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[Bohandas]

I have to be online for nearly everything.  Sorry, I hate having to be hard connected to an outside network just to play a single player game.

Don't buy those games then; no matter how good or how cheap they are a stand has to be made. People need to boycott games with DRM until the associated companies crash and burn.

[NullForceOmega]

Don't misunderstand, I don't begrudge the companies their profits, or their desire to be secure in their holdings.  I have issue with requiring me to use an external utility to play a game I purchase the licensing rights to (I take issue with that concept, but the courts have been unmoved on the point) just to play it.

[ChairmanPoo]

but the courts have been unmoved on the point

This is precisely why such companies should be boycotted. I pretty much avoid like the plague always-online DRM. For that matter I normally don't buy games with other sorts of bothersome DRM (eg: Steam framework. Although I'm willing to humor games that only rely on Steam for installation, like Kerbal)

[Yolan]

I also get these really big urge to start making a game myself, because I feel a lot of people put very little effort into thinking out how a game should flow and instead just tack on stuff as they go along and I feel like I could do better myself.

Looking at the sheer volume of games out there does give me that urge. So I did start my own project earlier in the year. Looking forward to getting back to it in December.

[Bohandas]

Don't misunderstand, I don't begrudge the companies their profits, or their desire to be secure in their holdings.

I do, if they're going to do that to get them.

[Caz]

Some back info, I've been a PC gamer since I was about 14/15, so going on for two decades soon.

They had PCs 20 years ago? I feel old now. Somehow I thought everyone was still beepity booping on ZX Spectrums and BBC micros back then.

[nenjin]

Been hardcore PC gaming for probably the last 18 years or so.

And right now, my biggest problem is time. I don't have the amount I want vs. the games I want to play.

And so many games now want all your time. F2P games especially. It's not that I don't like the process of playing games like PoE or Warframe...they're just designed to be lived in. With a full-time job, a house to take care of and adult responsibilities, I don't get nearly the time I'd like to play games.

So I have to be very deliberate with what gets my time. I barely sleep more on the weekends than I do during the week because I gaming binge on the weekends to get what I feel is the amount of gaming I'd like. But it's wrecking my non-existent social life. It's getting to the point I have to choose: gaming, or literally anything else.

On F2P games, it's weird. There's the time investment but often not the challenge. Games are designed to be played and won today by just about anybody. Gone are the super hardcore (and also time intensive) experiences of the 80s and 90s where a tough, opaque game took hours and hours to master. Now, the challenge just isn't there. Most games focus on a grind you can calculate an average for within a couple hours of knowing the game. It's not "what the solution" or "what's the mystery" it's "how fast/efficiently can I get the things I want with the least amount of time invested." Games today are designed so you can see the path forward at all times, because playing a game you know you can win is more enticing than playing one where you're unsure. You're presented with this array of guaranteed successes to lull you into a pattern of play.

And my feelings toward this are increasingly manifesting as a great sense of weariness when dealing with a lot of modern game systems. Double and triple levels of RNG. Specialized currencies. Daily missions and lockout timers. Grinding estimated in the hundreds of hours. F2P games are like an MMO except you're beholden to no one and nothing but your own desires. It's not like WoW where I had a guild of raiders I was responsible to. I gave up that level of involvement in video games a while ago. But now even on a personal, private level games are fighting for my time.

I want to return to a time when I didn't feel like games had to compete with the rest of my life. It's getting harder and harder for me to enjoy care-free gaming. I feel like there's always some kind of opportunity cost involved, and I'm not even talking like....actual opportunity. Going out with friends and dating and stuff. It's more basic things like "go get groceries or play games." "Go deal with holiday stuff or play games." "Catch a couple hours of something on netflix before bed or play games." It's gotten to the point I try not to play games during the week because that couple hours after work just disappear if I start playing games, and suddenly it's 10pm, I haven't had dinner, I need a shower and I need to go to bed. Gaming starts to feel like a trap rather than a pleasure.

Why can't I just be independently wealthy so I can play games until I'm sick of them? ><

[Shadowlord]

If you're playing F2P games, and it feels like a trap, that's because they've been designed to be one. What's annoying is the non-F2P non-MMO games that have the exact same mega-grind (X3:TC for instance).

... although these forums also feel like a time trap to me.

[nenjin]

As you say though, it's not just limited to F2P games. Seems like many games use the same strategies to capture your time. Diablo 3. Dragonball ZX. The fascination with leveling, collectibles, it does get very tiresome after a while and contributes to that feeling you've already played this thing you're playing, just in a different style.

There was a time once when I said I wanted games that liked to be lived in. That was when I could stick with one game for a good couple months. But with all the stuff coming out now, it's much harder to give one game your time. Now a game that wants to be lived in just strikes me as a trap rather than a real escape.

Maybe that's what contributes to my sense of never having time to play the games I want, it's that I pay attention to far too many of them and keeping them all in my attention is squeezing out attention for the rest of life.

[Levi]

I'm 35 and I've been gaming since the C64.  For the most part its just kept getting better in my opinion.

