How to Prevent Open World Game Burnout
With the development of the video games industry, with more powerful hardware and ever more complex video games, the size of digital game worlds we adventure in are ever increasing. Decades ago, it was possible to traverse the whole game world of certain open world video games in less than an hour. Now, there are games that take days, weeks and even years to be fully traversed. Developers and publishers strive to fill their game worlds with interesting locations and characters, either friendly or hostile, to be met and interacted with, so that players can always feel a sense of adventure while traversing these video game worlds.
With the ever increasing size and complexity of video game worlds, there are more and more things to do in these game worlds. In my opinion, this is good, as it adds variation to the gameplay loop and fits different gameplay styles of different players. On the other hand, with larger amounts of content in these game worlds, it takes an increasing amount of time in order to play through all of the content. Once again, I believe this is a good thing per se. In my opinion, in general it is best for a game to have more content than less, as long as the content makes sense regarding being coherent with the video game overall. However, with these larger amounts of content in these video game worlds, as well as the size of these game worlds, it takes longer periods of time for players to adventure through these worlds and progress through the game. With these longer times, many players report what is called "open world burnout" or "open world fatigue", which is the feeling of no longer wanting to adventure in these video game worlds, and desiring to have a different video game experience. In this article, I will analyse this video game burnout, why it is being caused, and how to deal with it.
Why Do We Play Open World Games?
Open world video games have always been known for their sense of vastness, a sense that is not often found in many video games. Many video games feature linear environments, such as many single player first-person shooter (FPS) video games, and small environments, such as single player survival horror video games. Open world video games, on the other hand, are often credited to providing a sense of immersion and vastness that can only be found in vast digital worlds in which players have the freedom to adventure in different ways.
While players may become interested in certain open world video games because they are famous, or because they were recommended, it is the sense of adventure, freedom and vastness in open world video games that is able to provide players with lasting hours of entertainment, beyond the initial impressions. Open world video games often feature action-packed preludes, introductions and presentations, but after these initial presentations, the player will be eventually introduced to the gameplay systems of the open game world that will comprise most of the gameplay.
What Open World Games Are and What Open World Games Are Not
As previously stated, open world video games are often enjoyed for their sense of adventure, freedom and vastness in digital open game worlds. However, as much as we enjoy video games for the experiences they can provide, we must also remember that the development of video games is often a trade off of different resources and features. In other words, considering that there are deadlines and that resources are, most often than not, limited, developers must choose which features must be included and which features sometimes have to be postponed, and, in some cases, abandoned. For this reason, most often than not, open world video games often feature and focus on the vastness of the game worlds, its density, side activities, and the freedom of adventure. On the other hand, some other features may not be as developed as they would be in other genres. For example, many open world video games feature some elements of platforming. For example, most 3D Grand Theft Auto video games feature the ability to jump, as well as most The Elder Scrolls video games feature the ability to jump. Of course, there are some nuances also present in these open world games, as The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall features the ability to have jump spells and GTA features nuanced jumping over certain obstacles. But, in general, is jumping in GTA or in The Elder Scrolls as nuanced as it is in a platformer game, such as Tomb Raider? Generally speaking, jumping in GTA and in The Elder Scrolls is limited to providing the player character the ability to overcome some obstacles, but as these games aren't platforming games, the jumping system is often not as developed as it would be expected in a platforming video game, and this is reasonable because The Elder Scrolls and Grand Theft Auto are open world video games, with a focus on the freedom of adventuring in the game world, whereas Tomb Raider are platforming games, with a focus on overcoming obstacles and progressing through the story. These gameplay differences are expected and reasonable.
In the previous paragraph, I used Grand Theft Auto video games as example as they are well-developed and well-known open world games, and thus would be an example that many gamers are familiar with, and likewise, Tomb Raider video games are well-developed and well-known platforming video games, and thus would also be an example that many gamers are familiar with. However, even though I used these games as examples due to their relevance in the video games industry and due to their noteworthiness, other open world video games could have been used as examples, as well as other platforming video games could have been used as examples.
Another reasonable comparison is between open world video games and racing games. While open world video games often feature well-developed vehicle systems, these vehicles and racing in these games is often not as nuanced as it is in a racing video game. This is expected because in open world video games, for most players, racing will be a part of their gameplay, whereas in racing games, racing will be most of their gameplay. As each video game genre focuses on different aspects, it is expected for these aspects to be more developed in games of that genre.
It is important to keep these differences in nuance of the gameplay in mind to remember that, in many cases, a single video game will not cover all aspects of gameplay of the industry. And even if a single video game does cover many aspects of gameplay, it will often not be as nuanced as it would in a video game of that specific genre or sub-genre. To be more precise, open world video games excel in the sense of adventure, freedom and vastness of the game world, and may feature well-developed jumping systems or racing systems, but these systems will often not be as nuanced as they would in platforming games and in racing games. In other words, if a player enjoys an open world video game, but feels the lack of a more nuanced experience when racing with vehicles in this open world game, perhaps this experience would be complement by also playing a racing game besides the open world game. With the ever increasing capabilities of the video games industry, I notice a thought that a single video game must unite all important aspects of the video games industry. I believe this is overly ambitious, as trying to do a lot of things at the same time often hinders the quality of each of these things, and also needless, as there are great aspects of gameplay in all genres of the video games industry. There is no need for a single game to unite all aspects of gameplay. What is important is that players know what to expect from the game they are playing.
