Have You Ever Burned Out on a Hobby of Yours?

[AlbaTross 1,581]

1 hour ago, Feather Scribbles said:

Any tips for acquiring the motivation to get into a game (or games) for the first time that I have been avoiding to try out for months, but that I know I will enjoy? (I've been playing the same 2 games for the past half-year or so and, as you might imagine, it's getting a bit repetitive.)

You're talking to a man who has hundreds of videogames and will never beat the vast majority of them, with an alarming percentage being unplayed.  Honestly, I just go for the path of least resistance.  My thing is I often don't finish games because I reach points where they get repetitive and I start having less fun with them.  Examples include points in RPGs where I have to grind for a while, parts of open worlds where I have to do a lot of walking to get anywhere, and a lot of other stuff that pads the experience.  Well, that or really tough parts that I have every intention of conquering but then shelve the game indefinitely.  If I feel the desire to play a game I own, or Celestia forbid, invest in one I don't have so I can play it, I'll do it even if I'm neck deep in something else.  If I feel like a sim, I'll play a sim.  If I want an RPG, bring it on.

All of the games you listed have open world elements to varying extents, come to think of it.  Maybe something about open worlds is offputting to you?  Maybe you like the idea of them in theory, and maybe even find yourself enjoying them when you do sit down to play them, but find the prospect of completing one arduous and daunting.  Maybe the ones you have motivated yourself to sit down and play feel more familiar, and you have conquered them, so perhaps they're not as intimidating as entering another beast of an open world.  Terraria also has the deceptive simplicity of side-scrolling and simplistic gameplay (even though the game has a surprising amount of depth all things considered) while Diablo III is fairly linear in spite of its semi-large world.  Skyrim for me is more fun when I'm not overly hung up on things I feel the need to do, like quests, and just wander and see what happens, maybe doing quests if I just happen upon them.  

If I were to take a stab at your problem, I think I'd recommend trying to incorporate more variety in your games.  Open worlds are fun, intriguing, even beautiful to behold, but they're intimidating, and far from simple.  Maybe try something that's either more linear and story-focused, something shorter, or something more or less focused on simplistic gameplay.  You may even have the same problem I do, which is that I have hundreds of games, and I can count on one hand the ones I would think to play if I have 15 minutes or less to kill (meaning gaming for me is normally a time commitment).  Obviously, trying other interests besides gaming could help too.  Maybe try to distill what it is you like about the games you do generally find yourself playing.  The saying "the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step" comes to mind too.  Maybe just convincing yourself to try a game for the first time is the biggest hurdle.  Perhaps you could convince yourself if you just commit to trying a game like Horizon for a sitting of however long and seeing what happens from there. 

[Feather Scribbles 194]

6 minutes ago, AlbaTross said:

You're talking to a man who has hundreds of videogames and will never beat the vast majority of them, with an alarming percentage being unplayed.  Honestly, I just go for the path of least resistance.  My thing is I often don't finish games because I reach points where they get repetitive and I start having less fun with them.  Examples include points in RPGs where I have to grind for a while, parts of open worlds where I have to do a lot of walking to get anywhere, and a lot of other stuff that pads the experience.  Well, that or really tough parts that I have every intention of conquering but then shelve the game indefinitely.  If I feel the desire to play a game I own, or Celestia forbid, invest in one I don't have so I can play it, I'll do it even if I'm neck deep in something else.  If I feel like a sim, I'll play a sim.  If I want an RPG, bring it on.

All of the games you listed have open world elements to varying extents, come to think of it.  Maybe something about open worlds is offputting to you?  Maybe you like the idea of them in theory, and maybe even find yourself enjoying them when you do sit down to play them, but find the prospect of completing one arduous and daunting.  Maybe the ones you have motivated yourself to sit down and play feel more familiar, and you have conquered them, so perhaps they're not as intimidating as entering another beast of an open world.  Terraria also has the deceptive simplicity of side-scrolling and simplistic gameplay (even though the game has a surprising amount of depth all things considered) while Diablo III is fairly linear in spite of its semi-large world.  Skyrim for me is more fun when I'm not overly hung up on things I feel the need to do, like quests, and just wander and see what happens, maybe doing quests if I just happen upon them.  

