How long does it take to get fed up with a game?

@owlwings (43915)
Cambridge, England
April 16, 2010 10:31am CST
I was ploughing away on my Farmville farm (and singing a happy, traditional ploughing song with a straw in my mouth) when I hit oil! A message popped up saying would I like to share it ... well, sure! Sharing is good. But then it put a message up saying that I was plowing on my farm and struck oil - black gold! I can't use all of it myself! Grrrrr! Of course I can use all the fuel I can get (or trudge around harvesting, ploughing and sowing each plot individually, I suppose). Seriously, though, I'm a rod to my own back! I have two Facebook accounts and a Farmville and Farmtown app on each. I used to be into horse racing but got tired of that. I reckon each game has a 'life' (depending on the person). Do you (or have you) played online games? (Not necessarily Facebook ones). Did you find that there is a limited life to them and does it depend on whether you paid real money or is it just frustration with its limitations, lack of interest or a feeling that it was a waste of time? We all need relaxation and, for me, various patience (card) games and things like Bejewelled are the ones that supply that. It seems that 'Sim' type games are fun for a little while but soon pall!
9 people like this
22 responses
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
16 Apr 10
You mentioned Bejewelled! I spent hours on that and then moved on to Zuma I stopped when I realised how many hours I had wasted playing kit and never go to game sites again. I get hooked and don't even realise that the clock is moving on
2 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
16 Apr 10
I know all about getting hooked. I get hooked by Bejeweled. 'Just one more game ... only a minute, after all' ... then another, and another ... Huh! MyLot is just as bad, really (though a tad more productive!)
4 people like this
@sunnycool (12714)
• India
16 Apr 10
I never tried my hand with games in facebook like farmville and mafiawars---most of my friends are crazy about those.Well for me---i get fed up with a game---only when i have reached all the levels in it---if its exciting i might start over again else i would go for the new one.I'm fond more of racing ones like the need for speed and i look forward for the new versions as soon as i complete the current game.this would be my first response in your discussions .great day.
1 person likes this
@mysdianait (66009)
• Italy
16 Apr 10
I imagine you pplaying those fruit type games... the ones with melons and bananas and cherries and...
2 people like this
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
16 Apr 10
Who ever heard of fruits racing?
4 people like this
@vandana7 (98700)
• India
17 Apr 10
@Diana - @Owlwings - you never know, with sunny - anything is possible.
@nannacroc (4049)
16 Apr 10
I can't even muster enough interest in 'Sim' type games to start them. I'm having a phase of playing various types of patience card games, mahjong and quizzes but it won't be long before I get bored with them. I've wasted most of the past week playing solitaire so next week I need to do something useful.
@nannacroc (4049)
16 Apr 10
For this week, yes, but it will soon wear off.
• United States
16 Apr 10
totally addicted huh?
@laglen (19759)
• United States
16 Apr 10
I used to waste an unbelievable amount of time playing farmtown and farmville. Then when I realized clients wouldnt pay me to do this - I stopped. I still get notices that so and so watered my flowers....
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
16 Apr 10
LOL ... Laglen, if I knew your Facebook/Farmtown name, I'd come and pee on your flowers, too. It's not important, however ... as you might gather I'm getting to the point where I'm beginning to feel the games are ruling my life more than I need (you know, having to go back and harvest before the crops die!) I did think that I might make use of Facebook/Farmtown associations by posting a URL (written in flowers) on my farm. It was an interesting thought but doesn't seem to have worked well. Farmtown is better than Farmville for that because you get people to harvest and plough from all over. Farmville is really only seen by your Farmville neighbours.
4 people like this
@laglen (19759)
• United States
16 Apr 10
Yes and I can appreciate the drain on your time. I think I hung in there for 6 months. I was the max level in farmtown for a while. :)
@BarBaraPrz (45430)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
16 Apr 10
About the only game I play online is the occasional session of Bejewelled. I mostly just play solitaire (offline) on my computer.
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
16 Apr 10
Bejewelled is mindless, compelling and stupidly relaxing. Also SO frustrating when you see that you have spent an hour (already) getting a paltry 20 or 40 thousand per go. There are times of day, it seems, when it's easier to get a good board than at other times ... or maybe it's just that my eye doesn't work so well at certain times! I play Canfield offline. I have a program that offers about 30 patience games. Some I don't play, some I have yet to learn and just a few I play nearly all the time. Part of the point of this discussion was to find out what makes some games compelling and others not.
4 people like this
@BarBaraPrz (45430)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
16 Apr 10
Must be the mindlessness of it all.
@coffeegurl (1467)
• United States
16 Apr 10
I haven't played farmville and I abhor facebook. But that Southpark episode was the first time I heard about it. That was a funny episode! I like to play a free online game called second life. I have written about it on mylot before. I have been in game since '06 and like it a lot. I have made international friends in the game. i had a really close friend who in rl is in the Englsih army, but he killed his avatar and became someone else, and I haven't seen him online in a while. I can't get sick of the game, because you can always learn to build or script or lean new skills in the game which can make you money in the long run. You should try it out. http://www.secondlife.com
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
16 Apr 10
I have tried Second Life a long time ago. Perhaps I was/am too wary of other people and meeting them in certain situations. I found that (even a couple of years ago) Second Life was already becoming more of a 'mall' than a game ... or, at least, it was a virtual environment that could be whatever you wanted it to be but many people were taking it over as a real way of making money. That intrigued me for a while but maybe I wasn't ready for it. The best thing about it, in my mind, was the ability to fly. I never really got into meeting people there.
3 people like this
• United States
16 Apr 10
Mostly I like to fish in the game. A good fishin pole will cost 250L-about 50cents RL. I have won some fishing contest too. It's lots of fun. There are many relaxing places to fish in sl. There are also places that aren't commercial. Many universities are going into sl to teach rl classes like university of Oregon.
