Gaming when you are old..

[cmdrdredd]

Feels bad man..

Heard that once you get over the age of 21, you will never be able to be really able to compete with adolescences in gaming just by physiology alone.

Seems that adolescences have better reaction time and coordination than us old folks.

This really bring me down.

Anyone here sad?

Hrm... I disagree...the best fighting game players are all over 21. Fighters take great reflexes and reaction time just as purebeast said.

What might happen is you have less and less time to dedicate to a single game. You have obligations that extend beyond simply going to school monday through friday. This means you get in less practice. You can still compete in your own way. I guess what I'm saying is you have to find your own reason to play the games you want. Competition is not the only reason.

 

[gorobei]

reflexes and motor-control were the determining factor back when monitors were smaller and being able to recognize and react to micropixel opponents in the fastest time was part of the game win-conditions. the ability to point and click is fine if most of your instrumentality is line of sight based shooting, but most modern games have extended the attack options so acquisition and aligning to line of sight are no longer the primary metric. no amount of twitch will beat a sentry turret in TF2 or any of the games that copied the sentry game mechanic.

game mechanics will change, pure shooters will likely never capture the mass audience it had before. rts/tower defense creation and minecraft building dominate modern mindsets.

things like occulus rift and eyefinity enable better situational awareness separate from mousing left and right to do a crazy ivan check(at least in shooters).

 

[Jeeebus]

I wish for a BF 1942 style game without unlocks, or an ET to pop up again.

I got BF4 for free with my new video card. Tried the multiplayer out for 2 minutes and quit. To me, BF1942 Desert Combat mod was the pinnacle of team shooters. Specific classes, no unlocks, work toward a specific objective with the tools available to you. The modern everything exploding in your face, x more kills to the next gun, kill streak, boom, pow, wow games just aren't doing it for me.

Wish they would update the Desert Combat mod. I'd be on it in a heartbeat.

 

[Smoblikat]

Back in the day I could play games for HOURS, stay up all night and well into the day just playing games. Now that im older, it just isnt fun for me to stare at a screen for more than a half hour or so, I prefer going out and doing things with friends.

 

[Axon]

Well I tend to play a lot of competitive games like Starcraft 2 and LoL so you really have to compete with them.

In ladder and such.

The best SC2 players are 21-27. The real issue is that at that age, most people lose the single-minded obsession of youth and want to move on to other things. Example: girl shows up at my place wearing thigh highs and a trench coat. I am playing ladder on SC2. Do I continue to play?

....

No.

 

[xantub]

Back in the day I could play games for HOURS, stay up all night and well into the day just playing games. Now that im older, it just isnt fun for me to stare at a screen for more than a half hour or so, I prefer going out and doing things with friends.

It's still just as fun for me at 44.
There is a difference though. Back when I was in my 20s I would play pretty much anything: shooters, real time, turn based, strategy, flight simulators, 4x games, driving games, platformers, RPGs, adventure games, you name it. But now I'm much more selective, maybe because back then there would be like 1 game a month releases while nowadays it's like 1/day. So, I ignore a bunch of games that I would have played then, like shooters and basically any 'twitch' game, and now I play mostly grand strategy games (Paradox games specifically, can't stay away from them) and RPGs (better if turn based),

 

[Renob]

46 here and used to have no prob kicking ass at gaming until 3 years ago started having kids and bam no time to play skills drop fast.... more of a time thing for me not so much age.. still spank my pecker like im 17...

 

[steve wilson]

I'm 30 and just recently I've kind of lost my mojo when it comes to gaming. I've always been a gamer from a young age and any spare time I had I would just play computer games. I think the people above that said that you just eventually get bored are right. I think I need a new hobby...I just don't know what.

 

[WhiplashGT]

I'm in my late 30s, and I feel my acquisition ability in FPS has fallen alot. While I love pretty graphics, there are many times I simply fail to spot a guy with so much information to digest in the field, as well as on HUD. I have such mixed feelings about nice lightings and blooms in shooter games.

 

[Remobz]

46 here and used to have no prob kicking ass at gaming until 3 years ago started having kids and bam no time to play skills drop fast.... more of a time thing for me not so much age.. still spank my pecker like im 17...

Yes, I imagine lack of practice and time put into games does play a significant role. I would also imagine getting older means more job pressures and time constraints.

For me personally, I just feel so exhausted these days that when I get home I just want to eat, shower, watch a movie then pass out. Cannot imagine spending hours behind a screen playing games during the night.

