Spacing Out: Crawling Out of a Gaming Funk

Coming Out of a Mental Fog...
Coming Out of a Mental Fog…

Yay, I felt inspired to write something! ;) So for the past, say, month or so, I’ve fallen into something of a gaming funk. Not sure why or how, but it’s just been this sort of…malaise. Like, I don’t want to seriously play anything, and even if I did, I wouldn’t know what to play. It’s left me feeling kinda mopey, honestly, without a lot of motivation to do anything beyond my normal routine.

So last night I asked myself, “Self, which game do you REALLY crave playing to help get you out of this funk?”

The answer was pretty surprising…

Though I haven’t played it in years, Star Wolves 3: Civil War came to mind almost immediately. I’m not even sure why. Though I’ve really enjoyed all three Star Wolves games, they’re not the best the genre has to offer nor are they my favorite games in the genre. I wasn’t even aware there might be something…comforting about them until the name of the game came to mind.

The games in the series aren’t easy either. They can be damned frustrating at times due to weird scripting that kills your mothership quicker than you can say “mothership”, but that’s apparently not the point. The point is some part of my brain wanted to play a known, comfortable entity, one that I’ve enjoyed before and I guess had had a long enough break from where it would feel fresh (which it did, mostly).

So this morning I played maybe ninety minutes of the game before running into the first instance of that scripting thingy I just noted, and honestly, I’m already feeling better. I don’t get it though. Was it some sort of burnout that put me in this funk, and if so, why would a random game from 2010 get me out of it?

Regardless, I’m feeling like I’m coming out of a mental fog after playing Star Wolves 3 just for a little while, so I think I can shortly resume regular blogging, because if it’s not fun, why do it, you know? :) It’s still a struggle to find a balance between this blog, a full-time job and the activity of real life, but I’m always working on it. :)

Anyway, have y’all gotten into gaming funks before? If so, what did you do or play to get out of it? Looking forward to talking in the comments.

Author: Brian Rubin

3 thoughts on “Spacing Out: Crawling Out of a Gaming Funk

  1. Oh, I’m in one of them now! Lotsa game to choose from, new ones and retro as well…. I’m grab them one by one and just can get into serious mood. I really like seriouse gaming, when you immerse youself in something. But you do need a mood for it.
    What i usually do? I grab some retro game from 90th .It helps to remember how you were eager to face any new worlds, being a junior and such… And it is usually reminds you, what fun the gaming was in the past. And once you grab and hold on to that feeling again, you starting to feel the urge to start opening some new worlds. Most of the time it helps, and if it doesn’t – maybe you just too tired to enjoy gaming. Take a shower, a walk and get some nice long sleep (if you can). Sometimes forcing youself to play games, when your body is tired just gets you no profit. Oh and avoid time killers especially mobile ones.No rest and no fun guaranteed!

    Star wolves… Damn, had to finish the first one, that will be my third attempt to break through this first pesky aliens. Btw, there was unofficial sequel to first Star wolves, which bridge them with third game. But I think it was in Russian only.

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