Will our generation "grow out" of gaming as easy as previous ones?

[Guest2]

I think I have sort of grown out of gaming. I'm 29 and haven't properly gamed for a few years apart from a short spell on Starcraft 2. I did install VVVVVV on Steam yesterday though and ended up playing it for a couple of hours after what seemed like 5 minutes

I still need to try The Swapper. That looks quite fun

 

[V F]

As long as you don't breed, you'll be fine...

I have a fairly demanding job, a girlfriend and hobbies yet still find the time to play.

I've read this a lot amongst many forums including here in past years. They want a family, then when they get it, they moan how much time they don't have or it has taken up. Or endlessly moan how dealing with the child is taking their freedom away.

Bare in mind, this only happens with "some" people. It's just usually that lot is so vocal about it.

I find it pretty boring these days. Even good games can be tedious... For example, I loathe any form of padding. Zelda I'm looking at you!

Gaming is dying for me. Sure I love it but Battlefield 4 is the first game I've bought in a year.

 

[R.O.S.S.I]

Inbertween work, the oposite sex, building a home, socializing and finally children... there isn't much time for games.

Once you're part of the rat race, there's more productive things to do with your life.

Games are also much harder to "get into" once you've lost touch. Once you stop., you tend to stop for good. I've tried to get back into gaming but nothing's been able to hold my attention.

I'd echo this, I used to be an intense gamer in my early teens. On my PC/console every hour I could get, before school, after school, into the night, all weekend. As I got older however I just sort of grew out of it!

I've tried many times to get back into it but nothing really grabs me like it used to and I get bored quite quickly.
I think I may have traded my love of gaming for a love of music, or more specifically production as I seem to spend most of my time doing music related stuff, but even still that's nowhere near the same amount of time as I invested in gaming!

I kinda wish I still had that spark and sheer enthusiasm/excitement for gaming like I did when I was younger, they were good days haha!

 

[No1newts]

Time is tight but I enjoy it so I make done time 5-10hrs a week but normally late evenings to fit around real life. If you enjoy it, do it!

 

[leaskovski]

As you get older your priorities change, well might change. You could always stay single, Or find a lass that doesn't want to spend time with you, but I suspect you will find someone and want to spend all your time with them.

 

[Haggisman]

Never understood the "girlfriend/wife doesn't like me wasting time doing it" argument... does she spend time watching xfactor, bgt, or whatever other drivel is on tv? Or going out shopping? If so then tell her to stfu about you gaming! You don't need to be doing things together 100% of the time...

 

[Hades]

I'm 44 and have been into games since I was 12. I was one of the early online gamers and used to spend at least 6 hours gaming every night. That ended when my girlfriend persuaded me to buy a house together and later marry and have children. Now my time is taken up with trying to build a career to earn the money needed to support the family she wanted and looking after the kids. I've recently tried to get back into gaming but it's a struggle after being away so long. If I had stayed single I know I would still be playing. But gaming just isn't on the game plan for most of our partners.

Do I sound bitter

 

[Angilion]

As you get older your priorities change, well might change. You could always stay single, Or find a lass that doesn't want to spend time with you, but I suspect you will find someone and want to spend all your time with them.

Apparently the average amount of TV watched per person in the UK is over 4 hours per day. I'm surprised it's not higher, but I think that might be skewed by my low socioeconomic grouping - TV is relatively cheap, so poor people tend to watch more of it.

So a lot of that "spending time together" is actually "watching TV in the same room", which isn't necessarily the same thing.

Besides, couples don't have to live in each other's pockets. They're still individuals, not a joined Trill. It's not unreasonable to have interests that your partner doesn't share and it's not unreasonable to do those things seperately. It's something that each couple has to work out for themselves. Manipulating your partner into being in the same place while you do something you like and they don't is not really a good thing and it's not really doing something together (EDIT: generic 'you', not necessarily the person I'm replying to).

Back to the original subject - gaming is a form of entertainment. It's ignorant and foolish to dismiss it as childish simply because it involves the word "game", so the whole idea of "growing out" of gaming is false. It's no more valid than talking about "growing out" of reading or watching TV or knitting or whatever. A person's tastes in entertainment might change over time or they might be forced out of some form of entertainment by aging, but that's not the same thing.

 

[Freefaller]

Never really got "into" gaming, but despite being in my early 20s when games started to kick off I was just too busy being out and about and doing other things and I got bored easily with them. But I am atypical, I don't really watch tv, and the only computer time I spend is when I'm on the forums, and I prefer socialising and being out and about and being active.

I think games are now so accessible, and you see people on the commute to work playing games - kids are hooked on games when they get into them from what I've seen, so I don't think it's likely to go away.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

You don't grow out of gaming. Do you grow out of books? Film? Music? No, so why would you grow out of gaming?

