Have your gaming habits changed with age?

[Jez Corden]

As I've gotten older, I've noticed that many of my gaming habits and passions have changed.

In my early 20s, I was very much into single player story-driven narrative experiences that consumed all of my free time. I'd put days into playing The Witcher 3, ignoring pretty much anything else.

Now, busier, living with my non-gaming partner, I find myself either playing games I can enjoy relatively absent mindedly, that are light on story, or games that are easy to enjoy while multi-tasking or distracted. Suddenly I love fairly grindy games, like Monster Hunter: World, Conan Exiles, No Man's Sky, and Conan Exiles, that de-prioritize narrative, or at least make it optional, in favour of raw gameplay. I've also found a lot of joy in more simplistic and turn-based games, like Moonlighter and Darkest Dungeon, that are easy to pick up and play and put down if necessary. I also tend to prioritize co-operative games when I have some free time, rather than story-driven, cus the opportunities to spend time with friends has diminished as well.

How have your gaming habits evolved with age? If at all?

 

[Pete]

I'm definitely slower than I was before. I can't really keep up with anything fast-paced.

I also have a non-gaming partner, so my console time is very limited these days. I used to love spending hours on Forza grinding away at races, but I'd never have the chance to do that again (plus it got boring after a while).

I'm n ow playing things like "Life is Strange", "#Wargames" and occasional FPS story-driven games when I get the time. I'm really looking forward to the new Tomb Raider when that came out - I really did enjoy Rise. The good thing with games like this is that I can halt the progress whenever my partner grumbles at me.

 

[MatsuDano]

I found myself going back to the classics. I started FFXV, but I don't have the time (or attention span) to really sink dozens of hours into it. It took me over a year to do that with Fallout 4 and I just don't have the heart for that kind of commitment anymore. I also find myself watching streams more than playing those kinds of games.

Instead, I'm playing and replaying Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on SNES mini and/or emulator. Especially with the randomizer settings. It's a new way to play an old favorite.

 

[ashram]

yes, having to be a responsible adult (and wanting to buy all the things!!!) means I have to go to work.... and sometimes that means being too tired to walk across the living room to grab a controller.

Went from 6-15 hours daily in my teens to MAYBE 4-5 hours a week... And I had an epic backlog a decade ago.... The current backlog is several times bigger.

 

[ulfvar]

I'm only 22 and my gaming habits have changed a lot the past few years. I used to need to best and biggest gaming PC to play everything on max graphics. I also had a lot more time because I was in school and not working.

Now that I am working I've gone further from PC gaming and more into the console. I am actually considering selling my gaming PC and just buying a powerful laptop cause I mostly just use it for adobe, office and browing the web.

I have also come to realize I like gaming on a bigger screen. My TV is 55'' but I want to upgrade to a 65'' or 75''.

 

[kdk24z]

In October I'll be 52, and my gaming habits have definitely gone south. I remember purchasing 'Unreal' in the summer of 1998 and staying up for over 24 hours a few times playing through that game. The same went for 'Quake' (still my two all-time FAVORITE games!) and then 'Quake 2'.

Games I've played and LOVED over the years include F.E.A.R., Halo (1 & 2 only since I only game on PC), Dead Space, Bioshock, DOOM and many OLD-school DOS-based games that I can again play thanks to DOS-BOX.

However, four years ago I had to move to another state for a job, and that job, community involvement and political activism really took over my life and the only gaming I do is an occasional game of Solitaire on the PC after supper and before "life" chores/responsibilities need to be done, and playing some Yahtzee and Bejeweled 2 on my Palm Pilot T/X in bed as I go to sleep.

I convinced myself all I needed was a REALLY awesome gaming PC, and since I could finally afford to build one, a year and a half ago built one.

i7-6850K CPU @ 3.60GHz
Kraken X62 AIO CPU cooler
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 Platinum
Corsair Platinum DDR4 - 128 GBytes
Mainboard Model - X99-Designare EX-CF
Main Drive - Samsung SSD 960 EVO 1TB
Intel SSD 750 1.2 TB U.2 x 2
Crucial MX300 2 TB M.2 x 2
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 x 2 WATERFORCE AIO
Monitor - Acer X34

I had a BLAST researching, reading, buying and building "Fort Knox", but I'm ashamed to say the only game I play is that one game of Solitaire after supper. I did purchase the updated DOOM, F.E.A.R. 3, Dead Space 3, Bioshock Infinite, and recently Prey, but I haven't played them. I did load DOOM and played for a couple of hours and LOVED it, but then "life" intruded again.

