Probably an odd question as it pertains to myself specifically, but I thought maybe others here have had similar experiences and can tell me.
When I was a kid I used to really get immersed into the games I played; I'd feel as though I was actually, feeling the very walls around me in dungeon crawlers, getting tense in fights and such, but nowadays I don't really get that sense any more. I'm in my mid-30's and now I'm thankfully able to afford any game I wish, I thankfully can choose how long I spend gaming, yet I just can't get immersed, I just can't get pulled in anymore.
My buddy told me about the Witcher 3 and told me it's great and immersive like only the oldest games ever were, and yet when I played it....I got kind of bored, and lost interest somewhat fast. One possibility is that maybe with modern proliferation of game knowledge, we can simply google for anything we want rather than let the game help us find what we need, pulling us out for that much of the game, another possibility is that we recognize mechanics and animations for what they are, and we try and memorize enemy combat animations, and our own iframes and such, even if instinctively.
I honestly can't remember the last game I played where I got immersed into the game and just felt the world rather than just see it.
That actually occurred to me, and it would certainly explain why I can get excited about something like learning game development only to reach a certain point and then lose interest; or get invested in writing the novels I've always wanted to write only to reach a point and lose interest again.
But that's a much more complex problem to solve than finding a game that clicks with me
Yeah low motivation like that just screams depression to me. Something I found helpful is switching up what I'm doing fairly often but making sure to come back to things. If there's a game I like but I'm getting bored of it or you can feel that I will get bored of it soon, I'll stop playing for a while and switch over to something else for a few days or weeks before coming back.
That's not clinical depression, that's just the shine wearing off. You need novelty. A constant stream of brand new things to get excited about, then move on to the next one. A lot of people are like that, it's a hallmark of being a person high in openness.
That's not necessarily depression, could just be adhd or even less, it's just normal novelty-seeking. It's harder to stick with something after the luster fades a bit.