Have your gaming habits changed as you got older?

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dobedobedo

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Hey guys,
I frequently come to this site but rarely come on the forums. I'm sure this topic has been done before, so I apologize ahead of time for bringing it up again.

Growing up, I always played a large variety of games and had more patience with them. I have a large library of 360, ps3 and wii games because I was always willing to check out whatever game looked cool. Once I graduated college and moved on to a full time job, I find it so much harder to get into games these days.

Back then, if I bought a game and it wasn't really grasping me at the beginning, I still gave it a couple of hours to see if it got better or I'd just finish it so I wouldn't feel like I wasted my money. These days I have so little patience with games. If I can't get into a game within the first hour or so, I usually just give up on it and move on to the next one.

I think maybe it's just the lack of time. Since I have so little time to play, I'd rather shove aside games that frustrate me or don't impress me right away and stick to the ones I know I can play for hours on end.

I find that the only games I can stick to are long 100+ hour RPGs or the small indie games that take 2-4 hours to complete. I also would rather go back and play old games. I would much rather do 2-3 back to back playthroughs of Streets of Rage 2 with a friend than play 30 minutes of Wolfenstein The New Order. Or a full playthrough of Arkham Asylum and Half Life 2 rather than five minutes of Assassin's Creed Unity.

Anyone else feel they have less patience with games as they got older or started working full time?

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csl316

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It's been weird. Some weeks I'll play nothing, others I'll do 15 hours.

The inconsistency is less about having time, and more about having varied interests. Sometimes I just don't feel like playing anything or I'll barely be home. I will say that the shorter the game, the better chance I'll pick it up.

The longest game I've beaten in recent times is Mass Effect, or possibly Bloodborne at 29 hours. It's incredibly rare to be pulled into multiplayer, and I avoid buying most RPG's. I did get The Witcher and played 10 hours last weekend, but I've had no pull to start again (although I think it's fantastic).

So I'll say in the past 10 years, it's gone from being the hobby to being a hobby.

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AngryHobo321

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I've noticed that as I get older I am less likely to buy games when they come out. This is due to the fact that I have less time to play, and therefore stick to one or two games for longer, and also because I'm in college and don't have buckets of money to buy everything that looks interesting. It's helpful because as my backlog increases in size I tend to buy games at a discount price by the time I'm ready to play them, but I also miss put on the fanfare and excitementof playing games while everyone else Iis talking about them. I'm currently playing Witcher 1 and everyone is talking about the third.

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deactivated-5e49e9175da37

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I play much more different kinds of games than I used to, and before I went back to school I was buying more games than I ever had as a kid. What's changed is I rarely finish long games.

I loved Pillars, but I had to take a break after 70 hours and I'm only like half done.

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Duluoz

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I have found that gaming is becoming more of a "hobby" in the model train sense of the word in that I have become more interested in modding and customizing my experiences. Like, the game I play most these days is Rome Total War 1, in that I like to make mods, and mix up other mods in interesting ways. For example there is a great mod called Napoleonic Total War, I basically pulled one of the factions from it and inserted it into a version of the vanilla game, and after doing some balancing I had a campaign where I conquered the ancient world with my fusiliers and dragoons and cannons.

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mike

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#7  Edited By mike

I think the primary way in which my gaming habits have changed as I've gotten older is that I am playing fewer and fewer multiplayer games now. It's all mostly single player games that I can play at my own pace, and anything I do play with others is going to be cooperative and not adversarial.

I am also much more likely to try different types of games that I wouldn't have ever given a chance when I was younger, so that's nice. I also buy far fewer games on release now, I prefer to wait until games have been out for awhile and get them on sale rather than spending $50-$60 to get them on day one. I get far more value out of the money I spend on games that way, so that combined with actually having money to spend means I have more games to play than I ever did when I was younger.

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fisk0

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#8 fisk0  Moderator

I most certainly play much less than I used to. Hell, I think I even stayed up for two days straight playing System Shock 2 co-op back in 2000. These days my average game sessions are 20 minutes. And it's usually one session every other day.

Can't say what kinds of games I'm seeking out have changed all that much though. Back in the late 80's and early 90's I played whatever games my uncle brought home when he visited, it was usually pirated of course, but it was everything from flight sims and text adventures to golfing and puzzle games. With the help of Steam and GOG sales I still grab lots of games I think could be interesting to check out whether they are in my favorite genres or not.

