This is more for discussion, maybe some of you can handle it
I didn't even game often, but it constantly occupied my headspace. I spent tons of cash on Nintendo and steam just to barely play game but look forward to them. Or I would play them and it would just feel like a huge time sync and not fun.
I'm 40 now with 4 kids. I always justified it as a way to bond with them or something I deserved. I would say it was not as bad as doomscrolling or social media.
What kept me in the most was just memories of gaming. I just couldn't recreate the happy times. But I kept trying anyway. I tried moderation but I just cannot do it.
I decided to quit them all. It's liberating not to try for achievements or set arbitrary time limits. I no longer spend mental energy seeing what slop is too woke And acceptable.
I feel like this is something I should have done when I had my first kid years ago. It's a complete waste of time beyond some good mental exercises many of you cocks shamed vidya, and I salute you for it.
Everyone reading this under 40. Don't waste years like I did.
Runequest, Traveller, Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, Pathfinder, West End Games' Star Wars, Call of Cathulu, GammaWorld, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying, Warhammer 40k roleplaying, the countless World/Chronicles of Darkness games, all of which have numerous editions with typically substantive changes and reworks(for a fun example of what I mean look through the core books for AD&D 2e, D&D 3.5e, and D&D 4e and you'll find three different games)
("gurps pdf" in a search engine gives some links for gamebooks for people to download if they go this route)
What are you even interested in doing/playing? It's hard to point someone in a direction when discussing a topic so broadly.
idk tbh I have just seen some threads on 4chan's /qa/ board a long time ago and it sounds like they make up a story and then roll a dice and decide what to do next.
So I don't know much else to do besides something of that formula of: set up story - stop at some point to roll dice - change whatever dice decides whether that's points or if it makes a decision
and with AI I might seed a story, it would say something and i'd respond with something and it would give options and I would either pick one or pick my own made up alternative choice, and rinse and repeat
haven't really tried this with groups of people but I imagine it's the same kind of thing but with just taking turns and one person is the moderator