Reaction time whilst gaming.

Early Forties and definitely not competitiveven these days, lucky to be middle of the table :p.

I would say it is a combination of age related decline and less game time reducing overall skill level. My daughter is now better at co-op L4D2 and Pay Day 2 than me (***** teenagers) but I am happy to say I always have the most headshots in our group of family and friends of all ages. That has been the case since UT and single player keeps fresh :). I can also still out drive the youngsters in most games except WipeOut, which is course dependant due to visual (I am easily confused, ahem).
 
I was like 19 or so at the peak of the original Quake 2-3 competitive scene days and had reactions good enough to compete at a decent level - 10-15 years later or so hitting my 30s I definitely noticed I was struggling with slower reactions but strangely they've come back a bit as I hit mid 30s.

One thing that helps me to keep an edge though - after all these years my muscle memory and instincts are pretty dialled in - I can engage one target and have my crosshairs queued up on the position for the next target almost before I even know they are going to be there let alone see them - newer players generally can't take in a scene that quickly.
 
Ive certainly noticed this in FPS games but I think I've become a more rounded player. In BF games I've turned into a more tactical player, thinking about flanking routes etc rather than standing with everyone at the bottom of the stairs on Metro throwing grenades.
 
Bf1 and no better or worse than I have been since bf1942 (41 now so around 27 when that was out!), but its not as much a twitch game as others.

The biggest difference for me is if I don't play as much it takes a bit time to get back to where I was. If I get a fair bit of game time the improvement is fairly obvious especially with aiming.
 
Roar87 said:
I'm 30 and I almost hit masters in Overwatch after playing for 3-4 months while mostly playing Soldier 76 and Roadhog. This is after not really playing any serious FPS games for several years as well. I feel like the guys who are better than me probably just dedicate more time too it, which obviously takes a hit when you have a full time job and a partner, etc.
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I'm 34 and always get the most elims in overwatch games.
 
Not sure about reaction times but my interest in online FPS has certainly declined over the years. Used to spend half the day in BF2 but since find myself more in RPG and Sim games. I guess you tend to go with what your friends play as they are the same.
 
Years of quake 1,2,3 4-6 hours a night left me with cramp in fingers when playing FPS by the time I was 36.
Don't really play anymore, all too gimmicky now days.
 
esoteric said:
My potential has not declined but my willingness to put in the effort has.
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This 100%.

Some games are just an effort/chore to play. I do find that my reactions (as well as my patience!) may not be as high as it once was, but that's because nowadays I am putting in about 5-6 hours a week, whereas in "the day" was about 5-6 hours per day.
 
I'm still relatively young (25) and I'm nowhere near as fast as I was 5 years ago.

I'd consistently come top 3 with a 2+KDR on a 32 player COD4 TDM HC server

I'm struggling to finish most games on MW Remastered with a KDR above 1.0 now
 
My reactions are still good it's more the lack of patience I now have. I can't be arsed watching an angle for 45secs+ so end up getting bored and making stupid decisions. I think this is why I enjoy Overwatch more than CS these days as you're always doing something.

EDIT: Just realised there was a test in that article. Still getting 20 or under on the majority of goes and that's with me nearly ready for bed. Happy with that haha!
 
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MissChief said:
Ive certainly noticed this in FPS games but I think I've become a more rounded player. In BF games I've turned into a more tactical player, thinking about flanking routes etc rather than standing with everyone at the bottom of the stairs on Metro throwing grenades.
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I've certainly changed as a player as I've got older - I always tend to rush and reasonable tactical awareness but as a younger player I had no sense of self preservation - now I tend to play far more strategically.
 
Rroff said:
I've certainly changed as a player as I've got older - I always tend to rush and reasonable tactical awareness but as a younger player I had no sense of self preservation - now I tend to play far more strategically.
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I'm the opposite, I just don't have the same level of patience anymore. I couldn't play Operation Flashpoint today, that's for sure!
 
he said this in the article

thinking at 60 frames-per-second and instinctively knowing the lede time on an enemy running from your left to your right at around 50 metres
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and i learnt recently that there is no lead on shooting in COD, you press shoot and it immediately hits where the cursor is pointing, maybe if the author knows that he would be better at the game?
 
Flubble said:
and i learnt recently that there is no lead on shooting in COD, you press shoot and it immediately hits where the cursor is pointing, maybe if the author knows that he would be better at the game?
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Assuming he is talking about COD then yeah the weapons are hitscan - however the older pre-COD4 Call of Duty games IIRC don't have lag compensation so you'd have to lead the target if you had a high latency - that doesn't really seem to be what he is talking about though when he mentions distance in there as hitscan latency isn't affected by distance to target just your ping to the server.
 
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