I keep telling myself, "Well, you'll likely never have to build another PC in your lifetime to do what little I do with the PC, and it will play all the games I'll ever want, so maybe when I retire in 10 years I'll have ALL the time in the world to play games." Yeah, not a pretty thought of a 62+ year old munching on Jalapeño Cheddar Cheetos and downing a can of Ensure instead of Mountain Dew! :winktongue:

I guess my advice to all you "young" people is to play as MANY games as you can for as LONG as you can, because even I was a gaming junkie in the 90's and early 2000's, and now I barely get in a game of Solitaire.

Game ON! :smile:

 

[Whodaboss]

How have your gaming habits evolved with age? If at all?

Absolutely! My son comes over and play the games I download. I don't even try to play the modern games. I personally hate them. The sport games aren't what they use to be. And almost everything is a shooter game of sort. And the thing that has curtailed my game playing the most is the "10,000" buttons on the controllers. I just want 3-4 buttons ONLY! Only if I could configure the controller to work with 3-4 buttons per game I would be playing more. It has become to complicated and frustrating for me. Otherwise I still enjoy everyone of my xbox 360, sega, turbo grafx, nomads. Old school stuff. Now that's my style.

 

[DJCBS]

Yes. When I was a teenager ( I was going to write "kid" and then I was painfully reminded that when I was a kid the most advanced game I could play was Prince of Persia in MS-DOS...) I really enjoyed multiplayer games, we had LAN parties (back then there was non of this paid-subscription for multiplayer nonsense) and we had lots of time to spend playing against each other in things like Mortal Kombat or Age of Empires 1.

But the older I got, the less I enjoy multiplayer games. In fact, these days I hate it so much that I don't even touch it.
I grew way too old to put up with kids online, my schedules and those of my friends made it absolutely impossible to play online in group and I hate children so my willingness to go into something like PSN or Xbox Live and have to put up with someone else's kid is zero.

As I grew older my love for single player games just grew. I have a pretty good memory so I don't forget plots anyway and when I actually have time to sit down and play a game, I really prefer to be immersed in a good story, without the need to care about any other players or strategies to win against other people.

I game for leisure nowadays, and even then it's become sporadic as often my free time is actually spent doing something else more interesting to me.
I've completely dropped PC gaming and console gaming took over as the fastest more comfortable way to spend a bit of time gaming in the comfort of a couch rather than an office chair.

 

[DJCBS]

Yes. When I was a teenager ( I was going to write "kid" and then I was painfully reminded that when I was a kid the most advanced game I could play was Prince of Persia in MS-DOS...) I really enjoyed multiplayer games, we had LAN parties (back then there was non of this paid-subscription for multiplayer nonsense) and we had lots of time to spend playing against each other in things like Mortal Kombat or Age of Empires 1.

But the older I got, the less I enjoy multiplayer games. In fact, these days I hate it so much that I don't even touch it.
My schedules and those of my friends made it absolutely impossible to play online in group, multiplayer games are all the same and have been for years, and I hate children so my willingness to go into something like PSN or Xbox Live and have to put up with someone else's kid is zero.

As I grew older my love for single player games just grew. I have a pretty good memory so I don't forget plots anyway and when I actually have time to sit down and play a game, I really prefer to be immersed in a good story, without the need to care about any other players or strategies to win against other people.

I game for leisure nowadays, and even then it's become sporadic as often my free time is actually spent doing something else more interesting to me.
I've completely dropped PC gaming and console gaming took over as the fastest more comfortable way to spend a bit of time gaming in the comfort of a couch rather than an office chair.

