Gaming Burnout

[Dakki]

Hey, guys! 

 

I'll cut straight to the point with this. Recently, I have began suffering from something called "gaming burnout", a phrase that some might be familiar with. In short, it means a person has lost their flare/desire to game for various reasons varying from player to player.

 

Ergo, I have decided to take a break from gaming as a whole for a little while, or longer. Just until the flame is rekindled. However, I shall still be around and/or lurking around here because I have no life I'm not in any way, shape or form ready to say goodbye to this place and I will likely return to gaming sometime or another, maybe sooner rather than later.

 

In this time absent, I will hardly be idle. I've decided to pursue a couple of other old hobbies to see if they can help at all. As well as this, I shall be putting the finishing touches to my preparations for the new academic year, provided all goes smoothly, of course!

 

(For those interested, this case of burnout really comes out of the blue, but I am not taken aback by it. It figures with a few things going on in real life which require my undivided attention, depression coming back on the backswing and just generally getting bored in-game a lot in more than just FFXIV. But I won't bore you with my self-diagnostics!)

 

I shall see you guys around! :moogle:

[allgivenover]

Thing is, MMOs are games meant to be played over long periods of time, not necessarily all the time. Cycling interest is natural.

[Dakki]

Yeah, it's not just MMOs, mind. I'll never say I've wasted time on games, they will always be one of my true loves, buuut... Time to hand up the ol' T-16 for a while.

[TheLastCandle]

No.. *hurls Force-driven boulders and other projectiles to impede Asgarn's path* You must not go! The galaxy is at stake!

 

In all seriousness, I think we've all been there at some point. Your gaming friends will all be waiting for you when you get that spark back. In the meantime, don't be a stranger! Keep in touch.

[Steel Wolf]

Personally, I'm curious as to what other hobbies you're pursuing.  And if there are pictures associated with one's progress.  :3  Because I'm nosy curious.

 

Anyrate, as you likely know from my own minor crisis of faith in my character in XIV, I COMPLETELY understand your need to take a break.  I hope that this little vacation will refresh you and get you back in-game soonly.  I mean, I'm on Balmung and I still haven't met Asgarn yet. 

[Ignacius]

I've blown my game gasket once (went back to running Shadowrun tabletop games for a year), but since then I've been fine.  A few tips for avoiding this in your life:

1.  Find a job you like to do and make sure that's a bigger priority.  When you get home from a job you've poured your heart and soul into, you enjoy relaxing with a game.  If you get home and your job you pour your heart and soul into is a game, you'll eventually get burned out on it.  If you're going to intermittently burnout on something of something, at least make it the thing you get paid to do.

 

2.  Have a hobby that isn't a game, practice it regularly.  I play bass guitar.  Horribly.  However, if I sit down at my rig, look at the game, feel like what is in front of me is a horrendously long grind I have no desire to force myself through, I get up and play bass instead.  When I come back, I often find that I'm looking forward to doing what I dreaded, I just didn't feel like doing it right then and there.

 

3.  Have some game variety.  Even if you feel like playing games, you'll eventually flame out if it's the same thing over and over again.  I know I play this pretty much every day now, but I can still reactivate and play WoW for when I inevitably feel bored with FFXIV and I play Diablo in the interim.  Just have other stuff to do that isn't an MMO; MMORPGs have a bad habit of forcing you to have responsibilities to friends, which makes the final tip impossible.

 

4.  Most importantly, and I say this again and again to people, NEVER EVER EVER PLAY IF YOU AREN'T HAVING FUN!  Take a break, do something, do anything, whatever you do don't make a game into a chore.  It will never be fun again.  You might take ten minutes to play a game of pool, come back and everything is absolutely fine.  If you're forcing yourself to play a game, it's no longer a game and it's no longer fun.  Even if it's staring at a wall for an hour that gives you that break, you don't want to be playing a game and not having fun.  That's a good way to ruin all games, nay all your hobbies, for a long time.  You forget what having fun really is.

 

Just my set of tips.  Too many MMO players over the years have started taking games a little too seriously.  That's how you get that touchy person that starts arguing about everything, even if it has nothing to do with him, that starts dampening the fun for anyone.

 

If anything, better to bow out when you know you're flaming out rather than become that guy.  We all know that guy.  We don't want to be that guy.

 

So I hope the OP gives his brain a much needed vacation and we see him back soon.  Totally understand what he means though.  It's wise to know when you've had enough and you need to dry out a while.

[Magellan]

There is so much truths to what Ignacius says, I don't even....

 

 

I wish more people thought like this. People devour game content so quickly, then sit around clamoring for more.... there are a lot of fun games out there. Learn to spread out your time. It keeps everything more fresh and enjoyable. If you repeat the same action over and over, for hours at a time, without a break.... then yeah. It stops being fun. Starts to feel like work. Work you don't get paid for.

 

This goes for RP too. I have a hard time rping with people who are IC all the time. I can have a fun session of RP with them, take two days off for rl pursuit, then come back to find they have advanced their story so far without me that I'm practically written out of it.

 

Conversely, in my tabletop group, we meet once a week, and I always look forward to it. I know exactly where the story left off, who my character is and what role she fills in relation to the others, and that I'll be an integral part of the story, not just standing around and watching others have fun.

 

#4 of ignacius's post cannot be stressed enough. If the game is no longer fun.... don't force yourself. Its not magically going to become fun again, and a change of scenery is always refreshing.

[Dakki]

You know I love you guys, right?  It's really refreshing to read that others have been through it (though this I already knew from helping others out, it helps nonetheless!) and thoughts on what to do. So thanks.

 

Personally, I'm curious as to what other hobbies you're pursuing.  And if there are pictures associated with one's progress.  :3  Because I'm nosy curious.

 

Anyrate, as you likely know from my own minor crisis of faith in my character in XIV, I COMPLETELY understand your need to take a break.  I hope that this little vacation will refresh you and get you back in-game soonly.  I mean, I'm on Balmung and I still haven't met Asgarn yet. 

 

H'oi, nosey! But I shall oblige. I'll be pursuing past hobbies of reading (extensively, like... two books a day as a minimum), studying (yeah, I make studying a hobby. Especially browsing the interwebs and libraries on topics of interest), continued; studying pathogens, pathogenic transfer and characteristics. I'm not weird, I promise! Aaaand a more exercise-based hobby of running. I -used- to go hiking a lot, but I live in a built up city area, so running shall have to suffice.

 

Also: Asgarn shall blow your mind.  ... Sounded better in my head.