@reinydawn (11643)
• United States
7 Jun 10
I have found that some of the games keep my interest and some don't. One factor that plays a big part is if I have a lot of friends and family that also play. If so, it gives us extra things to talk about when we get together. I don't usually keep at a game that I don't have anyone to talk to it about.
16 Apr 10
I used to play Mafia Wars for hours on end, almost addicted in a way. Then I realised that I was actually getting bored with it all, and quit. I enjoyed my time playing Mafia Wars but it began to get tedious and a bit frustrating and after a while it just seemed to be a lot of aggrevation for little reward.
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
16 Apr 10
I found the same with Horse Racing ... though that has a chat feature which is great fun and I actually made several friends that way.
4 people like this
@o0jopak0o (6394)
• Philippines
7 May 10
well i usuall get tired/bored with a game if it is repetitive. online games are getting repetitive too so i just try games for a week and get bored with them. haven't tried a game id stick with
@meapas (2436)
• India
19 Apr 10
Yes you are very right. How many times will you read one book? So is the case with everything in life. Variety is the spice of life.
• United States
10 Dec 10
I have played some online games, and I do enjoy them once in a while. I prefer the games that you play on a gaming console, though, especially the ones on the Wii, because I can have fun and get exercise at the same time. The more "traditional" games for the PlayStation are fun, too, and there are some that are so addicting that I have to complete the entire game (the ones that you can complete, that is) in as little time as possible. You also mentioned Sims. I played that last year while I was at my parents' house, and it was very addicting. I left my characters there (on their system), so that I wouldn't be too tempted to play it at home (yes, I could have just recreated my characters, but it wouldn't have been the same). I was really looking forward to playing it when I returned to my parents' house this year, but after playing it for several hours, I realized that it just didn't have the same appeal this year as it had last year. I am not sure what changed ... maybe it was my mood or something ... but it just didn't seem as much fun this time.
• India
16 Apr 10
hi owlwings, nice to answer you. yea i hav played online games a lot but only those which earn me money. i do play games in facebook as well. but not as much as i used 2to play when i joined it. now i am fed up of games like mafia wars, cafe world farmvilla etc. now i only play the games that pay me money. i suggest you also to do the same. and those games are a lot more better than facebook games.
@owlwings (43915)
• Cambridge, England
16 Apr 10
I don't know about games that earn (real) money - unless you mean poker, bingo and so on. I play games for relaxation. Competing for real money would probably leave me needing MORE relaxation!
3 people like this
@p3ks626 (6538)
• Philippines
18 Apr 10
I easily get fed up with the games I play cause I always want to finish them. I like to play bookworm adventures and I finished the quest for 3 weeks playing at least an hour in a day. Before I finished it, I was really interested about it but now I dont like playing with it anymore. There are also other games like plants and zombies but they are boring for me now. I played mouse hunt in facebook a year ago and now I am still playing it cause there are new things every time. New mice and new traps and new places to hunt. It gets boring too but hunting is only every fifteen minutes to its okay. CAn deal with it.
@mejofin (42)
• India
2 May 10
i really love computer games i never get bored with the games,well sometimes but if i am playing any nice action games then there is no stopping me.
@hora_fugit (5862)
• India
17 Apr 10
Well I don't like Zynga games a bit courtesy to my sister. She was, and is too involved in those villes and all! Who knows I too may get addicted if I join. The only thing I likes were sports in Yoville. And some more rambling: Social city is In my opinion most people just play to win, and you never want to win same things again. So the game's game is over... For me, I love to play games whether online or offline but they are mostly practicing type so no getting fed up in near future. Currently I'm trying some lumosity ones. Liked them!
@tessah (6617)
• United States
16 Apr 10
i dont think its the games themselves, but more the attention span of the person playing them. i will get bored or burn out playing the same game repeatedly, and will need to move on to another or take a break completely. monotony drives me batty
@iskayz (5420)
• Philippines
17 Apr 10
Oh howdy farmer! I sure would like us to be neighbors in farmville hehe. Farmville and farmtown are the only online games that I have played in my entire life. If not for my brothers and sisters, and some of their friends who wanted an additional neighbor I will not be making a Facebook account. I know that these online games will be a bother in my online work so I don't want to create one, but due to insistent demand hehe, and the curiosity of what's in farmville and farmtown I finally became a farmer too, and I was right, it was indeed a bother to my time but I got addicted but only at first. But even though, I still find it a good way to relax after a hard days work. And for me, as long as there are lots of new stuffs being invented to keep me and others playing, and interacting with each other online, I'll never get tired of playing a game. But once the game creators stop making new stuff or like the game is just like the same, over and over again, that I think will make me bored with it. I like a game that will get me to reach on something just like in farmville. The games keeps me on my feet on building stables and stuffs.
@vandana7 (98700)
• India
17 Apr 10
Hi Owlwings, most of the days, I start with games. :) It takes sometime for the modem and internet to come up. I dont like wasting that time. So I just go for mine sweeper, or tetris. I hate cards games though. I cant understand how people can get lost in those!
@allknowing (130067)
• India
17 Apr 10
I have a whole lot of games downloaded specially solitaire card games. While the pc is busy with some activity I will be busy with mine playing one of these and this is a routine with me. I also have an online casino which I play for virtual money and the tingling noise of those coins quite satisfies me!!!
• India
17 Apr 10
I like playing online games.Not the small ones but the ones that last a longer time and where we can find friends.I do play a game called runescape which is a "never ending" game and provides a lot of entertainment.There is a lot of things that you can do out there.More like an updated version of age of empires. I am sure that many people find it pretty interesting.