I thought I was a PC gamer ?

[aclim]

I'm 30 and still like gaming. Although I tend to play older games like Civ 4 and UT 2004. Not sure why I have a 5850...

haha im the same way. I play Quake Live and Quake 3 pretty much exclusively still. Only recent game that barely challenges my system is BFBC2 that I play on occasion.

 

[SaltBoy]

I'm 34 and just downloaded the MW2 multiplayer for the weekend.

Holy crap - I've never seen a more ADD-based game in my life. If this is what Modern Warfare is really like, our troops are in a world of hurt.

 

[frozentundra123456]

You will be back...trust me on this one. I have been PC gaming since the late 70's and finally reached the age of 72.


Wow, figured I was one of the oldest on the forums. I will be 62 in a couple of months. Hope that I can still be gaming at 72 like you are.

I think I am in one of the low points of my PC gaming status now, dont see that many good games coming up to look forward to. Mass Effect 2 was the last game that I really thought was outstanding and a lot of fun to play. Was disappointed greatly in MW2 and have not tried Sup Commander 2 or Command and Conquer 4. I was looking forward to those, but since the reviews are mixed on worse, I will wait till the price comes down.

 

[Tremulant]

I'm 25 and I've just been too busy with school, work and life to really sit down and play videogames. I've also come to only enjoy games when I'm playing with others. I can't just sit there and play an RPG all day anymore.. I get bored too quickly.

On that note, I did spend 6 hours playing EQ2 yesterday with a friend. I wouldn't play the game alone, but with others it's fun. It was a nice break for me, since I'd spent the last week and a half packing boxes and moving most of my stuff to my new place.

 

[Golgatha]

Quote:
Originally Posted by KeithTalent View Post
Definitely this, though I don't quite have the latest hardware. So many games I get bored with, the only one I can keep playing consistently is TF2 for some reason.

KT
This.

Quote:
I'm getting older and have bought the latest hardware to play the latest games but don't have the same interest and patience that I used to have when I was younger. I seem to get bored with games much faster than I used to.
And this.

I'm 31 going on 32 in a few days. I also have 2 boys, a wife, and a life outside of gaming. Lately, all my gaming time has been spent playing Aion. I did take a break for Final Fantasy XIII and God of War 3 though. Still, this thread really got me thinking and I'm in pretty much the same place as everyone else here. Group hug!

Anyway, a bunch of friends and I came to a conclusion about gaming yesterday. We found it ironic we had all the time in the world as kids to play the few games we could afford to buy or rent, and now that we have all the resources necessary to buy and play pretty much anything we want to...we just don't have the time.

All that said, I have pretty much replaced all forms of electronic entertainment with playing games. So much so that my wife and I will probably not get any kind of paid TV setup for our next house. Also, because of having young boys, I really get a lot of enjoyment out of casual games like Boom Blox, Wii Sports Resort, and the Lego Star Wars/Batman/Indiana Jones games because my oldest son (age 6) is able to play with or against me. Still, I get more enjoyment out of doing Karate with him, pitching to him to work on his baseball hitting, or just hanging at the park with the family. Video games are still very much present in my life, but they are just much less of a priority anymore and TV watching is pretty much zero priority.

 

[crownjules]

I've just turned 28. Started gaming back on the NES and an old 286 my dad borrowed from work. I didn't really start getting into PC gaming until we bought our own 486 and I got Doom and Simcity 2000.

Nowadays, I have an Xbox 360 at my GF's mostly as a DVD player. Most of my gaming is done on my PC at my place and it's usually multiplayer games. Right now, League of Legends and TF2 dominate my playtime. But I agree with the sentiment that as I get older, I have less patience to deal with games and I get bored with them a lot faster. I don't think this is just due to getting older but also the fact that games focus far less on gameplay these days. It's all flash and glitter and the EPIC (but redundant and hollow) storyline and game experience

 

[CU]

It all has to do with time for me. At 32 with a wife and two boys (2 and 4), I just cannot find the time. Heck I quit WOW because it didn't seem fair to the raid group to say hold on my son <1 at the time is crying be back in 5min or so.

I still find games interesting though and cannot wait to have time to start back up. Just wish my kids were older and could play to. Just need to fast forward about 5 years or so.

Golgatha do your kids watch any TV if so what? As that is the only reason I see to have a paid TV setup anymore. And yes we go outside and play or do puzzles and books, but sometimes the TV helps while you cook dinner or pay the bills, or any of the other things that have to be done. They sit, they watch, and no fights over who knocked over my tower or who took my toy.