If I were to take a stab at your problem, I think I'd recommend trying to incorporate more variety in your games.  Open worlds are fun, intriguing, even beautiful to behold, but they're intimidating, and far from simple.  Maybe try something that's either more linear and story-focused, something shorter, or something more or less focused on simplistic gameplay.  You may even have the same problem I do, which is that I have hundreds of games, and I can count on one hand the ones I would think to play if I have 15 minutes or less to kill (meaning gaming for me is normally a time commitment).  Obviously, trying other interests besides gaming could help too.  Maybe try to distill what it is you like about the games you do generally find yourself playing.  The saying "the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step" comes to mind too.  Maybe just convincing yourself to try a game for the first time is the biggest hurdle.  Perhaps you could convince yourself if you just commit to trying a game like Horizon for a sitting of however long and seeing what happens from there. 

Thank you for the advice.

The reason why I initially took an extended break from Skyrim and Dark Souls is because upon putting tens of hours into each game (and I love going in blind), I realized that I had messed up big time in terms of skill placement. In addition, I have very little know-how of to "properly play" Skyrim. (For example, I know nothing about enchanting, forging weapons and armor, potion brewing, etc.) As you described it, I find it very a daunting task to undertake. A beautiful game and an amazing experience yes, but a challenging one nonetheless.

In terms of Terraria, I have only beaten the game twice. (Note: I have yet to play 1.3.) In that game (and most games), I am somewhat of a collector. In Terraria, for example, I have to collect every painting, every banner, every weapon, every statue, etc. I dedicate hundreds of hours into each world, but once I start a new world, I often do not get into hard mode. I suppose the reason for that is because, 1) I'm getting a little sick of the game, and 2) When it comes to building, I am very lazy. Yes, I can be a good builder, but if I start on a large project (or even something as simple as a large roof), I never complete it.

Perhaps once I save up the money, I will try to purchase a new game. Maybe 7 Days to Die.

I am also a very picky gamer. About 90% of the games out there I won't like, about 7% I like but I rarely play, about 1% of the games in existance I think look awesome but I never actually play, and a select few games I just play over and over again. I dedicate about 60% of my gaming time into Minecraft now (finally got the glitches patched), about 5% into Terraria, about 28% in Diablo III, and about 2% into other games. And 50% of the time I am either playing games, or 50% of the time I am watching Let's Plays of them on YouTube. (And yes, I have a life outside of gaming, of course.)

[Lucky Bolt 34,915]

Aquarium fish-keeping. That was a hobby I used to be obsessed with. I started keeping Betta fish when I was 13 and at one point, I had 7 betta fish at one time, including about a dozen guppies, Mollies and Platys. I kept that hobby going strong until just last year, I started getting bored with it. I still have fish today, just not as much. And I'm thinking about just giving some of them away to a friend. 

But yeah, I was crazy about tropical fish keeping. It was my biggest hobby, not so much anymore. 

 

[Cyclone 1066 3,616]

58 minutes ago, Lucky Bolt said:

Aquarium fish-keeping. That was a hobby I used to be obsessed with. I started keeping Betta fish when I was 13 and at one point, I had 7 betta fish at one time, including about a dozen guppies, Mollies and Platys. I kept that hobby going strong until just last year, I started getting bored with it. I still have fish today, just not as much. And I'm thinking about just giving some of them away to a friend. 

But yeah, I was crazy about tropical fish keeping. It was my biggest hobby, not so much anymore. 

 

Guppies breed like rabbits it seems. I think I started with 5 and by 6 months later I had 20 or something. Also had Tiger Barb's for a while and a few algae eaters and snails coming out of my ears. Never really considered it a hobby but now that I typed this, I think it was. Stopped about 6 years ago. 

