VGCollect Forum
General and Gaming => General => Topic started by: mark1982 on January 17, 2019, 12:05:50 pm
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I'm sure everyone on VGCollect plays games a lot, but was there ever a time where you fell out of the hobby for a while?
Ever since I was young I was always into video games, my first console my parents got me was an Atari 2600 and my life pretty much was always surrounded by games. My friends, family, magazines I read, you name it.
But there was one part of my life when I started losing interest - High School, my Junior and Senior years. This was about the end of the PS1 era and PS2 was about 2 years in already. I preferred spending my spare time socializing with friends, partying, spending time with my high school GF and never thought I'd get back into gaming. I only had my PS1 and N64 with me and all my old games were stored away, at this point I didn't even play games anymore.
After I graduated I had some spare time to kill before I had to start college, so I decided to spend it at my brothers place and he had a PS2. I played a few games here and there, but then I read an article about Knights of the Old Republic in a gaming mag... I remembered thinking to myself "What the Hell is this? So many dialogue options! Light and dark paths!" I had to check it out.
It was only available on Xbox, so I took out my savings, bought me an Xbox and Knights of the Old Republic. And that title single-handedly revived my love for gaming, and till then I have never lost interest again. ;D
So I thank you BioWare of old (don't like new Bioware stuff...) Knights of the Old Republic showed me the path again.
(https://i.imgur.com/QhgtLQ2.png)
So VGCollect, any of you fell out of the hobby for a while and what made you come back?
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Yeah, from about 2004 until 2008 I didn't play many video games or own very many either. I attribute that to finishing up high school, starting college, and having various personal problems in 2005 and 2006. The only games I can remember playing during that 4-year period were Half Life 2, Mass Effect, Mario Galaxy, Smash Bros Brawl, and Project Gothem Racing.
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I played a lot of video when I was a kid but from age 13 to 16 I didn't really have a stable home and had to move a lot so I wasn't able to play as much as I wished.
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I played a lot of video when I was a kid but from age 13 to 16 I didn't really have a stable home and had to move a lot so I wasn't able to play as much as I wished.
Same for me. For a couple of years my family was basically homeless and I had no choice but, to give up videogames. Thankfully that is not the case anymore and I'm actually playing more games than ever.
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There were lulls here or there, but (thankfully) I never fell out of the hobby for a long duration.
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I had a falling out with a sibling and got away from gaming for awhile. It started out with online games, simply because I didn’t want to see them online. I stopped playing almost everything shortly after that.
I still purchased the games I was interested in, but didn’t play them.
That phase has past. I deleted their profile and moved on.
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I was born with an atari joystick in my hands and never stopped since!
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I lost interest from around 2004 to 2010 with only a few games I enjoyed in between, mostly on PC and PS2. In 2010 I bought another XBOX 360 3 years after selling my first one and ever since that point I've been passionate again about it. Almost more now than when I was a kid if you can believe it. Which is why I'm concerned about where we are headed as an industry. But I digress. :)
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Yeah for a while after college, I stopped playing and collecting for the most part. Almost ended up selling my whole collection. Just developed other interests. Then my brother convinced me to give it another go, and I started dating a girl who liked gaming and I decided to get back into it. And then I got really into it. Once I start working full-time after the bar and start having kids, I'll probably have to slow down significantly again, so I'm enjoying this while it lasts.
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Short answer: yes, all the damn time. Why? Life happens.
Longer (but still not introspective) answer: In high school.... I just sorta of lost interest around 1993, but I got back into it hard in 1994 when I saw a friend playing Final Fantasy III. I rode that wave to Chrono Trigger and beyond. But then with the release of the Saturn and PlayStation I fell out of love again, as the crude polygons just weren’t (then) enticing me. I was also fiercely focused on getting good grades in university, and it wasn’t until 1998 when Metal Gear Solid and Gran Turismo hit that I ultimately plunged back in. Even then, I kept my gaming systems at my parents 500 km away while I was in school. I didn’t bring my consoles to campus until my very last year when I had perfected my study regime and knew gaming wouldn’t interfere.