Looks like some people here over 40 seem to find the time to play games. How the heck do they find the time

Don't get me wrong I would still want a gaming computer to play some games over the weekend or on holidays but I would still suck very badly at twitch games no doubt.

 

[Mem]

I still game in my old age (almost 51) for example was on ME3 MP last night with a very low level 1 character, had top score of the other level 20s(normally play on silver and gold levels) so can still cut it even though top score does not mean a lot in my old age.

I only normally die when reviving players in that game and yes more a team player in my old age when gaming.


I think as you get older you enjoy games more in different ways,I think when you are young its about being the best ie no.1 in gaming,as you get older you realize that's not so important but have experience so can think situations through rather then rushing in like a noob or youngster.
Regardless I still enjoy gaming when I have the time.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I have a 20 year old avid gamer for a son. He owns me at LoL and i own him at SC. He owns me at Sonic and I own him at Warthunder. He owns me at BF4 and I own him at AOE. He owns me at mariocart and I own him at GranTurismo.

This list could go on but if you haven't gotten the point by now......

 

[DigDog]

I have a 20 year old avid gamer for a son. He owns me at LoL and i own him at SC. He owns me at Sonic and I own him at Warthunder. He owns me at BF4 and I own him at AOE. He owns me at mariocart and I own him at GranTurismo.

This list could go on but if you haven't gotten the point by now......

PROTIP:
do not play LoL, Sonic, BF4 or mariocart.
PROTIP:
play more SC, Warthunder, AOE and GT.

 

[mooncancook]

Unless you are playing old school arcade like Street Fighters, you can make up by using better tactics and teamwork and having more patience than those youngsters.

 

[TheSlamma]

what is with all the Millennials think they are old gamers threads?

 

[rudder]

Old gamers should stick to titles like Monkey Island.

 

[FaceToKeyboard]

Eh, the only reason you'd be sad is if you really cared about winning v.s. just playing the game.

You'll get over it; as you get older, you'll simply appreciate being able to sit down and enjoy a game, regardless of whether you win or lose.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

what is with all the Millennials think they are old gamers threads?

Cause boomers only know how to play board games?

They haven't yet been introduced to the Wii but when they get to Shady Acres rest home the physical therapy aides will show them how to work it.

 

[Mem]

Old gamers should stick to titles like Monkey Island.

Why?..There are plenty of games I've enjoyed over the years ,some are online multiplay and others single player games like The Witcher etc...

I'll keep on gaming until I lose all interest and at the moment that's not going to happen.


There's far more to gaming then score results ,most gamers know this.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Have you ever wondered if you would game at age 60? Age 70? I worry about arthritis in my hands and carpal tunnel and what it would feel like to grip a mouse for a couple hours at that age.

 

[sweenish]

This thread seems to be slowing down. I should start another that talks about how tough it is to game at my age.

 

[DigDog]

even if that were true, at least we got to play monkey island, while all you youngsters get is TESO and bad EA crap.

damn. ninjas ninja'd my post.

i'm going for 43, and i get better every day. i know young people have faster reaction times, and maybe even superior accuracy, potentially. what they don't have is experience, which first of all means they don't know "where" to aim, and while they have faster reflexes, they are also inpatient and get fooled easily.
(and they've grown up with these easy mode games, so they don't even try that hard)

 

[TidusZ]

it depends on the game but you can definitely be competitive or even #1 world at age 25+

For starcraft 2 players tend to hit their prime young and become uncompetitive in mid or late 20s but that's partially due to the high apm and partially due to most of them developing RSI problems with their fingers/wrists from playing so much.

Imo, what makes it harder to compete as you age is the fact that you have to work and have less free time. I used to be able to play diablo 2 every day all day and be top of ladder, but now with PoE I can't play nearly as much as the ppl at the top due to having to work. I can still push top 20 on the first day though at least.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Have you ever wondered if you would game at age 60? Age 70? I worry about arthritis in my hands and carpal tunnel and what it would feel like to grip a mouse for a couple hours at that age.

Nope...Though I never played online games, but do play Painkiller (Nightmare level), Stalker (Hard) Skyrim...play most on normal to hard difficulty...have played for up to 12 hrs at a time. No problems, no carpal tunnel, no arthritis. Just fun, and modding TES games is a blast.

The Wife

 

[FallenHero]

I am more disturbed by the fact that the OP considers 21 to be old....