A while back, I complained about motivation. Some people offered to play with me in a group. I turned them down because soon after complaining, I bumped into some other players and we played together so there was no need to move.
There came a point, though, where even with playing with them, I got bored. I got my farm going, I hunted a lot, got my pearl necklace, got my bear cape, ranger boots, and cutthroat cutlass...
...got my oven going with all sorts of pastries. I had a very balanced diet going of sausages, pies, salads, etc.
I also found some ruins such that I didn't have to go mining. I had a cupboard worth of iron, and had metal tools and weapons. My anvil was Q90s.
My character stats were all around 50 as well.
Then, I had to maintain my chickens, and it felt like work. The same happened with silkmoths. I planted trees all around as well. We never had a mulberry leaf shortage, but it was just a pain to constantly check in on things.
I got bored again, and I couldn't be bothered to log in enough to take care of business. Even my curiosities were boring me. Getting 30-40kLP per day was just a number...
...so I've decided that I'm done. There's more achievements I could describe here, but that's not the point. I'm not a completionist for a number of reasons that I might explain later if it's important enough to talk about.
The real reason I'm finished here is there is no direct emotional feedback from playing the game. When I eat blueberry pie, I don't taste it. When I sit around a bonfire, I don't feel the heat. When I'm sailing in a sailboat, the wind is not going through my hair.
There's more to it though. You might argue those are simple emotions that aren't really what a fulfilling experience is about, and I'd agree, but the game lacks sublime mystery as well.
There's no culture to the game. You can play music... kind of... but the lag makes it a pain, and you can't write down your compositions on paper. You can't write lyrics to go with them either.
There's no story, narrative, or plot. I liked roleplaying before with fellow players, but now, the lack of leantos with spruce bough beds makes it a pain to play with newcomers and enjoy helping them setup before moving on. Even then though, I got bored after a while.
I also get frustrated from the lack of customization in the game. For example, why can I only bake blueberry pies? Why isn't there a general recipe for pies that I can bake with whatever fruit I want? Maybe there should be some experimentation with ingredients as well to figure out what the optimal proportion is between water, eggs, and flour for dough. Likewise, why do I have to build square and rectangular buildings all the time? Why can't I customize my architecture?
The bottomline is the game just feels way too industrious. It's not creative. It's not inspirational. There comes a point where you don't want to play anymore because the game...
...feels like work.
Before I finish writing here though, I want to say one more thing.
I play another game right now which has basically the exact opposite problem. I won't tell you what it is unless you PM me because obviously, I don't want to advertise here for it.
The game is too cultural and too creative. It has no industry at all. The players that win are those caught up in fantasy lala-land where they don't have to make the effort to figure out how to get things done.
I think the real key to a successful game is balance. You need industry plus culture, not one or the other.