 

[ryanlrobinson]

Yeah, I can relate to basically all of the longer article which linked to this. I gamed a lot as a pre-teen/early teen, then lost interest around 18. I did some gaming again around 22-25 as a student and got a Wii given to me for Wii Fit, which I then found to be great for playing with friends.

A few years later, we bought an Xbox One primarily as an entertainment machine. In hindsight now that they've given up on most of the entertainment features, I probably wouldn't have, but I did rediscover appreciation for gaming along the way.

For the couple of years after that, I had a job 35 hours a week a short work from my house, so I always got home before my wife and had about an hour which I usually spent gaming. I also had more weekend time. I played a lot of NBA 2K but also a lot of RPGs that I could really invest in the story, and I was not afraid of trying harder games.

Over a couple of years, I changed jobs to something that's 40 hours a week plus about 6 in commuting, plus we bought a house which has given us lots to do, plus my wife gets home earlier. I don't necessarily have enough time in a row to get really invested in a story-driven game. I'm also too tired for hard games, especially if I try it once and then don't have time again for a few days so any progress in learning what I needed to do got lost.

Gaming for me now is definitely still a relaxing thing but it isn't really a fun or exciting thing in the same way it was. I wouldn't be surprised if I just stop playing games entirely after I clear a couple of the biggest ones from my backlog (Witcher 3 in progress, Final Fantasy XV).

 

[Daniel Stevenson Sutton]

As I've gotten older, I've noticed that many of my gaming habits and passions have changed.

In my early 20s, I was very much into single player story-driven narrative experiences that consumed all of my free time. I'd put days into playing The Witcher 3, ignoring pretty much anything else.

Now, busier, living with my non-gaming partner, I find myself either playing games I can enjoy relatively absent mindedly, that are light on story, or games that are easy to enjoy while multi-tasking or distracted. Suddenly I love fairly grindy games, like Monster Hunter: World, Conan Exiles, No Man's Sky, and Conan Exiles, that de-prioritize narrative, or at least make it optional, in favour of raw gameplay. I've also found a lot of joy in more simplistic and turn-based games, like Moonlighter and Darkest Dungeon, that are easy to pick up and play and put down if necessary. I also tend to prioritize co-operative games when I have some free time, rather than story-driven, cus the opportunities to spend time with friends has diminished as well.

How have your gaming habits evolved with age? If at all?

I have a slight tangent, as you have gotten older has your general console use changed? Are consoles games machines or souped up DMA's with better graphics?

 

[Serpentbane]

As I've gotten older, I've noticed that many of my gaming habits and passions have changed.

In my early 20s, I was very much into single player story-driven narrative experiences that consumed all of my free time. I'd put days into playing The Witcher 3, ignoring pretty much anything else.

Now, busier, living with my non-gaming partner, I find myself either playing games I can enjoy relatively absent mindedly, that are light on story, or games that are easy to enjoy while multi-tasking or distracted. Suddenly I love fairly grindy games, like Monster Hunter: World, Conan Exiles, No Man's Sky, and Conan Exiles, that de-prioritize narrative, or at least make it optional, in favour of raw gameplay. I've also found a lot of joy in more simplistic and turn-based games, like Moonlighter and Darkest Dungeon, that are easy to pick up and play and put down if necessary. I also tend to prioritize co-operative games when I have some free time, rather than story-driven, cus the opportunities to spend time with friends has diminished as well.

How have your gaming habits evolved with age? If at all?

Very little have changed. I have a gaming pc, 2 360's, Xbox One X and a ****load of lesser gadgets, like the gaystation 4, I pretty much buy all the games I would have before.

Only downside is time. I'm lucky if I manage to game two hours a week. I have like 30 discs never put inside a console, my Steam library is like five 27" displays in portrait mode long, and I've played only two games the last year.

 

[Drael646464]

Well I've always played top down and strategic games like rpgs primarily. Story driven and more choice based that reaction speed based.

But I used to play a lot more aggressive games, like racers and things like GTA, because I had a lot of aggressive energy to get out.

And I used to play a lot of first person or third person games (which I always found disorienting outside of a proper VR), and now I don't bother.

I just play classic style top down RPGs now. But only when I have the time. Which like reading a book, is far and few between. However many years ago I had a look at GTA V but never finished it. Installed plenty of racers but never played them.