How old are you though?
I grew out of gaming at 39 in 1997, my 79 year old Dad used to watch loads of films but hasn't watched a film in at least a decade, I used to read loads of books as a teenager but grew out of them when I reached about 21.
I don't ever listen to music in the house unless I'm learning a new song to play with either one of my two bands.
People do change, it's inevitable.

 

[Suarez7]

Never really got "into" gaming

Which will of paid off big time for you, getting hooked on gaming definitely affects your social skills and productivity, some people just don't see it that way. Definitely affected me when I was 16 and would play games every day for hours, luckily I found new friends who dragged me out the house to do other stuff or I'd probably be socially retarded by now.

Exercise was the game changer for me. Pun intended

 

[Destination]

They wont as into gaming in our way, they will be stuck integrated and part of social media instead.

 

[Pawnless Endgame]

Can't have kids for genetic reasons, so will always be a gamer. Aged 35 now, and reliving the memories of FF8 again courtesy of Steam.

 

[bartledvd]

I rarely game now maybe few hours a week but as a kid i got into it through my dad he was in the army and would unwind after work playing something for few hours with me and my brothers watching and history is repeating itself as most of time i only play stuff with my kids rarely without them.
Would rather relax with misses than sit alone chatting to random people in a game especially with the amount of game time most clans pressure you to give to be a member

 

[Stonehouse]

You don't grow out of gaming. Do you grow out of books? Film? Music? No, so why would you grow out of gaming?

I couldn't agree more, the main argument tho is games can be more addictive and take up more time.

But I hate how looked down upon gaming is, girlfriends who would rather you grow up and watch reality TV with them bleh

 

[HangTime]

You run out of time for gaming

I think this is the case for a lot of people in their 30s; the desire is still very much there but there are too many conflicting commitments (partners, children, 'proper' jobs requiring long hours, commuting, housekeeping and so forth).

Up until even 6 months ago I used to still sink quite a lot of time into gaming (main thing I did/do when home alone) but then my son was born and you just don't get enough time for anything more than the occasional hour here and there in the late evening. 'Serious' gaming i.e. clan play, voice comms etc is definitely out of the window.

Anyway to answer the OP I actually don't think it is really a case of previous generations 'growing out of' gaming, more that they never grew into it in the first place. The majority of people over the age of say 40 probably never really had much of the way of gaming available in their younger (pre-teen) years.

As for the stigma associated with gaming, I think it is MASSIVELY reduced compared to years gone by. I had expected that gaming would get less socially acceptable proportionally with age, but changing perceptions means it has actually stayed fairly static for me at worst (i.e. ironically in my 30s I'm probably more likely to admit to people how much time I spend gaming than I did in my 20s or even late teens!). Possibly haven't phrased that very well but what I'm getting at is that in the 90s gaming was still very much seen as a geeky thing, 'normal' people wouldn't be seen dead talking about it the pub, workplace etc, it was just something that kids did. Whereas now thanks to things like the Wii and internet usage in general booming in the late 00s we will quite happily sit and talk about games (in front of women too zomg!) without feeling a bit dirty.

 

[Stonehouse]

I think this is the case for a lot of people in their 30s; the desire is still very much there but there are too many conflicting commitments (partners, children, 'proper' jobs requiring long hours, commuting, housekeeping and so forth).

Up until even 6 months ago I used to still sink quite a lot of time into gaming (main thing I did/do when home alone) but then my son was born and you just don't get enough time for anything more than the occasional hour here and there in the late evening. 'Serious' gaming i.e. clan play, voice comms etc is definitely out of the window.

Anyway to answer the OP I actually don't think it is really a case of previous generations 'growing out of' gaming, more that they never grew into it in the first place. The majority of people over the age of say 40 probably never really had much of the way of gaming available in their younger (pre-teen) years.

I find gaming is not as attractive if I don't have much time to put into it. Far too competitive.

 

[mrk]

Will our generation "grow out" of gaming as easy as previous ones?

Short answer is no. Gaming is more widely accepted now than ever before and accessible instantly through mediums that the last generation could never imagine. It also allows us to play with friends all over the world (Eg: Facebook games, look how popular those are).

 

[PardonTheWait]

I play quite a lot of games over the winter because it's dark and cold all the time and I don't really watch a lot of telly. By quite a lot I mean anywhere between an hour and six hours a week depending on what else is cracking and if I've got something to play.

Don't really play much at all in summer, rather be wakeboarding or mooching around outside. I read a lot more instead in summer for some reason.

I don't really see games as any different to TV or books or films. It's just another thing to amuse yourself with.

 

[RedvGreen]

The times when i've dabbled in so-called recent 'life-sucking' games (World of Warcraft, BF4, Call of Duty, Warhammer Age of Reckoning, Planetside 2 etc) i've actually grown bored of them.
Whereas previously, i'd just lap it up, after a set amount of time I just see the grind for what it is, and meaningless stats for e-peens.