Meh, you'll get back to gaming eventually.

I've felt the same way for over a year now. The "gems" of this generation are nothing that can compared to the great games of past gens.

PC gaming isn't about getting to play games like quake, counter-strike, or battlefield 1942 anymore and seeing their communities flourish with the modding potential. It's only about getting a stable 60 fps on 1600p monitors and boasting "hah my multiplatforms games look so much better than they do on a 360, poor console fools".

Watching great franchises like Elder Scrolls, Battlefield, and Final Fantasy all go down the crapper with less than average sequels. Even current-gen games like mass effect and dragon age have gone down the tube with their watered down sequels.

EA inventing online passes and day one DLCs. And Activion publishing tons upon tons of sequels with little to no improvement over the next while in that process killing off franchises. Gaming has truly become just about the business for these guys.

Gaming has become too big and money-hungery for it's own good and even though I'll probably enjoy it for a long time to come, the best days are behind us (or maybe just me).

Interesting. I was reading this thread and found some similarities between my own experience and that from other people here. To keep things short, I played video games all my life, but began to drift away at my late teens ( the same with novels and fiction). Back then I was involved with various ideological groups, a political party, wanderlust, too litle time at home, etc. I was playing very rarely and would stay months without even touching a controller. By me mid 20´s I was slowly returning to game more often and then when I had my first real relationship it turned into something very present in my everyday life (also returned to literature). It helped relaxing and keeping my head out of work when I needed, and begun to turn into a hobby, even my girl became addicted. When our relationship ended I was in such restlessness that I barely stopped at home. For some months, I driftet away from all my real tastes. Then, when I calmed down, all was back to normal. Nowadays I have several friends that are into gaming, I learned how to manage my time, make money, partying, etc. I no longer care about politics or ideologies (especially politics and ideas that dind´t come from my own thought processes). Now it´s all about fun. Looking back, every time a stayed away from my hobbies it was due to lack of stability. Has many users here have said, it has nothing to do with, maturity or age, but more with a change in tastes. Best wishes to your new endeavours.

Man, I read that and saw myself. I majored in Political Science and spent my entire undergrad heavily involved in student organizaitons. Became president of Student Government and my Fraternity. Even the politics of Student Government was just a big headache, after my term I isolated myself, concentrated on the Fraternity which ended up closing a year after I graduated because of the economy, oppresive university administration, and lack of trust in your fellow man. I didn't even get the national fraternity headquarters consultant job even though I interned there, economy left the position empty a whole year after I graduated. I played games then but mostly Halo 2 and CoD, though I managed some Fallout 3, Oblivion, CS source, and Half Life 2. I missed out on most of this gen and have been playing catch up. I got married, moved half way across the country and now I'm gaming maybe even more than I ever have. Level 14 with 15 platinums in less than 2 years.

With politics and adminstration looking less appealing to me I'm aiming for my secondary concentration in public relations. Since I game so much and I love everything about it I'm determined to work for SCEA. They need marketing and PR people, I just need to make myself stand out on paper. Pushing hard for a social media internship where I work and then maybe I can get my life back on track since graduation. Stop playing games? Probably not going to happen any time soon. I want to do something I love and that's being a video game industry advocate, I've been gaming for over 20 years and don't plan on stopping.

I still really like games, you just have to invest some time to start enjoying them.

Well, I do not yet know the meaning of my life. Odds are, there won't be any. I'll have an average family, a typical career, die, and rot. I will, however, try my best to break out of the mould.

I haven't set any priorities, the developments I mentioned in the post came completely naturally, I did not plan for any of them.

Well, my knowledge has already helped me with my career. The fact that I had all this outside knowledge on finances and economics certainly helped put me over the edge in getting my job with HSBC, for example. On top of that, it has also aided my degree, as I've been far more successful in my philosophy modules than I otherwise would have been.

My knowledge has other benefits, too. A lot of people enjoy hearing my opinion on issues. Typically, it won't be a viewpoint that they've heard anywhere else, and they know that I'm not going to be rude, or aggressive, if we don't agree. I've aided my friends on multiple essays for Uni, for business studies, law, economics, and politics. One of my friends even joked that he might just write my name on his dissertation, because everything he's going to write will be something that he's heard me say, at some point or another. I've had complete strangers come up to me in nightclubs, shake my hand, and tell me that they love reading my posts in one group or another on Facebook.

So, on top of everything else, my knowledge helps me earn respect.

As for your final point, my knowledge doesn't frustrate me in any way. In fact, if anything, it calms me, and alleviates any fears that I would have, as I know the world is much more simple than what the TV makes out. I know that everything boils down to a few core fundamentals, and that most actions have easily predictable outcomes.

5 years ago I've had 2 friends who told me that they wanna quit gaming in order to find a girlfriend.

Today, those 2 clowns are still virgin.

If you enjoy videogames, don't be ashamed of it.
You don't have to be like everyone else to be considered "grown up".

Part of being Grown Up is being comfortable in your own skin.

Do things in moderation. Including gaming. Theres nothing wrong with some indulgence in what you enjoy.

Just to add, alot of people try too hard to grow up. It's peer pressure. I have friends who are in their early 20s who try too hard to grow up in order to impress girls or other people.

I agree with your post. knowledge is power and it does'nt have to be for the benefit of making money and helping in one's job. What about having knowledge to enjoy and experience life,in a better and more satisfying way. well,that's my 2 cents.

Basic rule of life, minus some exceptions: Never give up something just on the basis that giving it up will mean something else will come into your life.  An exception to this rule might be something that is unsustainable, where cutting losses now means you get on the rebuild later.