Also my brother 31 and single buys lots of games and finishes them before I have time to get through the first level, and he plays WOW all the time. So, I think time is the key factor.

 

[Genx87]

Beeen going through this for about a year. Gaming just doesnt seem to interest me anymore. I tried Modern Warfare 2 yesterday. It had some entertainment value for an hour. Then got old really really fast. I remember playing Tribes for 13 hour marathons back in college. I can barely sit down for 20 mins on these new games without quitting out of frustration or boredom.

 

[Golgatha]

Golgatha do your kids watch any TV if so what? As that is the only reason I see to have a paid TV setup anymore. And yes we go outside and play or do puzzles and books, but sometimes the TV helps while you cook dinner or pay the bills, or any of the other things that have to be done. They sit, they watch, and no fights over who knocked over my tower or who took my toy.

That's the only reason for us to have paid TV too. My younger son (age 3) watches mainly PBS shows and some Thomas the Tank Engine videos we have. Those are available OTA, so really we just need to buy a DVR and call it good. Now that his attention span is a bit better (the 3 year old), we can sit down and watch Disney movies and such too as a family.

My boys just like to watch cartoons, but they couldn't care less if they're current or not, so we use our HTPC to play free content off the Internet, get free cartoon rentals from our local Family Video store, get stuff from the library, and borrow DVDs from my wife's friends in her Mother's and More group. We do let them watch some of the paid-for cartoon channels, but they are annoying to both parents and kids alike with all the commercial breaks and inability to watch what we want when we want.

I imagine that in a couple of years, the boys could play some board games to keep them entertained while we cook, etc. too. Really, having 2 boys makes it a bit easier because they can just play with each other and there are a few neighborhood kids for each to play with as well. Really, spring, summer, and fall are easy seasons to find something to do during other than watching TV. In the winter and on rainy days we play board games, watch disc based media, or learn something new on the Internet the good majority of the time...oh yeah, we game together as well (envisions a day when there is a permanent 3 person LAN setup in the basement)!

 

[CU]

That's the only reason for us to have paid TV too. My younger son (age 3) watches mainly PBS shows and some Thomas the Tank Engine videos we have. Those are available OTA, so really we just need to buy a DVR and call it good. Now that his attention span is a bit better (the 3 year old), we can sit down and watch Disney movies and such too as a family.

My boys just like to watch cartoons, but they couldn't care less if they're current or not, so we use our HTPC to play free content off the Internet, get free cartoon rentals from our local Family Video store, get stuff from the library, and borrow DVDs from my wife's friends in her Mother's and More group. We do let them watch some of the paid-for cartoon channels, but they are annoying to both parents and kids alike with all the commercial breaks and inability to watch what we want when we want.

I imagine that in a couple of years, the boys could play some board games to keep them entertained while we cook, etc. too. Really, having 2 boys makes it a bit easier because they can just play with each other and there are a few neighborhood kids for each to play with as well. Really, spring, summer, and fall are easy seasons to find something to do during other than watching TV. In the winter and on rainy days we play board games, watch disc based media, or learn something new on the Internet the good majority of the time...oh yeah, we game together as well (envisions a day when there is a permanent 3 person LAN setup in the basement)!

Yeah they watch PBS for Thomas and some other shows, Now if Disney was OTA it would be great. They both love Chuggington. I have been considering building a cheap low-end HTPC out of old parts would also be good for old school gaming. Sounds like that helped you out. What do you use hardware and software wise for your HTPC? Needs to be simple for the wife. We also go the library once a week for books and free movies and borrow from friends. We even have a VCR hooked up for some old tapes my wife and I watched when were kids. The kids don't care what a 20+ year old vcr tape on a 1080p plasma looks like as long as it plays. I would like to know what Family Video store has free cartoon rentals though.

My oldest will play vsmile some and loves computer cool school. So video games are not real far off. I expect to be into consoles again soon and then move over to PC games. It's like reliving your child hood. He and I both can't wait to he can start playing with the smaller legos age 7+. And yes the permanent lan room is one of my dreams. Not sure what my wife will do. She played Diablo I with me years ago. But she picked up everything and wanted to go to town to sell the stuff even when the stuff was worth less than the tp scroll.

I think kids will bring most of us back to games for the ones that don't ever have kids I don't know.

 

[pathos]

I'm no where near involved in gaming as I used to be. And I've even spread out my hobby across all platforms as well.

Mine is probably a mixture of things though. I am older (39), and alot of the things I used to do as a wee lad just aren't nearly as interesting.

But, It's the industries fault as well, considering that they really don't games that I like anymore. Or, so rarely that it amounts to the same thing.

