I'm in this picture and I don't like it

Growing up is a double edged sword.

79

Since my firstborn, 7 yo now, I'm all in board games. Long past are the days of 100+ hours rpgs and grand strategy games.

Having a blast with boards! Love 'em even more than playing on mu PC, including a lot of solo gaming.

20
- I don’t have a kid but the steam deck has been a godsend for me. No need to sit down in front of a computer to enjoy some gaming and the standby mode of it pauses the game. Also helps you being aware of your surrounding.
  
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- What kinda board games do you play solo?
  
  3
More like a single edged sword, aimed at me lol

4

The issue I have is most games aren't fun to me.

A two hour long tutorial where every 20 seconds I have to deal with text preventing me from playing? Never opening the game again.

Controls that are so complicated I need that two hour tutorial? Pass.

A decent story interrupted with 40 hours of pointless side quests? I don't have time for that.

A crafting system? Never fun.

I don't mind complicated games, I don't mind long games, I just want to be able to play the game. Compare Elden Ring to Jedi survivor. Elden Ring let's you play the game with minimal tutorials, Jedi survivor has pop-ups and walks you through things hours into the game. Just let me play and I'll play.

49

Have you tried Baldur's Gate 3 yet? It has a tutorial, but it's pretty minor. It mostly just puts you in simple situations first to let you figure it out yourself, and it's maybe 15m. Most of what you can do you have to figure out yourself in the game. For example, you can stack crates to get to higher locations. This is never told to you, but it's available. You're basically free to handle things however you want and the game will be OK with it. It's fantastic.

There's also no bullshit collection things or time wasters. There are side quests, but they're all pretty good so far in my experience. They aren't fluff quests. No microtransactions or anything else either. It's what games should be.

20
- I want to pick it up, but I'm likely going to wait about a year. I'm sure there will be some sort of DLC related to character options and some major patches, so I'll just wait until it's $30 with the DLCs and play it then. I don't have the time or temperament to replay RPGs, so I'll save money and play the whole thing.
  
  9
Also: if there's a boss fight I can't get through because I can't get the timing right just detect that, and make it easier for me.

I loved the Zelda games on the different game boy variants - but never finished one as there always was that one boss I couldn't get past. And that was when I still was young and had patience to try to put effort into mastering the movements. For more modern games I'm stuck with some boss on ittle dew - great game, but probably will never touch it again for more then the 2 minutes it takes me to realize where the last save is stuck. Just opened it yesterday, was surprised about the progress, and closed it halfway into dying in the fight.

7
Yes! I'm on an eternal quest to find games that will just shut up and let me play.

My most recent find is Ghostrunner. Starts with the CPU doing the first kill and then you're off.

Before that it was Celeste. I now realize in both games the player dies a lot. Maybe there's a correlation between how much fun I have and how much the game allows me to die without repercussions 😅

I guess I'll need to try Elden Ring now. There's gotta be dozens of us. Anyone have more recommendations?

5
- Roguelikes tend to be very good for this. They let you play and have complexity from emergent situations, not an overload of controls.
  
  It's old, but if you haven't played "enter the gungeon" pick it up! Hades is fun and well written, there is a lot of text but it doesn't feel like an interruption. Honestly the other games from that studio fit that description.
  
  If you like puzzle games, everything by zachtronics is both great and very difficult. Magnum Opus is probably the best entry point, but space chem is what I started with and it's still my true love.
  
  I expected to hate the souls games, mostly because of how irritating the fans are ("it's so hard!", "Get good!", ect) but they are great games. They aren't nearly as hard as everyone makes them out to be. I'm 40, so I started playing games when dying meant losing all progress, so I see the death penalty of dark souls as normal. What no one talks about is how changing your weapon changes the game drastically, to the point that stats on weapons don't really matter, it's all move sets.
  
  I also love Factorio, dwarf fortress and EUIV, but I think that's a personal failing I have to work on.
  
  5
- Everything else by FromSoftware, and I'll throw in rocket league as well
  
  3
- Elden Ring and any of the FromSoft games, Outer Wilds, Baldur's Gate 3 as of now, Prey (2017). I'd say look into Immersive Sims as a genre and I bet you'll like it. They're complex, so tutorialization isn't fully possible and you're required to use your brain and figure it out yourself.
  
