response to a message I got on reddit

 So someone sent me this message on reddit:

reacting to this: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskMen/comments/sxcvvm/comment/hxse5ho/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Do you talk about multiplayer games, big games, RPGs and so on, or does it include even games like Limbo for example?

As a programmer in the industry and a wannabe game designer, I feel like you are one of a very small amount of people that theoretically like games but practically don't really play them, so I'm interested in your reasoning, if you don't mind.

I'm maybe in a similar boat. For me, most games (and especially AAA ones) feel much more like toys. Even stuff like Spelunky is just an incredibly polished toy. To me, this is why I don't enjoy most games in general, but I still absolutely love the ones that I do enjoy (Limbo is one of the greatest games I've ever played, from that perspective).

So yeah, I would really like your take on it, if you don't mind sharing :)

And I answered:

Ah sure. I would agree that most games "feel like toys", particularly in essence games you mentioned similar to Spelunky. Roguelikes/lites generally feel that way because you generally restart over and over and there really isn't anything that's typically "permanent" in a roguelike. Lites use upgrade trees with permanent upgrades you can grind out runs for, etc and those are the ones I really enjoy because it gives a sense of progression (i.e. Hades, etc.) However in that example I am referring to games that have simple gameplay loops and don't constantly either:

A. Involve me in the story/keep the story rolling/keep the story interesting. Games that make me feel hooked on the story are most successful at having me complete them. Interesting characters, places, the feeling that "I have to go do this thing or this character I enjoy will have x happen to them" or whatever. A good story is typically what I'm searching for in a video game over mechanics/graphics/etc., but it's maybe like 75% of my interest in a game.

Or

B. Introduce new mechanics for the entirety of the game up to the ending hours of the game. Keeps the game interesting. If the mechanics introduced in the beginning of the game don't feel good to play, the game gets binned unless the story is good and my brain bothers me to continue playing it outside the game, which has happened for a few titles. What Remains of Edith Finch comes to mind in this scenario, but it's happened for other games for me too that don't come to mind immediately.

And / or

C. Fluid mechanics that don't feel fake/clunky to play. This one is a little harder to describe but game mechanics need to have IMPACT on gameplay. Not just "oh here's a different color of that spell that's named differently but does the same thing" or whatever.

There's probably other points to be made here but these three are the largest things that I immediately identify in a game in the first hour or less.

However a typical game has a blend of all three of these things in some amount or another, of course.

Now, typically, most games do all of these things to a varying degree, but I've played through games that either did one very well and not much of the other or vice versa.

Taking your example of Limbo, I also enjoyed Limbo because even though the gameplay loop was simple on a high level, I.e. walking to the right to experience the game, the story was interesting enough to keep me captivated via symbolism of what was going on in the game itself for the entire game. Obviously the exceptional art doesn't hurt as well, but that's not a giant factor for me in terms of if I get bored with a game or not.

For many genres of games the above is the case. However MMORPGs are another bag entirely due to the "skinner box effect" they have on people, which I feel like is what contributes the most to "video game burnout". Exposing a person to a game like World of Warcraft or Everquest or any major MMORPG from, god, like probably 2000 onward will either lead to that person not liking MMORPGs outright off the bat, or they get hooked and the rest is history. I've been playing video games a long time but when I started playing WoW at 13 is when other games really lost their shine for me just because I could not get the dopamine rush I got from other games that I got from WoW.

It's just burnout on a massive scale for me, in combination with my point in my post of "finding the gameplay loop and getting bored" to "not enough hee-hee funny make me go whee brain juice". It's gotten better in recent years after MMORPGs seemingly have become a toxic pool of people that I almost never want to interact with in general, but

Speaking of "brain juice", I'm sure you noticed my flair on that post as well. Having autism/ADHD leads to me figuring out gameplay loops very quickly, and if something is made inaccessible to me in a video game and it seems like it would take a very long time to get to that interesting thing for whatever reason, I'll probably be dropping the game shortly. Same with figuring out the gameplay loop and being bored with a game.

For some reason I have a very, very innate ability to connect mechanics together in a game that no one else seems to connect or even think of. An example of this is recently when I was playing Deep Rock Galactic with my friends, we came across some orange cylinders that we couldn't find what to do with in a level. In a later level we found a big box that looked like an engine that had two round slots in it. I immediately made the connection that if this box existed in this level, that meant the orange cylinders we found in an earlier level also existed in this level and as such, we had to find them and put them into this machine and see what it did. Everyone was like "how did you even think of that", but to me, the answer was clear as day. This happens with a lot of games and I frequently get comments on it from my friends, and I remember how to do such-and-such gameplay in whatever game we're playing at the time really well, for some reason. I wish I could apply that to other areas of my life lol.

But this "innate ability" also leads to putting together gameplay loops very quickly and foreseeing additional mechanics that are going to be added to the game later on, and makes me extremely bored once I figure it out. This is where my brain seems to check to see if I am enjoying the story or not. If I am, I'll continue playing to experience the story. At this point I'm anywhere from maybe 3-5 hours into a game, more or less, so the "smooth mechanics" check has been passed most likely. If I'm not enjoying the story, chances are I'll just be bored and drop the game very soon after that.

I hope this answer was what you were looking for, and if not, apologies for the book lol, I'd be happy to clarify anything as well.

