in a passion I've harbored for 15 years. I will continue to watch and listen to what is being made, because its my last foothold in gaming, and a piece of me that's, in some ways, waving goodbye.

I have felt somewhat like this since I left school too. Have to take more time working. Got a house and have to do housework and home repairs. It sucks so I can't invest myself in games as much. And I think part of the problem is I used to be a 1 game at a time guy, but now with less time, I try to play as many games as I can and don't invest myself meaningfully in any one game. Also, they just don't make games like they used to. Skyrim was awesome. Gave me the same feeling Oblivion did. But Ghost Recon Future Soldier is nothing like GRAW and I loved those games, still do. Fearing Rainbow Six Patriots will just be another watered down action shooter to try and sell more. Love NBA2k still, but no one else around me plays as much as I would like so have no challenges. I am excited for Halo 4 and if the new consoles show me that they are a significant upgrade, then I might get that lovin feeling back.

I feel the same way. Naturally I can't play as much because of work, school and relationship responsibilities but I think it has more to due to a lack of interest in this generation than gaming as a whole. I was barely playing anything expect a starcraft 2 match here and there but when Diablo 3 came out, I played the crap out of it.

This generation has gone for too long. All the games are the same shit expect a few here and there. Even the PC market is stagnating due to the long console cycle. The Last of Us, Last Guardian and HL3 are probably the only games look forward to at all and two of those are almost vaporware at this point.

Man...fuck video games.