  3
- May you'll enjoy Deadlink or other Roguelikes/-lites. Many just have a short tutorial and then shut up
  
  2
- I'd recommend Long Dark and Subnautica, they've both got crafting but it's part of the survival/exploration loop and they've both got a bunch of mods (on PC) that are really well done.
  
  2
For years I have been buying new games for (almost) exclusively $30 or less. And I find that I never enjoy the giant sprawling games that merit a $60 price tag nearly as much.

4
NPC Man feels your pain: https://youtu.be/9UuZQyTWiF0

3

I like how the beginning of the graph shows playing more games than you own, because when you were a kid you always had that friend that had all the games.

40

I thought its piracy

25
- I Can't Believe It's Not Piracy!
  
  3
- I thought they were just replaying games
  
  2
When did they rename peers to friends??

12

>bought expensive computer for roomscale VR

>mostly play Railroad Tycoon 3 and games that are just maps

36

To this day the only VR game that looks fun to play to me is beat saber.

Not fun enough to warrant a 3k setup.

3
- I got it in 2016 when the Vive came out and VR development was more of an open question. The first generation titles were wonky tech demos but they showed what would be possible in the next one. Then hardware adoption stalled so the next generation software never came out in any meaningful way.
  
  1
Haha that’s exactly when I got a good computer! I was a console guy until the release of the HTC Vive, and I kept it up to date until today. Only got a Switch for Nintendo games, and waiting patiently for the remaining exclusives to release on PC (but I spend half of my play time on retro games through emulation 😅).

2

I don't know why I bother upgrading my PC when I'm still playing 10 year old games

28

So you can click on that game 10 seconds faster.

4
- Also I can finally max out the settings on that 10-year-old game and do it at 4K/120.
  
  1

“I’d play more games, but I’m too busy working to afford the upgrades to my PC, upgrading my PC, and then going online to discuss how much I’ve upgraded my PC! Also, hopping linux distros every time I hear about a new one, and then going online to talk about that!"

25

You forgot browsing Steam for interesting looking games to buy and then never touch again

6
"can't play games, too busy distro hopping"

2

Are you one of the squiggly lines or the straight black ones?

18

Tomorrow I'm installing a 2TB N2Me disk with 7 GB/sec read speed. My 200MB RimWorld install will load so much better now.

16

At that size just run it off a ram 'drive'

1

Just bought a 4090 and feel this very much

16

one day you'll get to your back log. I'm sure of it!

15

Heaven is a temporary afterlife that is long enough for you to play through your backlog, as the afterlife ends when you decide you've played enough and want to be done.

So by the name of GabeN, let thine backlog grow full and large! Enrich your divine recreation before your final rest.

10

This represents me as well, except the green line hasn't gone up in like 7 years.

14

Flat-green-line gang rise.. wait

5

My computer fan when I decide to play games

1000017249

12

Permanently Deleted

5

I'm near the bottom left because I'm poor. I think people over-upgrade their PCs, though. You can get a lot of mileage out of old hardware.

12

Shhhh, don't let them know... /s

People who upgrade and resell their still-good hardware keep the used market awash in 1 and 2-generation old stuff that keeps the hobby more affordable.

5
I've realised this recently. I spent close to 2 grand (Australian) on a new PC a few years ago, with a 1440p monitor, and I generally play isometric RPGs and metroidvanias...

I do enjoy some high-fidelitt games, especially stuff like Alien Isolation and the Metro series, but I think I don't need to spend so much next time.

3

I feel attacked.

11

My dumbass built a PC last year with a 7700x, DDR5 6000 RAM, 4TB PCIe 4.0 NVME, a $250 PSU, a freaking 4090, and stuck it all on a $500 motherboard. Paired it with a 65" 4K 120hz LG OLED with VRR and HDR. All in all I spent over $4K and what do I do with it most of the time? Watch YouTube.

No regrets, though. I could never afford anything nice in my 20s so I wanted to treat myself after my dad died and I collected life insurance. Not to mention that on the rare chance I do play a game, man is it glorious. 100% worth it.

