Have you ever lost interest in a game?

[Meteor197]

Moderation is the key to not getting bored with something you enjoy, no matter what it is. Not that I know all the technicalities and scientific studies and whatnot, but I'm sure it works the same way that one needs to take higher and higher quantities of drugs to get the same high the more they keep using the drugs, but if they take a long break from the drugs, they no longer need as much. It should work the same way even with something like a video game, as it all boils down to brain chemistry.

I usually play 1-2 hours a day most days, though there are some when I'm too busy and I skip it. I spend a block of months at a time doing ETS2, and then I'll switch to ATS. The times when I switch is usually dictated by new map DLC releases, but that or not, towards the end of my cycle on one game I find myself getting a little tired of it and thinking of the other game a lot, and this cycle just keeps repeating itself. I also always listen to podcasts while I drive in the game, which for me really helps too. This is all I need, and as long as all the archaic maps are reworked and they keep adding map DLCs until they run out of territory to add, I could probably play these games for eternity using the cycle of moderation I've developed.

[AlexxxF1]

I think that ETS2/ATS lacks some kind of global goal, missions. I really enjoy doing Achievements.
The only problem is that they end very fast.
Completing them draws me into the game and makes me want to go back and enjoy them all.

Another thing that makes me constantly return to the game with pleasure and impatience is the release of any map DLC.
no matter how tired I am.
That's why I'm in favor of more frequent DLC map releases. let them be smaller in size, but let them come out more often.
what for ATS, what for ETS2.
Waiting a whole year for the release of one DLC is so painful. plus if it can still be delayed. which has happened twice.
I'm glad that at least the ETS2 void for me is filled by the ATS, and its maps releases.

[GinXeng]

I realized that I could not enjoy it as much as before. it seems that I have already seen this road many times, this car, this house, this tree. these mountains they were before simply placed differently. I used to enjoy exploring every nook and cranny, but now I just don't care. everything has become boring, there is nothing new

I can agree on most of this, SCS uses too many of the same prefabs over and over, I hate that old crashed green truck for example, its everywhere.

[Travismods]

@nodin747 Look at it this way: what makes any game fun to play? Seeing new sights, doing new things and demanding something out of the player while he is out there discovering what can be done in the game. The word possibilities comes to mind. Add having an impact on the game world. Besides driving and parking, once you driven the roads of the latest map DLC and looked at the latest scenery there isn't much to see or do in ATS. The game does not have any meaning beyond that. You can't have an impact on anything in the world, everything is static and nothing really poses any challenge like getting stuck or having to plan a run. I've played for little over 3000 hours and I don't think I ever had to use the diff lock, for example. My truck never broke down. I never had a flat tire. It never started to overheat in the desert states. The list goes on. As far as scenery goes, the newest DLC always offers some great sights but on the whole we are largely seeing the same prefabs just at different locations. So even the nice part of the game, the map, is highly repetitive in its nature and can't be modified or changed in game. There is no dynamic snow or sand or gravel. There is no PBR. There are not even puddles when it rains. The map is beautiful, but simplistic in its nature. There is nothing else to do than drive and occasionally customise a truck.

I mean, the reason people ask on other sites why you would ever even play a game like this - "a game where you only drive around, doesn't that get boring?!" - is key here. Why do we? Like someone said above, to cope with the boredom, it makes sense to listen to a podcast and just turn off your mind, because the game is more of a background. While that can be nice, I think we owe it to ourselves to ask if not a liiiittle more engagement could be incorporated into a truck simulator. There certainly is more to a truckers life than just driving a perfectly clean truck from A to B on a perfectly flat surface gathering no dirt or damage while the cargo magically disappears at arrival. Even if not all from real life should make the game because that would be tedious, more probably should than what we have now. Getting out of the truck and interacting with things would be a start.

Even though it grinds peoples gears I like to compare ATS to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 because it continues to make sense even though they are completely different games. The biggest reason it makes sense is because both these games have more or less the map as the main attraction. In ATS, we drive, in MSFS, we fly. Not much else to it - sure, we have different planes and different trucks and MSFS has a much deeper simulation system than ATS which barely has any simulation going on. But we are really either driving or flying in these two games and looking at scenery. Why do I keep coming back to MSFS though? The big difference is the map - in MSFS, it's a gigantic 1:1 scale copy of the whole world while in ATS, we are dealing with SCS own condensed 1:20 version of so far just a couple of states.

