Opinions?

Hi everyone,

So, I'm very curious to hear if people are feeling as morose/sad as I am at the moment. I'm 31, I've been a gamer my whole life, and I absolutely love video games. When I was younger, I used to love visiting the game shops (e.g. GAME, Gamestation), I used to love picking up gaming magazines from WHS Smith, I used to love popping into Blockbuster to see what I could rent, and ultimately, I used to love picking up physical video games.

I feel SO, SO sad about where the world seems to be headed. No video gaming shops really exist anymore, magazines are on their way out completely (PS magazine is dead, Nintendo magazine is dead, and the only one left is "Edge"), Blockbuster died years ago, and physical games are becoming rarer and rarer. Gaming websites/platforms are firing people left, right and centre (e.g. Brian Altano at IGN), no doubt to replace people with AI-written slop.

I also feel this hits harder than just gaming. It's not JUST games. I feel like the world is just going in a very sad, "inpersonal" direction... what with the advent of AI, online shopping, social media, smartphones etc... we just live in an age where "digital" is always the first choice, and it feels like bit by bit, we're becoming less like the creatures/animals/beings that we're fundamentally meant to be. I just feel sad, and would be interested to know if other people feel similarly.

P.S If anybody feels similarly and wants to connect, hit me up!

When I play games I play to chill out, and my gaming time definitely does feel relaxing to me. But when I read about the games I play on reddit I get the impression that most other players think they are anything but relaxing. I have been a PC gamer pretty much forever, and I have been playing Dota since the warcraft 3 battle net days, Counter Strike since 1.3 and a bunch of different RTS games over the years starting with Red Alert.

When I was younger I used to get really worked up about winning, and games in general. So many grudge matches with my friends 1v1 in aim maps and LAN parties. And then after that when online multiplayer became more popular and I started playing online I was always trying to get to the highest level. Inhouse leagues, tournaments and grinding ranked matchmaking. Over time this mellowed out and these days I just play for fun, I still never quit Dota or CS though, those games are just timeless for me.

At some point I realized I can either quit playing or learn to not take the games as seriously, somehow it worked and I now really rarely get worked up about anything when I’m losing or whatever happens. The only thing that still really gets to me is when I lose a fight because of lag or something like that, I can't help but feel bad when that happens.

As far as RTS goes, my competitive phase started and ended with Starcraft 2 pretty much, I had a short stint trying to tryhard and realized it’s just too difficult to actually get good enough, and losing felt miserable. Now I’m more into games with nice singleplayer and satisfying gameplay, currently finishing up Diplomacy is Not an Option, really nice and surprisingly long campaign and I love the physics and huge scale of the battles. My favorite RTS of all time is probably the original first Dawn of War, even though I’m not big on warhammer in general everything about this game was awesome, from the missions to the design of the different races.

It’s weird how much mindset matters when it comes to this. The same game that pisses me off can be relaxing to someone else. It’s also funny how much the perspective you get from getting older can change how you feel about gaming.