Bored of Gaming? Here’s How to Make it Fun Again

As we grow older, it’s quite common for us to lose interest in something we once enjoyed. Gaming is no exception to that.

Once you get bored of gaming, it’s difficult to get that passion back. But here are 3 ways to bring back that joy you once had:

Why Do You Get Bored of Video Games so Easily?

It’s important to get to the bottom of things and find out why you get bored of video games so easily. There could be a plethora of reasons, but the most common ones are:

1. Full-time jobs, life responsibilities and adult commitments are taking away the joy from gaming.
2. You’ve over-exhausted all the possible games to play, and there’s not much interesting games left.
3. Burnout: You play games too frequently and it becomes repetitive.
4. Depression.

The last one is an issue that needs to be treated by a therapist/psychologist.

How to Overcome Boredom (3 Ways)

Although you may feel like you’ve lost your passion forever, most of the time it’s just temporary. Here’s what you can start doing to make gaming fun again:

#1 Get a VR Headset

The easiest way to bring back the excitement of gaming is through VR (virtual reality). It’ll make you feel like a kid again.

Whether you’re burnt out from playing too many games or exhausted all the possibilities of gaming, you’ll find something new and innovative in VR.

The thing about VR is that it doesn’t feel like a game. Your brain is tricked into thinking it’s real life. Even though logically, you understand that it’s just a simulation, your brain can’t tell the difference.

Plenty of people who’ve lost their passion for gaming found their interest again through VR. Plenty of people who were never gamers in the first place are now worshippers of VR (you’ll find a lot of these people on Twitter).

And the best thing about VR? It’s fitness! VR makes you healthy and lose weight.Fitness is always good for the mind.

To get started in VR, you’ll need to invest in a VR headset. Here’s a great guide to choosing the best VR headsets. VR is very affordable nowadays and you don’t need a powerful computer to get started, although it can open more possibilities to GPU-intensive games.

Some really fun VR games include: Beat Saber, Resident Evil 4 VR, Half-Life: Alyx and of course, keep an eye out on the upcoming titles Ghost Busters VR and Among Us VR.

#2 Take a Break From Gaming

Burnout is a real thing. Sometimes, you just need to take a break from gaming, and once you come back, the passion will be there again.

If you think burnout is your problem, go take a month break. Try taking 2-4 weeks completely off from gaming, and even better if you can eliminate or reduce the time spent on your computer. Find some hobbies and pursue some fulfilling things in life. Go engage in some social interactions.

Oftentimes, what people need is just a long break from gaming in order to enjoy it again. 

#3 Change Your Lifestyle and Mindset

Becoming an adult, and working at a full-time job changes the way you think. 

You become more serious in life. You become stressed. You realized gaming is meaningless. And you get tired and have no energy for gaming.

There’s plenty of reasons why having a job can make you lose interest in gaming. And there’s several fixes for this:

• Stop taking life so seriously. If you think stuff like “gaming is a waste of time” then you might as well think “having fun is a waste of time.”
• Set a consistent sleep schedule that allows you to get plenty of sleep. Stress and fatigue can quickly reduce your interest in gaming. Simply having a consistent sleep schedule makes a big difference over the long term.
• Take regular breaks and follow the 20-20-20 rule to reduce eyestrain: Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds.
• Get regular exercise (recommended is 30 minutes a day)
• Getting into VR can improve your energy levels through fitness and free-up some time, as most games can be played in short bursts (10-30 minutes), although that’s entirely up to you.
• And lastly, a long vacation can always help.

Is Gaming an Addiction?

Very rarely is gaming an addiction. The definition of addiction is: The inability to stop doing an activity that results in physical or psychological harm. Some definitions go even further and state: the activity must cause long-lasting changes to the brain, often resulting in withdrawal.

Gaming does neither of that. Most people could stop gaming if they wanted to. And for most people, gaming is doing no physical or psychological harm.

For some people, they may think that “I keep playing games, even though I’m bored,” so I must be addicted, but that is incorrect. 

It’s more likely that gaming has just become a ‘habit’ for you and therefore you keep playing it despite being bored.

Overall

Don’t get worried if you’ve lost interest in video games. It happens to all of us. Oftentimes, all we need is a break, or to try something new that’ll refuel our passion. As someone who’s gotten bored of gaming, I highly recommend getting into VR, as that was a life-changer for me.