Have you noticed as the older you get, the less new games on the market feel fun? No, really, when was the last time you ACTUALLY enjoyed a new game that you spent your hard earned dollars on? If you did, was it one of those “blockbuster” AAA games that now cost $80, or was it a $15 indie game that had a dedicated passionate team behind it. The thing is, you’re not alone and there are legitimate reasons why you feel that way. Trust me, I’m there with you.

As we get older we start having less and less time for gaming, and that’s okay! Gaming is a hobby after all, and real life always has to come first. However, with the tiny amount of time you do get to fire up your console of choice, why aren’t you having fun? Why do you just stare at the home screen for ten minutes then just cut it off? There’s no real one answer for this, but what I can do is provide you with some great ways to beat this horrible blight cursed upon you by the gaming gods.

You’re playing the wrong games.
Yeah, just hear me out here. If I were to place a bet, I would say that on average you put more time into competitive games than you do anything else. I’m right, aren’t I…That’s okay and all but I can tell you that you’re experiencing competitive burn out. Me and my group used to play Rainbow Six Siege quite literally nonstop, every single night until we couldn’t keep our eyes open. We were very good, but we still put that grind in up until the point where it felt like more of a chore to play it than a stress reliever. That could be said about pretty much every competitive game on the market right now whether it’s Call of Duty, Fortnite, DayZ,  Battlefield, Tarkov, whatever. The result is always the same.

We focus so hard about competing at a high level that we’re forgetting exactly why we play games to begin with. We play video games as a way to experience worlds that we otherwise couldn’t with our own hands and eyes. Instead of reading or watching through the eyes of the character you can BECOME the character in the story, allowing you to see worlds only kept to pages in a book. That kind of feeling is lost when you’re grinding to hit the next tier in a battle pass or improving your K/D ratio. The world is already full of work and hardship, I will never understand why someone would choose to adopt that same philosophy when it comes to the games they play.

There’s a few solutions to this problem that have completely changed my outlook on gaming, and brought the feeling back to the hobby I love.

1) Play Co-op Games. Seriously. Playing coop only games have seriously generated some of my favorite memories of all time. Taking on hordes of zombies with my wife in World War Z was just an absolute BLAST, and diving through dungeons with her in Demeo was just as epic. Now if only I could get her to play Void Crew with me…

2) Download a GBA emulator and play the classics. I will take it to the grave that the Gameboy Advance is the greatest gaming console in history. Fight me. But really though, playing game from the late 90s up into the early 2000s cheaply on your phone is the best way to reconnect with the love of gaming. I truly mean that. I play my GBA emulator every single day whether it’s just a quick game of Madden 2005 or something with a bit more story like Fire Emblem. Every single game on the GBA has a magic to them that simply can’t be replicated even if someone tries. It was something about that era of gaming that is infectious and gives you that sense of home whenever you hear that boot up single of the GBA play. I can’t stress enough that this can be achieved all under $5 bucks. Everything from Pokemon to Legend of Zelda can be at your fingertips in just a few buttons on your phone.

3) Take two weeks off gaming. Yeah, this one kind of sucks, but taking time away could be just what you need to rediscover the love for gaming. I always knew that if I missed it then it’s something worth my time. Taking time off anything is good in general, especially when some of those silly games y’all play start feeling like a day job by themselves. I mean really, that blows my mind the amount of time people put into being good at Fortnite and Warzone. It’s crazy. Take a walk y’all.

Gaming is a place where we all go to experience the otherworldly all in the comfort of our own homes. It’s a place where you and your friends can come together no matter where you all live and take on the forces of evil together in titanic epic battles. Stop with the over competitive games and come join your pals at the Pixel Parlor hunting ghosts in Phasmophobia or sail the cosmos in No Man’s Sky. Let’s bring the passion and fun back to gaming, and it starts with each and every one of you.