My main interest is turn based rpg's and stategy games. Games in the last year that I've enjoyed - Dragon Age, and to a lesser extent, Mass Effect 2.

But, when it all comes down to it, I blame myself. Me, because apparently I only like genre's that everyone in the world besides me hates, that don't sell, and loses money. (or else we'd be getting more of those games).

 

[cecco]

I'm going through the same thing right now. It has been a few years in the making, but it has been getting progressively worse. I started back on the C64, went through all the consoles in between and now own a Wii, PS3 and three actively used PCs. Though I can relate to the "games are not as addicting" crowd, I found time to be the bigger issue. I still want to play, but the little things in life get in the way. Washing the car, making dinner, taking the girls to ballet, baby wakes up just as you are sitting down in front of the keyboard moment, etc.

The choice to do the responsible thing is obvious here and rightly so, gaming takes the backseat to life's other joys. Still, I find myself helplessly drawn by Steam deals and may have purchased more games than I can handle, but It is who I am, and as long as I take care of what's important first, I know gaming will always be there to give an out from life's realities.

I'm kind of relieved I ran into this thread, it puts me at ease for some reason knowing that others are going through the same thing. I've gone through some remarkable changes in life and yet gaming, among other things, has always been there. I guess when that begins to change it is no wonder we stop to ponder and reflect back.

Today is my Friday. Here is to hoping that when everyone is asleep tonight I can get some time with FFXIII or give an ass whooping to my bro in SC2.

gg, everyone

 

[TridenT]

A lot of recent games blow.

I usually stick with a few multiplayer games that I like and repeatedly play them. So far DoW2 has sort of justified my hardware, which I have apparently played a total of 250 hours now. Not too into BC2 but it makes use of the quad-core and I play it somewhat often.

This.

I stick with very few multiplayer games and just play them, and mostly them. For instance: Diablo 2, Dota in WC3(Now replaced to HoN), and maybe some random FPS game(These usually don't have as much replay value/entertainment to me).

I've lost interest in many games. I just keep thinking about how awesome all the games I used to play were... Simants... SimTowers... The Sims... Jedi Knights Dark Forces 2... StarCraft... tons of other games... Maybe I just played really really good games and all the games now really suck... :hmm:

 

[Jhatfie]

Pretty much the same story here as well. I am 36 this year and have been playing video games from the Atari 2600 and TI-99 up through the original Nintendo, Sega Master System, Genesis, Sega CD, SNES, N64, Saturn, Playstation, Dreamcast, Jaguar, Xbox, Xbox 360, DS, DS Lite, PSP, PS3. That and consistant PC gaming for over a decade usually with close to top of the line hardware at any given time.

I think like most that it comes down to time, being a adult means less time for yourself and thus entertainment suffers. I often work 50-60 hour work weeks and I have a wife, two kids and two dogs. All require and demand attention. Throw in house cleaning, yard work, visiting family, trying to get outside to do stuff with the kids, working out, etc and usually there is little to no time left. I find myself tired.

It is not just games, I find that movies and TV bore me a lot as well unless they happen to be good. Mediocre just does not suffice any more. Been there, done that, I need some new stimulation.

Now that being said after feeling not to interested in games the last year or so, I have gotting in some good gaming lately. Dragon Age, Mass Effect 2 and Borderlands have been very fun to play. Batman AA was pretty good and so was Torchlight. I picked up Battlefield BC2 and so far it has been a blast, although I am a bit rusty at FPS as most my rare free gaming time the last couple years was playing WoW.

 

[AzN]

I still play but yeah I don't play too many games unless it's an A title.

The only game I really play is BF2 consistently.

I'm 34.

 

[VashHT]

Why do people think this is weird at all? Gaming is a hobby and everyone's interests in their hobbies wax and wane as they go through life. If you're getting kind of bored with it then focus on something else for a while, you'll come back to it eventually.

BTW I'm 25 and I've done this a few times, it's best to keep other hobbies as well so you don't burn yourself out gaming constantly. Sometimes I think gamers are obsessed with being identified as gamers, and they obsessively play even when they're bored to keep that identification.

 

[ronach]

frozentundra123456,
Pick up BFBC2 and get in on the fun. Look for ( sgtjeep )..that's me, I need a fresh newbie so I can rack up some points..heh. I will take it easy on you..really..heh. You other young guys..give ole sgtjeep some slack will you..geees. See you all in the game.

