Too many games are feeling like "work" after playing a while

Best game I’ve ever played. Not exaggerating, but YMMV of course.

May I ask what the principle is? Curious.

I feel this way about WoW now. I don’t have a problem with how they unlock flying now, but the thought of grinding dailies to unlock it just doesn’t interest me.

I will usually play a game through to completion of the story, but don’t really worry about the collectibles and the like.

(dang, replying to the original poster is a pain today here for some reason)

I think it is also tied to us having different value for money, thus feeling less guilty than we as kids for buying a game we may not enjoy.

But on a more wider spectrum, I also think early games are much more tuned (probably tested too) than later parts of the games, thus making them that more enjoyable? In strategy games, it’s striking, especially if there is a map to explore — but I’m a map explorer fetishist.
I don’t think I’ve finished a game in years, beyond some casual Hidden Object Things!

Fair do’s! I respect that! Cheers!

A million times this. I RARELY finish any of my games, and I’m totally fine with that.

I’ve gotten to the point where I rarely play PC or Console games, generally because the “solving the puzzle” factor has now been monetized (or just stretched thin to pad things out, as @Rod_Humble alluded to) into grinding. I just have no patience for that. I have no interest in any MMO due to the ecosystems that always arise. The rare PC Gem will grab me now and again (FOE) but it won’t be an RTS (time sink).

Boardgames (in my case Groggy Board Wargames)? Well in person or Vassal I play all the time. As far as completion goes, well, I am playing another person, so that is generally an incentive to “finish” or a mutual decision to declare a winner (or that we are bored and don’t like it).

Well, there’s a balance here. If I pay $40-$50 for a game, I want more than just 5 hours, no matter how good it may be.

Open world/sandbox games can suffer from this the worst if they don’t have a compelling narrative.

One of the best (if not the best) that wasn’t repetitive was GTA V. The story wove masterfully between characters while setting up the gameplay mechanics and worldbuilding. Just when you started to understand a certain dynamic they would yank the rug out or change directions, like having Michael’s family leave or when he and Trevor were exiled to the desert. There was almost no grinding in that game and always new things being introduced, new home bases, new characters. Same thing with RDR2. Rockstar is one of the best in the business at that.

Compare this with any open world (besides the first Crackdown) in which your only reason to explore is the collection of “X of Y” tokens found. Or grind out kills to level up. Or collect herbs, or whatever.

I think those mechanics will die the same death as quicktime events eventually. God I hated that era of gaming. Anyone who goes back to it nowadays looks foolish.

It’s a very rare game that can hold my interest for more than a week or two, which is why I (mostly) stick to digital board games, which can be finished in under an hour, and try to avoid Early Access.

I think as I grew older, I also started to enjoy games more. But only the right games, as I simply know myself and my tastes better by now.
I do have way less patience for grindy BS than I had when I was 15 or so. No way I’d play a typical MMO nowadays for more than maybe a few days - weeks (until I feel I’ve seen all it has to offer mechanics wise).

As others here, I also stop when this “work” feel comes up. Usually I stop for good then, too, and don’t come back to the game.

You’re getting older.

(It is.)

QFMFT. This is the motto of responsible-gambling movement, and with loot box increasingly looks like fruit machine, this is the way to go.

I’m getting to the point where I enjoying reading about… and sometimes even watching… games more than playing them myself. Factorio is one of the ones where I still actively play because it is almost passive - there isn’t a fail state (no biters for me), I can be as sloppy or OCD as I wish based on my mood, I can play with a train set (this apparently becomes a thing with age too), and I don’t have to think too hard to make progress.

For a lot of other stuff, I read up on it here or reddit or wherever and live vicariously through my son who is aiming to be the most successful pacifist griefer in Red Dead Online (which honestly, is absolutely hilarious).

I have zero tolerance anymore for blatant treadmills and time wasters. There are a host of game design choices that will make me pretty much instantly shut something off and never play it again. Poor save systems, poor checkpoints, gear grinds if the gear isn’t meaningful…some games I can still get into a good progression system if the tiers are actually significant improvements.

The older I get, the less it takes to turn me off to a game. They are billions right now is really frustrating me. I love the game, I love the mechanics, I love everything about it, except the (&)(& idiotic save system that won’t let you have various save points. I hate having an hour invested in a game, and then losing because one mob slipped through a crack somewhere. I don’t mind roguelikes when it’s really a valid choice for a game, but in this case it really feels tacked on and pretty infuriating.

I a complex issue. Games like this did not existed in the 8 bits era. In the 8 bits era most games existed to challenge you. Very few games existed to entertain you, or to chill.

The bigger influencer of the era was the arcade machines, that where coin operated, so the business model was very time limited, have the player enjoy the game, but also make the game short, so the next person can use the cabinet.

With the PC game world we started to see games like Maxis simulators that where “learn how the world work with a model” and full RPG games where you “adopt a role and live adventures.”

In japan and that area of the world, the RPG’s required many hours of grinding and maybe challenging.

In time we had things like german Farm Simulators and Korean MMO’s.

I like to think, but I have no base, that is a cultural based things. That in some cultures they like their games to feel like work.

I am anti work. I am lazy, inventor and artist. About the 3 most anti-work things that exist. If you are lazy, you work hard to work less. If you are inventor, you create robots so you don’t have to work yourself. If you are artist, you know quality is disconnected with productivity, in art don’t matter if you took 2 seconds to made it or 2 years, only if is good. In art you put 2 years of work to be able to make something in 2 seconds.

Not everyone is like me. For some people more work = better. For some people more work= more reward. The idea of “don’t work harder, work smarter” don’t pass for their head. For some people (most people) work define their existence, they will probably suicide themselves if you give them 30 million dollars, because will remove the reason of their existence (work).

So I think some games feel like work, because work is such a important part of people lives that they literally can’t live withouth.

If the story is interesting, then I let it pull me through. If the mechanics are great that can make up for a mediocre story. But what really keeps me around is a sense of place, the integration of art, design, character, and world building. If I like being there, I’ll do everything there is to do. If I don’t, any excuse will usually pull me away.

I get it, and I’ve done it.

I’m in the final battle of Divinity: Original Sin 2 and after failed attempts I’m ready to toss in the towel. But, man, I can’t quite make myself do it. Really, it’s one last battle, but they take so many hours combined that it’s a struggle to get myself back into it. I want my party to have its ending. It’d be like reading a book and then stopping just before resolution. Arg. Letting it go is not always the best choice for games that rely strongly on narrative.

Honestly, I’d say I have two reasons for dropping games that I’ve already invested a lot of time in:

  1. Difficulty spike made the game a slog and repetitive as I tried to get past that challenge.

  2. There was no hook (e.g. story) to keep me and I was drawn away by another game.

[Edit/Update] And see, good thing I went back and played DOS2 again. Tried a few times and restarted early when I could see things weren’t going well. Decided on a new tactic and it worked to get me through. Done and I’m happy to shelve it.

I love this thread. I’m going through a lot of this myself. I recognize that at my age there’s less time. I still like games but I just don’t feel as compelled to play as much. I do wonder if that will change when I’m officially retired and when time is a bit more relaxed. Like a lot of you I have noticed that I don’t care to finish a game anymore if I’ve gotten to a point where I’ve figured out a game’s mechanics and now it’s just a grind.

I still think it can be neat to get achievements but there’s a difference between “find the one secret on each level” vs “collect the 150 hidden skulls strewn about the open world”. I can’t be arsed enough to go after that second one anymore.