Bruh that was a lot of typing. I've never gotten to expand on my thought process for these things so it was a good feeling typing it out for someone to read. Even if they don't read it, feelsgoodman. 

past relationship

 I wrote a whole thing up on reddit in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskMen/comments/sxcvvm/why_are_young_men_giving_up_on_dating/

here's what I wrote: (also yes this ONE SINGULAR BITCH is still taking up space in my head, rent FUCKING free.)

 tl;dr: took care of anxiety-ridden woman I met on /b/ in a relationship for 5 years, she was cheating on me the whole time in my apartment I paid for working my ass off and then decides to masturbate to other dudes in front of me after we break up while she is living with me still. I ship her back to her parents and I'm mad I was an idiot still, many years later. I am never dating again, fuck that mentally-scarring noise, dude. 1 relationship was all it took to take me out of the dating pool for good

Was with a woman for 5 years-ish who had social anxiety, couldn't get a job and expected me to basically pay for everything. She did some online survey work but man I can't even do that work, I would not subject another human being to 8 hours a day of that shit. So I supported us for 5 years basically working at a gas station for most of that time. Oh, I also met her on /b/ in a social thread before the advent of /soc/ so. I was just happy for female attention and I took it all the way, unfortunately.

Then I was not happy with where we were/her self-esteem with her body/no sex/no help with chores around the apartment while I worked/no help with our dogs (she didn't take them for walks because of the social anxiety so we had a pad in the house and she stopped cleaning that. I miss those doges) so we broke up, but I was still simping and let her live with me for a year and I told her to let me know if she got into anything with a dude online so I could mentally prep myself and have her still live there. I also paid for her anxiety medication, which I am 100% sure contributed to this next bit.

Her personality changed as well, due to the meds, during the 5 years we were together she never swore in normal conversation, not once. (Maybe like once or twice during sex) After we broke up she was basically swearing like a sailor on voice comms on World of Warcraft (which was hot af might I add, which didn't help). She became very dismissive of me and basically treated me like I didn't exist in the apartment except to do the chores despite me working 40 hour weeks and her sitting on her computer all day (which I paid for half of) playing WoW, andme paying the bills ofc.

One day I'm home from work and just hear her sexing it up over voice chat with another dude. Told her she was leaving and to pack her shit. I was a giant mess back then and definitely understand that she could do whatever she wanted, but I was still very attached, and it's kinda rude & crude to do that like... while I'm home. At least I stealth fapped in my room after she was out cold on the... fancy futon I had at the time. (I miss that futon lol) But she had been doing that for 2+ weeks while I was at work.

Her family flew her back to the state she came from and been alone since 2015. And yeah I had a LOT of faults in that relationship but like... bruh lol, she threw me away like a piece of paper straight into a trashcan. No feelings for me whatsoever and I found evidence after the fact she was cheating on me with dudes on the internet during the relationship after the relationship too, so. I dunno, man.

I can't do it, won't do it. I do not have the energy, or the money, or the WANT to even have a chance encounter with someone who cannot take care of themselves or put in work to keep a relationship afloat.

Do I still think about her? Yes only because she's the only female person I've ever been physically intimate with. If I could wipe her from my memory 100% like she seemingly did me from hers I'd do it in a heartbeat. Yes, years later, I still mad. I'm mad that I was naive enough to be taken advantage of like that and I will never, NEVER let it happen to me again.

elder abuse and stan lee

So I found this YT channel called TheGamerFromMars who does slight deep dives into various people in media and things, and there's this video talking about Stan Lee's last days: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=364fFEMTVH0

Man I dunno how that man's own DAUGHTER frieakin like abused that dude, but she did. Like how does someone morally justify that? She spent fucking 30-40k a MONTH. HOW?! HOWWWWWW? That's fucking crazy. But what's just even worse is that she was just trying to control the dude's life, especially after his wife, her mother, died. Like bruh what the fuck. There is no way Stan raised that bitch to be that spoiled, I refuse to believe it. But I guess we'll never really know.

Like, living with my grandma even if I asked her to do something for me I would feel like I gotta go to prison for elder abuse (though now that I think about it, I normally don't ask her to do anything for me because I'm way faster than her lol). I do a ton of stuff for her though. Recently I tried to have her buy me a fairly expensive macbook to learn coding on but she has some memory problems and thought 2 days later that it was a fraudulent charge so she cancelled the order. But man those whole 2 days I felt like a scumbag because 2k dollars is a lot of money! 2.3k to be exact. And one day I will buy that macbook maybe but I don't think it will be anytime soon from my own pockets.

I had a meltdown over it unfortunately because my brain thinks that THAT specific macbook is the only way I can learn coding. I injured my hands during that meltdown by hitting myself on the head repeatedly. I have that urge all the time to hit myself on the head. Some days are better than others, ofc.

I'm hoping to get my tax refund soon so I can order a 16GB MacBook Air though, with 256GB SSD. Way cheaper than the macbook I wanted and I'll be able to do work on it as well since I didn't really need a meaty macbook like that.

Anyway, yea. Elder abuse. Don't be a dick to old people (cool, nice old people anyway. Old people who are dicks to you can fuck right on off)

fuck them dumbass kids

https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/spd28x/kids_arent_a_energy_sucking_void_that_take_all/

 I abandoned my mom in the dust for treating me like shit, she almost starved to death in her shitty trailer due to her attitude and was only saved by her 1 friend who is a "christian". My 2 brothers and half-sister also didn't lift a finger to help her.

I didn't ask to be here and I certainly didn't ask to be abused growing up, or to have her kick my dad out of the picture multiple times, who would have taught me life skills that she didn't. Shit, I'm living with him now and the dude teaches me something every day. I'm also ND (autism/adhd) and my parents (again specifically my mom who pressured my dad into NOT diagnosing me) didn't diagnose me as a kid/let me go to therapy which would have diagnosed me, which fucked me for any disability help later in life when I found out that I have autism/adhd, because diagnosis is expensive but I can't keep a job to save my fuckin life.

OP can get fucking fucked.

Kids should never be looked at as "future help". Fuck people who think that way.