Video Games Are Boring

This was not written by someone who hates video games. This was written by a woman who has worked in the games industry for some time, and has been lead programmer on notable titles. She is exploring why some of her friends find games uninteresting, and to what extent poor designs and limited scopes can be blamed for the fact.

Titles are not articles.

This is exactly how I felt about Red Dead Redemption. Years after beating the game, I couldn't tell you much about any individual mission.

I do remember staring at the in-game sunset as it cast shadows across the open prairie and thinking, "Wow."

This was actually one of the reasons I loved No Man's Sky. I will spend some time finding a nice planet, and then I will just hike to and fro places. Sometimes it's very much like walking through some of Roger Dean's work, and can feel nice and peaceful.

I've been playing games since Commodore 64. I've played through Amiga, early PC, Playstation, etc games. The problem is that gaming became an industry and the companies behind AAA games want you to spend as much time playing their game as possible. The 100% fun of Chaos Engine which took 4 hours became 150 hours of boring side-questing (I look at you Skyrim). The somach-wrenching action of Freespace 2 became endless leveling up, unlocking, achievement gathering in Battlefield or World of Tanks. This problem you describe is quite refreshing though but familiar if I think about it. I can only name a few games from recent years which have deep narrative (SOMA, Talos Principle for example) but most of them have some gameplay problems which you have to get used to. For example SOMA is unnerving, Talos Principle is full of hard puzzles. If you are not already a gamer you won't see what gaming can give you. This is a Catch 22 which is really hard to bypass. What I would really love to see is something like Dwarf Fortress which is __very__ deep but combersome in a neat package which can entertain me for a few hours (or weeks if I want). I also really like the direction Quantic Dream took with their games which are interactive movies with optional exploration. What I __REALLY__ miss though is well-written story and characters with real personality with the protagonist (the player) marching through a monumental and engaging storyline like we saw in Mass Effect. I really wish I could erase my memories of playing Mass Effect, System Shock 2, Undying, Half-Life and others so I can replay them and enjoy them again for the first time.

Yes! The emperor has no clothes. I think video games are laymen's attempt at capturing the magic of controlling a computer. Why waste your time with boring games when you can write computer programs? I'd rather program than play computer games. Programming is the ultimate game.