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Naoiko

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Yeah my gaming habits have totally changed as I've gotten older. I used to sit in front of a tv screen for hours at a time playing games, but now...not happening. Even when I have time to play I find myself being drawn to playing games on my handheld systems (3DS and vita mostly).

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Cubidog1

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I certainly don't play as much as I used to. I'm just more busy now that I hang out with friends who don't play video games, go to college, and I just got a job so I'll have even less time. Over the last few years I've also started watching way more let's plays. It's easier for me to zone out when I watch something. Some let's plays lead to me buying a game, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

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grtkbrandon

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Definitely. The type of games I enjoy has changed, how I play them has changed, and (most importantly) now that I have the money to really fuel the habit I've found that I just don't have the time. I used to love playing multiplayer and getting together with groups of friends to play, but now all of that just seems so time consuming. When I play online I like to be somewhat anonymous and blend it. Just enjoy the game for what it is without getting too involved with a community or trying to get too involved with learning the more advanced mechanics. I find that the less competitive I play, the more enjoyment I get.

Plus, these days I tend to enjoy writing about my experiences with games almost as much as actually playing them.

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PerfidiousSinn

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I no longer care about beating games on the highest difficulty. In fact, I really prefer easier games these days.

As a kid I would try to tough out a really hard game and retry levels over and over to win. Now if I get stuck due to difficulty, I'll either go to an easier setting (if possible) or stop playing the game entirely. I have no patience for extremely difficult games now.

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ZZoMBiE13

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#13  Edited By ZZoMBiE13
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In my late 30s, I had to give up one of my favorite genres; Fighting Games. I just can't be competitive in any way anymore. Maybe if I had nothing else to do I could stay on par with people my own age, but as you get older the reaction times required to be really truly GOOD at Fighters starts to diminish. Arms and hands start to get achy and it's just too much if you want to play any of these games with any amount of proficiency.

As someone who played the first wave of 90s fighters and loved them, as someone who used to play in local tournaments and did reasonably well in many of them, I'm just not willing to go online and get called a "noob" by someone who was literally not even born when I started playing fighters.

I still play Mortal Kombat for the story mode and Challenge towers. But I rarely play it competitively unless I have a friend or two drop by to play one-on-one. I actually made a comic about this about 5 years ago (seen to the left).

I also don't seek out super challenging games anymore. I just don't have the patience to play a Souls game or Bloodborne. Though that didn't stop me from trying. I just don't have the mettle anymore. I get pissed off at myself for not being able to crush it like gamer-me of my youth and I end up more frustrated than having fun.

So now that I'm in my 40s, I tend to stick to known quantities. Batman's Arkham games, Shooters that I like (typically Halo), and some Nintendo games. I liked InFamous a lot but I never played the hardest setting. I'm sure to a lot of people that makes me "part of the problem", and that's a fair criticism. But with limited time to play, limited attention to give to any particular game, I tend to not go outside my comfort zone where 5 years ago I'd buy a game that just sounded fun and hope for the best. If it were lousy I'd just beat it and give it to a friend or trade it in.

I also find that I'm much less amused by GTA these days. I'm not saying it's an immature game or that I'm "too old" for it. I just feel like so much of it is stuff I've done before or things I just don't want to do. I don't want to make Michael play a Yoga minigame. Younger me would have appreciated the attention to detail and letting me have that many options. Current age me finds the idea of doing activities like this a waste of my precious time. Again, that's not a mark against the game. It's that I've got less time and attention that I'm willing to spend on it.

So yeah, getting older has had a huge impact on my hobby. I haven't given it up by any means, but I do much less competitive games and much less challenging games than I did as a youth.

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FacelessVixen

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I'm not exactly a teenager with a lot of time on his hands. ...I'm a 25-year-old college student with a lot of free time on his hands. I rather do more than just binge on video games at any given moment as I used to though most of my teen years. I try to avoid being the stereotypical nerd given my introverted social inclinations and interests.

But a the same time, game design is in the scope of what I want to do with my life in a professional setting, so I guess I tend to look at games more academically in terms of their designs and systems, instead of just playing them for the escapism.

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FinalDasa

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#15 FinalDasa  Moderator

I play smaller games more often and sink more time into only a handful of games per year.

And I play a lot less multiplayer. I don't have the patience for the terrible things said in voice chat or other vulgar interactions. I'd really like to spend a night every now and then playing a handful of Halo matches but I can't go an hour without hearing or seeing something terrible. Who wants that every few minutes?