I enjoyed the PS2/GC/Xbox era fairly guilt free for a few years, but a professional postgraduate program again saw me put gaming down (not drop it, but just ignore it) for years. It wasn’t until 2010 that I got back in and bought a PS3. I played off and on and even got a PS4 (in 2016) but it wasn’t until this past year that the hobby has brought me back fever pitched. Funny thing is, I have less time to play games now with my responsibilities in both my career and life as a parent than I ever did previously, but I’m not sad. I’ve struck a nice balance, and play when I can (this is why I like handhelds so much) but don’t regret that it will never take a priority over my family, nor would I ever want it to. It’s just a hobby. If I had to quit, I’d walk away anytime knowing it was fun while it lasted, and not have any regrets. Obviously, I don’t intend to do that without some provocation. I get a lot of satisfaction just talking with like minded hobbyists and looking for older titles I missed during my off periods.
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Great posts in this thread guys :)
So was there a spark that re-ignited the passion? as in a specific game or console or was it more of the idea of collecting games again?
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So was there a spark that re-ignited the passion? as in a specific game or console or was it more of the idea of collecting games again?
it was more a series of games for me and all on the XBOX 360. I moved away from PC a lot and moved more towards console at that time.
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Yeah, from time to time; I’m sure this happens to everyone, at the very least once. For instance, I’m currently going though it. I’m actually considering participating in the 52 games challenge to see if I can spark some motivation.
As for re-igniting the passion, it depends. I like to watch gameplay videos to help me rekindle the flame, but often I will play a favorite, like, say, Mega Man X or a Pokémon game, and that usually helps me get back in the game (pun definitely intended).
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There was a period of time I want to say 2 years ago where I was going through a phase where I just wasnt playing at all and my collecting was just not there. For those who have been here for a while, I was on this forum under a different name but same profile pic. That old account was deleted during said time because it got to a point where I didnt even want to know what I had. As it stands, things are better and I came back under a new name and rebuild my archive here.
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There was never a time when I wasn’t playing at all, but the late 90s - early 2000s was when I played the least. I had a N64 but I only had 2-3 games. It was the end of high school / beginning of college so I just didn’t have time.
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When I was in my late teens/early 20s, alcohol and fraternizing with women of the opposite sex seemed mad important, but that quickly faded away, particularly the alcohol! Now I don't drink anything, have Mrs SHFan for company and like a bit of the old video-gaming when I have time.
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[...] Now I don't drink anything, [...]
Not even water?
Damn, that's hardcore.
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Ha! Nice :D
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I would say around 2011 or so. By that time I was only exposed to games from my local store which used to sell games at an exhuberant price. I wouldn't get back fully until late 2016, when I purchased The Witcher 3 and whilst my opinion about the game changed, it did aid to rekindle my passion.
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Since I got my Atari 2600 back when I was 5 or so, there’s never been a time when I wasn’t playing. I was so unpopular in high school no girl would look at me twice, so I had to do something to keep me occupied ;)
It’s only slowed down over the last few years, after my kids were born. I don’t play until my kids go to bed, and naturally the kids get priority when it comes to money so I haven’t bought a current-gen console yet ($300-400 plus $60 per game is a lot of frickin’ money). I’ve been playing mostly older stuff and concentrating on setting up a place to play my old consoles that won’t display on my HDTV (240p output).
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1992-2010, wasn't into gaming at all. Someone gave me a free dreamcast with games around 2001, and I did play it a little....really just played shadowman and timestalkers. I was into college, hanging out and being social for 18 years. Enough of that! LOL.
Edit: Clarifying- not 18 years of college, that was just the 1st few of the 18 ;)
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I took a break a few years back due to some local and nearby collectors just plain being jerks.
I took a break when I bought my house.
I tried to take a break when I had a kid.
Trying to take a break now/soon.