1 hobby I got burned out on was playing with hot wheels. Yes, there was a time that I would get tired of too much cars. The thing is, I had, and still have, a plywood board that I made a model NASCAR track on to play with my cars on. I'd lay that on the floor and play with them for hours, making the car and pitcrew noises and also being the announcer. (I think that's why I can throw my voice now) When I'd get tired of it, I'd leave the board on the floor. Mom would say to pick it up and I'd tell her I'll be playing with it again in a week, what's wrong with leaving it out so I don't have to pick up a 100 hot wheels cars and lug that heavy board back upstairs. She'd respond with, "We can't have Speedweeks going on in the living room all year round!" 

Alright, that's long enough.

[Guest]

It happens a lot with drawing. At one moment I might be gushing about how creative I'm feeling and how fun it is to make art, and the next I might be thinking about taking a two year-long break from drawing altogether.  It was especially bad around the year 2015 when I was feeling so salty about my own art and the fact that drawing didn't feel as great it was used to be that I considered just dropping the art hobby. Glad I didn't end up doing that after all!

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 40,300]

I've burnt myself out on signature making on numerous occasions, often taking long breaks. I think the reason is because since I can't work, I use the signatures as a way to justify my life and thus, I put a lot of pressure on myself when making them. That makes feel like a lot more than a simple hobby and more like a justification for my existence.

[Jordan D 149]

Gaming for me too. I'm a huge JRPG fan and, well, I hate to sound like one of those guys, but JRPGs just aren't the same anymore. So much chibi, moe games with no edge or tongue-and-cheek adventures that refuse to tell a good story. I like humor and anime in moderation but I feel like games can't find a good balance anymore. Phantasy Star IV had a good sense of humor, great anime visuals but also told a downright epic story with some legitimate tearjerkers. 

Pokemon too. I used to be downright obsessed with the series, I played Pokemon-Online for well over 4 years straight (and an additional 4 years on and off) but man I can hardly bring myself to it anymore. Gen 6 absolutely ruined the balance (ironically by trying to fix a "balancing problem" that wasn't really a problem) and Gen 7 felt so lazy. I hate to sound lke a gewunner, but they really dropped the ball since the jump to 3D. The 3D graphics aren't awful but they take away from the wonder of the series. The reason why Gen 1-5 have so much fanart is because the limited visuals allow players to really paint their own picture. The dopey, single-expression faces in Gen 7 kill any of that wonder. Early Pokemon sprites were incredibly stylized too, look at Exeggutor or Golbat's Gen 1 sprite, they gave off so much personality and charm, which is largely gone in recent games.

And...as much as I hate to say it, Digimon too, to a lesser extent. The new games have been fantastic but I think it's the fanbase that killed my enthusiasm for the series. Theirs only so much times I can be called a moron for liking American content just as much as Japanese content, if not more, before I start to disassociate myself with the series. I still love the franchise dearly but I pretty much never post in Digimon communities anymore. 

[The Recherche 29,965]

9 hours ago, Galaxian Darkanine said:

Pokemon too. I used to be downright obsessed with the series, I played Pokemon-Online for well over 4 years straight (and an additional 4 years on and off) but man I can hardly bring myself to it anymore. Gen 6 absolutely ruined the balance (ironically by trying to fix a "balancing problem" that wasn't really a problem) and Gen 7 felt so lazy. I hate to sound lke a gewunner, but they really dropped the ball since the jump to 3D. The 3D graphics aren't awful but they take away from the wonder of the series. The reason why Gen 1-5 have so much fanart is because the limited visuals allow players to really paint their own picture. The dopey, single-expression faces in Gen 7 kill any of that wonder. Early Pokemon sprites were incredibly stylized too, look at Exeggutor or Golbat's Gen 1 sprite, they gave off so much personality and charm, which is largely gone in recent games.

No, I actually agree to a certain extent. I feel like the series hit a peak with Gen 5... but at the same time, I feel like Gen 5 was a warning sign of things to come. I don't know why, but every experiment since Gen 5 has just failed for me. I didn't like Mega Evolution, I didn't like Z-Moves, I didn't like Ultra Beasts, I didn't like the Island Challenge... None of this new stuff interested me. It seemed like GAMEFREAK was trying to step outside of its comfort zone... while still staying inside of it. You just can't do that!

