I can't watch movies anymore (because of video games)

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When I first started playing video games, they used to be simple. I could enjoy video games and movies (or TV series) separately since they were very different mediums. Fast forward to modern times, video games are now like movies, but “better”. At least that’s how I felt. I’m talking mostly about AAA, open-world, action/adventure, or RPG games. For instance, The Witcher TV series… I could instead play the video game, interact with the world, make my own decisions… Why bother with a TV show, right?

Anyway, I’m starting to feel the opposite now. I feel burnt out from starting a new game, learning control schemes, doing side quests, -especially in RPG games- getting into people’s houses, and looting everything available… As someone who plays video games mostly for their stories, all those “games within games” are too tiring -and sometimes pointless- JUST to watch a story.

Maybe because I’m getting older or maybe because I played too many similar video games… I think I need a break from AAA games and start to enjoy movies again :sweat_smile: Does anyone of you ever felt the same way with movies and video games?

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I can watch movies–but at this age, I tend to watch them in segments

I’ve been working on a list on Letterboxd.com to pass the time. It’s like a Grouvee for Mouvees

I can go back and forth if I get bored with either

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plays video games mostly for their stories

Dang. If I did that, I’d have quit gaming ages ago! Game stories are always compromised, because they have to give the player the illusion of agency. But there’s always a “right” way to play, after stumbling through the false starts. It’s a lousy medium for storytelling, IMO.

NIQ mentioned Letterboxd which is fine. I prefer and use icheckmovies.com which has tons of lists to go through for ideas. Also, followmy.tv for TV shows. Goodreads for books.

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Actually, this reminds me of trying to get back into reading [books] a few years ago…

I read a few. Dracula, Frankenstein, the Princess Bride. But, after seeing so many movies, it felt a little boring in comparison, just seeing…words?

“Print is dead”–Dr. Egon Spengler

Ooh, I wondered if there was a Letterboxd for TV shows; we’ve been re-watching some lately

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I have felt this from time to time, currently in the middle of my latest episode I would say. Having a love for all three mediums, it tends to fluctuate but I believe it comes down more to boredom. It takes a lot for me to sit down and watch a film these days, but I absolutely love film. There are a couple that I still intend to see but being a parent, working full time, and having other obligations makes it difficult to sit down for 4 hours to see these epics, Seven Samurai being one of them and clocking in at close to that timeframe.

I think it all comes down to what you are getting out of the hobby. I don’t want to force myself to watch, read, or play anything, and when I do, it just makes my boredom worse in a way. I figure this will pass with all things, and I’ll get into a spree of watching, playing, reading, etc. I just try not to worry about it too much.

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I can’t really replace one thing by another. I particularly like to cross and find influences.
Great movies/series help make better games - just like the opposite.

Like horror for instance. Silent Hill wouldn’t be the same without Twin Peaks (David Lynch’s mania it’s a serious thing in Japan). And Silent Hill repaid influencing probably the majority of Horror Movies from early 2000 - to this day.

So I like to split my time between mediums - cause it improves the experience while playing/watching.

PS. But I totally want to unsee Netflix Witcher - what a disaster.

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Episode 4 is absolutely my favorite (and the last episode I watched)

the-witcher-law-of-surprise-1
He’s a adorable hedgehog! :laughing:

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Oh no. This episode!! Till now, I can’t make sense of what happened. Terrifying.

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Honestly no. But I pretty sure it normal how you feel. I also don’t watch tv I couldn’t tell you a show that on :joy:

I listen to audio books like it going out of style. I also just mark what movies I want to watch and put it on my one day list. I also think the type of games I play probably play a big part I’ll play some rpg games with my friends ect. But I always prefer storyline games as they just make the most sense to my type A brain.

So, it normal for us to get bored with one medium and switch to another. It like painting and drawing I may go six months than nothing.

But I did catch-up with a few horror movies this past weekend.

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Anything that you particularly enjoyed?

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Oh, I forgot to say. I’ve already seen “The Room” so I don’t need to see another movie. Maybe that’s why :grin:

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I watched Shrek and Shrek 2 recently. It might only be the 2nd time I saw Shrek 2 [the first time was seeing it in the theatre at the time]

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I guess someone could argue that you should at least watch The Disaster Artist as a compliment to the Room, for the full package.

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I have had exactly those thoughts on numerous occasions. As time goes on I change from Films, to TV series, to Books, to Games and back again. I’m acutely aware that my tastes are changing as I get older and the more I dive into one type of medium the more chance I have of getting that all so familiar feeling.

Currently I’m struggling with TV series. At one point I thought “TV is the new Film”, with so much quality coming out, but now we’re drowning in content and it’s all a huge time sink and I’m missing “the golden days” (e.g. The Wire, Battlestar Galactica, Breaking Bad, early Game of Thrones, …when seen for the first time).

I think film is going through a bit of an originality glut at the moment, but there are still gems being produced. The challenge is finding them amongst all the mediocre content. I tend to keep an IMDB watchlist of old and new movies I intend to watch and have been recommended, and it all just depends what mood I’m in (or more likely how tired I feel) as to what I watch.

Games are the biggest time sink, and can be the most rewarding, but like all the above, too much of one thing will lead to feelings of familiarity, repetition, boredom etc.

…I suppose we’re always looking for something new, something wow!, something that makes us carry on thinking about whatever it is, even when it’s over.

Then, as already mentioned, there’s “The Room”. A truly special experience.

(there was a thread sometime back here about “So bad it’s good, films”. It had some complete classics and great for a change of pace. Having never seen a Steven Segal movie my wife and I watched “Belly of the Beast”. My wife threatened my with divorce if I ever made her watch it again).

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I think in those moments of glut, or just mediocre content, as long as time permits, it makes it easier to catch up on older content. I stopped keeping up with the latest and greatest a couple years ago, so when i get around to playing something, I do so on my own time personally.

I also am not afraid to quit while I’m ahead if I’m not enjoying something. Why force yourself to stick with it on the hope that it picks up again? That has helped me barrel through backlogs of all media.

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I’m not much of a TV person, but they just started a show I’ve always wanted–a 2nd “Shaman King” that will be closer to the books! [which weren’t finished at the time they were doing the first show]

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I can feel you on that. I’ve always thought it would be interesting to have a Yu-Gi-Oh that followed the original manga more so than what we got, but alas, some dreams stay just that.

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I’ll also come at this from a different angle in that with how much I’ve been coming at my backlog of games I actually wanted to play, I feel I’ve exhausted that currently, and that is for all mediums. I think going forward into the summer, I’ll be focusing my time on other hobbies (I don’t want to burn myself out too much).

Just a thought that has been passing by me periodically as of late.

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For me, it is crystal clear:

Wanna track your videogames? Your god is Grouvee.

Wanna track your books? Your god is GoodReads.

Wanna track your movies, tv shows and media? Your god is Trakt (iMDb is good as well, but the most complete is Trakt to track them).

And about watching a movie or a tv show… I will just say that watching something is more relaxing. If you want action and inmersion, you have videogames, but a movie or a tv show tells a story, without interruptions and you don’t feel the main character but you enjoy the story.

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I haven’t used Trakt before, and having used IMDb for quite sometime now, it seems to be too much of a hassle to start over unless there is an import feature.