There’s no magazine on any instance that I see of such a community on the topic matter. To anyone not familiar, a patient gamer is someone who is immune to FOMO, doesn’t get caught up or tied up with current modern gaming. Someone who doesn’t care that they’ve beaten a game from 1996 and here it is 2024. Someone who doesn’t care that they’re still playing games 40, 20 or even 5 years ago on the present day.
I would personally say that I am. I don’t have a level of disposable income where I’m throwing down on buying games. I’ve spent 10 years between 2011 and 2021 wheeling and dealing on game sales. So much that I’ve piled on over 1,000+ games combined between GOG, Steam, Battle.net and Epic Games.
I do more often than not, play games from so long ago than I do modern games. I’m at a stage in my life where I am noticeably slowing down on gaming in general, I am also finding myself more comforted in what I play and I again can’t simply just keep buying newer games. I also don’t really care about buying newer games, the time of the present is rich with game sales all day, everyday.
There will always be a time later to buy a game that is ripened for a good sale. So I don’t have to worry at all.
I don’t buy a game solely because it’s the zeitgeist or whatever. A friend of mine routinely buys games that are “the new shiny” and then doesn’t finish them, or loses interest quickly. I usually wait for a sale, some patches, and/or the dlc to be bundled into a goty edition.
Some exceptions:
I bought elden ring near launch because I’m a big enjoyer of the genre, and my friend confirmed it was good. No regrets.
I bought bg3 shortly before it’s full access. I’d liked the other games larian did, and a friend told me it was good. No regrets.
Both of those were pretty light on DLC. No season pass or “goty” editions were likely.
I’m going to wait for the dragon age game to go on sale. I don’t really trust Bioware, and I don’t know if they plan to do a bunch of dlc that will get bundled up later.
I’ve been waiting for Lies of P to get cheap. The demo was just ok when I played it, but a friend tells me it’s phenomenal.
Right now I’m playing a MUD (aardwolf). It really distills some online RPG into the essence of “go kill some stuff to level up, get new skills, and kill bigger stuff”. It’s strangely satisfying.