MSFS has basically endless scenery to discover, you can't even see it all in your lifetime. The SCS map is small and handcrafted, while the MSFS is mostly generated with AI, something that wouldn't work with an on ground map. I think this is where SCS should compensate and add mechanics to the game beyond just looking at scenery, to combat the fact that players consume each new map DLC immediately and want more and more and more. This doesn't happen with MSFS because I have endless scenery at my hands. If I grow tired of flying which I do at times, I just wait a couple of days and then fly at a new location. Only with an endless or earth-sized map could you make the argument of not needing more mechanics and things to do beyond driving or flying because of endless scenery. In ATS, because of the small size, you can't. One scenery DLC a year or maybe two is very little if nothing else is being added to keep players entertained.

Take a look at player numbers around map releases for ATS. There are spikes that die off quickly because people buy the latest map after having waited forever then consume it very fast, look at all the new scenery, only to get back to square one. What should I do now? Where should I drive? I have seen it all. What is the point? So you just turn it off or at best treat it as a background for a podcast. This is the very reason why people that do not play this game ask why it even exists.

New mechanics would introduce something completely new to the equation - oh, I can get out of the truck and walk around? I can interact with cargo? I can wash the dirt off my truck? My truck overheats if I push it too hard? I can secure cargo? I can build my own truck yard and walk around it and look and interact with all of my builds? I can multidrop? There is a snowstorm brewing in western Colorado and I have to get some snowchains for my next run otherwise I won't make it in time or even alive? My tires are almost worn down and I risk having a serious accident going down the highway? These are things that should be a part of the ATS equation and the fact that they aren't makes people like @nodin747 get bored of the experience much more quickly than if they were.

All games should be played with moderation, but games that offer an extremely linear and monotone gameloop will always burn you out the fastest. Ask yourself, why do the most dedicated fans of ATS spend more time on here than actually playing the game? Because they have discovered that once you start actually playing the game more than once every two weeks it quickly grows boring due to the lack of things to do.

[nodin747]

@nodin747 Look at it this way: what makes any game fun to play? Seeing new sights, doing new things and demanding something out of the player while he is out there discovering what can be done in the game. The word possibilities comes to mind. Add having an impact on the game world. Besides driving and parking, once you driven the roads of the latest map DLC and looked at the latest scenery there isn't much to see or do in ATS. The game does not have any meaning beyond that. You can't have an impact on anything in the world, everything is static and nothing really poses any challenge like getting stuck or having to plan a run. I've played for little over 3000 hours and I don't think I ever had to use the diff lock, for example. My truck never broke down. I never had a flat tire. It never started to overheat in the desert states. The list goes on. As far as scenery goes, the newest DLC always offers some great sights but on the whole we are largely seeing the same prefabs just at different locations. So even the nice part of the game, the map, is highly repetitive in its nature and can't be modified or changed in game. There is no dynamic snow or sand or gravel. There is no PBR. There is not even puddles when it rains. The map is beautiful, but simplistic in its nature.

I mean, the reason people ask on other sites why you would ever even play a game like this - "a game where you only drive around, doesn't that get boring?!" - is key here. Why do we? Like someone said above, to cope with the boredom, it makes sense to listen to a podcast and just turn off your mind, because the game is more of a background. While that can be nice, I think we owe it to ourselves to ask if not a liiiittle more engagement could be incorporated into a truck simulator. There certainly is more to a truckers life than just driving a perfectly clean truck from A to B on a perfectly flat surface gathering no dirt or damage while the cargo magically disappears at arrival. Even if not all from real life should make the game because that would be tedious, more probably should than what we have now. Getting out of the truck and interacting with things would be a start.

Even though it grinds peoples gears I like to compare ATS to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 because it continues to make sense even though they are completely different games. The biggest reason it makes sense is because both these games have more or less the map as the main attraction. In ATS, we drive, in MSFS, we fly. Not much else to it - sure, we have different planes and different trucks and MSFS has a much deeper simulation system than ATS which barely has any simulation going on. But we are really either driving or flying in these two games and looking at scenery. Why do I keep coming back to MSFS though? The big difference is the map - in MSFS, it's a gigantic 1:1 scale copy of the whole world while in ATS, we are dealing with SCS own condensed 1:20 version of so far just a couple of states.

