Burnout... what DOES that mean?

[Kaltern]

(2nd topic today... I must learn self control...)

So, I see the phrase 'Burnout' used a lot. What, exactly constitutes burnout? Why do we get it, and what, if any, is a solution?

Is that word 'Burnout' just an excuse, or a legitimate reason for pausing gameplay? Does it mean the same thing to Elite, as it does to say, Elder Scrolls Online, or Mass Effect?

Thoughts, please, I'm genuinely interested.

 

[Space Dandy]

Burnout to me is when you have been playing something for a long long time or in an intensive and exhaustive fashion which leads you to become bored/tired of it which results in a lack of motivation to give a damn and thus needing a break from the game or w/e you are burnt out on.

Ofc it has other meanings but they're not relevant in the way you are asking about it.

 

[Darkphoenix]

Burnout to me is when you have been playing something for a long long time or in an intensive and exhaustive fashion which leads you to become bored/tired of it which results in a lack of motivation to give a damn and thus needing a break from the game or w/e you are burnt out on.

Ofc it has other meanings but they're not relevant in the way you are asking about it.

Yeah that pretty much describes it.....it like you said is just when you play a game (used in this sense) so much that you reach a point when it feels more like work and less like a fun activity and you move on to something else until it catches your attention and desire to play again.

 

[SeaFireliv]

It`s not hard for any thinking person to figure out. If you watch any sport you`ll know.

If you concentrate on a repetitive task too long, repeatedly, with no rest or change, no matter how great or enjoyable it is, trying to achieve some kind of goal that cannot be quickly completed, you`ll `burn` out. You simply can`t do any more effectively. This can manifest in frustration, irritability, anger. It also shows up in a drop in performance and mistakes (some serious) being made, further adding to the frustration and anger. At times like this it`s best to leave the sport\game and do something completely different for a while until you`ve cooled down.

If you don`t stop, you could get so angry, you destroy the game, maybe even hurt yourself mentally and physically, consequently never touching the game\sport again. In sport some people have permanently burnt out due to this.

 

[Crank Larson]

I seem to remember it being an excellent Xbox 360 game... [big grin]

 

[Gunnet]

Is that word 'Burnout' just an excuse, or a legitimate reason for pausing gameplay?

If somebody feels like they would need an excuse or legitimate reason to stop playing a video game (non-professionally), they're probably already at or near the point of burning out.

As people have said, burnout is a real thing in any pursuit.

 

[LeoBartlet]

It means you cant be doing something any longer.

 

[xondk]

Generally burnout is when you played something for so long that regardless of how good the game might be, you will find yourself becoming tired of playing it, and it seems to be dull.

So yeah, ultimately when you see people going "I've played this game for 2000+ hours and now it sucks and everything is wrong" is burnout, because if the game did not contain anything you found entertaining or enjoyable, why would you possibly be playing it for that long? and 2000+ is a very long time to play a game, so yeah. No game can last forever, and done enough times, everything will eventually become boring.

 

[tafkabb]

If you don't play the game for fun, it won't be long before you can't play the game for fun. That's burnout.

 

[ApexWanderer]

Burn out for me is when I can't be bothered to engage my imagination.

 

[PCJimmmy]

Good timing on your question for me - I just hit that point 5 minutes ago. Currently packing up my HOTAS and returning my PC to a computer station rather than an Elite CMDR's control center.

I hit burnout as a result of:
1. Have reached Triple Elite and have access to all Engineers. Those challenges kept me coming back for more. But having reached those goals - what now?
2. Went back to my favorite occupation in the game - Explorer - and started Ruins expeditions, lost settlements, etc. The very long runs between any interesting points got to me. Even with 50 LY jumps I could no longer enjoy. Started to do the multi-task thing (Netflix, etc) - but what the heck why play?
3. Tried my hand at mining - got a great ship built - 4 mining lasers - 15 collectors - could fill 250 tons of ore. Still pretty low paying per hour - got to be a grind pretty quick.
4. OK - maybe trading will do the trick - wander around, pick up missions and do some trades. Been over a year since I got my Trader elite - lot has changed - all of the changes seem to add grind and stress. As an Elite I of course had Elite NPC pirates after me constantly. The high lite of all that being an interdiction by an alien ship.
5. Tipping point reached when an NCP pirate (Elite Annie) took my shields down with a single shot and killed me 10 seconds later.
6. Might be back after 2.3 (but multicrew and creating an avatar NOT on my list of things to do) drops - has its normal weeks of errors.

