There’s nothing worse than losing your love for one of your favorite hobbies. There are a few reasons why you might find that you don’t have the same joy for gaming as before. Maybe you’ve gotten bored of the games you usually play, or maybe you’re burnt out from everything else.
Sometimes you might not be able to figure out the reason. The good news is that there are ways to get back into gaming so you don’t have to lose a form of entertainment and stress relief.
Get Something New
This is a simple strategy but when it works, it works. Sometimes a hobby gets stale because it feels like we’re just doing the same thing again and again. They say that variety is the spice of life and, now and then, an impulse buy is just what the doctor ordered.
Whether it’s a new game or a new piece of kit, updating your collection might be the perfect thing to refresh your love of gaming.
Of course, if you are trying to save money, it’s important to think before you buy. While hobbies aren’t seen as necessities, they’re more important than we might realize at first. A hobby is good for your mental health and can keep you sharp and well rested, especially when it’s part of a balanced lifestyle. So investing in your hobby isn’t something to feel guilty about.
If it brings you joy, it’s worthwhile.
With this in mind, how can you make smart gaming purchases? Think about what would make the most impact on your gaming experience according to price. Sometimes a new game might be just the thing you need, or if one of your peripherals is getting old and starting to get buggy, you might need an upgrade.
If you’re getting a new game, consider something completely different to what you normally play. There are so many different genres out there, but we can pigeonhole ourselves into only playing a few different types of games.
The indie scene is currently incredibly popular, as it allows gamers who were otherwise bored with the typical AAA fare to play around with something new. While these games might not have the same graphics or production value, the gameplay and stories they tell are absolute gold. Even better, you can buy more games for a lower price, allowing you to really vary your gaming collection.
So don’t be afraid to jump to a new genre and way of playing. If you’re unsure about investing in a new game, consider getting a demo version to dip your feet into it or watching let’s play to get a feel for it.
Set a budget for your gaming expenses so you won’t push your finances too far. You can control your purchasing and still improve your experience.
Play With Someone Else
Sometimes we get bored with games because we need to do something with other people. Social interaction is a need and even introverts find that they are better off mentally and emotionally if they have a measure of human interaction. Thankfully, there are loads of ways to game with other people.
The most common way to game with other people is to play online. You can play with strangers and have a great time getting to know different people and working as a team or against each other. Different games are designed for different playstyles and some are especially good for playing with other people.
You can talk to these people using chat or your voice or, in some cases, you can just enjoy the challenge.
But what if you don’t like the idea of playing with strangers or you’re burnt out from more toxic interactions that unfortunately happen? Well, try playing with friends.
Online gaming can work great with friends as well. You can link up and have gaming sessions, either as part of a larger community with other people outside of your group or just with each other. Even if your friends are at the other end of the earth, you can still play together.
Another idea is to have a good old fashioned LAN party or play split screen. Nostalgia is a wonderful thing and many veteran gamers have fond memories of gaming sessions with their friends in the same house.
So, invite some people round and find games that allow for this. Even modern games and remakes have brought back splitscreen capabilities so you can get back to playing Halo against each other or cooperatively.
Get some pizza and beers in because you’re an adult now and just have a blast.
Handheld and Portable Gaming
Sometimes it’s hard to find the time to sit down and game, which is why you lose the hobby. You’d love to catch up with new games but work and other commitments make it hard to have the time or energy to set up your pc or console for gaming. Being an adult is hard sometimes.
If you spend a lot of your time on the commute, especially if you’re on public transport, there might be another option.
Why not game on the go?
Portable gaming has a long and storied history. As with other video games, it was always constrained by technology limitations. While the gameboy was great, sometimes those scattered pixels didn’t quite capture the imagination, especially when compared to modern graphics and colors.
But portable gaming systems have moved on along with everything else.
New gaming systems allow you to play so many different games and you don’t even have to carry around the cartridges. These include versions of AAA games that you might find on the latest consoles or the PC, and you have an opportunity to play them wherever you are and whenever you want.
But what if you can’t afford or justify yet another console?
Well, you can still play a lot of surprisingly great games on the humble smartphone. Mobile gaming has a bad reputation sometimes, as many games are designed to gouge as much money out of players as possible. But there are also plenty of genuinely great games that you can play from your phone that are either free or only cost a fraction of a AAA game.
Get Good
Okay this might sound like a classic taunt for struggling players, but it’s a legitimate strategy for finding new enjoyment in your games. Sometimes we lose the level of challenge and that kills the fun for us. Or, even worse, we get stuck in a game and end up rage quitting.
Rather than looking at the taunt, look for ways to become a better gamer.
If you’re struggling with a game, don’t be afraid to lower the difficulty level. Some games allow you to change difficulty on the fly, so you can build your skills and up the difficulty level again when you’re at a higher level.
But what if the highest difficulty level still isn’t enough to keep you engaged? Well, one option is to set your own challenges and goals. Certain games allow you to have more freedom as you play, so you can improve your skills this way.
You can also try to get achievements, which are often extra levels of difficulty and challenges to try and succeed at.
Finally, you can really up the difficulty and even completely change a game by installing mods. Mods (or modifications) allow you to add content to a game or tweak the settings to make it play differently. It’s easier to mod PC games, but even some console games now offer ways to play with mods.
Just be careful when modding, as you might have to play with a new save file. If you end up messing up, reinstall the game and start afresh.
Back to Basics
While video games are amazing and can tell some amazing stories and transport you to a whole new world, they aren’t the only gaming option out there.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to bring your gaming right back to basics. The simplest kinds of games are card games, and you can have a huge amount of fun with a deck of cards or a set of dice.
Online card games like freecell are great for quiet moments during the day when you don’t have time to load up a video game, but want to still have a fun gaming experience for a few minutes.
Or you can play games with friends.
If you want to mix things up a bit more, consider other board games and tabletop games. If you thought video games were versatile, look at the difference between a basic card game like freecell or solitaire that can kill a few minutes and a long-form tabletop RPG or strategy game.
Warhammer 40k involves collecting and painting models, then battling it out with your friends using armies. Or you can play something like Dungeons and Dragons which involves roleplaying, maths, and dice rolls.
