turning the brain off and on ~

[kradeelav]

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.

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?

Comments

[armaina]

If we're going on the subject of what we use to detox, I can't say old games really do it for me. If I want to mindlessly detox I tend to go for a wide range of games from different eras that mostly have some sort of exploration/gathering tedium to it. Be it playing a game I've played before or new games with similar mechanics I want to work on. I mean I can also detox with narrative games too, but depending on how difficult they are they don't take the same mindless brainspace that these other games can take.

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.

[kradeelav]

The exploration angle with little to no punishment on in-game death totally make sense with the de-stressing bit; it's a fantastic way to distract your brain in a fuller sense, given you're gaining something without high stakes. :o (skyrim! oh yeah, that was on the list for a while here as well, and ditto to minecraft. there's some gorgeous scenes in both.)