Overwatch: How to Manage Game Fatigue
Welcome to the third day of “Finding Peace In Overwatch” Week. I hope you enjoy!
I’m starting to get annoyed by a trend I’m seeing among many Overwatch personalities. Because I already talked about Stylosa on Tuesday, I’m going to pick on him just a little bit more.
Following my post about Stylosa, I had the opportunity to chat with my Dad--who is not an esports fan but is an English Premiere League fan--about the comment I’d written.
“The person didn’t think it through,” my Dad said, referring to Stylosa. “Your response is spot on. If the economics support the supply of programming, then why complain? Just consume what you want.”
“Exactly,” I said. “[But Stylosa] has the luxury of being paid to talk about Overwatch and do nothing but play/watch Overwatch all day, so I’m not surprised he’s saying [he’s feeling fatigued by the Overwatch League] … [Even so,] I worry he’s doing more to tear down the community than build it up sometimes.”
“Ironic …” my Dad said. “Sounds like he might be destabilizing the source of his livelihood.”
The thing is, it’s not just Stylosa. Many Overwatch creators are feeling serious game fatigue, and it’s bleeding into how they talk about the game. Even certain OWL pros have felt fatigued over this season, including Je-hong “ryujehong” Ryu and Kim “Pine” Do-hyeon. However, many pros have handled their Overwatch fatigue in a very mature fashion. They didn’t complain; they didn’t criticize the system. They simply took a break from the game.
I think many, many Overwatch creators, including Stylosa, need to do the same. And I think some players may need to do the same, too.
Overwatch might just be my favorite game of all time, but I know I’ll burn myself out if I play Overwatch and nothing but. I’m playing other games, too. I take breaks from daily Overwatch on the occasion. And after a nonstop month of grinding out twenty-five levels for my Smurf account, I’m thinking about taking another break for a month or so.* Play another game for a while. Try something new. And then, I’ll come back, more excited to play than ever.
But don’t worry; Overwatch League is a kick to watch and a blast to write about. Just because I won’t be playing the game for a few weeks, doesn’t mean I won’t be watching and blogging about it. So I’ll see you soon, and definitely next week as Stage 4 kicks off to a roaring start.
Zachary out!
*There’s also a chance I’m going to play twenty more games apiece on my main and smurf accounts to continue my previous experiment and see if I learn anything new. Who knows! I’mma play what I want, dang it.