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Sinusoidal

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As a 39 year-old gamer, it's all peaks and valleys. I try to stick to one game at a time, and have done so for some years now. If a game grabs me, I'll plow through in a matter of days. If it doesn't, I'll get in an hour or two of it a week and maybe finish it in a couple of months (I've been playing MGS4 for probably three months now after having taken maybe a week with MGS3.) This doesn't include mobile and a handheld game or two that I sometimes play on the crapper or before bed. I've been playing this way for probably 15 years now. One thing that has changed over the years is that I used to play video games to the detriment of other things in my life. In my third year of university, Final Fantasy VII and early SNES emulation were responsible for some pretty poor grades. Now, I'm much better at prioritizing. And thankfully, real jobs don't give you homework that has to be done on your own time.

More recently, I've become interested in making games. I started with Blender and some Game Maker and Unity a few years ago and have moved on to libgdx and Android Studio this year. I'm currently working on an Android game the coding of which takes up a lot of what would regularly be gaming time. I suspect once it's finished, I'll be back to playing a whole lot more. MGS4 deserves better.

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armaan8014

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I've always liked pacing my gaming experience. Even if i'm completely free (like I am now) I'll only play a game (Witcher 3 as of now) at a pre defined time. Nowadays I play about 2-3 hours in the morning, and a couple before sleeping. I use the rest of the time to paint, play football, read, watch a movie or just read stuff about the game itself on the internet. If I play too long it reduces the enjoyment i'd get from the game. Doing other things increases its value and makes every day feel a little more useful.

When I don't have holidays, I often go for a couple of days without touching the game (without forcing myself) If there's a submission/ assignment, I might not touch it for a week. I need to feel mentally free/ at peace to be able to enjoy a game. People often play games to release stress, but I only play when there is no stress at all.

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Zereta

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I used to be able to play anything. Now its either games I can have very short sessions with and immensely repeatable (Something like Invisible Inc for recent games) or incredibly long games that I can just kinda play at my own pace (Recently, The Witcher 3).

Of course, games with a story and a complete story focus also have my attention. So like a Call of Duty story used to be something I like. Short, action packed and then I'm done with it after. That's why I loved watching Metal Gear Scanlon and find myself enjoying MGS4 as I play through it now.

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nightriff

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I play less and less.

Not by choice, have other responsibilities now. Sucks sometimes but thats life.

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kasaioni

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More breaks. Or probably distractions. I usually stop playing for a bit to browse the internet for 15 minutes to an hour. I don't play any competitive multiplayer games anymore; too stressful.

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Whitestripes09

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#21  Edited By Whitestripes09

I remember when I was younger it was such a big deal to play games. I would try to be on for as much as I could before my parents told me to get off and my eyes would end up being super blood shot all the time. I was like that for awhile, but then I got Live and my own computer so it became more important to play online with friends from school and that I met on the internet, so from about '05 to '10 most of my gaming time went on during the evening for 2-4 hours (probably more than that, I honestly did not really keep track of time back then).

Around the middle of high school (2011) things started to change, I was with a crowd where we did a lot of non gaming things most of the time and just sort of enjoyed each others company more rather than sharing gaming experiences with each other. I still bought the newest releases and even got a better computer, It was weird though... I would just fly through the single player in a weekend, try the online portion a bit and shelf it. I tried getting into MMOs and dumped a good amount of time into GW2 and swtor, but that was mostly off and on, I just can't play one game with mechanics like that for months and months. Was just never really the same as playing PS2 or gamecube as soon as I got home from elementary school.

So fast forward to now and I would say gaming has changed a lot. It's still kind of "dude bro" but the games are different now. Instead of Call of Duty and Halo its LoL, DOTA 2, or CSGO. I can't say I really enjoy these games because I think the super serious attitude and competitiveness in them is a reaaaal turn off. Sometimes I just want to slouch and barely look at the screen while I blast dudes away, but I feel like every match of League or CSGO is such a nail biting, eye bursting, rage inducing, high heart rate experience. Seriously, fuck these new games. I feel like I'm more likely to get gray hair from these games than my college classes sometimes. So I find myself browsing the internet more, binge watching tv shows, watching movies, and hanging out with people now.

I have to admit though, The Witcher 3 has really surprised me. It's been awhile since a game has gripped me like the way this game has into it's story and gameplay. It's dense enough that I think this game is going to last me for a couple months (hopefully) and it's intelligently well thought out in it's writing and story that I'm very interested in what's happening in the world.

