Beside for a couple weeks a few years ago, I have not played a game for over six years.
One of the reasons I started my project was games just really weren’t being made that looked fun to me anymore.
And game dev, is like, the most challenging game I have ever played. No adrenaline rush, but the best post-bugfix endorphins.
I just retired from public game dev, so ive been like a kid in a candy store, lol. Ive been playing so much now its insane (like the old days before game dev). It definately gives you more perspective as well as ideas.
I come from the 80’s-2000’s era of both gameplay and game dev. Its true, alot of MMO’s and single player RPG’s now-a-days have lost something or is missing something. I play the Gothic series, Titan Quest, and Risen series type games. Today there just isnt anything that i look at saying “I have to have that now!”, maybe some versions of Assassins Creed.
Game dev is a rush, but it also gives you a title: problem solver, lol. But it really is great when you finally solve issues and probs with a project.
Ive watched playthroughs of all dark souls, the japanese version,(sukiro)? and a game called Ascent. I watched a good deal of time of someone playing that fantasy game that starts in an execution cart. It might even be arrow to the knee game, dont really remember.
I have also done a good deal of sentimental watching of my favorite childhood games. So it is similar. But if I am watching, I am relaxing. Playing kind of feels like work.
To be fair if you were playing the games you listed that kinda checks out. 
I’ve found that I enjoy watching some games more than I enjoy playing them and vice versa. For example roguelikes tend to have too deep of mechanics for me to get into these days but I don’t have trouble watching videos of them being played.
i’ve playing many games, mostly from older generations because i think this last years sucks, there are only few good games like bg3… but yeah i’ve playing many games and it is easy to get inspired, at least for me 
I don’t know if its just because I’m older now, but over the last few years, the only thing I’ve really played for a decent amount of time is Rocket League. I guess because it appeals to my competitive nature.
Any time I buy something on Steam that ‘looks good’ I will play it for about an hour and never open it again.
i used to like 20 hours a day if time let me, but, even if i really want to I play a couple of hours and I want to do something else…
Until a few years ago I was in the same boat, I might play an odd game here and there from the past (Masters of Magic, Runescape) or try something from Steam now and again… but rarely would I play anything for more than an hour.
However when we started Iluvium the founder in charge of game design made us play TFT to get familiar with auto-battler mechanics. I was hooked, and played an hour or two pretty much everyday for a good 18 months. I’m finally getting bored of that, but still play at least a few games each week.
Maybe you just need to find the right game
Cool to see you’re with Illuvium and in the Web3 space. My new racing game will have some Web3 elements in it (Web3 wallet and NFTs), but I decided to forego having my own token, just way too hard to design a sustainable economy with that in the mix.
Tend to watch more than I play, as it can happen in the background while working. Once you reach a certain age, its hard to find the “kid like” sense of excitement, feels like you’ve seen it all. Like @Meltdown , I’ve got too many games with a 1h playtime.
Got to the point of me thinking I just wasn’t interested in games anymore, only to have something release that rekindled the flame. But yea, I don’t need to play another first person shooter with a new coat of paint, those days are long gone for me.
Getting older means more procrastination and thought and ahem life/responsibilities, rather than just flowing with the stream of enthusiasm, energy (or hype). The last great games I played were probably Final Fantasy VII remake, Syberia: The World Before, Resident Evil 7 and 8. Currently playing Dead Island 2, which is actually a lot of fun!
I do think the problem we have these days, especially if watching a lot of YouTube or ‘needing info’ for our decisions, is the fun is spoilt by pre-watching games. Back in the day, it would be a lottery, but we always enjoyed them whatever we played. I do sometimes get into the odd Idle game online, and some small online games are very addictive in their simplicity. I can never really play a game twice, so watching a game is also spoiling the surprise.
I go through periods of not playing games too, but if it’s a good story, it’s a memory and I always hope to find those kind of games, like Syberia, Broken Sword, To The Moon. Live-action/arcade games are a lot of fun, but less memorable. Like FFVII, I didn’t find it as memorable as the original pixelated game. Maybe because my brain was younger back then, or because when there is less on graphics and wow-factor, you are left to your imagination - like reading a book made of black letters.
Games tend to ‘move fast’ these days, which is a very kind of “Marvel action give me the special effects so I don’t need to use my imagination”. However, the experience is still fun if we just go with the flow of the stream, just less memorable, and we might even ask ourselves whether we just wasted X hours of our life - and this is very much a getting-older thing to think. It’s not that your game days are over, you just need to say f it and play one until you get into it!
I don’t play much these days, maybe every month or so I’ll put a few hours into something. I just played some Homeworld Remastered today which was lots of fun.
I think when you play less you see games differently, like you are looking not so much for a continuous escapism but for a temporary experience - a nice story or a feeling like you got ‘back in the day’. And you just don’t have patience for games that don’t provide it, since you have lots of other stuff to do (and not just boring stuff).
For example, even though HW2 is probably my favorite game ever, I don’t really want to play HW3, because I just don’t see the same experience in it. It looks great, and 10 years ago I would have bought it right away because I like the series, but at this point something has to be really unique or special not to be ‘just another game’.
Also, I dislike the way that games these days are way too much a ‘service’ of content provision, like a fast food joint for people who can’t stop eating hamburgers. Most stories or art in games are just a veneer on top of a mechanism to capture attention and the dopamine cycle for as long as possible. For me, games were always about daydreaming, imagination, and immersion in an otherworld, preferably far into the future or far into the past, but now everything is about the illusion of consumption and progression. I can get that feeling in much more substantial ways, thanks very much.
I play only VR games these days. Sometimes an exception like Alan Wake 2.
Desktop just dont engage me.
Being a game dev who doesn’t play games is like being a writer who doesn’t read.