So burnout for me - lack of goals and a game that seems headed in a direction without any new goals.

 

[Ian Skippy]

I think any reason not to play a computer game can be legitimate.

- - - Updated - - -

Good timing on your question for me - I just hit that point 5 minutes ago. Currently packing up my HOTAS and returning my PC to a computer station rather than an Elite CMDR's control center.

I hit burnout as a result of:
1. Have reached Triple Elite and have access to all Engineers. Those challenges kept me coming back for more. But having reached those goals - what now?
2. Went back to my favorite occupation in the game - Explorer - and started Ruins expeditions, lost settlements, etc. The very long runs between any interesting points got to me. Even with 50 LY jumps I could no longer enjoy. Started to do the multi-task thing (Netflix, etc) - but what the heck why play?
3. Tried my hand at mining - got a great ship built - 4 mining lasers - 15 collectors - could fill 250 tons of ore. Still pretty low paying per hour - got to be a grind pretty quick.
4. OK - maybe trading will do the trick - wander around, pick up missions and do some trades. Been over a year since I got my Trader elite - lot has changed - all of the changes seem to add grind and stress. As an Elite I of course had Elite NPC pirates after me constantly. The high lite of all that being an interdiction by an alien ship.
5. Tipping point reached when an NCP pirate (Elite Annie) took my shields down with a single shot and killed me 10 seconds later.
6. Might be back after 2.3 (but multicrew and creating an avatar NOT on my list of things to do) drops - has its normal weeks of errors.

So burnout for me - lack of goals and a game that seems headed in a direction without any new goals.

Maybe its me, but if you get killed in seconds by npcs, it seems you kinda skipped the entire 'fly your spaceship as best as you can' part and went straight for the boring stuff?

 

[Peyglo]

To me, burnout is when I stop having fun in a game and it starts feeling like a second job. I'm not talking about plain grinding, because that can be fun as well on a weird level. I'm talking about when you wake up and groan at your previously laid plans to play a game, and feel like you'd rather be doing anything else. A big sign is when you start overalalyzing what you're doing in the game and ask what ultimate benefit you're getting from the whole endeavour. Classic burnout symptom.

There's nothing wrong with burnout, just to play another game and you'll probably feel like coming back some time in the future. Or maybe you won't, and that's fine too. If you're not enjoying yourself it's not worth putting your spare time into it.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

For me, burnout happens when there is nothing "new" for me at the moment - when I have pretty much "mastered" the mechanics and there is nothing "new" to be expected, I hit burnout. Essentially, I have reduced the game from being a fun, immersive experience, into being numbers and patterns on the keyboard.

So, let's take Rome: Total War as an example. Start the game for the first time, OOH Romans! Build some armies, fight some battles, take some cities. Immersive AF, this is fun! Play more and more! Learn the mechanics and use your human brain to build effective armies. Start learning the limitations of the AI. Take another city, fight another battle. AI makes no sense. Has one province against your 25 provinces. No surrender, no ceasefire. It's hell in a handbasket or nothing. Meet AI armies that are clearly the result of a poorly coded strategic AI, that consist of 20 units of heavy cavalry, or worse, 20 units of seige engines. If the AI wasn't so busy building all of that heavy cavalry he could have built some real contender armies instead. AI is threatening my territory. I will run one velite just our of reach and into his territory in order to call his 50,000 man army off and throw his whole "campaign" into turmoil. AI has an army of 4 bloodied light infantry just sitting there, waiting for the slaughter... Army is worth 200-300 Gold, max, army wants 12,000 Gold to defect. AI makes peace with you because you outnumber him 20:1. Next turn, AI blockades one of your ports. Tactical AI has no concept of flanking, no concept of cohesion. It's like ants when you kick over their hill and they run panicking in every direction. Eventually, you're pretty confident that anything better than 2:3 odds and you'll be able to win.

Eventually, you just burn out on it. You've gotten past the immersive, fun battles and conquest, and it all has just boiled down to by-the-numbers tedium. That's when it's time to put it down for a while. Eventually, you might read a book or see a movie about Rome, or just think fondly of the game, and go back to it. Have fun with it again, and play it for what it is. But you'll hit burnout again.

