GamerSushi Asks: What Do You Miss About Games?

Fez

Guys, I feel like I’m drowning here. As much as I enjoy being a brand new dad, it goes without saying that my free time doesn’t look quite the same as it did before. While I still am taking plenty of time to do some personal writing, not every hobby is created equal, and gaming has suffered a big hit. In the last few weeks, I think I’ve played maybe just an hour or two of video games. This is probably going to be my situation until our newborn starts sleeping through the night a little more, which I hear should start happening in a month or two. Fingers crossed.

The thing is, I don’t really mind not playing video games all that much for the reasons you might think. Sure, they’re fun and I love hopping into games of Mass Effect 3 multiplayer with the GS guys, or catching up on some Diablo III with my one of my brothers. I love wrapping my mind around Fez’s twisted puzzles and aiming for new times on Trials: Evolution. But the thing I’m finding out I miss the most? The way gaming calms me down.

There’s just something about playing video games that relaxes me after a day of stress at work. Even if it’s just 30 minutes, taking that time to apply my brain to something that isn’t seafood menus or billboards unwinds me in a way that almost nothing else can. That’s what I start to miss when I’m not gaming.

So what about you guys? What do you miss about games when you’re not playing them? Go!

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I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

14 thoughts on “GamerSushi Asks: What Do You Miss About Games?”

  1. I miss the time when not all games where shooters with big explosions. Nowadays, too many companies are forcing all of their franchises to become samey shooters with lots of dumb action. There’s no more finesse, strategy, subtlety. I’m fine with playing an action-packed shooter occasionally, but it needs to be done well, and it shouldn’t replace the horror or the RPG aspects of all games. I really hate all this big marketing that infested games. I’d rather have the marketing reach a relatively-smaller (but still massive) demographic gamers who are going to try out a smarter game rather than hordes of Madden-CoD fans who only play the mindless shooters that publishers shovel out. The emphasis on turning all games into huge-budget explosion moron-fests because it rakes in cash is seriously damaging the industry, and it’s short-sighted.

  2. It’s not so much about what I miss, but how I feel: resentment that everyone else has more free time than me…followed by jealousy that they’re getting to experience all the cool shit first. 😛

  3. Gaming to me can be like an old friend. When I go long stretches of time without playing it’s like me and that friend have been out of touch. Like you Eddy, I as well find it to be a terrific stress reliever (and have all my life, and it’s gotten me through some rough times, probably the reason for the old friend analogy).

  4. Also the picture of Fez reminds me to tell you all to SEE INDIE GAME: THE MOVIE. It is an absolutely fantastic documentary that covers the development of Super Meat Boy, Fez, and Braid and should be seen by every gamer. You can download a DRM free copy off their web site for like $10. If you haven’t heard about it here’s a trailer: http://youtu.be/GhaT78i1x2M

  5. I think I know what you mean, Eddy. I kinda went through that a couple years when we had our first kid. What I really miss is losing myself in a really absorbing game and be able to immerse myself in hours of play. I find that for me it’s become a combination of time and the quality of games. There are certainly a lot of great games but they seem to be fewer and farther between. Being able to lose myself in a great game for hours at a time with no worries provided a great stress relief and enjoyment. Being able to game a couple hours a week doesn’t seem too bad as I pretty much gave up gaming for 6 months. I love being a father as well (probably the best feeling in the world) but I miss that feeling and I’ve rarely felt it since. And the only times I did was when I was able to play for a couple hours straight at least (only happens really late at night tho) and while playing the very best games of the past couple years. And its almost like I’ve become more critical of games (probably because my time is more valuable) and really noticed a drop in quality.

    We’ve got another one coming any day now so I’ll probably be taking another hiatus for a few months. Hopefully games will be of better quality once I return to playing. 😉 … don’t I wish

  6. For a long time I missed simple, small games, from small teams of people like we used to get on old consoles. Those have obviously re-emerged in the last 4 or 5 years in such a big way that it’s overwhelming. I absolutely love all the “smaller” titles and what they’ve done to show that not every game needs to cost $100 Million to be memorable, or even incredible.

