Are you playing the wrong game when...

[JudgeDredd]

...you double click the shortcut to start it up and then immediately think - even before the game has started - "Do I really want to play this?"?

[undercovergeek]

lol - youre a 'troubled gamer' JD!

[JudgeDredd]

I know  :(

Just tried BF4 online and ffs...if I am not the shittiest player online, then I'd like to shake the hand of the person that is. For some god awful reason everyone else seems to be able to spot me regardless of where I am - and all before I even have a clue where ANYONE is or where I'm meant to be going.

I guess as you get familiar with levels, it gets a bit easier - this was my first time online - but 7 deaths in as many minutes does NOT make for an enjoyable experience. I've never been overly pleased with "frantic" online gaming...preferring a more stealth, hide and seek kind of game (like ArmA III) - though I've never played that online so wouldn't know what online play is like.

[Grim.Reaper]

...you double click the shortcut to start it up and then immediately think - even before the game has started - "Do I really want to play this?"?

Sadly, this is happening to me more and more where I have a strong urge to play any game, but as I look through all my stuff, nothing just really grabs me anymore.  I fire the game up and within minutes close it down.   This is getting to the point where I buy stuff and hardly even play it.  Not sure what it is with me, but maybe one or more of the following:

- I just have too much stuff and can't settle on something to play
- I bought things I really didn't need or want, but got caught up in an impulse buy
- A lot of the games come out with too many bugs and by the time playable, I have moved on
- Don't have as much gaming time as I have had in the past
- I almost enjoy reading about game reviews and discussing games in forums, then actually playing them
- Games I have picked up are sometimes too complex and hard to wrap my head around
- Too many games kind of feel the same, especially with FPS...I know they are different, but to me they can get repetitive even if different types
- Seems games are moving more to multiplayer focused, which I don't like to participate based on my availability and schedule
- Not an entire bad thing, but there are so many games out there now, nothing really feels special like it used to when I was growing up
- Maybe I am just getting too old for this level of gaming and time for me to pick a new hobby:(

I have picked up an xbox one recently and have had a good time playing it, largely because it is something I can do with my daughter and I don't overthink the games I play at all...I know they are mostly simple games that you pick up just to have some fun, without all the complexity and such....

What a bad attitude for me to have as we move into the really good holiday sales time period:(

[Yskonyn]

Not to make this into a BF4 topic, because we already have one; But JD I know how you feel. I have those days with BF too. Ironically you mention liking a slower pace and more stealthyness. Well this is exactly what works in BF. You need to read the map, use cover and leap frog from point to point.
If you are going to run everywhere guns blazing you're as good as dead.
Also, if you play alone you will need to change your tactic as well. Focus more on support . Go to a front line but stay in cover and support your allies with ammo, medpacks, revives or anti-air. Or go the commando way and take back flags at points that are not defended at the moment.
Remember: its not the kills that count in BF: its your score.

[JudgeDredd]

Point taken on BF4. I often feel I need to get to the front line quickly - and then quickly realise the front line is...well, everywhere. Other people sneaking about or just stumbling on me running about like a headless chicken.

I will give it more tries. I did "start" to get BF3...familiarisation of maps is pretty important.

As for you GR - we are one and the same - separated at birth I'm sure. All the same thoughts go through my head - and yet I WILL spend a small fortune on the sales. I don't even know why. I have WitP:AE now (bought kind of by accident) and really ought to make an effort to dig in.

I've tried the "remove all games but this one" to try and get into a game. Then I've thought "Well...I suppose it's ok to have one of each genre"....before I know it I have a shed load of shortcuts on my desktop!

Oh well. We have these enlightenment threads from time to time and like anyone else addicted to something, we go straight back to our habit. It's a curse for sure, but not a life destroying one thankfully (for most at least).

[KyzBP]

"As for you GR - we are one and the same - separated at birth I'm sure. All the same thoughts go through my head - and yet I WILL spend a small fortune on the sales. I don't even know why. I have WitP:AE now (bought kind of by accident) and really ought to make an effort to dig in."


I've owned WitP:AE for 4 years now and I've only gotten as far as launching it, looking around the map, and then exiting.  I want to play it so bad but the second I click the icon I know I'll be back to the desktop in a matter of minutes.

[Grim.Reaper]

"As for you GR - we are one and the same - separated at birth I'm sure. All the same thoughts go through my head - and yet I WILL spend a small fortune on the sales. I don't even know why. I have WitP:AE now (bought kind of by accident) and really ought to make an effort to dig in."


