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turning the brain off and on ~
it is the strangest thing, but I have found that roughly an hour of a zelda* game is the absolute best way to "defrag" my brain after work.
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lukadian and I have talked a little about this before, how there's a sense of contentment with the nostalgia and less ... brain noise? than doom-scrolling or even checking friendly discord servers. takes less energy than creating stuff, or talking with friends, but occupies the brain and hands just enough to filter away the stresses of a day. generally I get about 1/3 to 1/2 of a dungeon done in that time; the perfect amount to make some headway and not feel rushed, but it's not even really about getting through the game itself, these days. savoring the journey itself.
I'm sort of poking at the brain trying to figure out why "that" of all things does the trick with feeling refreshed at the end of the day versus watching a movie or any kind of modern game which just makes me restless and tired all at once. Takes me back to middle school days where everything felt simpler and kinder? clear goals and repetition versus the chaos of the day? masterful level design that's just that immersive in a stress-reducing way? (... though redeads aren't very stress-reducing LOL)
* my vice of choice tends to be rotating through the older 3D/Gamecube Zelda games - OOT/MM/WW/TP, mixed up with a playthrough of FE9/10.
Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon? :o If so, what's your game of choice?
lukadian and I have talked a little about this before, how there's a sense of contentment with the nostalgia and less ... brain noise? than doom-scrolling or even checking friendly discord servers. takes less energy than creating stuff, or talking with friends, but occupies the brain and hands just enough to filter away the stresses of a day. generally I get about 1/3 to 1/2 of a dungeon done in that time; the perfect amount to make some headway and not feel rushed, but it's not even really about getting through the game itself, these days. savoring the journey itself.I'm sort of poking at the brain trying to figure out why "that" of all things does the trick with feeling refreshed at the end of the day versus watching a movie or any kind of modern game which just makes me restless and tired all at once. Takes me back to middle school days where everything felt simpler and kinder? clear goals and repetition versus the chaos of the day? masterful level design that's just that immersive in a stress-reducing way? (... though redeads aren't very stress-reducing LOL)
* my vice of choice tends to be rotating through the older 3D/Gamecube Zelda games - OOT/MM/WW/TP, mixed up with a playthrough of FE9/10.
Has anyone else experienced this phenomenon? :o If so, what's your game of choice?
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It’s super addictive to get a combo in Okami, to scale a familiar colossi, to hit the beats just right in Mother 3, unlock that limit break you know is coming, see a Pokémon evolve or go zen in a Zelda dungeon with just enough challenge to keep you engaged but knowing the bests that keep it less frenzied!
Probably also, it’s just that, these were things we spent doing after school, maybe instead of homework, or right after a long day of being bored or under/over challenged in school. Work can be like that too from time to time depending on what you’re doing! So force of habit/being accustomed to de-stressing in this way also probably helps with how effective it is!
I pretty much listed all my go-to games ahaha!
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It used to be one of the most profitable events in game and requires a good bit of collaboration between large squads. GW2 meta events like that typically tire me out, but for some reason, that specific event required just enough focus/strategy mixed with just enough MMO fun to pop all the stress from a sucky day out of my brain. Focusing and needing to try new stuff kept me thinking about non-work things, on map shenanigans kept me chipper.
It was one of the first times I genuinely started trying to learn the game better and not just cruise through it, and I still remember and use some of the tricks I learned back then.
Like I said, a lot of the comparable events leave me so exhausted that I have to take a break from the game, but that and a couple of others are just so enjoyable that they were perfect for post work de-stress.
I don't really play GW2 to de-stress anymore (the game has gotten much bigger since then. It's more of an "Oh god, I have to do all these things" game for me now, which is very sad)
But! I've found that tossing on Fire Emblem Awakening or Fates on the 3ds and playing a map or two on one of the saves where I'm doing horrible things and building bad characters with the XP maps tends to cheer me up. I'll pop a couple of battles in, check any new supports, and then I'm good to go.
The only other games I could think of would be Mass Effect 3 or maybe Dragon Age Origins, so many games exhaust me no matter how much I like them, so finding ones that actually leave me more refreshed is a rarity and a treat.
Coincidentally, listing these games has made me realize most of them are some of the only games that I like to try to play on harder difficulties, that I really go at with all I'm worth. I think the fact that they don't stress me out is probably a huge part of my being willing to try something that might make them more stressful.
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also totally makes sense with the 3DS FE games - almost little "bite sized" maps as well and there's something puzzle-like to optimizing your army for the next mission too, that can be a nice counter to the actual strategizing.
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Warframe has bite-sized levels, sometimes I just wanna rush through it's hoards solo, or run a few missions just because I like that mission type or crack a few relics. Because all the missions are relatively fast I can play for 10 min or an hour, it's really flexible in the way I can management time and just something about it's gameplay and feel is nice. It's not difficult, I have a massive range of things I can play with/as so I can always vary games enough that it's not always the same or just because I want a different play style. And because of it's crafting all resources gained can count toward something somewhere.
Guild Wars 2's map exploration and material gathering is a nice little zen way to pass time, just scouring the map. Sometimes I'll join in on events or the world boss if I'm feeling up to it but I don't have to. I have a lot of characters that haven't completed the map so there's also experience to gain for all of them and I like its general play-style. Similar to Warframe, because the game is craft-centric, all resources gathered count toward something. It's just a nice comfortable game and even small bits of time can stack up to larger goals so there's no pressure to stick around for a certain length of time.
Minecraft I like to just run through the tunnel I currently have been mining in whatever recent map I've got going on because there always seems to be another branch I haven't explored yet. Even if I have no goals I just like gathering resources just in case.
I'll fire up any range of my pokemon games to work on breeding projects because why not.
Skyrim I sometimes fire up because there's STILL corners of the map I haven't found yet and I don't even mod the game.
I've yet to complete Subnautica so sometimes I'll get an itch to find/explore more stuff but admittedly this is less common because the lack of built-in map in the game can be frustrating so I'll hit a wall sometimes. Same with Slime Rancher. But as long as I just keep within the places I do know it can serve the same purpose as the rest.
Admittedly, the more punishing a game is towards death the less inclined I am to find 'detox' in them. Games that are forgiving with death/failure or that I can save-scum I tend to play more often, just in general. I am also more likely to play on the PC or Switch/3DS these days because we have a tiny apartment space and console access is not the most convenient.
Bonus though: the other thing I do is watch something (usually something animated) while playing mahjong on Flight Rising. I used to do this while playing solitaire back in the day but Win 10 solitaire is dumb and I get treasure for my flight rising game for time that would have not gained me something otherwise. Just some tedium clicking with low brain power, plus I get new input. I always need new input.
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