So up until very recently, the monster hunter games had a theme of living in balance with the environment and monsters were only hunted to help control manageable numbers or if some had gone out of control. Then they were apparently specifically told to tone down their environmental messaging to appeal to a wider audience.
When I did this quitting thing from MMOs and FOMO inducing gachas that you describe, I suddenly
got a non-dead-end job
got a girlfriend
got a promotion
travelled around Europe
girlfriend died
travelled around Europe some more
got another girlfriend
ended up in Canada
got married
got kids
stuck in dead-end job again without promotion for the past five years
I still think it was worth it to quit though. My mind just gets stimuli from the seemingly simplest things, like looking at a beautiful tree on the roadside, brutalist architecture, interesting conversations that I focus on instead of my mind wandering onto the next mount or raid boss I will have to tackle.
And when it comes to gaming, if I want to satisfy my itch for twitch and a bit of adrenaline, roguelites scratch it the best, without the long term commitment to playing them for days or even hours.
But what works best to keep sanity is exercise, and with riding a road bike at least twice a day I can combine elevated heart rate with zoning out and Zen for stress relief really well. It’s simply meditative.
I think of the twelve years I’ve spent playing MMOs fondly, lots of memories were made. But I would never do it again. And it has nothing to do with self-control, and willpower to not start it again, although quitting cold turkey definitely required both. But it had everything to do with the realization that it’s a trap that’s a poor substitute for real life, even if real life has dealt you shitty cards.
I can spot the hazy, reality-disconnected look of addicts from a mile away. The self-deluding statements when the topic somehow gets brought up. And I can do nothing but feel a bit sad for them, and hope that somewhere, someone manages to gently nudge them on a path that helps them escape from this trap.
I don’t think its so much the microtransactions as it is games with a highly competitive spirit. PvP games in particular. I don’t find myself having any negative feelings after playing a game like Zenless Zone Zero or Goddess of Victory NIKKE, but after about two matches of Dead by Daylight, a game with a notoriously toxic playerbase, I definitely feel worse than before I play, particularly if the matches do not go well for me.
Im the kind of player that doesn’t spend money unless I feel like something provides me value. Ive played ZZZ since release and haven’t spent a single cent, and NIKKE since its release and only spent $25 total. I have enough self-control to handle those games and can spot bad value in games like gacha games pretty fast. So for me it isn’t really about microtransactions, its definitely about competition with other players, and interactions with them. Playing a game of DBD, winning, and then having everyone (usually TTV streamers) call you names in chat or on their stream and report/mercilessly harrass you ( for winning in a video game, mind you) is a completly different level of toxic that I doubt many would be able to properly handle long term.
Its why I pretty much never recommend DBD to people.
I don’t find myself having any negative feelings after playing a game like Zenless Zone Zero
I agree with the rest of what you said but this part is crazy. Gacha games are so heavily monetized it’s wild. I played zenless as well up until a few weeks ago, that game is such a trash can. I used every single currency that I had earned in the entire game and couldn’t get The character I wanted. Some people spend as much as $2,000 on the game just trying to get a single character. That kind of gambling is even worse than what I’m talking about
Well the issue is that some people confuse a want for a need.
Wanting characters is great but the problem comes from being disappointed that you didn’t get what you want as fast as you thought you should. The true method of playing a gacha game is like running a marathon, its not a race and you take it slow. Play in your free time, down time, whatever. I don’t play those games as my main game, just as a side game. Sometimes I miss a day for the login or a special event or even a character that I really wanted but at the end of the day, its just a video game and I am not going to die without that thing or character I wanted. If I get it, its simply a bonus to the joy I get from playing the game already. I don’t play a game long if I don’t have fun with it at least more than when I don’t.
Some people don’t have self control, and I am not saying that the games are not monetized in a predatory way. But I view it no different from actual gachapon: capsule toys. You know, like a gumball machine, but the little plastic ball that has a random small toy or stickers inside. You pay, turn the knob, and you always win something, you just don’t know what. To me, I dont consider that the same as gambling like with a slot machine. That’s just my opinion, and I sure I am in the minority with that, and with my overall attitude towards gacha games in general.
Any lottery style game (let’s be honest, Gacha = Lottery) is psychologically harmful in my opinion because it trains you to gamble, there’s no other way around it. These games purposefully condition you to spend currency that you’ve earned, lose majorly, and then get rushes of dopamine when you finally win. They are designed to keep you wanting more. If you think I’m making this up, then read Got ya!: The Psychology of Gacha Addiction
Gacha games have mastered the art of making us eagerly anticipate each draw, activating our brain’s reward system and flooding us with dopamine — the pleasure neurotransmitter. It’s the chemical cocktail that keeps us engaged, excited, and coming back for more. Next on the list is the ‘just one more try’ mentality
There’s nothing remotely healthy about this at all, which runs completely contrary to what my personal goals are
Well as I said, it is my opinion and I have the self-control to be able to play and enjoy gacha games without being financially irresponsible. When I pull for a character in a gacha game, for example, I just skip the animation to go directly to the results. Not only is it faster but it also bypasses the “anticipation building” that the animation and sound effects create. I am glad you have learned for yourself how to have better mental health, but I am saying for me its not about MTX, its more about competition or competitive style games.
