How old is too old?

How about the practicalities of being an older gamer?

Anyone in their 40's or 50's finding it hard to be competitive in certain genre's like FPS games, perhaps due to deteriorating reaction times? Have you switched to other types of game where strategy is more important than reactions, MMO's or RTS games perhaps?

I play quite a bit of BF3 and while I do pretty well, I'm definitely not as fast as I used to be. I have to try to compensate by being more disciplined about small things, like scoping up around corners, trying to anticipate enemy movements and positions, etc. I can't just run around without thought racking up frags any more.
 
Wucked said:
How about the practicalities of being an older gamer?

Anyone in their 40's or 50's finding it hard to be competitive in certain genre's like FPS games, perhaps due to deteriorating reaction times? Have you switched to other types of game where strategy is more important than reactions, MMO's or RTS games perhaps?

I play quite a bit of BF3 and while I do pretty well, I'm definitely not as fast as I used to be. I have to try to compensate by being more disciplined about small things, like scoping up around corners, trying to anticipate enemy movements and positions, etc. I can't just run around without thought racking up frags any more.
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The problem I find is that you're just not guaranteed you won't be interrupted in a match / raid / whatever, so you just don't do that kind of gaming anymore. Your kids just pop up at random intervals (usually looking for food) and if you're any kind of parent you have to drop the game and do daddy stuff.

As a result I hardly ever group in mmos anymore, and a co-ordinated fps match over vent is just out of the question.

Can't say I notice my reactions any worse than they were so far though.
 
Well I just turned 30 :( and still consider myself a gamer but admittedly I'm starting to get bored with a lot of games and only very few grab my attention these days. I'm probably at a stage where I'll buy less than 5 new games a year now (currently on 4 this year, completed 1 and I'm seriously considering selling my PS3 and just keeping my PC for games).

I know consoles can be more social but I tend to go out to the pub with friends rather than playing games.

As other people have said gaming is very unproductive but so are a lot of things and if you enjoy it then who cares what other people think, as long as you prioritise your time between work, family, social commitments and then gaming I don't see a problem.

my two cents :)
 
Larrs888 said:
Well I just turned 30 :( and still consider myself a gamer but admittedly I'm starting to get bored with a lot of games and only very few grab my attention these days. I'm probably at a stage where I'll buy less than 5 new games a year now (currently on 4 this year, completed 1 and I'm seriously considering selling my PS3 and just keeping my PC for games).
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Actually this is true for me as well now. It takes allot more for me to get excited about a new game than it used to. I just seem to see the same sort of material recycled over and over again, and only a small portion of it is done well. I'll typically only buy 3 or 4 new titles every year now.

I don't have kids though just a long term GF, so I have more time to indulge in hobbies than the typical parent. I feel like I'm missing out sometimes by not having children. But honestly I don't like the way the world is heading right now, so in a way I'm glad.
 
Nearly 37 and still play games. I don't buy that many each year, and am pretty conservative in what genres I do play. I've played enough over the last 25+ years to know what I like.

It's either that or let my mind rot away in front of the telly.
 
Sleepery said:
The problem I find is that you're just not guaranteed you won't be interrupted in a match / raid / whatever, so you just don't do that kind of gaming anymore. Your kids just pop up at random intervals (usually looking for food) and if you're any kind of parent you have to drop the game and do daddy stuff.

As a result I hardly ever group in mmos anymore, and a co-ordinated fps match over vent is just out of the question.

Can't say I notice my reactions any worse than they were so far though.
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+1

daddy stuff takes priority at any given moment, its why i didnt group in wow, play lonewolf in Dayz, try and warn people in ARMA.

Also reactions, lets be honest, cant say I enjoy any more or less success in CS type games when it was 1.6 to GO. I think the only way youd notice a difference is if you were professionally gaming in your 20s. Playing a game over a long period makes you better, if i could dedicate the amount of time I was doing it at 20 these days im sure id reach the same level. The only difference is the time you have available to play.
 
Wucked said:
How about the practicalities of being an older gamer?

Anyone in their 40's or 50's finding it hard to be competitive in certain genre's like FPS games, perhaps due to deteriorating reaction times? Have you switched to other types of game where strategy is more important than reactions, MMO's or RTS games perhaps?

