Burnout & Content, My Thoughts and Feelings (Destiny)

by stabbim , Des Moines, IA, USA, Monday, March 23, 2015, 20:17 (3781 days ago) @ Earendil

Destiny, it would seem, is causing burnout precisely because it is good, and it is enjoyable. The problem is that, like a favorite song, you can't play the same content over and over and expect to not burn out on it. In fact the problem is that the fun level exceeds the content quantity. We still love playing Destiny for the playing of Destiny, but we're burning ourselves out on content. This does not mean that you are done with Destiny or the song, it just means that you're human, and need to set the content down for a bit. Moderation.

This is all true. The gameplay is good enough to keep us playing, and at some point we run out of things to do.

I think it's also partly because there are items people think they need to have, that they keep playing to try to obtain. Halo games (mostly) didn't have this problem, and consequently people stopped playing organically, whenever they happened to find something else that drew their attention more. I'm not trying to sound like a Cody repeat, but I do think the whole concept of random items/rewards tends to keep people playing longer than they otherwise would have, and as a consequence players become more aware of that burned-out feeling.

That doesn't mean I expect it to change, but it's something we as players should be aware of. There came a time where I had to stop playing Borderlands 2, for much the same reason. I'm still playing Destiny because its basic mechanics are much better, and because I have more friends who play it.