Don’t get me wrong, I still play competitive games. I love me some Battlefield 4, Forza Motorsport, Dead By Daylight (when the people I play against decide to not be serial harrassers), and others. Its just that I try to view it differently. Again, its only a video game and at the end of the day, I am not going to die over anything in the game, winning or losing or whatever. It can sometimes make me feel bad when I have a long losing streak or if I get harrassed, but when that happens I just turn off that game for a week or two and play something else. I don’t have to go to the extreme of uninstalling, but I can understand that some do and that’s totally fine.
Soulsborne games are hard, but they’re designed to teach you how to play through death. I’m gonna teach you how to play Bloodborne.
These are tips for a first playthrough, some of this advice isn’t universal but it will take the sting and uncertainty out of the game since it actually tells you very little in the way of strategies and best practices.
Which weapon to pick - you start out without a weapon, the game wants you to get killed, and when you do you will get a starting weapon. I’m going to make a gross generalization here, all three weapons are great, but start with the Saw Cleaver. Its arguably the best weapon in the game, and you can choose it right after you die. You can perform a light attack with r1 and if you press l1 immediately after you will do a transform attack which is 50% more powerful than your light attack and does a ton of stagger which can break boss parts allowing you to get free hits and . You can literally just r1-l1-l1-r1-l1-l1… Combo through the entire lgame. Simple and incredibly powerful. Then, pick the pistol to learn how to parry. Put all your upgrade materials into the cleaver.
How to level your character - if you pick the saw cleaver, it levels primarily with strength. But your first priority is to level vitality. Level your vitality to 25 before leveling any other stat. This will give you more survivability, and most of your damage will come from upgrading your weapon anyway. Skill is also okay to level, it will give you some more damage to your weapon (not as much as str) and also strengthen visceral attacks. Arcane is if you want to use hunter tools, which are neat but strictly optional. Bloodtinge strengthens your gun, but there are only 3 weapons that scale with it and they’re more difficult to use. Endurance is optional, it makes fights a bit faster cuz you can get more hits in before your stamina depletes, but you can play the whole game with base stamina no problem. Strictly optional. The max you should level any stat is 50, the exception is endurance which has a hard-hardcap at 40. Stick to vitality, str and skill until they reach their hardcaps at 50 and then you can level whatever you want and mess around cuz you’ll likely be in ng+ or higher. Honestly levels don’t matter much, you could get a cheat that levels you to level 250 and still struggle with early bosses. I’ve seen it happen.
How to level your weapon - bloodstone shards are used to make your weapon stronger. You can also fit gems in your weapon to make your weapon more powerful. You’ll get lots of these but level up your cleaver until it won’t take any more of a certain type. There are 4 different bloodstones, and you need 16 to level up 3 times (except the last one which only requires 1 for the final level.) Max level is 10.
Other tips - you don’t have to fight everything. Lots of people give up at the beginning because there is a bonfire with a bunch of enemies around it and they try to take them all on. Or you can just run past it if you know the way past. If you get stuck on a boss explore somewhere you haven’t been, or take a break. You need a clear head. Remember the game teaches by killing you so if you aren’t trying to learn a boss’s attack patterns and trying new ways to defeat them, they can be pretty difficult. Serrated weapons like the Cleaver’s untransformed mode deal additional damage to beasts, and so does fire, like fire paper and Molotov’s. Molotov’s are great, use them, and they’re pretty cheap early game. Buy bloodvials and bullets too so you don’t get caught lacking.
You can summon other players if you have PS+ so r/huntersbell is a good place to find cooperators, and they have a discord too if you don’t like reddit. This game is so good, and has tons of replay value so don’t worry if you need a little help. The story is amazing so just get through it. The DLC is 1000% worth it, if you find yourself liking the game get the dlc. Reach out of you need help or have questions, I love this game so much, and I love helping people with it so don’t hesitate!
Really not sure how to interpret ‘cozy’ here, but tbh the Farcry series are great for me in that they’re my casual shooters. I say this meaning that I do the shooting when I want to do the shooting – otherwise I’m off paragliding or picking flowers or something else low stress and soothing. To me, in that regard, they’re very cozy.
I genuinely fault gamers for some of this too, though.
There’s a very small indie game out called “Liar’s Bar”. It’s simple and fun. But, there were still people in forums savagely complaining that the game’s pointless XP system didn’t save correctly after a match - and that it didn’t have skins/emotes to earn for investing time into it.
There’s also MP games I play that I find fun, where I see popular, level-headed streamers complain that there’s been “nothing new” in its past two months. For most players, this wouldn’t even matter because they’re not able to play it nearly as often.
Then there’s games like Back 4 Blood, the late-grown attempt to reinvigorate Left 4 Dead’s magic. For those who don’t know; the game is still fully playable right now. It’s still fun. The developers just don’t add more to it anymore. Yet, as soon as they made this announcement that they were moving on to other games, there were conclusive, prophetic statements out about “Why Back 4 Blood DIED” as though the game is completely gone.
It’s wrong to claim that publishers moved to the constant-update, live-service model forcefully in their own decision-making vacuum. People (maybe not even the people in this thread) asked for this.
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