What prevents you from gaming more often?

PC broke right when I arrived at Uni and have been too broke ever since to fix it lol.

That, and I guess there's a slight inclination not to just yet anyway, because I know it'd have me spend way too much time in my room when I do.

For me the issue isn't that I game too little - I game enough, and then some.
However, I seem to get dogged down in the non-completion type games, like online shooters, or some ridiculous clicker game....
That eats up my time so I ''don't have enough'' for normal games.

TL:DR;
I'm stupid.

The lead in to these polls are slowly painting a picture of the elusive cg, what will he/she/it reveal next?

War

What prevents you from gaming more often?

Not enough free time.

I am in trouble because it is not legal for kappa to work amongst mankind.
I have a sore back from being hit by a car of humanity. It will soon be two years.

I need to upgrade my PC.

Yes, I wanted a good computer from humanity.
It seems to take too long to convert the earth into a computer.42

Games are too expensive.

Expensive? Money? Oh, if we control the human race, will it be free? Or would it be less bloody to manipulate people into abolishing their currency. Thank !😁

I prioritize other activities.

The time to take care of your people is absent, but if you don't have to stay up all night for a week and stay in front of the game, it won't demand that much of your time.🕛

I can't find an interesting game to play.

For those who do, we recommend that you apply to all of them and play that game "when you win".
Rather, ideally, you should not apply to games in which you have no interest.

If you do apply for a game in which you have some interest and win, be prepared to play it.(人Θ'o)♪

By the way, how is the game community management game going?　🐟🐈　🎣(Θ`*)ゞooO(💰)

too little time - plus my laptop is not the best - but really i just don't enjoy games as much anymore and would rather give the game away then have it site on my account not doing anything (got too many already doing so)

Missing from poll:

I squander my time getting games (SG / Barter / Humble / Fanatical, etc.) when in hindsight I wish I had been gaming more often.

This is part of my not-gaming phenomena. It's just easier to spend a spare 12 minutes here than it is to play a game like Control for that length of time. When the 12 minutes spiral into 45, I look back and think... I could have accomplished something in-game with that much time.

To be fair to the pollster, this might fall under "I prioritize other activities."

Games are just not fun anymore. I wish i had the will to play them cause i have too much free time.

For me, I play a little less than usual because I want to experience a bit of everything, kind of like a jack of all trades. However it doesn't stop me completely from playing and I honestly can't find a reason not to play over pretty much all activities or to not experience many games. I think I got more into different games towards the end of 2022 so I played more than during covid time, when I worked more. I know some people always watch tv shows, movies, etc. It's the same reasoning to me, except in a game I actually interact in some way, I'm not just a watcher, so it's an easy win for me.

Regarding games, there are so many opportunities today it's great.

Nostalgia trip? Play the old games you played as a kid, or try other old games, chances are they might be free too, just got to do a bit of annoying setup to get them running.

Travel too much and can't take your pc with you? Uhm, yes you can, get a steam deck, plug it into any monitor and you're good. Maybe get a keyboard and mouse and a hub for convenience. No monitor, no problem, it has a screen, and you can add non steam games or whatever on the extra storage.

Haven't played x years? Well pretty much every year has had some sort of good game, so that's just better for you, I don't think there's a single year we couldn't name at least 1 great game, and if you don't have a lot of time, then this is more than enough. Chances are there's a few really fun games. You could literally play just the top 5 of every year and you'll have a few thousand hours of content.

Gaming doesn't feel like the way it did before? I remember reading once the reason for this is because we're pressured that at our age we're supposed to do other things, not play games, and so we kind of turn on ourselves in the process, we make ourselves not like games, to satisfy the likeness of others. It's like we don't fit into the status quo so it makes us feel bad and in the attempt to fit in, we throw away things we like. I mean it makes sense but I'm under the impression that after we get through a portion of that life, we'll realize no one really cares that much about us nor should they be so offended we have a hobby, because chances are those people have something they enjoy too, again like binging netflix shows, or listening to podcasts, or maybe they're actually watching streamers or something.. It also doesn't help that nothing can replace the first time you made a char as a kid in World of Warcraft on a vanilla server, for instance. There will always be that nostalgia. That experience was pretty magical. Chances are they have many other important memories of the sort, and yet they separate gaming from those, because gaming seems different. It's really not. I think this is the topic people struggle with the most when considering playing games, but it's just a bad approach, it's just there meant to enjoy.