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Never completely fell out of gaming yet but have thought about it
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I don’t think I have ever really stopped playing games but there have been times where I played them sparingly; I flunked a year of college playing FFXI Online; and I served a mission for the LDS church
in which we were not allowed a lot of free time. Anyways, today I do my best to stay away from MMO’s and also CCG’s (they are too big of a time and money sink)
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Since I got my Atari 2600 back when I was 5 or so, there’s never been a time when I wasn’t playing. I was so unpopular in high school no girl would look at me twice, so I had to do something to keep me occupied ;)
It’s only slowed down over the last few years, after my kids were born. I don’t play until my kids go to bed, and naturally the kids get priority when it comes to money so I haven’t bought a current-gen console yet ($300-400 plus $60 per game is a lot of frickin’ money). I’ve been playing mostly older stuff and concentrating on setting up a place to play my old consoles that won’t display on my HDTV (240p output).
I hear ya, my first kid is on the way. I know it will drastically change my playing habits as it did after I got married as well. But I am definitely prepared for it, family comes first so once everything settles down again and I free up some time, I will still manage to find some time to play some games ( hopefully ) ;D
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Since I got my Atari 2600 back when I was 5 or so, there’s never been a time when I wasn’t playing. I was so unpopular in high school no girl would look at me twice, so I had to do something to keep me occupied ;)
It’s only slowed down over the last few years, after my kids were born. I don’t play until my kids go to bed, and naturally the kids get priority when it comes to money so I haven’t bought a current-gen console yet ($300-400 plus $60 per game is a lot of frickin’ money). I’ve been playing mostly older stuff and concentrating on setting up a place to play my old consoles that won’t display on my HDTV (240p output).
I hear ya, my first kid in on the way. I know it will drastically change my playing habits as it did after I got married as well. But I am definitely prepared for it, family comes first so once everything settles down again and I free up some time, I will still manage to find some time to play some games ( hopefully ) ;D
Yeah, having kids definitely changes a lot of things. It took me a while to get used to the fact that I couldn’t play whenever I felt like, though I knew it was coming so over a few months before my twins were born, I spent a lot of time finally finishing Final Fantasy VIII and IX, which I had left unfinished for years.
I don’t think I have ever really stopped playing games but there have been times where I played them sparingly; I flunked a year of college playing FFXI Online; and I served a mission for the LDS church
in which we were not allowed a lot of free time.
I got put on academic probation because of Doom II, Myst, and The 7th Guest :p
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I have cooled off from gaming as a whole but I think my idea of cooling off or taking a break is still much more obsessive than most average consumers. Currently I might play 1-2 hours a day, if a new game comes out I will binge it for 6 hours per day easy. But contrasted to when I was a teenager, easily 10 hours per day on FPS and online games. Simply just being a shut in. I'd say it's better this way :)
I have gotten to a point before where games were more of a medicine than a fun thing. Pits of depression and anxiety that it felt more like a escape. And I started not liking most games but still had to play them anyway to cope as I couldn't figure anything else out. This was early in high school. I started being so bored of them and felt like every game was bad. Than I thought I was outgrowing them. But I'd say what got me back into them after that was reevaluating my life, finding myself and getting into a more sound mental state. I was pretty anxious and in a rut then. I'd play games for hours on end and forget the outside world. I certainly always had social life and bathed and such. But I think I have definitely crossed the line of excessive. So it's best to take breaks when it gets that bad. If I don't fall out of gaming every now and then, I end up hating it. The break keeps it exciting. :)
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I've had several times where my heart just wasn't in it anymore. The first was in late 1992. I was just out of high school and got my first "real" girlfriend. By that, I mean my first nookie. Lol. And it was all I thought about. So my SNES, my Genesis and my comic collection took a big backseat. A year later, I moved on and met my first wife. Her mom was a big gamer and we played a lot of SNES games. That lasted about six months, but the only game I personally bought in that time period was Contra III.
I took another break until the end of 95 when I got my first PlayStation. I also got a Saturn from my friend in early 98. I kept gaming hardcore until about 2007 when my 360 red-ringed playing Bioshock. I quit gaming for the most part again for a few years until around when Halo Reach came out.
I've had small stints of not playing since then until January 2017 when we found out my wife was pregnant. I sold almost all of my collection. My PS4 and Xbox One sat unloved. My Wii and Wii U were tucked away in their boxes. It wasnt until my wife got me the NES and SNES Classics that my love was rekindled. Then I got the Switch and the collector in me went back into overdrive.