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[Snowdrama]

Ive been working on a game for a little while now but Ive been thinking about giving up. not because I don't have the skills to develop it, but because my friends no longer want to hang with me because I talk about my game all the time.

Not only that but They enjoy playing games, they just play them and don't think about it. Because I design games, I automatically analyze the game, and try to understand the design choices made while playing it.

So my Friends wont hang with me because they fear that ill bore them with technical stuff they don't care about.

Anyone else know what I mean?

[Minty]

Yeah, kinda. I realized that I was boring my friends to death by talking to them about my latest developments in my game, so I stopped doing that 

[Eraser]

Yeah, kinda. I realized that I was boring my friends to death by talking to them about my latest developments in my game, so I stopped doing that 

Precisely. Just a little moderation will go a long way. I find most people either don't genuinely care or don't care about the technical details. If someone asks what I've been doing recently, "making a short PC game". "What's it about?" "You control some weird ship that has lasers and missiles and try to destroy all of the enemies at the same time" "Neat".

Short and sweet. If they ask how the game's going, "Pretty good. Had some problems yesterday but I fixed 'em all up eventually".

Of course, your mileage varies depending on the person. I have to talk like the above with most people though.

[Theophilus]

Yeah, people hate it when the conversation goes like this.

"Hey man, how've you been?" - Friend
"Pretty good, but a bit tired." - Me
"How come?"
"I've been working on <game> and I've had some trouble doing <this thing>. I think it's because <reason>"
*le ramble*
"Oh... I ... see. :|"

So now I just say

"I'm great!"

[Christoffer]

Yeah when I first actively started to develop games I talked about it a lot and most of my friends got really tired of it.

So now I just do it and don't bring it up with them unless they ask about it. If they do I just show them a demo or video of what I'm working on and they get sort of impressed and might even want to talk about it a little.

So now we all get along and I get to feel a little good about myself every once in a while when they ask.

[Theophilus]

Oh, one other thing.

It's kind of a curse when you play a game and try to enjoy it but can't help examining every aspect of it, almost like it's some sort of scientific problem.

[InfiniteStateMachine]

I tend to bore myself when I talk about whatever game I'm working on so I tend to try not to bring it up.

My family might have been an exception but their eyes glaze over the second I go over 2-3 sentences so I'm always reminded to shut up.

[Nugsy]

I'm lucky in that i have my cousin to talk technicalities with. We both analyze details of games. I'm more of a coder than him though, so sometimes to go too far and bore even him.
My fiancee shuts off though, then starts moaning about how i'm boring her haha.

I'd say either find someone you can talk to about these things (not by replacing current friends of course), or do what others have suggested and back it up a little.

Also, don't give up just because of your friends! That's crazy talk.

[TheLastBanana]

Yeah, I tend not to show my friends much more than a screenshot or video of the game. When it's a finished, playable product, they're usually a lot more interested.

[leonelc29]

i never talk about game making in front of my friend or even family.

just tell them with short description about your game, like a tweeter feed. only go in depth if they really wan to know more, but very less-likely.

[Richard Kain]

It's an issue that every programming discipline has to deal with sooner or later. The fact of the matter is, 95% of the human population is going to be bored stupid/completely lost when you talk about programming. It doesn't matter if this programming is related to games, it's all Greek to them. I have an older sister who is fairly tech-savvy. (she's a web-designer) And even she starts going cross-eyed when I start talking about how I solved a programming issue with a switch statement.

This is no reason to give up on programming games. You just have to start filtering some of your programming concerns out of the conversation. It just takes a little practice. Before you start in on discussing game development, you should first think about whether or not what you are talking about is going to bore the subject into a lethargic state. Generally, most people will be interested in any story elements you are working on, or any art that you have produced. People in general understand story telling and visuals, it's something they can relate to. If the topic you want to bring up involves complex math, or advanced logical processing, you might want to "summarize" for the benefit of your friends.

When I've hit some really complex coding, or am stumped by a particular problem, I will tell people that I'm "working through a frustrating bit," and then I leave it at that. When everything has been going well and I'm making lots of progress, I tell them that "everything is going very smoothly," and leave it at that.

You shouldn't give up game development, and you shouldn't quit your friends either. Just take their perspective into account before going in-depth on game development conversation. Also, check your local game-development scene for a few NEW friends that will have the patience and expertise to appreciate how you solved that wall-jump problem.

[bento_smile]

Don't give up! However, if all you can talk about is games, that can be a bad thing for you too. XD If anything, it means maybe you need to spend a little more time relaxing and not thinking about games. I'm sure you probably have other interests in common so maybe invest a little relax time into those (it's healthier for you too).