Mega Evolution, Z-Moves, and stuff like that make me question the longevity of the series. If they keep introducing things like this, then the series will just become clogged with a bunch of esoteric nonsense. I won't say that the franchise is going to die soon, but if it doesn't get its shit straight, then it might become niche rather than mainstream.

Sorry about the rant, but it just covers why I've grown tired of the series.  The games are still fun on some level... but the direction it's heading just inspires exhaustion in me.

[Monsoon 1,648]

I've burnt out everything my everyday life Is mundane and boring 

[TBD 17,228]

Well It's starting to... slowly but surely. Maybe I just need a break.

[碇 シンジン 27,427]

I used to watch tv a lot these days i dont even open it 

[Cash In 21,525]

Yeah, I've burnt myself out of writing. It's something that I'd really like to get back into, but I just can't bring myself to even try doing it.

[Snow Frostflame 3,567]

But of course, my biggest hobby was recording LPs, editing, and uploading. I had a lot of fun with that, took breaks every now and then, but after 5 years I stopped. Now my capture card is collecting dust, along with my Xbox One. Hopefully one day it will find use again.

[Kai-rouken 146]

Once I watched about 1,000 YTPs in about a 3 month time span and I got pretty burnt out o,o

^Was around the time this YTP came out; now that i think about it, was also right around when I got into MLP: FiM  

[Vintjack Greasymane 3,459]

If I have to think about a hobby I've burnt out...well, I'd say videogames, too.
To be precise, I wasn't really after new games, I used to play games my friends were playing, so that we could all play together, sometimes making them matches last even 4 hours. Going back of 4 years, I wouldn't even DARE thinking about not spending a single day in front of my piece of technology. Sure, I had friends in real life and used to hang out with them almost every day, but when I was back at home, I was always here, sitting on my chair, playing videogames. Going further in years, I kinda stop sticking to them so much, and slowly lost interest; mostly because my friends had more powerful computers than mine, so they could play every new game I couldn't. Nowadays I can't say I don't spend a fair amount of time in front of this screen, but I got other hobbies or occupations, at least. I still play some games, but not as much as I used to. I now use Internet for other purposes, MLP Forums being one of them!

[Earl Grey Ghost 444]

I would say video games, Pokemon and unfortunately Harry Potter. But I think it's more the fans I'm sick of. I tend to tire of fandoms before I tire of the actual show/game.

[Lord Valtasar 12,685]

for me it was online gaming,i loved Dota and Lineage 2,until i realised how hurtful it was for me one day,(i lost a whole semester playing l2)i now only play single player games
i played The last of us on my brother's ps4 recently and loved it

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

I sometimes burn myself out when playing games for long periods of time or even with listening to certain pieces of music over and over again until I get sick of them.

[Luminance 2,181]

Mainly trying to collect MLP merchandise. I'll probably fine a ton now at the thrift store but I think I have enough. 

[Here No Longer 5,270]

I can get burnt out playing specific games for too long. I used to get burnt out on League after 2 or 3 hours, and as for Paladins, it usually took about 3 hours. But this is a few hours kind of burnt out, not a few months usually. Normally when I just stop playing a game it's because I'm extremely upset instead.

[bronywhocodes 218]

this fandom lol.

 

this is why you shouldn't go insane over hobbys. take it easy!

[Phosphor 11,522]

Small engine repair was one of my hobbies for a long time, until I worked at a shop for several years. Yeah, that caused me to lose interest in it.

I tend to engage in my hobbies in cycles to avoid that. I may quit one for a while, but I always return.

[Dashy 4 Ever 4,832]

Nope. I've been drawing comics since I was 10 and never stopped still and I'm 15, entering highschool. But I always make time for it.

[碇 シンジン 27,427]

I burn out on stuff with a regular basis like once in every 3 moths or so 

On 4/27/2018 at 12:11 PM, Feather Scribbles said:

properly play" Skyrim

To be fair I don't think that kind of thing exists it is a game that you can play any way you like I mean i played it for like 700 hours never smithing enchanting or doing anything else than fighting with swords basically and I had lot of fun  I'm pretty sure I will never burn out on that game it is just too extensive 

[Nsxile 25,709]

Not as far as I can remember.