• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

What do you when you're too bored to want to play any games?

Javthusiast

Banned
celebrity perverts GIF
 

ShadowNate

Member
Spend time with my family and/or pet.
Work in the garden.
Read a book from the huge backlog of my Kindle library.
Hang out with friends, mostly out for coffee or beers.
Go for a walk or run or a swim. I'd go to the gym, but no money for a consistent membership these days.
Work on... job related pending stuff. Sounds less fun, unless you really love what you do, and then it is fun.

And lots (lots!) of other things that basically are me procrastinating from doing my taxes.
 
Try hobbies which don't revolve around absorbing media

It will help your boredom/depression
Absolutely, I’m not downplaying exercise, musical instruments, art, cooking, meditation, etc.

That’s just what’s been doing it for me lately, getting through the recent days.

Overall you can never go wrong when trying to better yourself in one way or another with anything.
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
and what do you do when you're not playing?

. . .I sink into the ever increasing pit of despair that is reality. Dipping a beignet into some butter usually helps me.

In all seriousness, if you're asking for a specific activity as a pallet cleanser, it doesn't really seem like another task if the problem. You've simply consumed to excess something you used to enjoy in moderation and now nothing (game related) feels meaningful. When I feel like that and I NEED to play a game (because there's always something else to do) I find one that has no real attachment value, like a roguelick deckbuilder.
 
Other than gaming I partake in weight training, martial arts, hiking and gardening. Maybe try one of these activities.
 
Last edited:

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
When I get bored of video games, what I do is visit other states in the country, like a balloon ride or zip line.

Another option is to go for a walk, go to restaurants.

If actually another option is to watch TV or the Internet.
 

Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
That's called anhedonia OP. Go see a doctor.
 

lachesis

Member
In those situations, I do chores. If chores are all done, I plan weekly meals and buy in the groceries. When those are done and I still have energy but bored.. then I cook.

and when everything's done and you have nothing to do... I savor the moment of not having to do anything at all... and just watch the cloud pass by, and take a nap.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I enjoy reading, especially if I can’t get into a game. I scroll through 100’s if not a thousand games and none of them sound appealing. It’s not like I’m sick of it. I’m just bored and I’ve played a large majority of what I wanted to play already.

I read this article about the last words people had before they died. A lot of them wished they spent more time with loved ones, worked less, and they felt like they had more dreams to fulfill.

That got me thinking. If I’m bored until a new game comes out then I’ll make use of my time. Sometimes I’d put on a game just because I had time to do it. If you finished that game then what’s next? It’s not like it expired or something. That’s what great about games. They’ll keep your save until you want to return.

One time I fell asleep with my Vita in my hands. I woke up and my hands were still holding my Vita. Reading can do the same thing to me. Work, family, and life are tiresome. Sometimes it’s best to find something that rejuvenates you.
 

JimmyRustler

Gold Member
That's called anhedonia OP. Go see a doctor.
You Americans sure do like your doctors and drugs…

The hell man? Being bored sometimes is perfectly NORMAL. It used to be the norm when I was growing up…. Jesus…

@OP: I do not feel gaming at all lately so I can perfectly relate, especially on the weekends. I usually hit the gym early in the morning and then during the day go for a few walks and listen to some non fiction audiobook or podcasts. Been listening to Huberman lab a lot lately. Gain some knowledge, have movement and burn calories. Time well used.
 

Bernardougf

Gold Member
Maybe this is just me but there are times where i'm so bored and tired that i have no drive to play anything in my steam library, or ANYTHING. Whether it be because of choice paralysis, being drained after a whole session of a game, or just not feeling up to it. I just lay on my bed and sort of.... think. Sometimes i just go off and take a walk because ofc. Or go onto YT and watch a video.
Thats me after playing fromsoft games ... it takes about 6 months before I can stand other type of games... soula games spoiled me
 

Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
You Americans sure do like your doctors and drugs…

The hell man? Being bored sometimes is perfectly NORMAL. It used to be the norm when I was growing up…. Jesus…

@OP: I do not feel gaming at all lately so I can perfectly relate, especially on the weekends. I usually hit the gym early in the morning and then during the day go for a few walks and listen to some non fiction audiobook or podcasts. Been listening to Huberman lab a lot lately. Gain some knowledge, have movement and burn calories. Time well used.
The OP is not describing regular boredom.
 

Kagey K

Banned
I don't make gaming my main thing, between family, work and other stuff I get a few hours a few nights a week.

I also usually sit in parties with a couple of my friends while we game so it's like boys time.

That makes gaming not feel like a chore, and I don't get bored because we amuse each other.

If I felt the need to 0kay and beat every game the second it came put, I could see the problem, but like rverything else in life, it's about balance.
 

Shubh_C63

Member
I feel great that these moments have mostly stopped occurring now. I have somehow stopped playing games for more than an hour or maybe few on weekends, otherwise I am exercising, trying to socialize or watching some news.
 

Ellery

Member
Need to do something to bring balance back to the dopamine level. Work, chores, cleaning, training, studying etc.
Starting to do something is the hard part, because dopamine works more like motivation whereas we previously misunderstood it as happiness or reward. That is why you see someone who has little time to play games enjoy it all the more.

