am i getting too old for gaming?

N

nobody_here

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Feb 1, 2006
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ok, i'm 30, wife, kids, whole nine yards, so i get a total of maybe two hours collectively a week to play games

but i am recently noticing, like for instance, in every online game i ever tried to play on the PC, i completely suck compared to most

and now that i put away the PC for a 360, i am noticing, i seem to suck still

like, i have had my 360 for about a year or so now, and my gamerscore is 310........just how the hell do people have a gamerscore of 15000 ...???!! i dont get it......like they put in a game and already know how to play it, like going through Gow in 12 hours or less.....get the fuck outta town!!! i have more time than that in getting through Act 1 !!!!!!!!!

310.......and i look around, and as i chat with people, i come to see that the only people with a gamerscore that low are people who have only had their 360 for a week,,,,

so i was playing PGR3 with a few cool guys tonight, asked them how much time they spend a week playing PGR3....and the answer was......6 hours a day during the week and 10-12 hours a day on weekends, if not more........

and i was like WTF? do these people have lives or do they spend all their time playing the 360? like how does somebody even afford to have a 360 if all they do is sit around and play video games......

and trust me, money is not the issue here, i make plenty, more than i probably should, but still.......

so anyways, i just dont get how people beat a game like GoW in like 12 hours, when i have had the game since Nov 9th and have only gotten past Act 1 on casual......

i just really dont understand what it must be like to have the time to play games that much....i mean, are there really that many people with no life outside of a TV?

or is it just my age? am i just reaching that point where my kids will be waxing my ass soon?

:confused: :confused: :confused:
 
yes... people spend all their lives playing video games... you will get to a point where you will lose interest in video games.

also younger people tend to, if all other qualities being equal(experience and waht not) have faster reaction.
 
Reflexes begin to wane as we get older. There are some that defy this, though I think they're few and far between.

Odds are, if you're dedicated to mastering a video game, you probably aren't traveling down the right "life path". Take pride in your abysmal score -- you have more important things to concern yourself with.
 
phide said:
Reflexes begin to wane as we get older. There are some that defy this, though I think they're few and far between.

Odds are, if you're dedicated to mastering a video game, you probably aren't traveling down the right "life path". Take pride in your abysmal score -- you have more important things to concern yourself with.
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the thing is, on xbox live, especially halo, I've noticed that if you suck, people will be throwing every single racial slur, curse word, insult, etc. under the sun at you. it's rather immature.
 
fromage said:
the thing is, on xbox live, especially halo, I've noticed that if you suck, people will be throwing every single racial slur, curse word, insult, etc. under the sun at you. it's rather immature.
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Little kids have lightning fast reactions, easily trained minds (when presented with a repetitive task), and extremely limited vocabularies.

They will thrash you with their (well practiced) Plasma Pistol + Battle Rifle combo faster than you can even realize you are being thrashed, and then barrage you with a flurry of insults based on a dictionary of ~25 vulgarities and slurs.

My suggestion to you would be to set your gamercard to "Casual" gamer, and enjoy playing with other people who aren't apocalyptic killing machines either.
 
This is where I would tell you to get a DS Lite, but youd just crap on that idea. Its enough gaming for the 'older' gamer to enjoy. Its why its the only thing I play.

Playing mario 2 just a few mins ago, great stuff. (yes, I know mario 2 was actually doku panic or whatever, and dont care).
 
phide said:
Reflexes begin to wane as we get older. There are some that defy this, though I think they're few and far between.

Odds are, if you're dedicated to mastering a video game, you probably aren't traveling down the right "life path". Take pride in your abysmal score -- you have more important things to concern yourself with.
Click to expand...


oh of course, which is why i only get maybe an hour or two a week to play, because everything comes before gaming, but it's just hard for me to fathom people having enough disposable time to do the things they do on games......it's just unreal...... :confused:
 
i'm 27, and I beat gears of war in one day sitting playing co-op with a friend.

8 hours total was all it took from start to finish...no joking.

If you've spent 12 hours on act 1 I don't know what to tell you.

The fun in gaming is being competitive and when you start losing in all competitions the fun stops for most. I too have noticed my reflexes aren't as fast in games...and though I still have fun I can see where if I start to really suck at all online games the interest to play them will dwindle.