(Apologies if that sounded patronising. I sympathise with getting too into games though.)

[knight]

This is why I'm happy I know some IRL programmers. My other friends sometimes play my games and give feedback but mostly I don't talk to them about game development.

[_Tommo_]

Ive been working on a game for a little while now but Ive been thinking about giving up. not because I don't have the skills to develop it, but because my friends no longer want to hang with me because I talk about my game all the time.

Not only that but They enjoy playing games, they just play them and don't think about it. Because I design games, I automatically analyze the game, and try to understand the design choices made while playing it.

So my Friends wont hang with me because they fear that ill bore them with technical stuff they don't care about.

Anyone else know what I mean?

I did this "back then"... it was really stupid. Forcing some topic you like on someone who is completely uninterested is selfish, boring, and will make people avoid you.
Not because they don't care about games, but because YOU don't care about them, always speaking of whatever crosses your mind like in a monologue with yourself.

So, don't stop making games, but try to undestand what others like to hear... and get to know someone who has your same interests!

On a side note, I sometimes like to force something technical on people, mostly when they are like "wow you make games, why don't you work instead".

[dangerousday]

my friends no longer want to hang with me because I talk about my game all the time.
...
So my Friends wont hang with me because they fear that ill bore them with technical stuff they don't care about.

How do you know this? Have they actually told you outright, or are you making assumptions? If this isn't coming directly from them, it might be productive to just ask, "Hey guys, is it totally lame when I talk about my game?" If they say no, then there's nothing to worry about. If yes, then hey, at least it's out in the open! And then you can talk about something else.

Either way, Tommo makes a helpful point:

Forcing some topic you like on someone who is completely uninterested is selfish, boring, and will make people avoid you.
Not because they don't care about games, but because YOU don't care about them, always speaking of whatever crosses your mind like in a monologue with yourself.

Social skills FTW.

[Snowdrama]

Yeah My Biggest issue Comes from the fact that my friends ate Tech Savvy and will talk about the technical aspects of games, But I actually WRITE the code that makes things work, so when I get into Data Structures and Hierarchy's they go... Durrrrrr, whats an Object again?

my friends no longer want to hang with me because I talk about my game all the time.
...
So my Friends wont hang with me because they fear that ill bore them with technical stuff they don't care about.

How do you know this? Have they actually told you outright, or are you making assumptions? If this isn't coming directly from them, it might be productive to just ask, "Hey guys, is it totally lame when I talk about my game?" If they say no, then there's nothing to worry about. If yes, then hey, at least it's out in the open! And then you can talk about something else.

My Buddy told my girlfriend that "I dot really feel like hanging out with John, I'm kinda tired of hearing about his game."

[Swattkidd]

Surprisingly when something I am working on is really racking my brain I tend to talk about it with my friends, many of whom dont give a crap about computers and dont know anything about them, but they listen and what not as we all acknowledge that I am being a computer science creepo and nobody knows whats going on but they dont ignore me or anything lol, probably because im completely different person on the computer and with my hobby/major than in real life.
 
Also, I have been genuinely shocked that a lot of the people who i hang out with whom dont know about any of this stuff, have actually shown a genuine interest, to an extent ahah.

[BlueSweatshirt]

If making games has become such a passion of yours(apparently it is since you seem to talk about it so much) then a good friend would respect that and entertain your visions. Good friends support each other. If he really cared, he'd probably at least say "hey, I get you like making games, but could we talk about other stuff now?", or something to that effect. As it is, he is either juvenile, or just wants to be friends with you to alieve his boredom. Either way, you shouldn't give up a passion of yours just because of a friend. If you care about your friends, talk about it with them and set some boundaries and learn why they dont like hearing about your games. After all, they might just be having trouble following your jargon.

[Tumetsu]

Well, I don't know how much you actually talk and think about games but I tend to agree with Bento_smile that maybe you should tune it down a bit and maybe find other interest along with game development. By my experience it can help you and your development too and doesn't necessarily mean abandoning games fully. I have been there and think that it isn't good in long run to be completely drowned in one thing. Having other interests and talk topics can help you to relax from development, give completely new ideas and inspiration and spur your game development further.

[machine empathy]

i'm just starting into game development, but i understand your feelings completely!

i produce and compose music mostly, and as such when i'm around my pals they grow wary of me complaining about the radio or over-analyzing a synthpop song they have as their ringtone. knowing how something works ruins everything about it!

i think the best way to get over this is to let go of thinking about how a game was designed and to just have fun with it. it took me a while after i started really getting into music production to be able to enjoy my music collection again.