Open World Video Game Burnout
In video games with large open world, with main story missions, hidden collectibles, side activities and unique locations, it is often that players report feeling burned out after playing for many hours. With the increasing capabilities of hardware technology, these game worlds are ever increasing in size and complexity, with a variety of game systems and styles of gameplay. While I see this increasing freedom of gameplay choice as beneficial in the industry, as more players are able to enjoy the experience in their own way, at the same time it can feel dauting to some people. Some players may prefer shorter experiences, linear experiences or more condensed experiences, time-wise. On the other hand, there is a trend in the industry to develop and publish ever more ambitious, ever more vast game worlds to present to new audiences. Of course, these new game worlds are important to the industry to display these new hardware capabilities and to display how new generations of video games are able to captivate the imagination of players.
There is a trend in the video games industry towards the open world design, which is clearly seen at the 2010s decade, with a surge in the number of open world video games and in the number of video games that traditionally belonged to other genres that adopted open world game design as well. I choose to refrain from saying whether it is beneficial or detrimental for different games to also adopt open world design, as I believe this is an industry and a business decision, and it is not my role to say what businesses should or should not do, and I will only focus on the effect this has had on players and what players could do to keep enjoying the games they love.
The ever increasing number of open world video games, and the ever increasing size of these game worlds, also means that the experience of these different games requires an increasing amount of time, and perhaps dedication, of the player. Whereas decades ago many successful video games featured more direct gameplay, games from 2010s and 2020s often require players to perform different side activities, find collectibles and discover different aspects of the game in order to progress, whereas some players still prefer more direct approaches to their gameplay.
What Players Could Do to Prevent Open World Game Burnout
While businesses must think about what is best for them, players must also adopt strategies in order to keep enjoying their favorite video games, and having an enjoyable experience when playing games. As it is a business decision, it is unknown whether many future games will feature vast open worlds or will feature more linear, limited, structures. What players could do is how they enjoy and how they experience these games.
Video games are varied in gameplay and in genres, these games focus on different nuances of their gameplay, providing different experiences to players. Considering these nuances in gameplay variation, different genres of video games can be enjoyed for their characteristics, and provide an important variance in the experience of players.
I suggest players to benefit from these variations in gameplay aspects of different genres. If you are a player who enjoys playing open world video games and enjoys racing different vehicles in open world games, but feel burned out of the open world experience, then separate the racing experience. Keep playing the open world game you enjoy, and add a racing video game to complement your experience. When you want to have a nuanced racing gameplay experience, you can play the racing game. When you want the freedom to explore a vast open world, play the open world video game. This also applies to other aspects of gameplay often found in open world video games. Many open world video games feature combat gameplay, such as FPS gameplay or beat 'em up gameplay. In these cases, these nuances can also be separated by also playing FPS video games or beat 'em up video games.
Many players report feeling burnout or fatigue because in many open world video games, the player is required to complete certain secondary tasks before being allowed to further progress in the game. In these cases, I suggest to complement the gameplay experience with open world survival craft video games, as these games often feature no boundaries in the sense that the player enjoys gameplay freedom since the beginning of gameplay. These games often do not require the player to play in specific ways, and in many cases, these games have optional tutorials, and in some cases, no tutorial at all. For this reasons, these games are an excellent choice for players looking for more freedom in gameplay without having the need to fulfill specific tasks in the game.
As the reader may have noticed, in this article I did not say to stop playing open world video games. I believe open world video games are a very important part of the video games industry, such as all the other game genres. Open world video games have their role, and they can provide incredible experiences, such as all game genres. In my opinion, the problem lies not in playing open world games, the problem lies in only playing open world games.
My suggestion is to look beyond the open world video game genre, and to research other genres that may interest the player. There are many interesting video game genres, such as open world, RPG, strategy, fighting, puzzle, platformer, simulation, among others. There are certainly many interesting video games across different genres, and these different video games can certainly complement and improve your experience of playing video games when you consider to add some variation to the games you play.
While each player has their own preferences, I enjoy having multiple video games installed, ready to play. While I usually have one open world video game installed, I often also have an RPG installed, a strategy game installed, an immersive sandbox simulation game installed, a fighting game installed, a racing game installed, and so on. Due to this variation of installed games, I am able to experience different nuanced gameplay aspects.
If you are not used to playing other video game genres, then I suggest looking at which aspects you enjoy in your games. For example, if you enjoy the fighting gameplay in open world video games, then research fighting games. If you enjoy the freedom of gameplay in open world video games, then research open world survival craft games. If you enjoy strategy in open world video games, then research strategy games. If you enjoy the storyline and the character development in open world video games, then research RPGs and story-rich video games. If you enjoy the suspense in open world video games, then research horror games. If you enjoy the action in open world video games, then research action-adventure games and action games.
If you ever burn out of playing an open world video game, complement your experience by also playing video games of different game genres. You will enjoy open world video games, and also other video game genres, much more.