I've had my console since launch day as well and have a gamerscore of only 3700.

I can't hardly understand how you only have 310 unless you have games that are impossible to get points in like Perfect Dark Zero, 99 Nights, PGR3, etc.

Some games throw you the points in spades...Beating the excellent game, Fight Night Round three gives you 1000 points. No 10,000 kill achievments or anything...Play about 10 hours and you have 1000 points.
 
To the original poster, when did you first start playing video games? A lot of us are adept at gaming not only because we play for longer than we should, but because we grew up on games... I for one started in the NES days where I spent my whole childhood jumping over bowser and saving the princess. :D
 
one of the servers that i have frequented for the battlefield series [first started playing 1942 there about 4 years back and ive been there since] has several members in theis 30's/40's....many of who have kids/wife/job. theyre decent, because they obviously cant dedicate time like i can. i dont think you can ever get too old imo, isnt there like an 80 year old grandma who is a gaming pro?
 
Archaea said:
i'm 27, and I beat gears of war in one day sitting playing co-op with a friend.

8 hours total was all it took from start to finish...no joking.

If you've spent 12 hours on act 1 I don't know what to tell you.

The fun in gaming is being competitive and when you start losing in all competitions the fun stops for most. I too have noticed my reflexes aren't as fast in games...and though I still have fun I can see where if I start to really suck at all online games the interest to play them will dwindle.

I've had my console since launch day as well and have a gamerscore of only 3700.

I can't hardly understand how you only have 310 unless you have games that are impossible to get points in like Perfect Dark Zero, 99 Nights, PGR3, etc.

Some games throw you the points in spades...Beating the excellent game, Fight Night Round three gives you 1000 points. No 10,000 kill achievments or anything...Play about 10 hours and you have 1000 points.
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what i wonder is what sort of responsibilities do you have? i mean, not to call you out, but, seriously, what kind of life do you have to have this much time to play games to be so good?

i think i have figured it out for the most part

i have come to the conclusion that the vast majority of people into this gaming thing either A. have no responsibilities or no social life outside of gaming, or B. are in the 12-16 yr old range and have nothing better to do with their time and mommy and daddy "afford them" the time and things to spend their days accomplishing nothing

i personally want to spend time with things that really matter, like my career, my wife, and my kids, because when the day is done, video gaming achievements get you nowhere in life unless you happen to be that one single guy that happens to be "the best", and even then, it wont carry you through life, even Wendell will need a real job or career at some point ;)
 
I gave up on pc gaming when it became readily apparent that the cottage cheating industry was completely out of control and most people had absolutely no interest in getting good by themselves.
 
jaguax said:
To the original poster, when did you first start playing video games? A lot of us are adept at gaming not only because we play for longer than we should, but because we grew up on games... I for one started in the NES days where I spent my whole childhood jumping over bowser and saving the princess. :D
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lets put it this way

i was gaming to "Bouncing Babies" when it ran on a PC that ran 4.77Mhz with an amber monochrome monitor, the Coleco Vision was the first console i can remember
 
fromage said:
the thing is, on xbox live, especially halo, I've noticed that if you suck, people will be throwing every single racial slur, curse word, insult, etc. under the sun at you. it's rather immature.
Click to expand...

Same goes for CSS. They're incredibly abrasive and unforgiving towards n00bs ...

Everybody's a n00b sometime, guys. Don't pick on people, it's not nice. :rolleyes:
 
nobody_here said:
i personally want to spend time with things that really matter, like my career, my wife, and my kids, because when the day is done, video gaming achievements get you nowhere in life unless you happen to be that one single guy that happens to be "the best", and even then, it wont carry you through life, even Wendell will need a real job or career at some point ;)
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but you're still here posting..
 
I really don't believe gamerscores and the number of hours you put into a game should really be important to people. I've had my Xbox 360 for about 3 months, and I only have a gamerscore of 600 to this post.

I only have three games (four if you want to count Pocket Bike Racer), and I've only finished one. I don't see a reason why I should force myself to play a game to attain achievements that will do nothing for me. That's not fun.

I did the Halo thing when it first came out, and I've only played matches on Xbox Live (without people on my friends list) a handful of times. I just got tired of the insults and cheating. If you want to have a good time, playing with people you know is usually the best way.

