PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

So i did sign up a planet, allthough slightly late but I had a good day and was looking forward to some regular xp whoring, but then all my enthusiasm faded. I simply couldnt be assed to login, nor to bother doing anything with my planet. So my planet sits there (probably in c200 by now) paid for, but I dont feel like playing.

So this thread here feels abit like sitting at an AA meeting, struggling to stand up and say: Hi everyone, im Kargool and im a PA burnout.

I simply dont feel its fun anymore, all the hassle with logging in each night in order to do slightly good, and all the hassle with "caring" about your galaxy etc etc and trying to find an alliance to play for. Yes Mistwraith, i let you down, feel horrible but I simply dont feel motivated for playing. I cant even be bothered to login on irc :(

Anyone else who feels like this?

And does anyone have any tips or hints or simply some cheering up comments to rekindle the flame of PA love in me?

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Find an enemy.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Happened to me too.

Generally I think you need to feel that logging in will do something. If the rest of your alliance doesn't work out how you want it to (whether it's your fault or their's), then burnout is easy. Finding out you have to do almost everything yourself if you want it done properly is a quickfire way to burnout.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Start Scanning

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

I actually sort of enjoy the intense activity of it all. I wouldn't do it round after round for the whole round every round but for a few weeks I find it all quite fun.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

I had the same problem which is why I don't play any more.

I played round 22 and really enjoyed it, I was active most nights & really went for it, I did reasonably well then tailed off as I went on holiday for the last week and a half :p

When round 23 came a long it was also time to start my 3rd year at uni, so I stopped on grounds of not failing my degree. I do have the time to play semi actively and probably hold a spot in a decent alliance, but like you, just can't be arsed with the repetition of it all.

I think it's an inevitable problem though. A game like Planetarion where round upon round it's all the same is going to have people tailing off doing it. Unlike an mmorpg where progression through the game is continuous, I think the fact everything gets reset and put back to zero is the demotivating issue.

Perhaps take a few rounds break then come back a fresh. When I left PA Team at the end of Round 20 I didn't want to play or do anything, but a break from it for a round made playing round 22 really enjoyable & I had a lot of fun. Perhaps I might give round 24 a chance when it comes around.

I don't think I've been too insightful on the subject, but it's how it seems to me, hope it helps :-)

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Is this a joke

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Do something within the game thats not really connected to actually playing the game, for example i look after ROCKs website and its tools (and for a time sorted out our intel, which was much more fun than the game itself!), which i can leave alone for a few days or work in intensely for a week if i want. Yes i still have an account ingame, but i could easily furfill my role without one thus i don't feel the pressure to do well and can enjoy the game more. I think if i tired to play seriously id burnout as well, but as i can step back for a few days and enjoy real-life it doesn't happen.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Cant say Ive had this problem tbh, need something to occupy my time while Im browsing the net anyhow :\

Only thing i could think of would be to do something different. Instead of playing seriously pick something like xan and fake\go for xp and try to play the game uncoventially(3 fleet att. alliance as xan ftl). Gave me a good round last round atleast :)

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Funny, my solution to burn out has always been to back off how seriously I play, not find extra things to do. I've been playing this game since r1, and i still enjoy it. But I rarely play seriously, I never take an ally leadership position, and I have a core group of friends that I play with (not all in the same ally) that make every round fun and interesting. Between these factors I've never been burnt out with the regular game, but I can easily see how it can happen.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Be a man, go covert!

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

dont feel horrid, i dont mind :)

from a POV of having many times i've hit *the wall* its wanting to be with the people around you that pushes you through the barrier .

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

well pa isnt fun anymore :/ think its general feeling most ppl got about it atm

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

ohh and during round down time... taking it as a break, not an excuse to play havoc and actually sleeping at night

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Pace yourself and make sure you are ready for the intense periods

(Ascendancy)

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Its fun if you make it fun... these types of games are rather booring for real if there aint a good community and lots of battles (and flame) to make it interesting and worth to waste some time and sleep for it.

