Gaming

I just bought mk10 on sale and was trying to challange myself with a hard difficulty setting but the computer is so frustrating to play, it gave me flashbacks to 9 years old and gripping my snes controller so hard it cracked lol;

i had to wonder to myself, "why am i still doing this?"

41 here…..yes

No... it's normal, I'm 50 and I fell alittle, BUT I got back into it and I'm still going so you should be fine

Yep. There are games I love but only watch now. Rust being one example

You can certainly fall off in some genre of games. But also if you had a pause. I have had a pause of more or less 2 years from not gaming alot and right when I started up again I totally suck at most games.

Are you getting worse at gaming or are you putting less time on intense playing?

I noticed at some point that my gaming habits have changed and I don't have the energy to play for 4-5 hours at one sitting with intense focus on the game.

it's not really your age itself but rather you probably have less time to play as you age due to... life, and that makes your skills worse. I bet if someone was able to game all the time it would take a long time before age is the factor that limits you.

well I haven't gotten old enough to be sure just yet, but I'm 26 and still play a lot of games on just about the hardest difficulty. I have gotten more lenient with myself though so if I start struggling too much I consider whether or not it's worth it to just decrease the difficulty

Depends what you're playing. Your reaction time and things like that definitely decline. So if you're playing competitive shooters or something then yea.

I'm 35 and yeah, I gave up on competitive games a few years ago. My reflexes aren't what they were, and I just don't have the time to learn maps and whatnot anymore. I play chiller games now, ones that I can do at my own pace.

Bro life comes at you fast, it’s why the top game “athletes” are 13-15 years old. By like 24 you’re considered old.

stop caring about being good, just try to have fun thats all

Ooof

Yes. I don't have 5 hours a day to sink into gaming anymore. What free time I do have, I am very selective on what games take up that time now. So when it comes to competitive PVP games, I'm happy if I'm at a 1.0 k/d

Depends on what you're playing, but overall, practice makes perfect.

42 here. I definitely feel the same way. But my focus in gaming has changed to match I guess. I spend far less time playing shooters (which would also explain decline in skill) and more time playing turn based stuff where I can coast and take my time.

The answer to this is going to vary greatly depending on the types of games you like to play.

If we're talking about twitch shooters, then yeah unfortunately reaction speed can decline a bit with age. The gamer hands get tired after a lifetime.

45 here and although I don't play competitive anymore I still play my single player games on hard and still have what it takes to finish them.

I just don't have the time or patience to invest getting sweaty in multiplayer games.

I'm almost 50 and play CS with friends who are a good 12-15 years younger than me and while they are almost always higher on the kill feed I am still able to keep up. I think playing in our older years keeps us sharp

It is probably affected more by time playing than by age. I gave up any sort of competitive game years ago because I just don't have the time to put in to improve like the younger players.

I still play enough that more difficult single player games don't give me trouble, though.

Nah bro you were always trash.

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On a serious note, I am around the same age, and while I dont know if I have really gotten worse, I have 100% lost my "killer instinct" and avoid PvP and competitive multiplayer almost entirely. I game purely to relax now, not dunk on people like the old days.

I’m 28 and SUCK at multiplayer games. Used to be a top player in the world in CoD MW2. I stick to solo player games now. Movement has gotten to slippery and sweats have more time than I ever will. It’s cool that people are making it a “skill?” and making money off of it. Never would have thought as a kid someone would want to watch another play video games.

It's more like you stop caring about being good at something useless and stop putting as much effort into it. I used to spend hours practicing my aim for fps games back in the day, but now that feels like a waste of time so I don't do it as much.

Yes and it's also normal to lose interest.

It is okay to play games on Normal instead of Hard.

It is okay to look up information online.

It is okay to ask others for help.

Sometimes we need to return to our core, and spend some time enjoying a single player game that doesn't care if you're good or not, but cares if you are having fun or not.

Yup.

Slower reflexes, poorer eyesight, substantially less free time...

It all adds up.

Oh, and different tastes, too. At least for me, I never really liked text-based games of any kind, but these days I find myself playing lots of VNs.

30 years old. Never played a multiplayer game and don't intend to ever start so no idea.

Time makes ruin of us all.

There are a couple of ways you can deal with it. One is you keep pushing through but try to become more like a wily veteran with lots of cunning tricks to counteract your stiffening APM/reflexes. Or two, you can switch your tastes to more turn-based strategy or RPG type games. Admit that you are a wise general now rather than a trooper.