You asked if you were getting too old for gaming, and I would have to disagree, but you could be loosing your interest in it. I know gamers that are much older than you, so it has nothing to do with age. It sounds more like you have a dislike for a part of the gaming culture.

Then again, you could just be turning into an old fart. :D
 
it comes down to how much time you have available. I'm 30 hours into FF12 and I've had it since day one, and I'm pretty sure i'm not even halfway through the story. I still haven't beaten Titan Quest and I bought it over 2 months ago. I tend to take my time with games nowadays insteaed of rushing through

I JUST got 5,000 points in my BF2 account, after having had the game since the day it came out! I wish I had more time to get through more games, but 40 a week, a wife, going to the gym and trying to play music all take chunks out of my time.
 
^ Try making friends and playing on their servers.

Seriously... Don't mean to sound harsh, but there are good people out there, both in real life and the internet.
 
To the Op...
There aint nothing wrong, just a lack of time.
2 hours a week isnt going to get those gaming muscles back in shape so you wont be able to compete.
If this is putting you off playing games, find some decent single player games until you can put a bit more time in.

oh yeah, well done for having enough of a life so that gaming isnt your major priority :)
 
Chernobyl1 said:
To the Op...
There aint nothing wrong, just a lack of time.
2 hours a week isnt going to get those gaming muscles back in shape so you wont be able to compete.
If this is putting you off playing games, find some decent single player games until you can put a bit more time in.
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yeah, i just try to enjoy single player games now, but it just friggin erks me when i see people saying they completed an entire game in 10 hours when i have only made it 1/10th through in the same amount of time, collectively of course, but still, i am a perfectionist, as told by a professional, and it just literally kills me to think i completely suck at anything, i mean, there will always be someone better, but i just dont get it, the only way all these people have enough time to get such high gamerscores on XBL is if they have no other responsibilities and spend all their free time playing......it's almost sickening to be honest

i am almost to the point where i am ready to sell every gaming item i have and say fuck it and build a racecar, i need to find something i am good at
 
lol, I quite like it when a good game takes longer to play.
If you havent got the time, I can see how you might never finish a game, sorta like being left behind.

Get the best out of the games you can I reckon :)
 
Chernobyl1 said:
lol, I quite like it when a good game takes longer to play.
If you havent got the time, I can see how you might never finish a game, sorta like being left behind.

Get the best out of the games you can I reckon :)
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i think i am fixing to get the most $$ out of it i can
 
Chernobyl1 said:
Dont do anything too rash, the way you feel may be very different another day.
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trust me, days are weeks to me, i could give a shit less, i could sell this bastard and buy a new one a week later if i wanted
;)
 
I'm 19 and I love games, always have. The day my dad gave me a super nintendo was the founding day of my gaming lifestyle, I swear I picked up that controller and beat Super Mario World in two days. Since then, picking up a game and playing it was as easy as 123. Manual? What Manual? :D Years later I'm still here honing my skills in the games I'm focused on...which eventually die when I find something new and interesting. I went through the Starcraft phase, the Halo phase, CS 1.6 phase....now the CSS/BF phase which is about to change soon enough....but I know there will be a time when I start breaking down, both in time and skill....until then though...watch your back, you might get knifed by TheRiddlinKid . ;)
 
Riddlinkidstoner said:
I'm 19 and I love games, always have. The day my dad gave me a super nintendo was the founding day of my gaming lifestyle, I swear I picked up that controller and beat Super Mario World in two days. Since then, picking up a game and playing it was as easy as 123. Manual? What Manual? :D Years later I'm still here honing my skills in the games I'm focused on...which eventually die when I find something new and interesting. I went through the Starcraft phase, the Halo phase, CS 1.6 phase....now the CSS/BF phase which is about to change soon enough....but I know there will be a time when I start breaking down, both in time and skill....until then though...watch your back, you might get knifed by TheRiddlinKid . ;)
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I felt like I stumbled into an advertisement of some kind while reading this.
 
One thing I've noticed, is 10-12 year olds are AWESOME at games for some reason.. I dont know if its something pre-pubescent or what.. but they just KICKASS at games.. A LOT of the more 1337 gamers I find are in that age range..
 