The best:
- The indie revolution brought back platformers. 
- Deep discounts.

The worst:
- Microtransactions & F2P model.

[TripJack]

how has gaming changed for me? my tolerance of shitty design has greatly decreased and my cynicism about the future has greatly increased

[Itnetlolor]

Been playing since the C64 days, and as time passes, tech and requirements move on as games develop more.

On that note, being able to affordably keep up is my main challenge. At times, when I play a more modern game with my present computer (it's quite due for an upgrade/update), I tend to worry about how much it can take before I have to worry about it. I always have some sort of system monitor up to keep track of at least the temperatures; before, during, and after playing a game. Being scared of modern games blowing up my computer (had my setup for nearly a decade by now) is my only rational fear with PC gaming nowadays (Main casualties: A hard drive, and a graphics card); and if I intend to join the VR bandwagon, my current machine won't keep up at all (Windows Vista 32-bit FTW!). Just as well, even with upgrading, I'm still nervous about having the latest Windows OS, mainly because certain features can't be toggled off for good, and other privacy issues I've heard about.

In the meantime, while I'm being a coward about hi-res gaming (for fear of losing my computer in the process), I've at least been having my fun staying within my era, where my machine more comfortably sits way above the requirement levels, and I don't hear my graphics card and the like. A quiet system is a healthy system. Unfortunately, all good things eventually come to an end, and even with playing it safe, I think my computer's near it's inevitable 'Time to Failure'. At least, according to my brother, it's at least 3 years overdue.

EDIT:
I suppose another issue I tend to have with upgrading is also the risk of losing reverse-compatibility as I upgrade. Like, as I upgrade my computer/parts, I lose some games I liked/been playing for awhile (Dyad being amongst the potential casualties (Unless, of course, I keep an old driver that is compatible with the game, which is at least a dozen versions old); since more modern cards/drivers work differently, and are no longer compatible). What doesn't help is that some of these games are still pretty recent, and have an unusually short shelf life, just by regular updating, either hardware or software/firmware-wise.

[Morrigi]

I'm not particularly old, but Jesus Christ, games journalism has taken a nosedive in the last few years. It was never that great in the first place, but now it's horrific.

[nenjin]

It went from the purview of established companies and media outlets....to start ups and independent sites. You traded rigor and structure for freedom.

I'm not pining for a lot of the old days of garms journalizism. There were definitely two tiers: places like PCGamer and places like Gamespy, IGN, whateves. They'd shovel out a lot of substanceless reviews and were deeply in bed with publishers.

But now what we have.....is complete subjectivity. Journalism sites get known for their personality, their gags, but not necessarily for their reviews. I stopped reading RPS because one, they flat out said don't expect objectivity from us, we'll shit over whatever we want and slobber over what we like. Secondly, there's so much goddamn SCHTICK in people's writing now. Rambling intro paragraphs in lieu of a real nut graph, where writers think they're being cheeky or clever or funny....and they're essentially wasting my goddamn time. I want facts, information, cut with a bit of analysis. I don't fucking care how important you think bi-sexual transgender developers are to the emerging indie market. I don't care about that anecdote you gave which poorly sets up your introduction. I don't fucking care about your childhood in gaming and how that informs your current view of game X.

Say what you will about older games media, at least they got to the fucking point. Yes, it came with a lot of review scores and breakdowns which weren't helpful. But writers then weren't effectively blogging about games or trying to build a follower base by dint of their wit. I want facts and the writers that give me facts about an up and coming game get read. Writers that waste my time with nonsense, stupid humor and a lot of high falutin ideas about their role in journalism don't get read. I've basically sworn off Jim Sterling because he spends way too much time wearing wigs and talking about pogs and filming skits than he does talking about games. And then what he does with his remaining time is get shrill about stuff no gamers actually like. He barely reviews games so much as he trades on being "controversial" and telling publishers and developers to go fuck themselves.

This is basically the era of Youtube personality as games journalist. And it's garbage. I really don't feel like there's any site I can read with regularly. Kotaku is too busy being weeaboos and drinking pop culture koolaid, RPS is too busy being smug about their own opinions, Jimquisition is too busy spending his Paetron money on stupid gags and pogs. PCGamer exclusives are the only thing they do that have any meat on them anymore. It's come to the point where I don't trust anyone whose job it is to review video games anymore. Give me that obsessed fan that can write 4,000 words on a game they care deeply about instead, that incredibly incisive steam review from someone who isn't trying to make a name for themselves. Even with their bias, that's more worth my time to read than an outfit that is trying to be trendy, trying to establish a style and a personality, all of which have everything to do with their business being successful and almost nothing to do with the actual business of talking about games in depth and detail.

[smjjames]

Demos/free trials used to actually be a common thing.

While it's true that a great game could end up having a horrible demo, which is likely part of the reason, I still miss demos because you can get an idea of the game itself and actually try out the game before buying it.

Another reason for demos mostly disappearing is likely that games got more complicated and so, it was a harder timesink or something.