“People in their 40s… even if you have kids, you have more disposable income than you did in your 20s, but you have less time. So you might still want to play games, but I feel repressed by games that want me to play every week.”
I’m in my thirties, child-free, work from home at a job I love, have plenty of disposable income and free time, have a passion for games and their development, and I still struggle to sit down and play something most of the time. I don’t even (usually) play games that expect regular participation. The struggle is real.
It’s the increase of noise in our heads. It makes diving into deep, story-rich games harder to do. It’s the reason I had 78 new games played this year alone. I skipped around on tons of stuff in the same way that my scattered brain does with everything going on.
Programmer here. Both my wife and I WFH too. I was diagnosed with adhd back in the 90s and I find it just gets worse the older I get.
I’m also a programmer, and have long suspected I have ADHD. I have thought about getting an official diagnosis and trying the meds, mostly because I want to play games again, and I wonder if that would help me focus. I don’t have any trouble focusing at work most of the time.
The key is that you like your job. That makes a world of difference if you have adhd. I like my job too, but still struggle pretty regularly. It’s a day-to-day struggle. Some days I’m really focused and motivated, and then others are a wash. If you can get tested and try out meds, it’s worth pursuing. It helps me with social situations too and keeps me on task. I communicate more clearly, and I can complete tasks with less distractions. The only issue I encounter while on them is mood change. I have to be aware of it because it can make me get short with people. Not necessarily in an angry way; it just makes me super fixated on results and getting to the point.
Okay so I don’t have an example that matches IRL time like Animal Crossing but a game with similar style I can do. If you’re down with time progression like Stardew Valley, check out Dinkum, best summarized as “Outback Animal Crossing”
This shit is why I stopped playing Rust, Eve Online, and a bunch of other games. I can’t do the time sink anymore and to be honest, I’m not sure why I ever tolerated it.
I’ve been playing Abiotic Factor and Journey to the Savage Planet with my wife and enjoying them a lot, and a big part of why is that I don’t need to log in every day. With my guys I also occasionally hop into Dinkum, Volcanoids, Darktide (post-progression update), Helldivers 2… Even Darktide and Helldivers 2 are borderline too grindy for me.
“People in their 40s… even if you have kids, you have more disposable income than you did in your 20s, but you have less time. So you might still want to play games, but I feel repressed by games that want me to play every week.”
Oof I feel that.
I’m in my early 40s and my one weird trick… was to not have kids. Sorry dad but this is the end of the line.
I’m in my thirties, child-free, work from home at a job I love, have plenty of disposable income and free time, have a passion for games and their development, and I still struggle to sit down and play something most of the time. I don’t even (usually) play games that expect regular participation. The struggle is real.
It’s the increase of noise in our heads. It makes diving into deep, story-rich games harder to do. It’s the reason I had 78 new games played this year alone. I skipped around on tons of stuff in the same way that my scattered brain does with everything going on.
Programmer here. Both my wife and I WFH too. I was diagnosed with adhd back in the 90s and I find it just gets worse the older I get.
I’m also a programmer, and have long suspected I have ADHD. I have thought about getting an official diagnosis and trying the meds, mostly because I want to play games again, and I wonder if that would help me focus. I don’t have any trouble focusing at work most of the time.
The key is that you like your job. That makes a world of difference if you have adhd. I like my job too, but still struggle pretty regularly. It’s a day-to-day struggle. Some days I’m really focused and motivated, and then others are a wash. If you can get tested and try out meds, it’s worth pursuing. It helps me with social situations too and keeps me on task. I communicate more clearly, and I can complete tasks with less distractions. The only issue I encounter while on them is mood change. I have to be aware of it because it can make me get short with people. Not necessarily in an angry way; it just makes me super fixated on results and getting to the point.
You’re not wrong, but at least I get to experience games with him, so that’s fun most of the time.
That has to be super rewarding. You always have a player 2!
Every week? Shit, some games expect you to drop by every eight hours!
CALLING OUT ANIMAL CROSSING
That shit keeps track of how long you are away and then GUILTS you about it. “We thought you’d never come back we were sad” “we missed you”.
My wife never goes back to that game because they guilt her haha.
Yeah. I really want an animal-crossing style game that just doesn’t keep track of how long you were away.
Okay so I don’t have an example that matches IRL time like Animal Crossing but a game with similar style I can do. If you’re down with time progression like Stardew Valley, check out Dinkum, best summarized as “Outback Animal Crossing”
That does look neat! Thanks for the recommendation.
This shit is why I stopped playing Rust, Eve Online, and a bunch of other games. I can’t do the time sink anymore and to be honest, I’m not sure why I ever tolerated it.
I’ve been playing Abiotic Factor and Journey to the Savage Planet with my wife and enjoying them a lot, and a big part of why is that I don’t need to log in every day. With my guys I also occasionally hop into Dinkum, Volcanoids, Darktide (post-progression update), Helldivers 2… Even Darktide and Helldivers 2 are borderline too grindy for me.
Yeah I keep falling off Elite Dangerous, despite loving it. I’m been playing Caves of Qud and ToTK and loving them.
Same. I want to like it but that engineering grind is absurd.