It is unlikely that I will ever KNOW any game released now, the way I know the games I played between the ages 14 and 20. There are exceptions, like Dark Souls and Spelunky, but for the most part, I don't really play games the way I used to. I played the likes of Shadow of the Colossus, Resident Evil 4 and Half-Life 2 so many times, that I'm pretty much running on auto-pilot when I return to them now. I know most of the tricks and secrets those games have to offer, and I could probably map out those games' entire progression, from level to level and from set piece to set piece, if I was challenged to do so. These days, if I reach the credits, that usually means I'm done with the game. Again, there are exceptions, but not that many.
This has nothing to do with the quality of games coming out now. There are more great games coming out every year than it is possible for one person to play. Games are doing just fine. This is entirely the result of a decrease in free time, an increase in disposable income and just how cheap games can be if you're willing to wait a month or two before purchasing them. My backlog is mountainous at this point, and I've come to terms with the fact that I own a lot of games I will never complete. That being said, whenever I entertain the idea of replaying a recent favourite, I feel like I'm wasting precious time that could be spent on finishing a new experience. I know this is irrational, but being self aware doesn't eliminate that feeling. When I was a teenager, I completed every game I purchased and multiple times, because I could afford fewer games and had so much more time to give them.
Basically, I wish I could know Bayonetta 2 as well as I know Bayonetta.
I'm curious to hear if anyone else feels similarly or even completely differently. Have you found ways to overcome this? Is this just what being an adult is? What period of gaming do you know better than any other?
Ageing changing the way you play
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Combine Hunter
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mikeleddy83
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Re: Aging Changing the way you Play
I've simply become more strict with exactly what games I play. I'd love to play doom but I'm willing to say wolfenstein the new order can kind of fill that niche. I'd like to try pokken but instead I'll play another two hours of smash bros wii u. I substitute where best and keep a lock on the few games I have a spider sense are essential.
I've gone as far as skipping monster hunter this year but my plate is still full. You can enjoy what you want, don't feel you have to play everything.
Getting paralysed to what you even want to play is common for me. My options have changed from 2 systems and 5 or 6 games to 6 systems and hundreds, it's overwhelming!
Good luck anyway and good post.
I've gone as far as skipping monster hunter this year but my plate is still full. You can enjoy what you want, don't feel you have to play everything.
Getting paralysed to what you even want to play is common for me. My options have changed from 2 systems and 5 or 6 games to 6 systems and hundreds, it's overwhelming!
Good luck anyway and good post.
Re: Aging Changing the way you Play
I'm turning 30 next month and as I reach this milestone two things become readily apparent;
1) I have little to no patience for games that waste my time.
Fetch quests and grinding are just huge turn offs for me now. I'm excited for the new Monster Hunter which does have a grind, but it's all through very active play. But an old school RPG that just requires me to wander in the field and level up on low level enemies? Can't do it.
Basically when I hear a game "rewards your patience" I just feel this means "the developer has put in all this I fun stuff, you can play the fun stuff later." It's not always true of course, but if a game expects me to spend an hour doing dull things to progress it just feels like it doesn't respect my time. It's one reason I was really put off by Bravely Default after people were discussing the late game content as "only a few hours of grinding" before it gets good again. In that time I can play through some great short games and have a finished experience. Which brings me onto my next point.
2) Short games are now a plus point.
I recall in the GameCube era Nintendo came under fire after stating they wanted to make shorter games that appealed more to a casual audience. A time when 12 hours was criticised as a short game that you should probably avoid unless it's on sale.
Now I love a shorter run time. It means I can experience a focussed, neat and self contained experience without it becoming repetitive or my aging bones getting distracted by things happening in the real world.
If a game boasts at being 50 hours plus? I'll be giving it a second thought before investing. Am I going to actually play it for that long? If I stop short am I still going to feel closure? It doesn't mean I absolutely won't play it, but I'll have to think about it first.
1) I have little to no patience for games that waste my time.
Fetch quests and grinding are just huge turn offs for me now. I'm excited for the new Monster Hunter which does have a grind, but it's all through very active play. But an old school RPG that just requires me to wander in the field and level up on low level enemies? Can't do it.
Basically when I hear a game "rewards your patience" I just feel this means "the developer has put in all this I fun stuff, you can play the fun stuff later." It's not always true of course, but if a game expects me to spend an hour doing dull things to progress it just feels like it doesn't respect my time. It's one reason I was really put off by Bravely Default after people were discussing the late game content as "only a few hours of grinding" before it gets good again. In that time I can play through some great short games and have a finished experience. Which brings me onto my next point.