I play quite a bit of BF3 and while I do pretty well, I'm definitely not as fast as I used to be. I have to try to compensate by being more disciplined about small things, like scoping up around corners, trying to anticipate enemy movements and positions, etc. I can't just run around without thought racking up frags any more.
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I'm 44 and find that as I get older my reactions times are slower particularly in FPS, I can just about hold my own in COD and BF3 but absolutely get spanked in Counterstrike which gets frustrating after a bit. Don't think I've noticed a difference in racing games even something as fast as Wipeout!


Just clicked the last page of this thread and first thing I saw was pitchfork's post, wondered what where I was for a minute!
 
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badcompany said:
gaming > tv

the quality of tv now days is shocking
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I'd generally agree with you there, apart from live sport I never watch TV any more, even the news is full of constantly depressing stories! I pick the shows I like and buy the dvd/blu-ray box sets such as Frasier, Game of Thrones etc..

I tend to prefer games with good stories such as Mass Effect (exclude 3 as it got trashed by EA and a prime example of why I'm going off gaming - more about $$ than making a good game)
 
I'm in my early 40's and have been gaming since Binatone/Atari 2600 in the late 70's. I've never stopped gaming since and hopefully never will. I do find that whilst I was a beast at Quake etc in the 90's when the 1st arrived now my reactions have faded a lot and whilst I still enjoy CoD,BF3 etc I'm no where near as good. Personally for me though I've been mainly playing MMO's since early 2000's.

My friend met his current girlfriend a few years ago online in an MMO and he's in his 40's. I happened to be in Game last weekend and a guy who must have been late 50's early 60's came in asking if Rockstar were doing a new game as he had finished Red Dead/GTA etc so your never too old.

I'm also not the oldest person in our guild either :p
 
My nan, who is 70, still plays the original worms game on her ps1 nearly every night for years. She has suffered with severe depression and anxiety since her early 20's and received all sorts of treatment (including ECT) and medication but she swears that whilst playing the game she forgets about her nerves, for a while at least. No age is too old.
 
If its fun and it doesn't have a major impact on the rest of your life then who cares. Same with anything really, I enjoy Pokemon games (and an episode of the anime every now and then :p) so I don't care what anybody says about it. As much as people find 'bronies' weird you can't knock the fact they're so open about it.
 
Most decent games have a age restriction anyway so next time someone says it is kids game tell them you have to be 18 to play it.

I am 28 played pc games since i was 13 and we are realy the first generation that has grown up with pc games and they have been a part of our lives etc. I don't have a gf but if i did then i would imagine i would have to play a lot let less games because i would be expected to do more activities that involved her. Like going out to a bar and sitting with friends have drinks etc.

I think if games started to over ride other activities that you might be doing if it was not for the games then you should maybe consider changing that, if you want to. Like this past weekend we had some nice weather and i was stuck inside playing diablo and it realy did make me ask question, should i not be out somewhere sitting in the sun with other people having a drink and socialising etc. Ignoring the fact that i don't realy have that opportunity due to (insert excuse here) given the opportunity i would rather be in the sun socialising than playing diablo as i could just play another time.

I would imagine most girl friends would moan about their bf being on the pc all the time, regardless of what they were doing, playing games just give them some ammo and the childish argument is a cheap easy shot to take. If you were studying economics for example, they are not going to be able to use that argument.
 
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well im not a granny like a lot in this thread and i am already getting board of games that i just dont play very much anymore

but age is not a restricting factor in playing games. its just a way to burn a few hours, many people spend all day in front of the tv watching regurgitated rubbish repeat after repeat. some people jog, some people sit at the pub, some people just eat (yes that is a dig at fatties)

basically do what you want if you enjoy it
 
Gaming is a form of entertainment. It's not supposed to be productive, no forms of entertainment are supposed to be productive. (although some end up being quite useful in terms of acquiring knowledge or reflex skills or just plain brain training)

Naturally the older you get the less time you have for entertainment, especially when kids arrive.

Children have abundance of spare time, as a result they spend most of it on entertainment and gaming has become most popular form of entertainment.

As a result parents see their kids playing games and associate it as a children's form of entertainment.

It is sad but what you gaddado, it is what it is, either do what you want or blend in with the crowd, it's up to you.
 
You can never be too old. One of the top 5 WoW guilds for progress (back in Vanilla/TBC) had a 65 year old Russian uni professor playing as a Dwarf Priest (used to be on my server then transferred to theirs). He started playing as part of a study into computer game addiction (iirc) and ended up where he was - if he's not too old then nobody is (considering this was 4 - 5 years ago)

- GP
 
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