As I grow older I become less interested in playing videogames. Am I Weird?

The past few years my life has changed dramatically.

1. I got married

2. Last year of college

3. Bought a house

4. Got that big boy job everyone told me about

Because of these changes, I have started to notice I play less and less video games. I love to play, but the fun of it was having a group of buddies that I could chat and experience things together. I now notice I prefer watching video games, only GB. It itches that need to play games with buddies. By watching them play games together like Steal My Sunshine it reminds me why I got into games in the first place. Only problem is they sometimes make games seem more fun and only after I purchase them I realize I enjoyed watching them play more than me playing it.

This bothered me for the longest time. Why can I not dive into games like I used to?

I am to busy to sink 50 hours into a game. But, I can put on the videos on another screen while I work on other things. It's not that I don't love gaming, I just have found a different way to consume it. I do look forward to the day when I can share that love of gaming with my kids.

So heres to growing up. It is not nearly as bad as everyone said.

Nah, your interests shift. I'll be 32 in a few months and I was super excited for Sonic Mania. A week after launch and I'm only 2 hours in. But I've probably watched 10 hours of GB content since that Tuesday.

After a long day, I'll watch an hour of Giant Bomb and get my video game fill. Some days, I'll play for 3 or 4 hours. Some weeks, I won't touch a game at all. I technically have the time, but I enjoy doing other stuff, too.

Stressing over how much you play games is never worthwhile. You just come back to them when they call you. Enjoy the medium how you want, even if it's just watching.

Nope. In fact, that's why I'm trending towards immersive games since they are best played instead of watched or multiplayer games. Sadly the latter isn't one I'm super into as I find multiplayer environments silly and frustrating. I recently started Prey and while you can technically watch that game being played, I feel it's better experienced by playing it. I'm also reading books more than I used to. People overwhelm themselves (myself included) with long backlogs that they know they aren't gonna finish. Playing a 100 hour RPG sounds tempting on paper, but it requires a lot of investment to play one by yourself. That's part of why I think I have a long backlog of RPGS, they require some sort of decent hook and variety that most don't have. Now, watching that game being played with good commentary can keep me invested.

Having said this, I also get overwhelmed by let's play backlogs as I do/watch other things. So one problem leads to another. :P

@shivermetimbers:

I also read heavily and listen to an insane amount of podcasts. I agree I always look at huge RPGs or open world games and think I would love that but end up being overwhelmed by the time contentment.

Edited title to contain more information. Please try not to be so vague when creating threads! Thanks.

@sweep: sorry about that!

Not sure growing up = not playing/playing less videogames exactly. But there's nothing wrong with your tastes changing and it doesn't really need to be validated or anything. Live your life as you see fit as long as it doesn't infringe on anyone else's ability to.

You're a monster.

Seriously though, you shouldn't worry about being "weird" for this. I'm pretty nobody who watches videos on this site would disagree.

It's not growing up or getting older. Interests change over time. And they may change back. I've stepped away from gaming on a few occasions when it just stopped making me feel the same way it used to. And I've come back with more focus than ever. Explore new hobbies and interests and see where it leads you. The games aren't going anywhere.

I'm not 100% sure it has to do with age. I almost completely stopped playing video games in university. Now I'm in my 30s with the house, kids, job, etc. and video games have become my way to unwind when everyone is sleeping.

Interest and hobbies change. Sometimes they wax and wane. That's completely normal.

The way it's been for me is that I've slowly shifted to just a few games that I really enjoy instead of playing everything. It's completely normal for our interests to shift as we get older. And sometimes, you can just get tired of something and need to take a break for a while. Once you come back later on it's interesting and fun again.

In the last 5 years, I've done all of those(well College was in 2011, but for the sake of this conversation, lets go with it) and I actually cherish videogames more now than before. I play less, as I have less time, but I still look forward to games and play all the games I want. I used to play EVERY big title and then some I had a 'fear of missing out'. Now I just play what I want. If that means missing out on 'Big' titles, than so be it. I basically eliminated all multiplayer games and stick mostly to single player experiences (except Injustice 2 online)

As I shifted my focus and time into work and personal growth, I started playing less games (almost none now). At the same time, I noticed that my interest in games started move towards industry development and back-end, so I tend to just absorb content via GB and other outlets. Totally fine.

@ripelivejam: Growing up part was more in reference to the fact that when I was younger I had a close group of friends that pulled me to play more.

Maybe I am approaching this the wrong way. It could be that this feels wrong for me and others I have talked to because it is unlike other mediums. We don't watch people read a book. We don't watch others listen to music, and we don't watch others watch a movie. I guess the closest thing would be that we do watch others play sports, but that feels slightly different.

Maybe that's why it feels so weird to me.

One thing I have been thinking about recently is that playing video games just takes more effort than watching video or random browsing.

Watching TV or watching someone else play a game takes close to zero effort.

Some days I feel like I am just too fatigued to play something myself, that's when I end up browsing gaming sites or watching video.

We pay to have people read books to us, we go to concerts for the atmosphere of a bunch of people enjoying the music with us, and have you somehow missed movie commentaries, MST3K and the like, all these years?

It's not weird to enjoy watching people play video games, it's not even uncommon (you know how many Let's Play channels there are? Some of them are very popular). Not needing to actually play the games to get enjoyment is something plenty of people do daily.

You know what else is super popular these days? Reaction videos. Videos of people sitting in complete silence and occasionally making silly faces and noises at the camera while a viral video or something plays. Some people watch many videos of strangers playing with fidget spinners. Let that sink in, and don't ever feel weird about watching people play video games again.