I think overall, as children, things are a lot more impressionable. I wasn't just dumped a whole library of games either. My parents never allowed me to play M rated games for instance and getting them to buy a new game for myself was a big deal, so all those games were blocked off for me until I managed to convince them I was old enough. Playing Wind Waker for the first time or seeing the neon lights of Vice city while sitting quietly with my brother and then running out as soon as my mom came home from work are probably some of my best video game memories because it was just so awesome to see that. It was a privilege almost. Now it's kind of whatever. I can go turn on a console and play all night if I wanted to, or better yet, just sit here and play something. The magic is pretty much dead as you get older.

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Justin258

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Video games were always awesome when I was a kid. Dying too many times? Psh. Keep trying. Too long? Man, I have all the time in the world. My only real problem with them was that I didn't have enough of the things.

These days, I have too many of the things. Even now, even at 23, I'm trying to just come to grips with the fact that I'll never be able to play all of the games that I want to play. Even if I won the lottery and quit my job, I wouldn't be able to get to them all! And what's worse, most of what I want to play are super long RPG's. Divinity Original Sin, The Witcher 3, Dark Souls, Dragon Age Inquisition, Legend of Grimrock 2, etc - when I was a kid, I had very few 50 hour games, I wasn't terribly into RPG's.

Anyway, I usually find myself firing up a game at least once a day but lately I've been thinking that I just need to wean myself off of them for a little while. I really like The Witcher 3, a whole hell of a lot, but I come home and I want to play it and read a book and learn to play guitar and learn Japanese and basically everything. Humanity should have evolved out of sleep long ago, we'd be much better off without it these days.

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dobedobedo

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I think I also prefer to play games in which I have to really think about what I'm doing or I'm somewhat deeply involved in the story or actions of the character. I really do like the Souls series because I have to pay close attention to how I block or dodge attacks, learn boss patterns and time my attacks. I like RPGs with dialogue trees and choices I need to make. I get tired, bored or just plain frustrated if I'm playing a game where it just feel like I'm mindlessly shooting guys down a corridor and getting killed cheaply by some grenade over and over again. When I was younger, it was the opposite and I was all about "SHOOT ALL THE THINGS!"

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Humanity

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Quality over quantity is my motto as I grow older.

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chobobot

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Similar situations as other people in this thread. When I was younger I used to play for long hours with a variety of games, but now as I have grown older with a full-time job my gaming time has decreased immensely.

I think in the past 4 months I haven't played any video-games which sucks as I want to get some play time in, but whenever I come home from work I just do not have the energy to play any. I am planning on getting back into it and at least playing an hour each day to keep my reflexes up.

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forkboy

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#27  Edited By forkboy

I mean yeah. I have more money to buy games than when I was a kid and less time to play them. And obviously Steam sales weren't a thing when I was a kid. Oh if only.

As a kid you'd stick with a crap game much longer than I would today because it would take weeks or months until I could afford a new one. And the free time that I do have I don't necessarily want to spend gaming: I follow sports too, if I watch the UFC on a Saturday night that's 5-6 hours gone where a decade ago I'd have spend that time

The biggest change is that I got over my addiction to Football Manager. I'm out. 2012 was the last one I bought, and I haven't loaded that up in years. I do have FM on Android but to be honest it does nothing for me any more

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Fallen189

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When I turned 25 I kinda just stopped playing games. I now play maybe one day a week for 2/3 hours.

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ShaggE

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My main big change is that I don't/can't binge a game from installation to end credits in one sitting anymore. No more 8-10 hour sessions on days off. I *could*, as my job allows for plenty of free time, but I just... don't want to. For far too long, my life WAS games. Now it's more of the hobby that it should be instead of the self-destructive lifestyle that it was.

I mean, games are still a huge thing for me, probably always will be. But I find that I'm almost more interested in following the industry than I am in actually playing games anymore (not that I don't still play a lot of games).

Another big change is that most games I buy end up going unfinished. This is more a symptom of the times than anything, though. I'm not a man of means; in fact, I technically fall under the category of "broke as shit", to use the official terminology. So even into my adulthood, I'd make the most out of each game I bought unless it was irredeemably terrible. But big-name games have been getting dirt cheap in record time these last few years between Steam sales and the console generation transition, so I'm finding myself giving up on games when even the slightest whiff of disinterest grabs me, because I'm only out a few bucks.

