The Shrine

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>I've owned a PS2 since the beginning of the year, and as of today I have only purchased (and played, as well) 3 native PS2 games - Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X, and Gran Turismo 3. I did beat MGS and FFX, and got decently into GT3 before I got sidetracked by various other gaming interests (Mega Man X6, finishing off Secret of Mana finally, and of course Warcraft III,) and the main reason I haven't returned to that yet is that my room is currently so cluttered I'd be hard-pressed to bring my steering wheel setup into position.

The thing that worries me is, what the hell is wrong with me? Okay, yes I'm on a self-inflicted strict budget these days (saving for down payment on house,) but I could've fit in a game one of these months if I'd really wanted to. Regardless...I go into game stores and I don't see anything for the PS2 that particularly grabs me (although Kingdom Hearts looks kinda intriguing, and I should get more info on Wild ARMS 3 and Legend of Legaia 2 to see if they're going to be any good,) and the only other games that I'm anticipating are Xbox games - Shenmue II, Panzer Orta, Armada II, and JSRF (it's out already, but I haven't played it as I don't own an Xbox yet. And I think Armada II is coming out for PS2 as well.) And I kinda wanted to check out the Resident Evil remake on Gamecube, but if I can even afford another system in the first place, I can only get one of them.

But that's not even the real problem in the first place. Except for the single-player campaign plus 60-odd Bnet games of Warcraft III, I really haven't played a single video game at home for the past two months, nor have I felt any real compunction to do so.

Sure, I just bought a shitload of anime that I'm barely halfway through watching which is taking up much of my time, but the complete lack of motivation to do what was pretty much my favorite hobby for 19 out of my 23 years has me worried. Have any of you guys ever gone through something similar? Is this just a gaming funk I'm stuck in currently, or could it be symptomatic of something more serious?

Help - I'm losing my fanaticism! :)

<i>-57</i></div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>You've probably gotten more of a life. That's a Good Thing.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Real Life sucks. I have a million things to do/code/play and no time to work on them.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>For a few years, I hardly played games at all (spurred by FF7, oddly). I was very busy trying to get a job and all. It's only very recently - past 6 or so months - that I've really gotten back into gaming. It's something I very much enjoy and as I got my life back on track, it came back.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>My responbilities aren't keeping me from playing more games. It's having an actual social life. And seeing friends on a regular basis is far better than playing Metal Gear Solid 2.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Not just games, but reading books, coding my projects, trying to start a business, and yes, seeing friends.</div>

<div style='font: bold 9pt ; text-align: left; '>I noticed that a couple years ago for myself. It's gotten even worse the past few months as my social life is getting larger and game-time is getting smaller. Oh well. heh</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>The only games I have for PSX2 is Jax & Dexter and FFX and I have only played one of them. Still waiting for the RPGs to come out this month (Kingdom Hearts, Grandia Xtreme).</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>I'm not well versed in these things, but I don't think starting a business is something you do with your spare time.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Someone obviously has not heard of multiplayer games here, it's a very interesting concept, very popular particularilly in University, you can play games and be with friends at the same time!</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>The last great RPG that came out was Skies of Arcadia, FFX might be good, but I find it's impossible to get into.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>RPG's maybe, they're plenty of great games that came out this Summer</div>

<div style='font: 10pt Garamond; text-align: left; '>...the PS2 burned and faded for me almost the exact same way....I tore through FFX, Grand Theft Auto 3, and Jak and Daxter and then just stopped with Gran Turismo 3 staring at me for about 6 months now...

I just had other things occupying me and I'd gotten burned out a bit on games...books that I needed to read, movies to watch, places to go...

I've slowly gotten back into games, mainly PSX ones I hadn't gotten to, and I was still increasing my collection as I went along, filling in the blanks for older systems while not actually playing any of them. I know I'll get to them eventually, and I'll do the same for PS2 probably around the time PS3 is coming out...and I'll get an X-Box and a Gamecube of my own eventually...

I'm not planning on dying young and I doubt I'll ever get sick of the one hobby that has really stuck with me over the years (porn doesn't count; that falls under addiction, not hobby) so I don't worry about those down times...it comes with everything. God help me, I've been nosing around my comic collection lately and I'll probably get hooked on that again, and I've been away from those for almost 3 years now...and I should really start buying some of those anime DVD's I've wanted...and having a DVD player is akin to giving a fresh clean pipe to a crack addict...so shiny...</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>This summer has been fairly slow....even on the non-RPG front. Most of the games I played came out late last year or early this year</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Kupek's point is that entertainment should not only involve other people, but actually not include games. Hell, maybe you should even visit an old friend from years gone by; his name is "Outside"</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>So your saying that in 16 hours a day there isn't enough time to play Videogames AND go outside? Where's the logic in that?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Well, I can't quit my job during the beginning, so I have to get everything set up first (at my leasure), and then start it when everything is ready.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Silly Seeker, he doesn't have to work, or move to a new house, or even clean a house.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>I disagree, all of these games are worth the purchase and have come out this Summer: NFL 2K3 (and I don't even like Football), Aggresive Inline, Resident Evil, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, Tactics Ogre: Knight of Lodis, Beach Spikers, Mario Sunshine, Monkeyball 2,</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Do you do that for 16 hours a day?</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>I never said I didn't, but all of that does not require 16 hours a day unless you're "Working Class".</div>