Anyway if the players and alliances are cabable to think a little more far than looking at their own noise and go for easy wins, I am sure its entertaining enough. Alltho its normal you get tired to some game after time, but we should make it fun enough, so people return to it once in a while :)

Attitude is everything.

PS. Kargool, try join some different group of people u usually do, that could be change enough to get some new motivation :) But best medicine is ofc to take some time of and return again when u feel like it.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

I hit the wall in round 5. Came back in round 22. :<

I guess it's all about taking a break now and then. And for me, it's about playing together with some IRL friends and having fun :-)

- ZawZe

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

kargool , i know how you feel...

since my first game in r13, my enthousiasm for planetarion dwindle round after round.. took round 15 and 17 off, tried to clear my mind and get motivated again.. but what dragged my spirit down in my case, was the constant bashing going on.. some may say it s unavoidable, other claim it s part of a war game.. but in my heart and mind.. it has no place..

and i must say i was getting tired of not sleeping and having the pressure of my alliance defense rest squarely on my shoulders night after night.. thought i love them very much (hi guys of f-crew :-) ! )

i m juggling with the idea of returning.. i came very close this round to do it..
but real life issues came up..

i guess pa need a good infusion of honor and maybe a slower pace.. the not sleeping does not help anyone.. and it take a lot to log on for nearly 18-20 hours a day to keep in the active bunch..

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

at least 1 night a week (weekend) just set all your ships to prelaunch +11, then go out with your proper mates get leathered hook up with a girl jump on the good foot and do the bad thing all night and all morning till she's too shagged out for anymore, then when she goes home grab a radox bath and sleep the rest of the day.

Next morning you can come back to your account and it'll all be set up for you to do anything you want with it...you might have lost a couple of rocks in your downtime but everything else you've worked hard for is safe, and if your skilled enough to get PA burnout it certainly shouldn't take you long at all to get your rocks back (I went from sandmans most roided, to top roider in the space of 24 hours, as a solo player who works 9 hours a day...if I can do it anybody can)

For me it really i as simple as that....life...IRC... aint like the TV show friends where they always have something to talk about, you just end up talking the same ol crap and calling each other noob fags, it gets old fast....get out there enjoy yourself away from the game and then come back and brag to everybody about how you broke your bed shagging like a pornstar.

Best of luck, DarkHeart

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Just quit like the rest of us.

The game is stale, dull and boring.

Only thing people were playing for was to be online on IRC and talk to their friends.

Planetarion is dying. Pull the plug.

Another couple of rounds and the amount of players will be measured in 3 Digits.

Desse
Life is actually fun.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Watch porn while playing, makes things funny and you will be in better mood to do the PA stuff.

Actually, watch porn all the time and life will be great.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

I only get burned out when there's more important/interesting things in rl. Like now. The game is not interesting. RL is.
I'm logging in every few days. Still not kicked, nor exiled.
Someone pm me plz. on IRC when the new rnd opens. I want to look at the stats to see if it's worth a try again. Or I wait for the next free rnd. I have some spare credits, but free rounds are just more interesting.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

A few rounds off, without even chatting with pa-mates on irc might help, and make you realise how much you miss this game. Helped me atleast.

And if that don't help, you just have to face the fact that you have grown up:D

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Isn't this what we all feel the first 12-48 ticks of each round? Signing up is the hardest part of the round imo :)

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Let us have a round of oldschool PA with no built-in tools like prelaunch, a big flashy red light telling you that your gal has incs (check manually fs). Maybe set ticks to 30mins to spice things up? Game is way too static now, it rewards inactivity too much. Only reason I'm still around is to play semiactively with friends, tho if we got a round like say r7 or r8 back I'd deffo play properly for once. And bring more of my old friends back too... my 2 cents.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

PA never rewards inactivity. It just places a ceiling from which point onwards it becomes less profitable to be more active. Which is good.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

You spell your name, your email adress and things like that. Then you get a username with your password. If you need help after that, i might be able to help you out:bunny: :bunny:

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Sorry to bump an old thread, but the situation of quite a few people I know is similar to this thread. Some of the more dedicated people in my galaxy are burnt out and have no intentions of playing.