Like I wouldn't watch 50 isekai animes in a row. It gets stale, I'm not going to listen to the same song 2500 times on repeat, I'll end up being extremely bored of it. Same with games, I'm not just going to play tower defense games for 100 hours a week and that's it, I try to play things that give me different experiences, story games are great cause most of the best ones are different enough. You have to try a few things to see what you crave. Lastly, don't play too much either, or you'll be burned out and nothing will feel fun.

Personally since I got a VR headset and a pc to handle it, I've been enjoying beat saber and others, I also just played through the room 1, still got to do the others and now the VR version too, recently won dying light here so I played through that and despite not being a fan of scary games I really enjoyed it, so much I bought dying light 2 to play eventually, then I played through dishonored 2, having finished the first a long time ago, still have to play through death of the outsider. I want to play more co-op games, but unfortunately finding people and have all of our schedules work together is a pain in the ass.

I played a ton of final fantasy xiv and it was a great experience(has a free trial to level 60, I'd say it's worth it) but I want to take a bit of a break so this year for me is a bit of a step back from mmos and multiplayer games where it never really ends and there's no conclusion and each few months there's an update that makes you irrelevant again, and instead experience a lot of games I myself passed on too for that. Doesn't mean I'll stop completely trying out anything multiplayer but I'll give it less of my time to do other things, and play other games too. There's games I look forward too like ark 2, payday 3, Hogwarts legacy(I do wish they would've made it co op, feels bad), starfield, vamp the masq 2 and more like the newly released one piece odyssey but it will have to wait for a sale since my back log is already huge or hitman 3 which I just got.

The best advice I can give you, is to mostly avoid free to play games, the big subscription mmo's. The content is okay, but if you really want to have fun, you'll either have to spend money, either have to spend hundreds of hours, and somehow it's going to turn into a job and give you burnout. If you do play them, play them for a bit, and alternate with proper fully finished games in between. Nothing wrong with enjoying some multiplayer games, it's just nowadays they're meant to make you feel like you just achieved absolutely nothing and that to finish the game you will need 8 lifetimes. It's pretty unrewarding and annoying.

Voted for pc upgrade, but free time (lack of) is a big factor too...

It used to be a lack of hardware as I was hopping from used laptop to laptop (or craptop) just to have a computer-ish device. I had last owned a proper desktop PC (if you can call it that) before I finished high school. Then for university, a laptop just made more sense anyways, plus it was another country (other voltage, other plugs, not my own home etc). After that, well, I was in no position to afford anything better.

Since last September, I finally have a Desktop PC with what I am told is decent enough specs. Now it's the lack of time and/or energy after work. But I am trying to get back into it. I have such a backlog to catch up on lol.

Not having Free time and also i dont have a monitor and desk i brought them to my workplace.and the single player games have become boring for me and my gaming buddy is busy so i can't play anymore

I have all the time in the world but I also have psychological issues that prevent me from playing/enjoying games as much as I'd like to. It's really hard for me to get started, I have some kind of mental block and ocd-like symptoms. I find it difficult to pick a game and I'm always waiting for the perfect moment. During a game I'm thinking about other games.

I can't find myself interested t to play new games when I'm trying to improve in Street Fighter V, like I have time, but it stead of playing new game, I just watch youtube or something.

At the moment, I probably play too much so gaming prevents me from doing other things. I can relate to the comment about spending time on SG, barter, Discord, etc. Rather than actually playing.

Problem was hardware. Then in the summer I managed to upgrade the GPU so that improved a bit. Had the chance to game more often.

But since then I have moved to a temporary small flat while looking to buy something decent, so now I don't have a workplace or gaming space really. I just have the PC near the TV and if I get a longer evening alone or a free weekend day I turn it on and play a bit. Buut overall it has gotten a chore to turn it on.

Laptop on the other hand is the small 13 inch work laptop. I can run only older or low spec games, which is fine, but overall don't really find the time to actually game on it as well. At most 30-40 minutes once every 3-4 evenings.

Overall I have realized that if I wanted I could definitely game more but I just find other things to do to be more productive and beneficial. Learning to play guitar now, going to gym, reading books (started the last book of Harry Potter yesterday), spending quality time with GF, working on professional development (sending in CVs for prospective work opportunities, researching topics, trying to come up with some business ideas... dealing with grownup life you know .... shopping, taking care of the flat, of the car.. Trying to remain social...... Also I spend about 10-12 hours at my workplace so that eats up a lot of the time. Definitely have to work on time planning, gaming or no. But for me it's definitely mostly the prioritization.