We have sadly nuked ourselves constantly wanting more with everything instantly available that we feel down a lot (opposite reaction of dopamine) and those spells last longer and longer to balance it out again. Same reason tiktok, twitter, instagram, pictures and short videos ruin our happiness. We bombard it and thus increasing the time we need to reset and we are off balance. Our brain hasn't really changed much as humans, but we have unlimited access to dopamine at the tip of our hands. Drugs are widely available, fast food, sugar, porn, entertainment you name it. Look at video games.

So as stupid as it may sound, but having sweets, drinking a coke, smoking weed and browsing the gamepass library to see what game to play next to occupy your time will not make you happy. It does for a while, but living in a "utopia" does more psychological harm to us than one may think. There is a reason why many people with lots of money still work, why people in western countries are unhappy even though they seemingly have everything.

I am drifting off a little bit so TL;DR : Mostly when you are bored it is because you don't have balance from overnuking your brain with dopamine. Our brain needs the balance, because our brain is in stress mode when it is not in homeostatis. The stress mode is both triggered by having too much dopamine, but also afterwards when it does the opposite. So since dopamine also works as a motivator you will feel down and unmotivated to do something because you had too much of it before.

(Please not that I am not a brain expert and we as humans are very far away from understand the brain and how it works exactly. Things will change with new research and studies, but it is good to be aware of this and how it works. It hopefully will come help a few people out there when they start to look into this and figure it out for themselves how to best deal with it)
 

Paasei

Member
Play WoW retail cause that'll feed your boredom to liking proper games again.
 
Last edited:

OZ9000

Banned
Go to the gym and/or get a family. You won't be bored.

I use my 'free time' to play games so I'm never bored.
 
Last edited:

Roberts

Member
Hundreds of things, but if I have free myself time, but don’t want to play, watch films and so on, i try to learn something new. That is how I learned Adobe After Effects and now I even make some additional money by doing FX clean-ups and basic compositing. Right now, I’m studying Blender to learn how to 3d model, but I feel it’s a bit complicated for my old brain.
 
Last edited:

Punished Miku

Gold Member
When I get bored of video games, what I do is visit other states in the country, like a balloon ride or zip line.

Another option is to go for a walk, go to restaurants.

If actually another option is to watch TV or the Internet.
Talk about going for the nuclear option.
  • "I'm feeling a bit bored."
  • Immediately gets in a hot air balloon, boredom defeated
 
Last edited:

shaddam

Member
I oddly enjoy watching now famous travel vloggers 5+ years old videos. I like to determine when they got sold out. Its really easy because there is a huge contrast between backpacker vlogs, and check out my 5 star villa in Thailand vlogs :messenger_grinning_sweat:
 

cireza

Banned
Play some board game with friends or family.
Go outside and have walk or do some jogging.
Watch a series or a movie.
Read a book.
Work on some personal projects I have (video game, novel).
Etc...

You need to have more diversity in what you do.
 

SweetShark

Member
I shit the burgers I ate.

On a more series note, I find myself watching a movie or a short TV series.
 
Last edited:

Kev Kev

Member
video games, music and working out are my three main hobbies. between those i find plenty to do. watching tv, cooking food, painting, writing, tinkering with stuff around the house and so on, help fill the in between times.
 

JLB

Banned
I can relate. I’ve been pretty depressed lately and a lot of the time I don’t feel like playing, feel too tired or shitty. I’ve just been trying to distract myself from counting down hours with watching movies and shows. I don’t like most TV but have recently been enjoying The Boys on Amazon. I’m really into horror movies so I’ve been rewatching some classics. I love Shudder as a service and would recommend it if that’s you’re thing.

Also getting into new music is good. Personally I’ve been getting into prog rock, listening to Tarkus, Krimson King, etc.

Comics are also a good alternative. I like listening to 70’s and 80’s rock while reading something from the time period. I’d recommend anything Jack Kirby, you can’t go wrong there.

For me these spells come and go. Boredom is the mind killer.

sports are the best. Something like tennis or football (real football not that shitty thing that the brothers in the north used to love)
 

kiphalfton

Member
Currently pretty depressed, and I think if anything playing video games, watching TV, surfing the web, or consuming media is a bandaid fix and it's only good for distracting you during the time you're doing it. Doing other stuff that has results (i.e. building something, working out, etc.) is probably the way to go. It tires you out, your mind is preoccupied, you feel productive, and then you have a reminder of the work you put in or how you spent your time.

Also maybe figuring out why you're bored/depressed would probably be a good idea too. Maybe there's something going on in your life that needs to be addressed, but you're sidelining it and trying to distract yourself from that issue?
 
Last edited:

Aion002

Member
I read books... Specially history books and some light novels.

I also like to listen to Twice and Red Velvet, I don't have a clue what they're a singing and I honestly don't wanna know, but I like how it sounds.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Currently pretty depressed, and I think if anything playing video games, watching TV, surfing the web, or consuming media is a bandaid fix and it's only good for distracting you during the time you're doing it. Doing other stuff that has results (i.e. building something, working out, etc.) is probably the way to go. It tires you out, your mind is preoccupied, you feel productive, and then you have a reminder of the work you put in or how you spent your time.

Also maybe figuring out why you're bored/depressed would probably be a good idea too. Maybe there's something going on in your life that needs to be addressed, but you're sidelining it and trying to distract yourself from that issue?
Go for a walk bro, get some sun. It helps with depression, much more than staying at home sitting in front of the TV/PC.

Hope you get better soon.
 
Top Bottom