5 ways to tell your getting too old for videogames (article)

[Rodrigo Girao]

Point #2 is essentially: "Don't complain that everything is FPS nowadays, when you were a kid everything was platformers."

Problem is, I *like* 2D platformers. I remember when I saw Astal on the Sega Saturn, I thought: This is beautiful, why aren't there more games like this? Why don't we see some high definition, hand-drawn, watercolor-painted 2D graphics? Why are platformers now pretty much always done with polygons instead, or simply released on handhelds only?

Yes, there's Braid, but that's not enough. Come on, you lazy game industry, I want more modern-looking 2D platformers, and I seriously doubt I'm the only one!

 

[Sonicron]

Reaffirming over and over again that I really am an old man inside a young man's body. To some extent, every single one of these points applies to me.

That said, I still won't quit my beloved hobby - I'll just adapt, and perhaps try to branch out into genres I'm less familiar with. Right now I'm playing the new Driver, and I'm having an unexpectedly good time, perhaps due in part to my relative inexperience with racing games.

 

[humpees]

The points he makes about time really struck a chord, I found it a fairly amusing satire article that was actually quite well observed. Saying that, I'm more too poor for gaming than too old for gaming...

 

[Canadamus Prime]

Also consider the source. This article is on Cracked.com, and most of the stuff on Cracked is not meant to be taken seriously.

 

[HalfTangible]

A close tie for #6:

that you believe there is an age where you're too old for video games.
that you care if there is an age where you're too old for video games.

They say the biggest sign of maturity is that you don't care about being immature.

 

[Sjakie]

You need to learn how to read between the lines and get a grasp of how 'cynical' he's pretending to be.
The last line in the article explains it all if you know how to do that.

 

[-Torchedini-]

My say in this is: You are not too old. You are playing the wrong game.
If you are still playing the game you enjoyed playing as a kid and still expect to enjoy it as an adult you're simply trying something that won't work. Ever.

You aren't reading children's books anymore ? No you are reading books that are written with you in mind as a target audience. Same goes for movies. You aren't watching the same movies you enjoyed as a kid. You moved on to movies which challenge you more. (or not, based on preference )

So go find games that are made with a more mature audience in mind. Or go into them with a different set of mind.

But again I agree with the article to a certain extent. It has its points which are also true for me. And Im only 21. But also getting busier than ever and having less time for the grinding parts that some games have ;(

 

[TheFPSisDead]

Wow... that article has me convinced that I might actually be growing out of one of my favorite past times, *tear*

 

[ryanthemadman]

youre getting too old when you have no more time for them other than playing random internet games when ur supposed to be paying attention in class lol

 

[Auron225]

Im nostalgic about Kenan & Kel, and find Drake & Josh to be crap
The kid across the road from me is nostalgic about Drake & Josh, and will find whatever follows it to be crap.

Not many people see everything aimed at their generation as older people do, and aim to get their hands on what we were used to. What reason have they to? It will always be a case of "It wasn't like this back in my day!"

 

[Noah Coultrip]

In the end it is always possible as well to simply burn out and need a break. Yes, the article was satirical in nature, but it is easy as well to see the 'I've been doing this too long and need something else to do with my time for a while' statement that is also sometimes lurking beneath those comments. More importantly, a person who is burned out but does not realize it or changes his situation tends to become a aggravating force to those who are not. They are those whiners that you can never quite make happy, the ones you think to yourself 'I wish they'd just shut the h3## up and find something else to do if they are that unhappy.'

 

[bootz]

its just why the fuck do they need to be so friggen cynical?

That wasn't cynical at all, in my opinion. In fact, that was downright positive in my mind. The people wearing rose-tinted-nostalgia-glasses should be brought down a notch. Everything wasn't so much better 'back in the day', that's just nostalgia-covered memories of childhood-wonder talking. Everything 'these days' isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

My problem is that certain genres are gone! They are gone and no longer. Like turn based games or Space flight shooters. They don't make them anymore and they were awesome games. Genres dieing is a sad part of gaming. What happens if they stop making fps would you be sad like me?

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Glad someone is bringing classic gamers of their high horses.

'CoD is the same old rinse and repeat bullshit'... So is Quake.

He made some good points, and I doubt he was even 80 % serious writing that. I don't see it as cynical at all, a few of his points were rather insubstantial compared to the message he was trying to send, but that's just cracked.

Oh and by the way to anyone who doesn't read cracked: READ CRACKED.

If the rest of it is like this article here, I'm good thanks.

 

[Wuggy]

its just why the fuck do they need to be so friggen cynical?

That wasn't cynical at all, in my opinion. In fact, that was downright positive in my mind. The people wearing rose-tinted-nostalgia-glasses should be brought down a notch. Everything wasn't so much better 'back in the day', that's just nostalgia-covered memories of childhood-wonder talking. Everything 'these days' isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

My problem is that certain genres are gone! They are gone and no longer. Like turn based games or Space flight shooters. They don't make them anymore and they were awesome games. Genres dieing is a sad part of gaming. What happens if they stop making fps would you be sad like me?

Why are you assuming I'm a fan of the FPS? Because I'm not particularly keen on FPS, at least not anymore than any other genre.

And yes, genres dying is a sad thing (albeit I'm pretty sure Civilization 5 is a turn-based game, and it's fairly new as well). That's not however what I'm talking about.

 

[Netrigan]

Point #2 is essentially: "Don't complain that everything is FPS nowadays, when you were a kid everything was platformers."

Problem is, I *like* 2D platformers. I remember when I saw Astal on the Sega Saturn, I thought: This is beautiful, why aren't there more games like this? Why don't we see some high definition, hand-drawn, watercolor-painted 2D graphics? Why are platformers now pretty much always done with polygons instead, or simply released on handhelds only?

Yes, there's Braid, but that's not enough. Come on, you lazy game industry, I want more modern-looking 2D platformers, and I seriously doubt I'm the only one!

Seems like half the games on XBL are 2D side scrollers.

My childhood got reduced to browser time killers long ago. No one makes AAA arcade shooters or puzzle games anymore. Technology improved, the AAA scene moved on to new fields and the previous generation of gaming genres became budget games.

 

[Erana]

What isn't mentioned exactly, but is implied by the "perspective of a grown-up" theme is that these feelings towards gaming occurs not just when you have less time, but when your priorities change. Honestly, though, I feel like these all pretty much applied to me, and I don't quite understand why people are being so defensive about it.

The perspective this article was written from is pretty much just saying, "I want to have fun from games easily, and on demand. I don't want to work for it or deal with overcomplicated stuff. Hey, gaming used to be fun when I was a kid, what's wrong with games now that I'm not enjoying them as much?"

There is no thought or reason behind this sentiment and is presented in a jocular manner which makes it pointless to address it with logic. It is an inherently flawed view.
However, a lot of people who have had a love for gaming in the past but are drifting away from it do wind up feeling this way, and for that reason it holds up as well as the abstract idea of the "Adult as viewed by youth" this article seems to use as a point of perspective.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I read this this morning, and I have to say I agree with pretty much everything he wrote. I'm sure the next generation of gamers will be complaining about the same things we're currently complaining about now.

Who else thought the story about the brother rushing the sister to the ER was insanely cute? I loved that part.

 

[Maeta]

My immediate thought was that it was a vendetta against Yahtzee, but then I saw it was David Wong, and remembered that he's not really that good a contributor, and that an increasing number of articles on there are more down to personal opinion rather than solid fact, and that half the remainder are just hero worshipping Teddy Roosevelt (to a point that is borderline creepy).