@teddie: Valid points! Hey I also didn't care if I am weird or not. I was curious if others were like me and seemed to watch games more than play. It seems that others do.

Thanks duders, I also love a good discussion.

I feel like a variant of this question will come into one of the few gaming podcasts I listen to every once in a while. It's kind of nostalgic, I've heard it so much.

Honestly, not only do I think it's natural to have your interests shift as you grow older, it's natural for ANY hobby to begin taking up less and less of your time as you begin to have "big boy" responsibilities.

I don't consider myself someone with these icky things, but I can actually sympathize with this in general. If asked, I'd tell you my #1 hobby is gaming. But despite that, I have a rather ridiculous pile of shame for this year, built up over the last few months; while my all-time pile must be gargantuan. I will suddenly and inexplicably drop games, even if I'm very much enjoying them.

For example: I absolutely adore the Persona franchise. It's the best. When P5 came out, I had a week of work booked off that I dedicated to pretty much just that. This pace kept up for a while after my vacation, but I eventually found myself going back to it less and less - even though I would have put it in the running for my GOTY halfway through it. Eventually I got the urge again and dived back in and finished it, but the point is that if that can happen to me with one of my favorite THINGS, full stop, then that better be a common psychological occurrence or I'm getting a psychiatrist.

Don't feel weird about it, duder. You seem to have at least adjusted better to it than I have my issue. I hate it when I drop something I really like for reasons that I cannot explain. It sucks. At least you have the excuse of having "a wife and a salary" to explain your problem.

Also, no, I refuse to accept it as weird to watch people play games. I watch people watch "reaction" heavy shows and I watch Alex bash his head against Mega Man weekly while he half-listens to discussions about interstellar travel and farts. It's just another way of having the experience vicariously. Or as you put it: it's like hanging out and playing games with friends. I don't see anything wrong with that.

You're not weird you're like every other normal person.

It happens, I'm 22 and I've gone from someone that only played games like CoD, Halo, BY, and etc to only wanting games like Prey, Bioshock, and so on. Interests change

Nope, pretty standard. Making it profitable worked for me though.

I'm almost 38, I've got a wife, a kid, a house and a job and I still really enjoy playing games. Both my kid and my wife usually go to bed around 8pm. After that I just stay up and do my thing until way too late in the evening.

Everybody is different there is no normal do what feels right.

So this came up as part of a discussion of why so many people get really into anime for about 2 years and then lose interest, but it's equally applicable to video games.

When you're young and playing games, you haven't had an opportunity to experience the best games in each genre, simply due to having not had enough time to find them. It's easy to get excited about new games then, because you're likely to find something new and better fairly often.

However, when you've been playing games for a long time, you've likely already experienced most of the video game masterpieces. It becomes hard to get excited for a new game, because it's statistically unlikely to give you an unprecedented experience. Even if a new game is extremely good, if you've been playing games for decades, it's unlikely to make your top ten list.

You can certainly continue to enjoy games, but it's hard to recapture the novelty and excitement of youth.

Same here man I'm 32 and just don't play them anywhere near as much as I used to. My buying habits haven't changed but I watch people play games more than I actually do now.

Im in the same boat, im assuming its normal

Losing interest in playing games isn't a big deal. Interests will come and go as they please. Just don't be that guy who throws away all hobbies and recreational interests just because you're "adult" now and you're supposed to do "adult-y" stuff now. That's a slow and depressing way to lose friends.

Maybe I'm overthinking this.

Naw man. Life and priorities change.

Video games are what you do, not who you are.

Thank Brink for that quote.... Brink the Disney movie character, not that video game no one played.

I wish there was a sticky about this topic, or a way to have a catchall thread about it. It's so common of a occurrence and so frequently asked, it's mildly annoying to see it asked over and over.

So don't worry OP, it's 100% normal to feel that way.

For me, it's a mixture of video games going downhill AND getting older. I'm almost 30 now, no kids but I do have a house and girlfriend. My job is usually only 40 hours a week, so that's not a big problem. There just aren't that many good games this gen (there's nothing on the level of The Last of Us, Red Dead, Mass Effect, God of War 2, etc) and even B, or B+ level games aren't frequent. Witcher 3 is the closest to them this gen and I think that has some problems like being a little boring after Bloody Baron. For me, it's not about free time, I just put it elsewhere. TV is a better medium than video games now. There are no current or recent games that give me the same enjoyment or the same quality as something like Game of Thrones, Mr. Robot, The Leftovers, Always Sunny, Black Mirror, and so on. I still like video games, but I think they've gone downhill while TV has never been better the last 10 years or so.

No but more weird that you are at that stage in your life and don't understand that is pretty standard.... however!!!! I think some of it may have to do with the way games are being made these days. I have free time but barely play cause in a lot of ways it seems like the types of games that come out these days are rarer and rarer to be my style. I am just not a fan of a lot of the stuff happening in games these days.

I agree I do feel in alot of ways gaming is going downhill I been gaming since the 80's and for me this is the worst generation of gaming no doubt.The only thing that makes this generation special is VR I love it personally but other than that this generation sucks there has been barely any new IP'S and sequel after sequel and broken game after broken game it's becoming disheartening the gaming industry is kinda of a mess right now. As for TV being the better medium than gaming yeah I agree but I still would prefer a new GTA then sit through a tv show if I had a choice.But I do agree there is alot of awesome shows out there can't wait for the new Black Mirror and Mr. Robot this fall.