I'm 41 and I just beat Sekiro several times.
I had been trying for years and quit again and again.
But now I can say I'm a decent Sekiro player.
Find the game you like and enjoy.

I'm in my 50s and I've never been 133t (I rarely bump the default difficulty level up unless I'm replaying like a NG+ mode). But guess what? That's okay if you're enjoying the games.

I turn 50 in a couple days. Rewind 4-5 years ago and I was legit feeling that my "high quality FPS gaming days" were behind me.

Then I picked up a 32" monitor and I'm back, Baby! I'm better than most people playing and easily in the top 10% of anyone gaming at my age, factoring in the time I have available to play.

I mean it's possible you could just be shot, but more than likely you just need some "performance enhancements" and to play a bit more often.

I'm barely 30 and I'm feeling it down to my bones. Don't have that parry-timing in Sekiro anymore, don't have the half-second thinking for LoL or even some FPS shooters. It's not drastic, but boy, does it feel terrible when a 15-something kicks your ass just because his reflex timing is organically better

I wouldnt say its normal. Your attention span and time should wain but your skill should increase. I was terrible at games when I was a kid and didn't finish any of them because it was about playing with friends and I had the focus of a twit. Now I have the wherewithal to finish challenging games on max difficulty.

I dunno I play FPS lobbies and I still consistently rank at the top of the list almost every game. around your age. last night, lobbie full of 60 kids large scale war type game. #1. lol. pretty terrible at shooting but i make up for that w/ movement and strategy and patience.

I worry about this a little. I still like to play lots of competitive multiplayer games.

It is normal for reflexes to slow a little as you age. Keep exercising and stuff. Tapping heads isn't the only way age is going to affect you.

You don’t have to play if you’re not having fun. I move on to the next when I stop having fun with one, sometimes I pick it up again later.

I'm 60 and still gaming. Sure, I'm not at the level skill wise as a lot of people but I never was even when I was "young". I still can finish games like Elden ring so I won't be hanging up the controller any day soon. As long as you are having fun don't worry about your perceived skill level with someone younger.

42 here. I COULD still play games that get my adrenaline going and get “sweaty” as the kids say. At this point in my life that’s not a fun time anymore. I have enough aggravation in daily life that I just want a chill casual experience to unwind. I do calm games like The Talos Principle, Satisfactory, Conan Exiles...

Hello fellow person my age lol. Ive never really stopped gaming. Never had kids or took breaks. I noticed last year when playing God of War Ragnarok...I was getting my ass handed to me, and I was confused cause the first (new) GoW was pretty challenging, but I beat it all on normal (Except the last Valkyrie boss) but this one had to struggling. I lowered the difficulty about 90% through and beat it and feel bad. I also have no patience for Souls-like games, tried Mortal Shell, Lies of P, and couldnt tell if i just had no patience or if I sucked ass.

But then flip over to fighting games where I grew up on, I can still do everything to my ability on SF6 and MK1 right now playing those. I'm not Diago or SonicFox but I can still hang. So idk. I feel like the older we get, the more we think about other shit that 40yr olds think about. I was playing SF4 professionally and won a few small tournaments when I was like...idk..28/29 and then even when Injustice 1 came out I was 33 and that is all I could focus on, but now I can't tell if its life or just natural decline...but I will be gaming until I die so....

In my 50's and I'm as good as ever. I'd never change my settings to make a game easier.

If you don’t proactively play a lot or play the game to be the best, then yeah.

I’m 30 and I run high level keys in wow and also play CS2 and am pretty good. I’m not like crazy nuts but I think I’m a lot better than average. I fall off quick when I don’t play CS2 for a bit. There’s a lot of skill that goes into it

Yes same boat. I'm terrible at games now. Couldn't even finish tears of the kingdom.

39 here. I can still hold my own in counterstrike / quake 3 arena. We will see how long that lasts, hah! I plan on flicking the AWP until I'm a shriveled old man.

Yeah, I’m close in age and I feel like my reflexes have slowed a bit. I can’t really play online shooters anymore because I just get my ass handed to me. I stick with single player games nowadays. Though Malenia still wrecks me with ease.

That’s your subconscious telling you: “I’m a grown up now, I need to start acting like one”.

I fell off when I started college