That's both good and bad. Good: It scratches the itch of the collector in me, and it leaves me with a ton of rainy-day material. Bad: A lot of great games get short shrift just because I wasn't in the right mood at the time. It also means a lot of "buying games just to buy them", which is not a good habit for a "broke as shit" person. As my addiction to games settles into a more healthy interest, my addiction to growing my collection gets stronger.

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penguindust

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I don't play any competitive online games and few MMO's. Basically, any game where I have to rely on another or anyone has to rely on me is out of the question. I can't play appointment-games anymore because my work schedule demands too much of my focus. I do take time on the weekends in short bursts for gaming, but there I'd rather unwind with an RPG or some similar single-player experience. The biggest change is that I just don't play as much as I used to. It's about priorities for all of my free time hobbies. Gaming must share time with reading, movies, socializing, personal chores and errands, family time, etc...honestly, I wish I could sleep for a week solid and then not have to sleep for the next month in order to get through all the tasks & pleasures I want to complete.

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deactivated-61356eb4a76c8

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I've moved from online FPS and racing games to single-player RPGs and strategy games. I never finish games anymore (I'm trying to get better about that).

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billmcneal

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I have a lot less time than when I was a kid, so a lot of my gaming sessions are 20 minutes or less, and unfortunately, I get to play a lot less games than when I was a kid

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deactivated-64162a4f80e83

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Don't have time/the patience to get good at games anymore. In the past 5 years or so I've found myself favouring easier gameplay settings whereas I used to default to one step above medium about 15 years ago and settled for medium during the Xbox360 generation... now I pretty much always knock the game down to the 'JUST SHOW ME THE STORY MAAAAAN' setting unless it's a sequel to a game I've played before. Basically I enjoy the spectacle of a game, switching off my brain, and ploughing through it with as little obstacles as possible.

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deactivated-63d5c454eb6aa

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I mostly play less than I used to, it's taken me two weeks to put like 6 hours into The Witcher. Every now and then a game really pulls me in and I'll try to make time for it. I got through Dying Light really fast and beat Persona 4 Golden in a few weeks, which is quick for me nowadays.

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hassun

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I'm playing a lot less than I used to. My taste in games has remained pretty much the same.

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BluPotato

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As I've gotten older I've found my attention span for longer games or games that you need to sit down for a few hours at a time to consume has gotten a lot worst. These days I find myself playing games that can be picked up and played repeatedly in shorter sessions, (think FTL, Invisible Inc, ect.) and games that rely more on mechanics than story. Just something I can sit down play for a half hour or so without committing to anything in the long term.

That said, I'm enjoying The Witcher 3 immensely but this might be a exception to the rule, I just with I had more time to commit to it.

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ArbitraryWater

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I don't have quite as much free time as I used to, which is a bummer since my taste in lengthy-ass RPGs has remained mostly the same.

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deactivated-64162a4f80e83

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As I've gotten older I've found my attention span for longer games or games that you need to sit down for a few hours at a time to consume has gotten a lot worst. These days I find myself playing games that can be picked up and played repeatedly in shorter sessions, (think FTL, Invisible Inc, ect.) and games that rely more on mechanics than story. Just something I can sit down play for a half hour or so without committing to anything in the long term.

That said, I'm enjoying The Witcher 3 immensely but this might be a exception to the rule, I just with I had more time to commit to it.

Witcher 3 is the first game in years I've sat down and played multiple long sessions with. It's just so easy to get distracted and it has lots of short story arcs to keep me engaged... I rarely put more than 2hours into a game at a time these days... last Saturday I played 8hours of Witchers 3 with a bathroom break in the middle and hit the 15hour mark that weekend.

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MOAB

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You are as young as you feel. I play more games now than I did as a kid. Well, I might not play more games, but I spend more time with fewer games. Games are just better now.

@humanity said:

Quality over quantity is my motto as I grow older.

yep

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Slag

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I think it's largely inevitable that there will be some changes, well because your life is really different. You've got less time and more responsibilities, and the free time you do have you tend to more tired since you've been bustin all day.

And if you have a family, big epic AAA games are almost completely a non-starter.

But the other thing I think people overlook is that games are different today too. They are so incredibly cheaper than they used to be, there's so much more choice than ever and thanks digital platforms instant gratification is possible in a way that was inconceivable even 7 years ago. Furthermore the advances in game tech are less obvious than it used to be

So you've got a situation where you have significantly less time, you are potentially more tired in free time you do have , but you also have a lot more choice that's pretty inexpensive and easier than ever to get. So I think it's pretty natural to have a lower tolerance than you used to for subpar game experiences.

