Has getting older changed the way you game? If so is it for better or worse?

[Spawny0908]

As I get older I've noticed some minute changes in my life. Not the big ones like: going to college, being able to drive, my parents not giving a shit if I'm out late. But little things especially when I play video games. When I was younger all I cared about was beating the game. I didn't follow the story, look at the detail, and I only heard the music. Now when I game I listen attentively to the story and follow it. I look at the detail in the backgrounds and slow down to take it all in. But most importantly I LISTEN to the music now and truly feel it. I've gone back to some of my old games and was like "how could I not have heard the epicness in this track?!" I now don't just beat the game. I take my time in the game, study it, and explore. Anyone else notice changes in how you game?

 

[Veldel]

Iv become better and more thought put into stuff that before I would rush or fully suck at latest example Fish Boss in Bomberman 64 it took me 2 weeks to kill it before now it took me 3 trys due to seeing weaknesses and understanding better

 

[The_Vigilant]

"Yes" to the first question and "both" to second. As I get older my theorycrafting and micromanagement skills have improved, but my time allocation to video games has fallen dramatically so I am unable to achieve the expertise I occasionally enjoyed as a young teen.

 

[Christian Kingston]

I have a shit ton of money to spend on game now that I'm older. When I was a whipper snapper I got like one or two games a year so I played the crap out of them. Now a days I buy one or two games a month and fail to finish half of them.

 

[Noswad]

Story has become extremely important so has the subtext and the wider game world, i'm no longer content to walk down a corridor shooting stuff i need a context. To give an example 4 years ago Bioshock would have merely been a good game, now it is an immersive experience to me full of ideological subtext and a intriguing mystery. Being able to experience games on a deeper level is awesome. But a the same time i find less and less time to play games as i get older, which kind of sucks. So i like games that either can be played in small chucks or have the ability to save anywhere and reload to that exact spot.

 

[AlternatePFG]

I'll play pretty much anything if it's good now. Before I would only stick to very specific genres but I play many different games now.

 

[Skorpyo]

When I was young, all I had was an old (emphasis on OLD) PowerPC Macintosh computer. I spent my days playing game demos made from 1995-1998.

I like to think games like Pathways into Darkness, Marathon, and Dark Forces shaped me into the awesomesauce gamer I am today.

 

[Spygon]

Well i have got alot more impatient with games i have noticed since i have got older.I very rarely play games a multiple of times these days unlike in the past i would play my favourite games over and over again.I assume doing that when i was younger made me into the above average gamer i am today.

But i am starting to lose or make mistakes bacause i get fed up of tatically waiting instead sometimes throwing myself into stupid situations and being instantly killed.

I remeber when i played stealth games if i ever got spotted i would reload the level and start again.I would play them until i could do full unspotted runs on all possible areas and would stealth kill every threat.Now if i spend a small amount of time waiting in a game like over two minutes i just run out and start fighting everybody.

So yep adult life and society has made me impatient who would of thought lol

 

[darthzew]

In my younger days, I was hardcore cheat code user. I would almost always forgo the challenge in favor of just getting through the game.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I'm less patient than I used to be and get frustrated more easily.

Grumpy old man? Probably, yeah.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I'm less patient than I used to be and get frustrated more easily.

Grumpy old man? Probably, yeah.

Unfortunately this. I don't have the attention span and patience with failure that I used to have. Demon's Souls really brought this to my attention.

 

[dimensional]

Im generally more patient with games now as long as I think its going somewhere. Story is much more important as well as characterisation im also much more open minded about games now whereas back in the day I would only play platformers beat-em-ups and scrolling shooters meaning I missed out on some real gems. Unfortunately I tend to game less now due to time constraints so when I do play its for an experience rather than in the old days which was to 100% a game,master every character,etc which is a massive plus for me really hate my completionist tendencies and glad I have overcome them (mostly)now (also as a side note thats why I dislike achievements/trophys as it has allowed a little of this old me to resurface)

 

[Nauticus]

Characters and st0ry is much m0re imp0rtant than gameplay. Bef0re I c0uld agree 0n that a game had a crap st0ry and lame characters, but i w0uld still play the game if I s0mewhat enj0yed the gameplay. But n0w I can barely sit thr0ugh games like Final fantasy X. I have n0t really seen any great st0ry t0gether with gameplay since..... bey0nd g00d and evil maybe? Give me a min t0 think that questi0n 0ut...

I still rage thr0ugh the 0ccasi0nal MW2 matches fr0m time t0 time, but thats bec0use its s0 easy t0 win 0n PC with the bad matchmaking system and br0ken 0ver the t0p easy gameplay.


- my keyb0ard is br0ken... thats why the zer0s...

 

[WhatHityou]

I get to game less mostly, you know time obligations and stuff.

 

[LiraelG]

I'm more open minded than I used to be. When I was young, I was very set in my ideas and only wanted to play things like Spyro, Disney games, and (later on) Zelda. I then moved forwards to Final Fantasy and started to enjoy RPGs. But I avoided shooters at all costs because I had hated the shooter levels in Spyro: Year of the Dragon.

Now I keep asking friends to introduce me to new games, particularly shooters.

University also led to my being less involved in games. When I was young, I could sit and play for an entire day quite happily. I find that near to impossible now. I can play for a couple of hours alone; a little longer if I'm playing with others. I am also less likely to play the same game several days in a row. I take longer breaks.

 

[The Virgo]

It's changed for the better.

 

[Wynn Donivan]

Well, I'm not a monomaniacal completionist anymore, so that's a plus.

 

[SoopaSte123]

I've become a better gamer, but otherwise I'd say I've stayed the same. I guess I'm also learning what aspects and genres of games I like instead of just being "I like this game, I don't like that game". I guess I'd enjoy stories more than I used to, but I feel like gaming as a medium has grown up with me; when I was a kid games didn't have any more of a story than "beat the bad guys, collect the shiny things".

For me the bigger change of taste while growing older has come with movies rather than games. Wooo enjoying and understanding dialog.

 

[Rubucopter]

I spend a lot more time analyzing the game now. When I was younger, I would play anything that looked interesting. Now, I spend a lot more time reading reviews and thinking about what I want to buy. That may be because games are more expensive and I have to actually use my own money to buy them. Stupid adulthood.