not necessarily. I haven’t played video games consistently in years now, and as much as I want to, I really struggle to sit down and actually DO it. for me, I believe it is executive dysfunction issues probably related to ADHD.
Very recognisable. Medication helped me get that spark back, but before medication and with diagnosis, what helped me was saying to myself:
"just play for 30 seconds to see if you feel like it" and then try another game.
Most of the time I could really enjoy the game for at least an hour. Hardest part was actually starting it and doing something. If not, I asked myself what I really needed. Usually it meant an overstimulation from everything (repeated every 3 to 5 weeks). I shut it down and went to do nothing for a while. Some chores or whatever that I needed to do for 2 weeks already. Do that for one or two days and I was fine again. No podcasts during that time. That one took me a long time to figure out.
Trying to figure out the balance like everyone else. In the mean time, hope this helps somebody.
If you aren’t excited to go sit down and watch a specific movie or play a specific game or read a specific book then you probably don’t want to do it at all and it’s just a habit. Good idea to just not even bother
first part i already do and still get distracted/anxious that it isn’t truly what i wanna be doing (i struggle with anxiety surrounding utility maximization). i’ll try the second part.
Yep I'm diagnosed but it's much worse now than before. I might have much higher standards for games and what I find enjoyable tho.
And mental fatigue can be a pain.
Too tired in the head to play games, especially if they require decisions or inventory management instead of just going autopilot.
Edit: bc I see this type of thread over and over, I will say that ppl ALWAYS generalize that "it must be depression".
There are so many possibilities. One of them is indeed ADhD, but also more.
And I hate to admit it but ofc it can in many cases be true that today's social media and constant dopamine could play a role. In theory.
Personally I have become a perfectionist compltionist while also being too tired to play.
Black Flag was super fun on day one but now it's just another chore where I play to kill time and do what the objectives and map says.
No hate, just how it felt on day 3 - maybe it's more my mood tho, and/or maybe I played too much.
Still, gamers staring at their library without anything feeling like worth the time or tempting is real. And it kinda sucks.
I'll end my rant by saying I miss the gamer I was before I learned so much about quality in games and performance.
After having my standards raised to the sky, it sucks playing so many games that don't have the same dedication.
Same, I can't get myself to start playing games and even if I do start, I get quickly overwhelmed because I am not in the right space to sit through a cutscene or something. It sucks. The best I can do is doing dailies in gacha games, sadly. To the point where I have maxed out teams without paying a dime while being only at like... chapter 2 of the story. Despite usually playing games for the story in general. ADHD sucks.
at one point, I did not struggle to play them. But now, I really struggle to sit down and actually play them. Come on. You’re being dense for no reason.
I really don’t understand the point of you arguing whether or not I like something. It comes down to a lot more than that, especially when you’re an addict and especially if you have ADHD. My dopamine is all fucked up, and it is very difficult to choose to do something because my body just wants the easy dopamine of a drug hit or a YouTube shorts scroll. That doesn’t mean that I don’t want to do the other activities, it’s just that my body doesn’t see the worth in the effort.
actually, I responded to someone who was not you, and you decided to butt in and say that I don’t actually like to game. So, it was a discussion before you inserted yourself.
if your goal was to piss someone off, then congratulations: you won.
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u/curlycatsockthing Jul 16 '26
not necessarily. I haven’t played video games consistently in years now, and as much as I want to, I really struggle to sit down and actually DO it. for me, I believe it is executive dysfunction issues probably related to ADHD.