<div style='font: 12pt "Cooper Black"; text-align: left; '>and people are having to deal with everyday life, leaving increasingly smaller amounts of time for games. 5-8 years ago when we were all in HS and had 15 hour a week jobs we were all fanatics, but i think its safe to say that you are not the only one has gone through this. With the creation of dailystuph this forum has become more of a "community with similar inetersts" then the "gaming forum" it once was.

We still like games, thats obvious, but think of what this place will be like in another 5 years!</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Thank you.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>And if there was more time, I'd probably rather spend it with friends than playing a videogame. Going to lunch with a friend and having conversations about various thing is far more enjoyable than playing any videogame I have. This is the third week of class, and I've played MGS2 once.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>That's easy for you to say when your friends are two doors away from you in the dorm.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>As far as lunch goes, it's not that hard to say a day ahead of time "Hey, want to get lunch downtown tomorrow at noon?" Yeah, university life is conducive to this (I do work when I want to, and people live close to each other), but there are other friends I am very close to and don't get to see on a regular basis because they're in other parts of the state or in one case, now in London.

But really, this has little to do with my point: I'd rather be with people I like than sitting in front of the tv.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt arial; text-align: left; '>It's just the opposite for me lately. I was on a gaming hiatus for a couple years and over the last few months I've just started to get back into them.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>But in case you didn't know, you can play Videogames and talk at the same time. Also I wouldn't complain about not having time for Videogames anymore when you run a Website. You are not a hardcore gamer, you are a hardcore Internet...uh....person (is there a word for those?)</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>For myself of course, I started noticing a cyclical pattern that I would go through. Movie freak, Music freak, Video Game freak, Comic Book/Reading freak. I would go from one to the other. One week/month I would be a rabid video game player and play something ot things to completion (as long as the game was worth it. i.e. Banjo Kazooie) then the next month I would be a music nut and buy like 10 CD's and listen to them and make compilations out of them, then a movie freak where I would buy 4 or 5 movies at a time, then a Comic Book/ Book fruitcake and read like a madman. I never really do 2 of those trends at a time but rather o.d. on one and then move to another as my interests rotate. I see my Comic Book trend coming around again next... And once in awhile a new/old fanaticism will jump in the rotation for awhile, like last year this time I freaked out on the Star Wars lego sets and bought all of them and would build one every few days. Actually, one of the sets is still unopen, the Vader Tie fighter and Y-wing set.

Your 'fanaticism' for video games will surely return as soon as something comes out that you are 'fanatic' about.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Can it, Stewart. You're days are numbered.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Videogames just aren't <i>important</i>. I rearrange my schedule to meet up with friends. I don't rearrange my schedule for videogames.

Run a website, huh? I last updated a year ago. I used to be a hardcore gamer, but that time has passed. Now it's something I still enjoy very much, I just don't spend much time doing it.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>i going through the same thing. want something REALLY scary? try wanting to be a video game programmer and taking all the courses necessary to do so...THEN losing your desire to play.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Completely off topic, but what is that site that shows you how to make a DDR hard pad? I'm completely hooked on the damned game now</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>It's actually more like talking and driving at the same time, since reading requires that you take in info, videogames generally do not.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>No, it's like reading when I hit story elements of, say, FFX or MGS2.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Since when are those multiplayer games? I was talking about Multiplayer games.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Or like talking on a cell phone and driving, where you are 4x more likely to have a car crash.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Despite popular opinion, the human mind cannot do two semi-complex tasks at the same time.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>And I don't have any of those, nor do I particularly want any.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>Stewart?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>I think he's immitating Sean Connery on SNL's Celebraty Jeopardy, in reference to Patrick Stewart.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>I'd rather be with friends, too, but sometimes I can't do that every day.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>You do realize that's due to having only one hand on the wheel rather than two don't you?</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Where did you hear this?</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>I've been known to play games, watch TV, and talk on the phone all at once.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt Arial; text-align: left; '>Nah, it's Martha Stewart, which was prompted by his "Good Thing" remark.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>I wasn't aware she said that. How unfortunate. I like saying that.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt verdana; text-align: left; padding: 0% 10% 0% 10%; '>I heard it in my psychology class. You may be doing multiple things at once, but you're only focused at one at a time.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=392 ... 4192833</a>

Partly, but it's more than that. Here's a good example...</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=392 ... 4192833</a>

Partly, but it's more than that. Here's a good example. (Actually the topic is a good article anyway.)</div>