 

[cplpro]

So true @ VashHT

I finished FF XIII and did some missions, but it takes so damn long to skill your party and do all missions.
Now I take a break and return to it later.
I play BC2 with some friends, because alone BF is really boring I believe (played BF2 all alone).

So maybe you really need to take a break and do other things for a while

 

[Edge1]

Well I'm 43 and began gaming on a PC with the Commodore 64. Took a long period off during/after college. Fell in the love with gaming again with NFS 3. I'm time limited as I am a professional with 2 kids, a wife, a dog, etc. I get an occasional bout of disinterest in gaming but usually I revisit a game that may have grown stale and it seems to gain life again. The Witcher (fun, great game) was like that for me at first. I like everything from FPS to Strategy to RPG. RPGs are actually becoming a latent favorite. One thing I don't do is get burned out. I'm way too busy and can never pull an "all nighter". So for me spacing it out and seeing a game with fresh new eyes seems to help. I barely watch TV and its usually with a groan as my wife asks me to watch something with her .

 

[spittledip]

I am 35 and started gaming about 20 years ago on a Tandy 1000. Being married and working full time does not leave much time for gaming. Plus I like to do other things as well... I also tend to like only a handful of games, so that makes it easier. Right now I am just playing TF2 and COD1 (MP), maybe about 4 to 8 hours a week.

 

[vshah]

my biggest problem is finding people of my age to play the games I like with, and i'm only 24

 

[spinejam]

I'm 42 and noticed i just don't have the time for extended periods of gaming anymore. UT and Quake III CTF all nighters no longer exist and with the newer games, if you're not playing often you will get pwned! The only games I've been playing recently are Frontlines FOW (PC) and some wii games w/ my son. I still enjoy gaming though. -- (when I have the time)

 

[conorvansmack]

I think I'm in a similar boat: 32, married, 10 month old son. I'd be surprised if I spend 2 hours/week gaming. There aren't that many titles that excite me. The promise of Portal 2 and HL2 episode 3 keep me interested. I'm content to play games that are a year or two old. I've never really liked fast-twitch multiplayer games, I prefer a decent storyline and a game that looks good. The Prince of Persia sands of time trilogy was a good time. The most recent Prince of Persia (2008) was fun, but the new movie tie-in does nothing for me.

 

[ibex333]

Kreidel, I feel in a similar way.

For me, it's a combinatin of both factors you mentioned. First, games are indeed not what they used to be for the most part. Sure, there are some exceptional titles such as Dragonage, STALKER or Metro 2033, but even these games are somewhat lacking in "soul" although they come pretty damn close to what I enjoyed when I was in my teens.

The second factor is probably not so much the age itself but the responsibilities that come with age. I started realizing lately, that I spent my life playing video games, instead of looking for a nice girl, trying to get a good job/education, working out or trying to improve myself in some way. I turned into an antisocial freak, incapable of feeling comfortable in large crowds, parties or while talking to girls. Altough I am not fat by a long shot, I grew a belly, and I am in a pretty bad physical shape. I used to play basketball, and I used to be pretty damn good (for a white boy), but now, I can barely last 5 minutes on a court!!! I used to rollerblade like a manic, all day, even able to do some tricks.... Now I cant even stand on these things.

I realized the error in my ways, and despite great fear and anxiety, I came back to college, which I really regretted at 1st, but then I somehow got pulled in. I started working out, and I am now in much better shape. I even dated a few girls, although there is mostly no luck in that deppt. The most important thing is that I simply got no time for games! I work from 9am to 5:30pm, and when I get off work, I go straight to the gym. By the time I get home, it's 9pm and I am tired like a dog. The only thing I can do is either do some homework for college since it's piling up like crazy, or drop to bed and fall to sleep within minutes. Sometimes I WANT to sit down and play a game for a change, but most of the time I simply CANT! Only two games I played lately are Dawn of War 2, and RUSE beta. Dow2 seems like it's garbage at 1st, but after a while it gets really good. (Not as good as the original off course) RUSE, is so damn good it actually "almost" pulled me in as much as those older games I used to enjoy. I am looking forward to the full game coming out.

 

[shrumpage]

Just turned 33, just going to echo the same stuff.

I still play games, but not nearly to the degree I used. Family, work, just general life has replaced all that free time. I've ramped up my exercise which just takes more time. The weather is getting better, so if its not raining and above freezing the family and I are doing something outside. In the last couple of years, I've rediscovered my love reading, which competes directly for that spare time.

Plus there is nothing that really grabs my attention in gaming, or very rarely does. I remember anxiously waiting for Half-life, with its add-on Team-fortress, that doesn't happen anymore.

just my 2 cents.