As for me, the biggest change in my life is platform (pretty much a PC gamer these games) and the way my digital sale created backlog has changed the way I choose what to play. Instead of playing of what I just bought immediately, I tend to rifle my unplayed library until I find something that's suits my mood. So I end up playing very few New Releases, and when I do it's usually months after release.

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super2j

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I graduated out of University. I then spent a year doing nothing but think about what I am going to do next. As a result, for the first time in my life I feel like I have goals and desires. And for some reason, even with ample time, I have not touched a videogame outside of a phone game in what feels like months. I still think about them and I have the desire to "want" to play them but I have not. I much prefer watching lp's of funny people. Concurrently, I also watch less of the unprofessional friday's. I don't know if I am finally bored of all this or if I am "maturing". A term I use to describe myself developing goals and not "growing up and leaving the toys behind".

I feel like if I am bored, all it will take is a cool thing to break me. VR seems to be a strong contender for this. That or maybe metal gear.

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TobbRobb

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I've played so many different games over so many years that at this point, it's too easy to see the cracks in things. It'll take something truly special to grab my attention for long these days. But I definitely still do double digit hour marathons if I have the opportunity and something interesting to play. It's just getting rarer over time.

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ouvintes

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Yes, time, of course, seems to be the main factor. There is just so much going on, so many distractions and "must-see shows" or whatever.

I love games and I'm interested enough in how they work and play that I end up wasting a lot of money on games I will barely play two hours of. This is something I've thought about a lot recently and I have to get better at that. That means also being able to identify the games I know I'm going to stay longer with and invest only in those. I've two kids and live in Brazil so there's less time for games and they are also more expensive. So those are serious limitations that I need to consider.

For some reason I'm being very partial to my Vita recently, where there's a great catalogue of classic and indie games that I can comfortably play in bed. On the PC I'm going for more and more turn-based games that move at a slower pace, those work great when you have kids.

So my conclusion is that I actually need to change my buying habits more, to adapt to my current playing habits. Shouldn't waste money.

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skadave

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One thing I can say is that I have less patience for games since I have gotten older. I will switch a game to EASY and check out a FAQ to figure out a puzzle as soon as I get stuck. If I have an hour to play a game, i don't want to spend it figuring out a dumb puzzle.

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OurSin_360

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Well i'm about to hit 32 and I definitely don't have the patience to finish most games i buy, yet i buy them anyway. I think the witcher 3 will probably be the first 100+ hour game i finish to completion. Once i hit about 90 hrs in games like skyrim for example I end up taking a break and ultimately forgeting how to play the game and never going back, or going back and feeling i have to start over because i can't remember a thing about where i am lol.

I also used to be good at fighting games, but now my hands cramp so bad i can't even do the test your might in MK let alone compete against human opponents lol.

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deactivated-583dfbc21c8a9

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I have absolutely zero patience for "The Grind" anymore. If what I'm doing or the story isn't enjoyable enough to keep me playing I'll move on to something else lickety split.

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Kidavenger

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I haven't really changed how much I play, I've always been pretty random sometimes going months without playing at all sometimes playing 30+ hours a week.

I buy a lot more games now though, most of which I never play.

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014

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I've become very aware that I'm not very good at all at the genre of game that got me into PC gaming in the first place: Strategy. I really suck at RTS, I'm middle of the road in MOBA, and I always lose at tabletop strategy games. The game that got me into PC gaming was Red Alert. After that, my next favorite was Age of Empires II. It's frustrating to suck at RTS games. :( I can still rock the house in a shooter, and that kind of makes me feel unintelligent.

Another difference from quite a few years ago in contrast to now is how many games I play. I have so many games to choose from these days that I miss, to a degree, only having about two games that I play all the time. No longer do I play the same game for 10-20 hours in a week and still want more. Now, I want variety quicker. That also makes me feel like my attention span reduced. (I blame that on the necessity to multitask in an IT environment!)

Overall, though, the good old days weren't better than today in my opinion. With my streaming setup at home, I can basically have a LAN party any night of the week with my friends without the inconvenience of physically moving and setting up our hardware. One of those friends live in another State now.

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amafi

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I don't ever feel like playing shooters like Quake and UT anymore now that I'm an old man. Other than that I'm still into the same stuff I've been into since I was 9 or so.

So lots of text adventures, roguelikes, crpgs, citybuilders and Rick Dangerous-likes.

I'm all over Splatoon though. Best shooter since Q3 rocket arena.