Its the ability to multitask a billion fold that you may not keep, or keep as much when you get older.
Reaction times also slow with age so you can imagine at that age they will be pretty quick!
 
I'm 27.. ehh... almost 28.... married... 2 boys...Still a gamer.. I don't play as often, and I notice that I don't enjoy playing online fps as much anymore... But I still play as much as possible with out neglecting my family. I'm looking forward to teaching my 5 year old how to play starcraft when he gets a little older.

I really enjoy single player games; as you don't feel the need as much to spend as much time playing them...
It took me about 6 months to finish F.E.A.R, but it was great! besides, at $50 a game I feel like I get my moneys worth out of it, as compered to playing it like I would of years ago (a couple of days...)
 
Astrogiblet said:
One thing I've noticed, is 10-12 year olds are AWESOME at games for some reason.. I dont know if its something pre-pubescent or what.. but they just KICKASS at games.. A LOT of the more 1337 gamers I find are in that age range..
Click to expand...
This is generally the age range at which the most impressive race car drivers begin their racing career with go-karts or the like. It's a strange thing, but there are periods in child development that are particularly fast (mentally speaking, anyway), and 10-12 is about the apex. A motivated 10-year-old child can learn Icelandic in a heartbeat. Amazing stuff.

I started gaming with the Atari 2600 in the late 80's, moved through the Nintendo/Sega era with sore thumbs and have been gaming on both PCs and consoles ever since the advent of id Software games, and to this day, I am absolutely horrendous at most games. For a while there, I could hold my own in CS:S, but that's the only online game I've truly ever grasped well.
 
nobody_here said:
what i wonder is what sort of responsibilities do you have? i mean, not to call you out, but, seriously, what kind of life do you have to have this much time to play games to be so good?

i think i have figured it out for the most part

i have come to the conclusion that the vast majority of people into this gaming thing either A. have no responsibilities or no social life outside of gaming, or B. are in the 12-16 yr old range and have nothing better to do with their time and mommy and daddy "afford them" the time and things to spend their days accomplishing nothing

i personally want to spend time with things that really matter, like my career, my wife, and my kids, because when the day is done, video gaming achievements get you nowhere in life unless you happen to be that one single guy that happens to be "the best", and even then, it wont carry you through life, even Wendell will need a real job or career at some point ;)
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If you know all of this then why are you whining so? I am 40 now and while I love games (I spent 14 hours in 35 degree weather to get a Wii and Zelda) I know that I am going to be beat by teens that have no responsibilties other than wiping their ass, putting food in their mouths, and not being a burden on their parents. GET OVER IT! I'll guarantee that your "SEX score" probably eclipses any "Gamer Score" ever. And if your "SEX Score" isn't good enough for you then your "FAMILY Score" should suffice. I personally plan on having the coolest wheelchair on the planet when I get old, with a built in Gamecube, SNES, X-Box, Xbox360, PS2, PS3, and any other console that has a game I didn't get to play while I was raising my daughters. I'll probably be totally arthritec (?) so I will need the brain band controller that one of my daughters will perfect to be able to play anything. ;)
 
I'm 15 and I beat GOW on casual in under 6 hours, I dont really play it that much, I beat the campaign and those were the only 6 hours I'd played for
 
I don't care much for my gamerscore, and I don't try to get as many points as I can. My goal is always to just enjoy the game. GoW, well I am done with that. Won't boot it up again till a buddy comes over. Didn't get much in the way of a gamerscore.

I'm 27, wife, kid, mortgage. My goal is to beat as many games as possible in the time I have.. I have about 10~15 hours a week. By no means do I suck, I just finished every Wii game I got at launch minus Zelda. And in between all of that I finished Guitar Hero II. I think I put in more time this week because of the Wii. I don't think I will play more over the weekend. I have a small project and I have to cook for SpanksGiving.

No, wait... some friends are coming over and we're gonna game all Friday.

Bottom line: As long as you had a good time with the game, with whatever time you had, who cares what the gamerscore is?