    In fact, it’s the huge games now a days that all seem so vanilla and hand-holdy that wear on me. But I’m certainly a cynic and a complainer, I know I don’t need to play those games… It’s just that sometimes you are surprised by a blockbuster, and so my heart seeks for that feeling, even when it’s broken over and over again.

    Right now, Max Payne 3 comes to mind.

  7. The numbers. If I’m not playing a game I’m sad because my numbers aren’t going up.
    Speaking of numbers I managed to get my One-Handed up to 100 in Skyrim. That makes the game even easier. Good thing I found some mods which made the enemies scale more closely with my level! :3

  8. I miss the excitement. I just remember some games that had me so crazy pumped to play them that I could barely sleep the first night I got them. Rome: Total War, Super Smash Brothers Melee, Counter Strike, Halo 2, Oblivion. It’s been a long time since I had that excitement, and that’s really disappointing

  9. What I miss about games is being 14 years old when I play them. I was able to give games all the imagination the developers neglected to put into the stories. Stories these days are much bigger and more drawn out that they were 20 years ago, but in my head, Shining Force’s tale was more than a group of adventurers questing to slay Dark Dragon. It was a tale of love and betrayal and friendship as well. All is not lost, though. Ico and SotC both make me do this, still.

    Also, when I was 14 (or around there), games could still make major innovations; whereas now, since the media is aged, new ideas are much harder, if not impossible, to come by. Even the “new” ideas are really just new ways of looking at old ideas.

  10. [quote comment=”19519″]What I miss about games is being 14 years old when I play them. I was able to give games all the imagination the developers neglected to put into the stories. Stories these days are much bigger and more drawn out that they were 20 years ago, but in my head, Shining Force’s tale was more than a group of adventurers questing to slay Dark Dragon. It was a tale of love and betrayal and friendship as well. All is not lost, though. Ico and SotC both make me do this, still.

    Also, when I was 14 (or around there), games could still make major innovations; whereas now, since the media is aged, new ideas are much harder, if not impossible, to come by. Even the “new” ideas are really just new ways of looking at old ideas.[/quote]

    this.

  11. I miss the feeling of coming into a new game. The excitement, and the experience. You didn’t care how well you did, you were learning, enthralled in what was happening. You were like a toddeler, only instead of developing yourself, you were developing strategies, tactics, different play styles, and exploring the broad context of the game and it’s worlds/maps/etc. Nowadays, everything is so stressful, too high strung. Seasoned in the familiarity of a game, more stress, more bitterness occurs, because of the competitive nature that we subconsciously exhibit in not wanting to lose or do bad. Not caring how well you did was bliss. You didn’t worry about anything, you were just having fun. That’s what I miss most.

  12. Im with you in the sense that I havent been gaming much at all as of late. For me, its just been that I have started working 40 a week and am being more social on the weekends.

    I really miss what gaming did for me back when it was more in its hayday, it brought me together (nightly really) with many of my friends. The last time gaming did this was several months ago with Battlefield 3. I miss the social aspect of gaming, specifically playing games with my friends and just having a blast with it.

    Some of the comments ring true as well with this. Games feel like they are just not what they used to be.

  13. [quote comment=”19528″]Im with you in the sense that I havent been gaming much at all as of late. For me, its just been that I have started working 40 a week and am being more social on the weekends.

    I really miss what gaming did for me back when it was more in its hayday, it brought me together (nightly really) with many of my friends. The last time gaming did this was several months ago with Battlefield 3. I miss the social aspect of gaming, specifically playing games with my friends and just having a blast with it.

    Some of the comments ring true as well with this. Games feel like they are just not what they used to be.[/quote]

    I agree. We need a renaissance of gaming. Something that will really turn things around. Though with the way The Last of Us is shaping up to me, it may be closer than we think. Watch Dog too.

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