As I've already mentioned in other discussions I am debating on getting Steam Deck as well. Might come in handy to push in more gaming in the day. I mean I don't work full 10-12 hours of course. I eat breakfast, have coffee, read news, plan the day. I could easily put about an hour of gaming in the morning. Maybe even after work an hour or so. Since it's heavy traffic and my GF is workaholic as well I leave work after the traffic eases up. So if I eventually pull the trigger and buy the Steam Deck I hope that will lift my block on prioritizing gaming in light of doing everything else.

Laptop's dedicated gpu chip burned, so can't game or do anything too demanding with it. Well, it's really old and needed upgrade for a while anyway. Waiting for pc gpu market to settle and will build new desktop pc for 1440p gaming.

I feel like "I can't find an interesting game to play." does match my situation but not in the sense it is meant. It's not like there are no interesting games, it's more that there are too many games that might be interesting that decision paralysis sets in and I end up playing none of them.

Last few months i wish i had more time for games, pretty busy at work and when i get back home i am too tired to play anything.

Before that i was gaming enough, but had problem with choosing what to play next, so always got back to playing Counter Strike 1.6 as easiest choice. And i tried BLAEO, Pay or Play, PAGYWOSG, and i still have problems with what to play from my endless backlog :D

Usually not enough free time, but tonight specifically my PC decided to go through a crisis and every few minutes pop up a Not Responding error. Updated drivers and a couple other things before deciding I’ll just turn off PC for the night and do something else!

Always the way..! I’ll try again after work tomorrow haha

Maybe it’s a sign to buy that overpriced imported steam deck …

I have been playing a decent amount of games for the past few years, so I don't feel like this pertains to me right now, but it has in the past.

There is another reason why people have a hard time continuing to play games, but I don't know exactly how to explain it, it's a mental thing. I don't know if it's a motivation issue, depression, or something else. They can still love gaming and own tons of games that they haven't played and want to play, but have a really hard time bringing themselves to actually sitting down and playing a game. Then if they find something to play, they may really enjoy the game and have a lot of fun while playing it, but everytime they stop playing it's really hard to get the motivation to even launch the game again. I'm not talking about taking a long break, they have the free time and it is the next day, but they just can't find the ambition to launch the game and start playing again.

I remember some threads in the past talking about this, but I'm not sure which ones specifically. I just searched and these are what I came up with:

https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/FDCdw/i-miss-my-gaming-days
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/vSxj7/no-motivation-to-actually-play-games-help
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/JeQSn/how-do-i-get-the-joy-of-playing-games-back
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/g8K2h/losing-interest-in-gaming
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/AIPXH/what-to-play-when-gaming-isnt-fun-anymore-is-it-over-tell-me-about-a-game-thats-worth-a-damn
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/xi6a0/ive-lost-the-will-to-game
https://www.steamgifts.com/discussion/epRKt/gaming-add-burnt-out-what

I grew up gaming and then at some point I got addicted to playing Counter Strike. I loved the competitiveness and interacting with other people, but I mostly stopped playing other games. This went on for almost 10 years. Then I found out about game bundles and started getting into indie games (I think around 2012). I played a few amazing indie games that made me remember what I love about gaming and that got me back into single player games. Some of these games were Antichamber, FEZ, Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons, The Cat Lady, and Dust: An Elysian Tail. Since then I have broken my addiction to online competitive games and have been playing a ton of single players games, but I have gotten into the mental slump I mentioned above a few times and had a really hard time bringing myself to play games. I don't know exactly what causes it, but what breaks me out of it is usually when I find a really good indie game.

Here's some other games I enjoyed a lot: Life is Strange, Last Day Of June, A Short Hike, Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, ABZU, STALKER: Shadow Of Chernobyl, South Park: The Stick Of Truth.

due to Russia-Ukraine war I can't reach my home PC that's powerful enough and with big screen. I don't want to buy new PC while I'm in another country, and disdain to play smth big and shiny at my laptop. So now I only sometimes play small pixel-art games

I cant work because illness and dont have money T-T tried make youtube channel but dont got soo much view

Adult life (work, partner, house chores and gym) keeps me busy, so I can only spare a couple of hours per week to play something. And then, of course, I always make the wrong choice of spending those 2 hours in some brainless/dopamine rush kind of game rather than jumping in a demanding game.

As a respectable member of this community I do spend more time buying games than playing, because our hobby is collecting not gaming, lol.

People have real life, so do I.
Free time is never enough.
According to Steam Replay I got 881 Achivements from 77 games last year, which I think is good enough.
But I am willing to do more if I can have more free time =)