MSFS has basically endless scenery to discover, you can't even see it all in your lifetime. The SCS map is small and handcrafted, while the MSFS is mostly generated with AI, something that wouldn't work with an on ground map. I think this is where SCS should compensate and add mechanics to the game beyond just looking at scenery, to combat the fact that players consume each new map DLC immediately and want more and more and more. This doesn't happen with MSFS because I have endless scenery at my hands. If I grow tired of flying which I do at times, I just wait a couple of days and then fly at a new location. Only with an endless or earth-sized map could you make the argument of not needing more mechanics and things to do beyond driving or flying because of endless scenery. In ATS, because of the small size, you can't. One scenery DLC a year or maybe two is very little if nothing else is being added to keep players entertained.

Take a look at player numbers around map releases for ATS. There are spikes that die off quickly because people buy the latest map after having waited forever then consume it very fast, look at all the new scenery, only to get back to square one. What should I do now? Where should I drive? I have seen it all. What is the point? So you just turn it off or at best treat it as a background for a podcast. This is the very reason why people that do not play this game ask why it even exists.

New mechanics would introduce something completely new to the equation - oh, I can get out of the truck and walk around? I can interact with cargo? I can wash the dirt off my truck? My truck overheats if I push it too hard? I can secure cargo? I can build my own truck yard and walk around it and look and interact with all of my builds? I can multidrop? There is a snowstorm brewing in western Colorado and I have to get some snowchains for my next run otherwise I won't make it in time or even alive? My tires are almost worn down and I risk having a serious accident going down the highway? These are things that should be a part of the ATS equation and the fact that they aren't makes people like @nodin747 get bored of the experience much more quickly than if they were.

All games should be played with moderation, but games that offer an extremely linear and monotone gameloop will always burn you out the fastest. Ask yourself, why do the most dedicated fans of ATS spend more time on here than actually playing the game? Because they have discovered that once you start actually playing the game more than once every two weeks it quickly grows boring due to the lack of things to do.

Its just only your opinion, i am not agree with

[Optional Features]

The biggest problem for me is a lack of challenge. I know that I will succeed regardless of what I do.

Even if I drive a load of dynamite off a cliff and give me truck 100% damage, a tow truck will retrieve it nearly instantly, deposit me on the repair trigger, and I'll be on my way.

And even if the load itself has 100% damage, the receiver will take it without question, at 2 am on a Sunday.

Has anyone noticed two things?

1. The AI have more features than players.
2. The vehicle shops are the only places in game with opening hours.

[Outlaw Transport]

To me, for some extremely strange reason, the enjoyment of this game has been inversely proportional to the gear I've added to my rig. Not sure why, I guess because it was all bought with the assumption that it would add to the realism and my enjoyment, only to realize 10 minutes later that it doesn't. Not really anyway.

I don't think I've even fired up either game in 2022 for any reason other than testing mods I'm building - which ironically is a lot more fun than actually playing. There needs to be some fundamental changes to gameplay and development priorities for me to get the itch back. I'm not exactly sure what that is, but the idea that no matter what you haul, where you are on the map and what you're in, it's all EXACTLY the same. And that needs to be on a whiteboard with a question mark after it in the office of whoever determines the future of these games.

[Optional Features]

I'm not exactly sure what that is, but the idea that no matter what you haul, where you are on the map and what you're in, it's all EXACTLY the same. And that needs to be on a whiteboard with a question mark after it in the office of whoever determines the future of these games.

This definitely bugs me as well. Lowboy, tanker, flatbed, van, hopper--all backed into a dock at the local warehouse.

[VTXcnME]

I have half a dozen games in the rotation. ATS, Farm Sim, MSFS2020, Ace Combat 7, Starcraft2, Diablo III, Train Sim when all else fails. . . .

I go hard at ATS when there is new content, because it's new/unexplored territory. Eventually my game play time will settle back to a few hours a week and I'll work other games into my routine again.

If you're getting bored with it, move on to something else. It ain't brain surgery. If the "same old thing" in ATS/ETS isn't doing it for you, put it down for good, or until you realize what you appreciate about it.

[Xaagon]

I think Montana is the first map DLC that I didn't buy on opening day, though that was due to me travelling last week. I did buy it the second day I was back home and am slowly exploring it. I used to play ATS almost exclusively when there was new map to explore, but after a while it becomes more work than play to turn all the gray bits of road yellow on the map and complete all the Steam achievements. Back in 2017 or so I was in between computers and wound up buying New Mexico DLC months before being able to play it. I still like the game very much, but I'm no longer as enthused about every new thing as I was back then. As others have said, maybe some new gameplay features would give it new life for me.

ATS is still the game I most often fire up if I just want to chill and listen to music or a podcast in the background. Once football season starts I'll listen to games on the radio or internet while I play mostly ATS and Car Mechanic Simulator.