The problem? We all have a love-hate relationship with Planetarion. We love the strategy and the politics, they're some of the best parts of the game. We hate the fact that who scan stay awake the longest generally wins the game, it's certainly not the only factor but it's a huge one.

I'd guess that many players in the past were students who had a lot of free time for games like Planetarion, but now life has moved on and many of the same people have jobs. This is exactly how I started, I don't want to give up Planetarion because the game makes it so unrewarding if you play it casually.

People say that you should take a break for a few rounds, why? Must we have a burnout and rest cycle for players to enjoy themselves? I'd like a game which is fun to play throughout the year instead of short bursts where I end up hating it.

Is it possible to retain the skill in the game and still make it friendly towards people who have a life?

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

I think it is, take last round, I was mostly only semi active because of work and other things I had to do in rl, and I finished in the top 100 (about rank 60 iirc). I think the game is just fine for casual players because of the tools and features that have been built in as long as you have the right strategy, and while that can take a long time to perfect and even attain, once it is there, there is no need to be as active as the most active players out there.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

It's rather simple: stop playing.

(and for the love of baby jesus, stop posting)

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

I have some related advice: Whatever you do, when you get amazingly bored, don't just quit! Because people will hate you for that, just log in once a week, stay in the alliance tag, be completely useless, and everyone will keep loving you.

(eg Yama)

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

lol, but Yama did send me def a few times there in the end :p

My advice is to not stop playing, but vary how you play. I went super serious this round, and had weeks of intense gameplay, which was ok, but gets tiring after a while. So next round I'll just go for a fun planet, screw around, 3 fleet attack, use SK's, etc, just have fun, and to hell with my roids. whole round of that, and I'll be ready to go serious again. Even pissing around in the lowly ranks can be fun, if for nothing else, than the ability to logoff and goto bed without having to worry at night :p

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Change races as much as you can. They all use different playstyles.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Agreed, this is one of my pet hates - and I keep a list of players who do it so that I remember not to allow them to rejoin the alliance in future rounds.

Quitting for a good reason is totally different (of course).

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Which alliance is that then? I'll scrub them off my list for next round.

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Some reasonably good ideas:

1. Exit stage left.
Take a break for a few rounds. When you come back the rules will have changed some and there's a good chance the game will be new and interesting for you.

2. Play random.
Don't join your alliance -- just join the game. Meet new people (there are still a few out there to meet, and some of them can be good fun).

3. Start your planet mid-round.
Your galaxy will love you for trying, you won't have to start from ground zero and you'll get to play random anyway, so you'll either meet new people or accidentally wind up with people who you know.

4. Play Scanner.
Everyone loves the scanner. XP is choice, you can still be a fattie if you get your gal to support you, and you get to play random so you might wind up with new people that you like.

5. Build your Galaxy.
You can't win without your galaxy, so make it a point to build your galaxy instead of just your planet. Cross-def, exchange sms numbers, swap recipies, make your gal pic interesting ... the galaxy can be a lot of fun if done right.

6. Meet people.
It's remarkably easy to make friends on the network. But there is something missing when you never get to actually meet them. Being obsessive about a computer game can wreak havoc with one's rl social life -- so diversify and go travel a bit.

7. Talk to more girls.
There aren't many girls on the network, but they definitely make it more fun. Having a girl to go rescue is nearly as good as having an enemy to go clobber ...

8. Why settle?
Talk to more girls and make more enemies.

Heck -- talk to me, I'll be your enemy.

~Metis

Re: PA player burnout, how to prevent it?
 

Tip 3 is fantastic, I'd give my left arm for an active midround joiner (hypothetically speaking).