I've owned WitP:AE for 4 years now and I've only gotten as far as launching it, looking around the map, and then exiting.  I want to play it so bad but the second I click the icon I know I'll be back to the desktop in a matter of minutes.

Yep, I am in the same boat.....on paper, this is a game topic I should love, but immediately overwhelmed.  I think it my head I want things to be large and model real life, but that comes with a price of playability.  I just remember playing games on my Commodore 128 all the time without thinking about all this stuff....even had a Midway game where it just had an asterisk map with letters moving around and I played the heck out of it!  Maybe more isn't always better....

[MengJiao]

"As for you GR - we are one and the same - separated at birth I'm sure. All the same thoughts go through my head - and yet I WILL spend a small fortune on the sales. I don't even know why. I have WitP:AE now (bought kind of by accident) and really ought to make an effort to dig in."


I've owned WitP:AE for 4 years now and I've only gotten as far as launching it, looking around the map, and then exiting.  I want to play it so bad but the second I click the icon I know I'll be back to the desktop in a matter of minutes.

  I don't particularly want to say anything good about WitP:AE -- I played it for years PBEM and I'm glad I stopped -- but I have to admit -- once you are deep in it -- it is a very interesting (if not exactly good) game.

   

[Wolfe1759]

I've owned WitP:AE for 4 years now and I've only gotten as far as launching it, looking around the map, and then exiting.  I want to play it so bad but the second I click the icon I know I'll be back to the desktop in a matter of minutes.

I've been doing exactly the same for the past 3 years.

[spelk]

In BF4 the commander (if there is one) can lay down a UAV Scan which basically highlights all enemy units in a given radius. So if you're in this area with a UAV live, then you're going to show up regardless of how stealthy you want to be. However, there is a counter to it, if the opponent commander lays down an EMP UAV jammer. Which basically makes the radius area go dark. Very useful to drop down when your men are trying to take an area. Similarly, if you're on defense having incoming light up is very useful.

[JudgeDredd]

"As for you GR - we are one and the same - separated at birth I'm sure. All the same thoughts go through my head - and yet I WILL spend a small fortune on the sales. I don't even know why. I have WitP:AE now (bought kind of by accident) and really ought to make an effort to dig in."


I've owned WitP:AE for 4 years now and I've only gotten as far as launching it, looking around the map, and then exiting.  I want to play it so bad but the second I click the icon I know I'll be back to the desktop in a matter of minutes.

I actually managed to press the "End Turn" button...yay ME! Proper hardcore grognard now yeah? lol

@Spelk - BF4 - yep. There are some great gameplay features in it. BF3 and 2 also. I played BF2 for quite some time with a clan...because that is the only real way to play online and enjoy it. You get the camaraderie, the fun and laughs and the tactics. Finding a good clan is very important to enjoying them online I think. For me at least.

[GJK]

This is another take on a reoccurring theme; game burnout.  Not that this topic didn't need to be started JD, it's a good one to hash out.

My opinion - if you're sitting there staring at your computer wondering what to play and what may be appealing to you, you need to push the chair out from the desk, get up and go find something else to do.  You may not sit back down at your computer desk to play a game for a day, a week or a month even.  As a single guy, that's usually when I've reached "cabin fever" levels and want to go skirt chasing but that's another topic.  Others may just need to enjoy the outdoors, or another hobby, or the wife or the kids or here's a suggestion: go stay the weekend in a historically rich city/town and look up the history of the place.

In the end though, each of us are life long wargamers (Grogsheads) and eventually some thing, some setting, some movie, some spat with the wife/girlfriend/kids/dog/cat/ferret/hamster/goldfish, will eventually get you back in the mood to blow things up, move armies of tanks, cavalry charge an artillery post or storm that beach and you'll be back at it again.

Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?  NO!!  Now get back in there and fire up that campaign game of WiTP or keep at those MWiF tutorials- you have plans for world domination to conduct!!!

[Staggerwing]

LOL- You tell'em Bluto!

[ComradeP]

I never really experienced anything like this until earlier this year or so. Luckily, the game burn-out hasn't been total thus far and I've always been able to find something to enjoy. I usually just get back to playing some game I haven't played in a while, start a PBEM for a wargame I haven't played in a while, jump into a beta for a game that isn't similar to what I've played recently, or just get back to classics that don't get old provided you don't play them all the time.