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Gaming subthread.
I have so much free time (and OOMs more money) and I barely play any video games. 15 year old me would cry. At one point, I would have chalked that down to depression and anhedonia, but that's way better now.
I find myself bouncing off 90% of the ones I do try.
What's wrong with me? I splurged on the world's 4th best gaming pc (1 CPU and GPU down from the best of the best), I have the time. It's not anhedonia, because I clearly still enjoy reading, writing, and arguing with people on the internet. I still watch people play and talk about games, I look forward to new ones and wishlist them, I just don't really play them. I don't like this, what's the point of having all this money and fancy hardware? Don't tell me I'm getting old and crochety :(
At this point I might have a kid just to have someone to play coop with.
I’m up for coop if you want but IMO your problem is that you are playing only the hardest, densest games despite being a 28 year old with a serious full time job and other hobbies. Like it or not, this is your body’s way of telling you it’s time to be a filthy cashul.
In all seriousness, try playing some stuff like Subnautica or Hardspace-Shipbreaker or Doom 2016 or the original Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. Stuff where the gameplay loop is a bit more reactions-based and rewarding and the game is a bit less like a second job. See how you get on and then come back to the tougher stuff when you’ve had more sleep or a vacation.
My current thing is Elden Ring and while that certainly has difficulty spikes, there’s also a lot of downtime exploring the world.
(I know none of my suggestions are really to your taste but it’s what I do).
Trust me, I don't just play hardcore games. I had fun with Helldivers 2, before getting bored. I had played a decent amount of Doom Eternal before I moved and lost progress, now I give up after a few levels. In hindsight, I should probably drop the difficulty.
Subnautica? Played maybe half a dozen hours before getting distracted.
Forza Horizon 5? Can't be arsed, and I only played it singleplayer and with competent but not broken AI skill levels.
I will grant that I have a preference for realism or simulationist mechanics. I prefer Arma over Battlefield or Insurgency Sandstorm. I can't go back to Need for Speed after playing Forza, which has a really good balance of accessibility and realism in car handling.
I never could afford the COD games when I was a kid, so my exposure was limited to a few SP campaigns, which were alright. What I strongly dislike about newer CODs is the ridiculous pricing and cosmetics, and I always get an aneurysm with standard video game weapon balancing on account of being a gun nerd. The abominations that Gunsmith allows 😭.
I'm not sure how to describe my tastes. There's that realism/sim thing I mentioned, but also the fact that I'm ADHD brained and get bored easily, while also hyperfocusing on the rare game that I love.
Of course, everything is more fun with friends! What do you have in mind? I should mention that @Cjet89 tried to get me into Factorio, and even offered to buy me a copy. Maybe I will pop my amphetamines and give it a serious go, though I like the concept of the game more than I liked playing it for the odd half an hour.
Have you tried any roguelikes/lites? Easier to just get one to couple of runs in when you feel like it and then do something else. You don't have to stay super engaged for extended periods of time.
Hmm.. I have played several, though the names elude me. I didn't particularly like Risk of Rain (2?), I did like Hades, but once again, a few hours of fun, then I got distracted and never picked it up again.
You may like Starsector.
It's basically "mount and blade in space" but with an incredibly well designed and tight gameplay loop for the 2D ship to ship combat.
The mod scene is also exceptional (Nexerilin is basically a DLC that massively improves the game by making it a 4x-lite). Although filled with unbelievable amounts of discord drama (totally ignorable, but hilarious).
Your allied ship AI is quite stupid, but my god it's so fun to space battle.
You can also get a free CD key from the Sseth review video (meme-y video game review channel) if you want to try it, developer approved as he's a very chill guy.
I have played Starsector, but only in the most technical sense. I booted it up once, did 5 minutes of the tutorial and then got sidetracked. Surprisingly, the reason I tried it was because I saw that mod you mentioned in an overview video, and wanted to learn the ropes before diving into the modded experience. I'll try and get back into it for good!
Definitely play vanilla first just so you get a sense of what the game is like, just enough that you can win fights against evenly matched up fleets up until mid-game so you don't suck and don't get overwhelmed
Then get into mods and it'll be less overwhelming
I hate vanilla purists though, I recommend getting QoL and UI mods immediately
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