(Right now trying to get "S" rank in every operation on Trauma Center)
 
nobody_here said:
ok, i'm 30, wife, kids, whole nine yards, so i get a total of maybe two hours collectively a week to play games

but i am recently noticing, like for instance, in every online game i ever tried to play on the PC, i completely suck compared to most

and now that i put away the PC for a 360, i am noticing, i seem to suck still

like, i have had my 360 for about a year or so now, and my gamerscore is 310........just how the hell do people have a gamerscore of 15000 ...???!! i dont get it......like they put in a game and already know how to play it, like going through Gow in 12 hours or less.....get the fuck outta town!!! i have more time than that in getting through Act 1 !!!!!!!!!

310.......and i look around, and as i chat with people, i come to see that the only people with a gamerscore that low are people who have only had their 360 for a week,,,,

so i was playing PGR3 with a few cool guys tonight, asked them how much time they spend a week playing PGR3....and the answer was......6 hours a day during the week and 10-12 hours a day on weekends, if not more........

and i was like WTF? do these people have lives or do they spend all their time playing the 360? like how does somebody even afford to have a 360 if all they do is sit around and play video games......

and trust me, money is not the issue here, i make plenty, more than i probably should, but still.......

so anyways, i just dont get how people beat a game like GoW in like 12 hours, when i have had the game since Nov 9th and have only gotten past Act 1 on casual......

i just really dont understand what it must be like to have the time to play games that much....i mean, are there really that many people with no life outside of a TV?

or is it just my age? am i just reaching that point where my kids will be waxing my ass soon?
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Totally and utterly understand and am in a similar position. Altho 2 years younger ;)

I saw the 8800GTX in store a week before the launch in my local components store, 3 years ago would have pulled the trigger on 2 without a second thought, but your life changes when you have kids and with another due in Feb video games start to become alot more insignificant.....

Don't get my wrong, I still love the odd blast on Serious Sam co-op online or FlatOut 2 stunt games for a laugh and my fav at the mo Fifa07 online on PSP :D but I really really don't have time to 'get into' games anymore showing in the types of games I now play. I used to clan on ut2k4 before my daughter was born but obvioulsy gave it up, I tried playing it again the other day and I was shocking.

TBH I wouldn't swap anything I have now for anything I could do a few years ago. And no-one in the same position would.

Enjoy your life man, there are far more important things than listening to !!!!!!s and kids tell you how you 'should' be.
 
sounds like you might wanna get more into rpg's and strategy games, rts or turn based. im 21, but i have never gotten into the online fps twitch stuff. the most online game time i had before i played wow for a bit was i think age of empires: rise of rome. legion wars ftw.

im not sure about the only 2 hours a week though. but i dont watch tv, so that frees up alot of time that other people waste.
 
I'm 26 almost 27 I am single and I am finding less and less time to play on top of that I don't enjoy it much any more. I prefer going out more and geting some then sitting at home geting angry at my computer when I get fraged. I also find game a lot less enjoyable I go to the gym a lot now I find the real thing is better. Real thing for me is Muay Thai I spar everyday and the sheer adrinalin rush you get from it dwarfs anything a game could do.
 
I've been gaming since the late 70's and still gaming today (I'm 42), back then I wasn't that good at video games which sucked big time because most games were played at the video arcade which gobbled a lot of my quarters:D. However, I gotten interested in all kinds of gaming where top scores don't mean anything, like RPG and strategy games. I like role playing games the most like Oblivion for it reminds me when I was a teenager playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (OK, I know I'm a geek, dweeb or nerd). I do play first person shooters from time to time, but usually end of cheating (except Far Cry) by playing in god mode so I won't be killed. :D The Game I usually end up playing most is computer golf(Tiger Woods) for it's a substitute for the real thing for I usually don't have time to play golf for real
 
I am sure I will be gaming to the grave. I just hope Nintendo makes the Ouija-Mote by that time.

Nothing beats family. My kid games with me, the wife games with me. We go out, the kid and I go to rally races, and the whole "daddy" thing. Between the 40~55 hour work week, the family and contract work at home, it's amazing I get 10 hours a week of gaming :).

"I got these: Action Bills..." - Happy-Time Harry
 
Many people who don't play games think that games are still for kids.
Well they still live in the "stone ages".
The term games, feel like something teenagers and young kids do.
What they don't understand is that Video Games have grown up.
Majority of games now are so complex, that it targeted at adults, not kids.
Games are a form of entertainment and an enjoyable one too.
I be gaming until I can't see and hear anymore.
 
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