Lack of motivation?

theyangman

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Ever find yourself in this sorta situation? I find myself really unmotivated to work on any of my machines a lot lately. Either out of frustration or exhaustion or a combo of both. I have completed my collection pretty close to where I'd want it. I recently acquired my last real "must have" game and it is a project for sure, but even with plenty of work in front of me, I find myself "meh" about it now that I actually own it. Same goes for the NFL Blitz projects I have as well. They have been with me for the better part of a year with no real progress.

I find myself only super excited at the prospect of searching, negotiating, buying and picking up. But once they are home, they are relegated to the garage or basement. Now that there aren't many games left I truly MUST have, I am not sure what to do? It wasn't always like this though, is my love for the hobby fleeting? I have too many machines to turn back now! lol, what to do?
 
Fire sale.....everything must go.

i also feel this way from time to time, wish i could sell a few games to get some cash and space.

i actually stopped buying games since last September...the urge is hard to fight but i feel better about not touching the projects i have for a while and not getting more projects.
 
I've had my Popeye for probably a year now, and still can't play it! PCB works fine, but the monitor needs a flyback. Been too lazy to do it, so I bought Popeye and still to this day, have never played it. :(
 
Arcade projects have more motivation in Winter.
The other Seasons are for other activities (outside ones).
So lack of motivation, right now, is understandable as your brain/body are telling you to be active and enjoy the weather.
(NOTE: geographic location might contradict this ... LOL)

I have TONS of arcade projects. I'll get to them sooner or later, I tell myself.
Today, I painted the house. That is more important than being in the basement building my Q or MH repro cabinets (or testing boards, etc).

Still, nighttime, is great for PLAYING the games. :)
 
Not sure if it is the weather or not really for me. I guess in the summer time I would rather be on a patio on a Saturday evening with friends than in my basement/garage alone working on games, but winter time isn't super conducive for me to work on games exactly. Either I have to take them downstairs which is a HUGE pain in the ass, or work on them in the unheated garage that is like -20 degrees which doesn't really work. I try not to take anything downstairs unless it is staying in my collection permanently.

I still do find myself checking Kijiji (the Canadian version of Craig's list for all you Americans who are wondering) and facebook groups for cabinets and games for some reason, but it seems like aimless dreaming as I don't reallllly have any wants at this point. Well maybe a few, but to stack more projects seems silly. I am already full will crap that I have no intentions of working on anymore lol.

*sigh* the other issue is, I never play my games alone. Most of my games are "party" type games like the Sega Super GT's or NBA Jam. Not super fun games to play solo. More so for the fighting games that comprise a lot of my collection too, like 3rd strike and MvC2 or MK2... No fun beating the computer solo.

Some days I walk by my games and wonder what sorta hobby I'd pick up next if I did sell them all.... Maybe go back to aquariums and fish keeping...
 
I get in the same rut a lot lately.
I have to remind myself to focus on one project at a time and then I feel better when I get somewhere.
Like others have said, I'm not actively looking to get more games. Especially no more projects. That'll drive me mad if I do dat.

Further, I have the same affliction in that I get real satisfaction hunting down cabs. I more or less get some satisfaction fixing a game (with the help of this fine KLOV community). Ironically, I get the least amount of satisfaction playing the MF'n games. I can usually play one or two games max and get bored.

Joust was at the very top of my list of wants. I finally got one earlier this year. A cocktail no less and was exactly the cab style that I wanted. I spent a good month rebuilding the power supply. I finally got it working and played a handful of games.

Then the thought of getting a new cab, Especially the heavy Atari kind and having to bring it down my 90 degree backbreaking stairs.Maybe I should be collecting stamps.
 
Im getting to the point of burned out waiting for art to be done. got several cabs restored just sitting for the art to complete them.
 
I've always had the enjoyment fixing and cleaning up the games, not necessarily playing them. Invite friends/family over, crack a beer, enjoy seeing other people get satisfaction out of playing them.

Tim
 
theyangman said:
I still do find myself checking Kijiji (the Canadian version of Craig's list for all you Americans who are wondering) and facebook groups for cabinets and games for some reason, but it seems like aimless dreaming as I don't reallllly have any wants at this point. Well maybe a few, but to stack more projects seems silly. I am already full will crap that I have no intentions of working on anymore lol.
Click to expand...

the problem also is when you keep getting project "i feel" like you'll never have enough time to complete them. [that also depresses me...lol]

i stop the kijiji browsing, facebook and now ebay has of today.

have enough parts to fix several projects so enough to keep me busy.
 
Many Projects, Little Time....

I think we all get afflicted with this from time to time. I'll go a couple of months and not touch my games either to work on or play them. Most of my games are in storage. The ones in my basement are the favorites of friends and family and the projects. I too enjoy watching others play my games. I take them to LAX...Louisville Arcade Expo in Louisville, KY.
People love playing my Dragon's Lair, Star Wars upright, Star Trek CAC, and Back To The Future pinball. Anyway, all of us in the hobby get into the "Don't Wanna Touch It" funk.
When the bug bites again, you'll know it.
 
theyangman said:
Ever find yourself in this sorta situation? I find myself really unmotivated to work on any of my machines a lot lately. Either out of frustration or exhaustion or a combo of both. I have completed my collection pretty close to where I'd want it. I recently acquired my last real "must have" game and it is a project for sure, but even with plenty of work in front of me, I find myself "meh" about it now that I actually own it. Same goes for the NFL Blitz projects I have as well. They have been with me for the better part of a year with no real progress.

I find myself only super excited at the prospect of searching, negotiating, buying and picking up. But once they are home, they are relegated to the garage or basement. Now that there aren't many games left I truly MUST have, I am not sure what to do? It wasn't always like this though, is my love for the hobby fleeting? I have too many machines to turn back now! lol, what to do?
Click to expand...

It's not a marriage you don't have to stay faithful. I try to mix it up a bit. I've been playing with a couple kegerators I picked up. Balancing the lines and upgrading them has been fun. (resisting the urge to homebrew)
I will get back to the games but it's been fun doing something else.
 
I don't want to work on them at all anymore. I hv3 a little bit of work left on mr do, then it will be down in the gameroom. I don't plan to buy anything else anytime soon.
 
It's like anything in life. Cycles up and down. Just play them for a while. Try and remember what you first loved about them so much. Find that spark, don't lose the spark.
 
I can understand where you're coming from. In lots of areas I suffer from enjoying the planning and prep more than the actual "doing" of the project. But I'm still looking forward to getting to work on my 2 cabs. I picked them up about a year ago, stripped down the Centipede and started cab work, but I've sadly been too busy with life/work to get anything meaningful done since then. I have used the time to order all the artwork, chips, tools etc I'm going to need. Will hopefully be moving into an actual house soon (after 15 years in condos) so I'll finally have some space to work properly, and the time to make some progress.

I still browse Kijiji and Craigslist looking for my holy grails, but unless an amazing deal comes by, I can't justify buying anymore games until the 2 I do have are showing significant signs of progress.

But as others have said, when you get the itch to start work again, you'll start work. Until then, you'll do other stuff that holds your interest!
 
When I feel overwhelmed about what I've got left to do with my projects, I just break the jobs down to individual components. Today I'll work on the control panel, tomorrow I'll do the woodwork, day after I'll wash the loom etc.

It makes a difference, and there comes a point where you are close to finishing up which motivates you to get it over the line with one final session.
 
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