16
- It's sort of last gift from your dad
  
  6
- Yeah, you shouldn’t have regrets with things you enjoy.
  
  2
- I feel you. 7950X, 64gb RAM, RTX 4090…and most of my time is videos or playing Factorio.
  
  2
Me too and don't get me started on my Epic collection.

2

Just upgraded to a 7800x3d and 7900 xtx. Crashing in Star Citizen never felt so smooth

8

I made myself a promise not to buy any new games for remainder of 2023 and 2024. Finally upgraded my rig and I just want to play my library of games I got on sale a long time ago that i couldn’t play. I am kinda falling in love with games again because I playing all these bangers. I have more of problem finding time to play than find a great title to olay

6

Free time would also bee an interesting metric. Maybe not a very pleasant one 😅

6

I’d need to add an orthogonal axis for the imaginary numbers.

-1

I think this graph is inaccurate. The blue line should increase briefly after each upgrade.

6

Nah, after each upgrade you just open up an old game to see how well it runs. For about an hour or so, then you never actually play :)

1
- "I'm not playing, Mom, I'm benchmarking."
  
  3

Kinda impossible for games played to exceed games had though unless you're not counting pirated games as "games had" or something

5

This is a qualitative chart

3
What's seemingly more impossible is for the blue line to decline. I assume all lines represent some sort of integral which means number of games played have become negative YoY

But it's not as funny if you made the graph accurate

2
- Blue line can decline, that's what happens when you play a bunch of games but then just start loading up paradox bullshit every day
  
  It's "games I play" not "games I've played"
  
  1
You may have spent more time than necessary thinking about this meme

1
Are we counting replays of games here?

1

Personally I've gotten better at this. I've managed to control a bit better how much I buy, and I've been playing quite a lot of different games in the past year. It's definitely hard to suppress the monkey brain during a Steam sale tho

5

Dozens and dozens of games on my Steam account and for weeks all I've been playing for is a pirated modded version of an RTS from 2006 💀

4

Supremme commander?

2
- I was thinking AoE 3 but then I realized nobody would be playing that when AoE 2 is so easily accessible these days.
  
  2
- Rise of the Witch King
  
  0

Remove a few of those steps on the spec ladder and you got me.

4

My green is a flat line...

3

This is offensive to me.

3

I think the amount of games you have should increase fast at first and then only grow marginally as you get older. Or is it just me?

2

Computer parts are expensive. My pc specs are more of a downward graph. ddr3 ftw. Am4 b550 stuff isn't good enough to warrant an upgrade and b650 motherboards with their stupid overpriced ddr5 ram are too expensive to be worth it.

I already have ddr4 ram from my "old" but newer motherboard that stopped working (before someone points out ram prices and is like uhm ACKTUALLY)

2

having responsibilities sucks

2

My PC specs have plateaued as of late, but we're both in this picture. 😅

2

Mine haven’t 🥵

I paid scalper’s prices for a 4090fe because the FE is the only 4090 that fits in my FormD T1 case. (there is one other card, but you have to mod it)

2

Why are you personally attacking me?

2

Replace the green line with “Storage space on my PS5” and I’m in too!

2

I have to wonder about the games I play arc rising above the games I have arc in the early part. Is this going to friends' place to play their NES or piracy or borrowing your buddy's AD&D hardbounds to make a character?

1

Over time, I've noticed I like first-person base-building survival. Before we had those, I had to get all my jollies in microdoses by playing different games and tolerating the parts I don't like so much. Now that it's not only a thing, but there are a few really good, well polished ones, those few are the ones I play.

1

The main reason I don't play a bunch of games is that my PC specs have actually gone down a few times...

I had a very nice gaming laptop that died, Got my PC running again, and then had to move, now I only really have room for a laptop, and my backup laptop is... bad. I've ordered a new gaming laptop that's better than anything I've had in years... I might actually get to play modern games again. Kind of looking forward to it.

1

Same, same. I bought my system well over a decade ago and the only thing I've upgraded is the GPU. System still works great for general computing, but it's missing some of the CPU features newer architectures have like SSE[?-4] and AVX.

1

I’m in this picture and I don’t like it.

1

I feel attacked.

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