That's video games.

I also suspect that's why PvPers enjoy what they do so much - I played a civil war game with my dad years ago. He kept and entire division of mine pinned down by running two regiments in circles, in and out of my line of sight. Next thing I knew, POW! Right in the kisser

 

[Captain Willard]

Back in the late 60's when I was in Hi Skool I got tagged , burnout Bernie. I just liked to listen to pink Floyd and watch black lights and strobes, well, mebbee the vitamin A helped? I still miss hi beam/lo beam switch and starting the car with my left foot. My left foot is so lonely, somebody help my left foot please.

 

[CMDR CODY]

I still miss hi beam/lo beam switch and starting the car with my left foot.

Dude, I just replaced my hi/lo switch in my 78 Chevy Burb. My sweetie tired to buy me a new truck, cant figure out why Id want anything new.
Its great being old, the cops dont give you spit for doing the same you have been doing for 50 years. Dumber cops

If a MMO cant keep me going, then I leave, and find another. Like life, games are like men, replaceable.

So far two MMOs have kept me going until they were shut down.
Earth & Beyond & Star Wars Galaxies. It took over a decade to get tired of EVE, they ruined my ship, I left. Yet cause Im old, I get to at the Devs every PAX.

 

[Faybs]

Burnout is what happens when you do something in the game and get this feeling, "wait a minute, I'm not having fun. This used to be fun." And then you try something else and you get the same feeling. And anything else you try, it feels meh, a chore. It means that you now know the game so well that it's routine, and a great part of what makes a game fun is experiencing new things. Some people blame "nerfs" and game mechanic changes, but most of the time it's themselves - the game is not fun any more, it's a second job. The only real cure is to go play something else for a couple months, and come back when something new is introduced so you can share with everyone in enjoying the new stuff in the game.

I'm in that state right now, so I'm playing other games (except for last night, I wanted to see what the Orrere mat farm looks like before it goes away this week - could only endure half an hour of it) and only hitting up the forums for news. Multicrew doesn't really excite me and burnout means I won't enjoy megaships or the asteroid bases either, so I guess I'll come back either when we get a big story plot twist or when 2.4 comes out, whichever comes first.

 

[JesusRocks1988]

Burning out on a game doesn't necessarily mean that you're at the point where you want or need to permanently stop playing. It's healthy in any activity to have a break once in a while, if you've come off the back of some intensive playing to achieve something in particular, it's a good idea to have a break for a few days or weeks - tear yourself away and play something else for a bit, then come back.

That's why I've got Elite + 1 other Xbox game being worked on at the same time. If I want a break from Elite, I'll die constantly in Dark Souls 3... Which sometimes doesn't help with being frustrated, actually XD

For example, after reaching Elite on Exploration I went to try some combat again after over 2 months of not firing a weapon at all, I found myself rusty at it, but I haven't yet decided what I actually want to do next is, but I don't think I feel like bounty hunting at the moment... So while I think about it, I have decided to have a little break until 2.3 drops. I've got Dark Souls, Majora's Mask (3DS), and Pokémon Sun to be getting on with for now anyway.

The point is recognising when you need a break. If you don't take the break, the burnout will get worse and as others have said, you'll lose all motivation for ever picking the game up again.

 

[CMDR MERANGO]

High waking away only to run out of fuel!!!! CMIV

 

[IndigoWyrd]

1. Burnout (noun): Said of a person or group of people to refer to fans of heavy metal or psychodelic rock, often dressing in non-name-brand cloths, males often wearing long hair. See image below.

"Billy and his friends are a bunch of burn-outs."

2. Burnout (noun): A quick and easy way to ruin a set of tires (or tyers if insist on spelling it wrong), by overcoming the friction and causing them to spin, often to the point of catching fire (or fyre for the fun of it). This is often accompanied by the consumption of large amounts of beer by those entertained by watching motor vehicles travel either in circles or in straight lines at extremely high rates of speed.

3. Burnout (noun): A state of mental and/or physical exhaustion or ennui brought on by over-indulgence in a particular occupation.
"Joe was suffering from severe burnout after weeks of trying to locate polonium to use to make jumponium."