Sorry, this video is a bit longer. Next video is a return back to form. This was just something I felt the need to share with you as we move into 2022. Hopefully, my story will resonate with some people.
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I’ve been playing video games for, as long as I can remember. I still vividly remember the moment I first held a controller in both my hands. I was overwhelmed by the size of the Duke at the time. But that was only background noise compared to the new sights and sounds of this second favorite entry in my favorite franchise. This was a time when gaming was unlimited. I had no concept of developer or hardware restrictions, the limits of pre-generated responses from NPC’s or content in the game to consume. Spyro was an infinite world to explore and create in, Halo was a vast universe I could save dragons from, and I still remember accidentally finding shaymin on the end of a long path of flowers.
Come early 2021 it was time for me to upgrade, and after managing to walk into a best buy and just randomly come across a 3090 that I wasn’t even looking to buy at the time, I knew it was time to go all out. I was able get a 5950x, which was the most powerful motherboard available at that time. It also came with some amazing RAM. This system had NO compromises, other than the fans. I built the computer, ran some benchmarks, and then didn’t play any games. At first I assumed I was just unmotivated, or maybe even burnt out, but over time I came to realize that I just wasn’t enjoying games anymore. I got scared, scared that I spent all of this money on a hobby I wasn’t interested in anymore, scared that the youtube channel I wanted to start was already dead in the water, scared that I’d be giving up a huge part of what formed my online identity.
I calmed down and took a step back. It makes sense that I’d start feeling this way about gaming, doing anything pretty much every day for long enough would ultimately become mundane and boring, what can I do to have fun with playing games again. After being stumped for a while, I decided to take a break to work on Ultrakill. While that was technically gaming, it was mostly for work so I could really think about what I wanted to do.
However, I discovered that my desire to continue playing video games rose when I took a break. But once I actually managed to get into a game and started playing, my desire to continue playing them would immediately fall, and I’d get off of it within 30 minutes.
It was clear to me that there wasn’t much variety in the games I was playing. I would get on my computer and boot up the same FPS games, or just open up Minecraft, which I’ve been playing for years as well. I decided to actually take the the time and figure out other genres of games I could play, and I’ve never been happier for it. I realized that what I was experiencing overall wasn’t me not finding games fun anymore, I just wasn’t finding FPS games as interesting.
I decided to make an effort to diversify my gaming interests in 2021. I found that I still enjoy playing videogames, but I needed to get some fresh air. I played Forza Horizon and Ghostrunner. I also spent some time on Spyro. I also replayed Sonic Generations, Sonic Unleashed Cities Skylines, Dark Souls and Demon Souls. These games taught me a lot about the hobby, and made it even more enjoyable.
This reached its peak when Halo Infinite came out. I waited 6 years to see if Halo 5 would be released again. I watched every lore clip I could find, searched reddit threads and twitter threads about what would happen and tried to keep up with the game as much I could. I’ve already talked about Halo a lot on my channel, so keep my bias in mind, but this game gave me hope for new releases. Did I have issues with Halo Infinite’s campaign, of course, but how GOOD the gameplay was kept me from noticing them as much as I could have.
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