The point of chess is enjoyment (unless it's your profession). My impression is that this "same game" ness is making chess monotonous for him. In that case, winning wouldn't matter as much.
"I think it’s the curse of 1. e4"
Might be. I don't care for e4 much, unless it's the king's gambit, which is fun. Have you tried it? That ought to liven things up. I know what you're talking about though, I feel a bit like that playing the queen's gambit. If you like, nobody's stopping you from trying something new. And an unrated game to try something out cant hurt you.
I feel my play is a variation of one opening and all my games are starting to appear the same up until the 10th …11th move. Has anyone else experienced this feeling in their play? I can’t brag a large repertoire of openings, and I do use a few different ones. But, again I feel I’m living the same game…over and over. Mostly …I think it’s the curse of 1. e4… Maybe I need a break, but my play is getting stupid searching for a variety. Has anyone else experienced this same-game syndrome?