I wanted to share this here to see if anyone else has this psychological issue or if there is a solution for it that I’m just not creative enough for. I, like many others, have an obnoxiously large backlog of games. Plenty of them are great games. Control, Horizon, God of War, and many others come to mind. However, despite starting these, I always find myself ending up back on my “staple” games. Warframe, Starcraft 2, and RuneScape. I don’t know what it is about these games that draws me to them. Is it the longevity, the fact that they will probably never end and will theoretically still be around in 10 years? Is it just because I honestly prefer them?
It makes it difficult to find new experiences. Control is the most recent example, where I’ve been very excited about unlocking new weapons, going to new areas, unlocking rooms because of puzzles, etc. But this morning, when I woke up, once again…I just ended up logging onto Warframe and doing the exact same crap I’ve been doing for the last 15 years or however long its been.
Is this something other people run into?
You’re defaulting to your “comfort setting” which is a normal human thing.
Playing new games takes mental and emotional energy. There are also a lot more unknowns, which is a significant mental load. Our brains are naturally a bit aversive to this, especially if you’re feeling low-energy.
When you play the same old games you’ve enjoyed for over a decade, it’s a way for your brain to “veg out” as it were. The amount of thinking is minimal, and there’s no emotional suspense–you know exactly what’s coming.
So the answer has more to do with your mental and emotional energy levels. If your life is otherwise taxing in those areas, it’s perfectly fine to unwind with some comfort games at the end of a long day. If you find yourself feeling like this all the time, you might be dealing with depression or chronic exhaustion. And those are too complex to answer without more info.
Hope that helps!