stamina/energy systems (like, in mobile games) are evil.

[Steerminator]

I'll never forget way back when I first got my smartphone (something I had not ever been interested in doing until my brother outright got me one for Christmas).  It didn't take long before I started looking at the games on there, and I started playing one that -seemed- pretty interesting, called Brave Frontier.  It was pretty, kind of interesting, and fun.  The battle system was literally just Valkyrie Profile.  There was something strange though.  It cost "energy" to play a stage, and energy regenerated slowly over real time.  I thought this was really dumb but for some reason I kept on playing.  Before I knew it I was addicted, playing the game every day, and going so far as to wake myself up in the middle of the night to use my energy before it could max out and stop regenerating.  It took me a LONG time to pull myself away from that game, but once I realized how horrible an effect the game had on me and how bad of an influence it was, I knew I had to stop.  Afterwards I swore I'd never play another game with an energy system again.

Much to my surprise, last year I found myself playing another stamina game on the PS4 called Genshin Impact.  It took me awhile to realize that the stamina system was even there, and when I first did, it didn't seem like a big deal, because I was able to progress through the story and freely wander a huge open world with enemies, puzzles and treasure scattered across the land without needing to use "stamina," which is here called "Resin" (Yeah, I see what you did there.  Make up a new name for it, because the minute gamers see a stamina / energy bar many will turn tail and run).  Eventually I came to the realization that this game was essentially a "scam" if you will, much the same way that Brave Frontier was.  Granted, with a lot less restrictions on your freedom.  The game as it is right now actually has a lot of great qualities and might actually be worth playing, in my opinion.

ultimately though, the point I'm leading up to is this:  These games are SO plentiful now.  The stamina system is so prevalent that it would seem to have been a major (or THE major) prominent factor in the creation of a new genre of game.  "Mobile" is literally a genre now, rather than a console.  I think this whole situation is extremely troubling.  The fact that not only are games with these kinds of systems considered acceptable, but they actually have a whole genre to call their own is truly disturbing to me.  There seems to be a huge number of people that think this kind of system is ok - normal even.  Whereas if you ask me, any "real" gamer who's old enough -should- be able to tell that something is off with one of these games.

I think a game totally dominated by a stamina system can hardly be called a game at all, but rather it becomes like a job, or series of chores that you're committing yourself to.  If you really want to progress in one of these games, the game controls you by dictating to you when and how long you are allowed to play.  A game should be controlled by the player, not the other way around.  The scariest thing to me is that people don't even see it.  It makes me worry for the future of gaming.  Not that I'm worried that stamina systems would ever dominate the gaming industry as a whole, but just the fact that they're growing in popularity and becoming more normalized seems dangerous.

Edited July 22, 2021 by Steerminator

[Heatman]

Well, I believe that in the end it's something that have to do with how you allow yourself to be addicted to the game no matter how much it pulls you to it. If you really don't want to get addicted to it, I'm very sure you won't.