But I have gotten through pillars of eternity, tides of numenera, tyranny, deadfire etc.


I will say though that I don't have as much time for games like that that are less linear, like the sequel to divinity original sin - I don't have time to experimentally complete tasks and talk to people forever, wondering what the heck the next task is. As much as I enjoyed the tactics and gameplay of the first one, it was a totally rambling piecemeal story that was had to progress in, and the second is the same.

 

[unmorphed]

Basically play the same types of games, just way less.

 

[DEVILTAZ35]

As I've gotten older, I've noticed that many of my gaming habits and passions have changed.

In my early 20s, I was very much into single player story-driven narrative experiences that consumed all of my free time. I'd put days into playing The Witcher 3, ignoring pretty much anything else.

Now, busier, living with my non-gaming partner, I find myself either playing games I can enjoy relatively absent mindedly, that are light on story, or games that are easy to enjoy while multi-tasking or distracted. Suddenly I love fairly grindy games, like Monster Hunter: World, Conan Exiles, No Man's Sky, and Conan Exiles, that de-prioritize narrative, or at least make it optional, in favour of raw gameplay. I've also found a lot of joy in more simplistic and turn-based games, like Moonlighter and Darkest Dungeon, that are easy to pick up and play and put down if necessary. I also tend to prioritize co-operative games when I have some free time, rather than story-driven, cus the opportunities to spend time with friends has diminished as well.

How have your gaming habits evolved with age? If at all?

Nope i am rapidly approaching 50 and find i game more now than i ever did. Then again i don't really talk to anyone unless i can help it so that makes it easier. People just annoy me for the most part where as a game allows you to turn it off if it gets annoying.

 

[DEVILTAZ35]

Yeah i have over 1500 steam games and probably played maybe 200 if i am lucky. It's good to have choice whenever you want to play a game though and storage is just so cheap on PC these days even for fast M2 drives.

 

[kdk24z]

HA! It must be the getting 50-thing that does it. I work a public service job dealing with the traveling public every day, so I'm MORE than happy to have NOTHING to do with humans when I get home. :winktongue:

 

[ZvjerOPC]

As I've gotten older, I've noticed that many of my gaming habits and passions have changed.

My gaming habits changed also. During my teen years I played a few single player games but mostly I enjoyed online multiplayer shooters like Quake, Unreal Tournament and even Interstate '76. I spent a lot of years in online multiplayer even while constrained with modem-based internet my parents paid per minute. Those were my PC gaming years, I never owned a real console.

After I became a person (18) I kinda forgot about games completely. I don't believe I played any games between 18 and 35. Then it hit me that I want to play games again so I bough the Xbox and for the last two years I'm enjoying many online cooperative games like Sea of Thieves, Warframe, Destiny and even managing to finish single player novels like the Wither 3. I feel like a real gamer again and I have no plans to stop as long as it fits my life schedule.

 

[NYCMetsPDX]

Maybe I'm just feeling nostalgic this morning but this thread to me is less about gaming and more looking in the mirror and realizing I'm not the same person I was 15 years ago. I'll never give up gaming 100% because it's an important link to my childhood. It's playing Joe and Mac with my brother on our SNES, it's Little League Baseball on the NES with my neighborhood friends, playing Mario Party 4 in college with a bottle of vodka and regretting it the next day, moving across the country for my first job and killing time with FFX...and so on.

Habits change (gaming or otherwise) and yep, it can be somewhat sobering to think about. Anyway Jez, thanks for the thread, makes me reflect on what games meant to me then and how I play them differently now (1 hour a week tops with a crazy backlog)

 

[athomas917]

I've been in gaming since 1976 when I got a Telstar arcade for Christmas. a few years later I got the Atari 2600 and later a Commodore 64. I sorta skipped the early Nintendo/Sega generation and got a 3do system. after that it's been Xbox ever since.
I remember playing story driven games like Halo over and over easily putting in 8 hours in a gaming session since I worked nights and on my off days I kept the same hours. Now once I beat a game i pretty much don't touch it outside of the multiplayer aspect