2) Short games are now a plus point.
I recall in the GameCube era Nintendo came under fire after stating they wanted to make shorter games that appealed more to a casual audience. A time when 12 hours was criticised as a short game that you should probably avoid unless it's on sale.
Now I love a shorter run time. It means I can experience a focussed, neat and self contained experience without it becoming repetitive or my aging bones getting distracted by things happening in the real world.
If a game boasts at being 50 hours plus? I'll be giving it a second thought before investing. Am I going to actually play it for that long? If I stop short am I still going to feel closure? It doesn't mean I absolutely won't play it, but I'll have to think about it first.
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Combine Hunter
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Re: Ageing changing the way you play
I'm kind of expanding on your point here Craig, but it's not so much the length of games that have become an issue, it's how those games are paced. The length of Monster Hunter, Dark Souls or The Witcher 3 doesn't bother me, because I always walk away from a session with those games having experienced or learnt something new. Ni No Kuni felt like the final nail in the coffin of a genre I used to love. Now, unless it has the word "Persona" in the title, I'll take some serious convincing before I attempt to play another JRPG. I just don't enjoy the constant stop and start pacing and repetition a lot of the that genre is guilty of.
Re: Ageing changing the way you play
Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head there.
A game can be short or long and I'll play it to completion *if it holds my attention*. I'm playing Wasteland 2 at the moment, which is pretty difficult (especially early on) and I suspect I'm nowhere near the end of it, but it's constantly engaging and varying in what it's asking me to do. There's always some new surprise around the next corner.
As I've got older I've gone *hugely* off JRPGs as a whole. In my twenties I happily ground my way through games that today I'd just put back on the shelf and never play again. FF13 and Ni No Kuni pretty much conspired to kill off my love for the genre, as both put what might well have been very engaging stories behind some very bland and grind heavy gameplay. (I did enjoy The Last Story, but that's a pretty short game by JRPG standards and they actively designed that to avoid any need to grind, pretty clever game design there actually)
But things like Skyrim, The Witcher and Fallout still hold my attention as there's always something new to explore and discover, some new nook to find or quest to play. The moment to moment gameplay probably doesn't vary that much more than it does in a JRPG, but the way it's presented means that the repetition is hidden because the story content and/or discover of new places never really stops until you hit the end credits.
So it's not so much the number of hours, but what those hours contain. I have to feel like the game isn't just asking me to spend time, it has to be giving me something too.
There are exceptions, I still play Elite Dangerous which is a very grind heavy game with almost no narrative element to speak of, and I can't really account for why I like that still. I do think that if No Man's Sky manages to get more variety in than Elite has (and it pretty much looks to have done so already, from what little we know of it) then it may replace it in my rotation.
A game can be short or long and I'll play it to completion *if it holds my attention*. I'm playing Wasteland 2 at the moment, which is pretty difficult (especially early on) and I suspect I'm nowhere near the end of it, but it's constantly engaging and varying in what it's asking me to do. There's always some new surprise around the next corner.
As I've got older I've gone *hugely* off JRPGs as a whole. In my twenties I happily ground my way through games that today I'd just put back on the shelf and never play again. FF13 and Ni No Kuni pretty much conspired to kill off my love for the genre, as both put what might well have been very engaging stories behind some very bland and grind heavy gameplay. (I did enjoy The Last Story, but that's a pretty short game by JRPG standards and they actively designed that to avoid any need to grind, pretty clever game design there actually)
But things like Skyrim, The Witcher and Fallout still hold my attention as there's always something new to explore and discover, some new nook to find or quest to play. The moment to moment gameplay probably doesn't vary that much more than it does in a JRPG, but the way it's presented means that the repetition is hidden because the story content and/or discover of new places never really stops until you hit the end credits.
So it's not so much the number of hours, but what those hours contain. I have to feel like the game isn't just asking me to spend time, it has to be giving me something too.
There are exceptions, I still play Elite Dangerous which is a very grind heavy game with almost no narrative element to speak of, and I can't really account for why I like that still. I do think that if No Man's Sky manages to get more variety in than Elite has (and it pretty much looks to have done so already, from what little we know of it) then it may replace it in my rotation.
Re: Ageing changing the way you play
A game's length alone isn't the deciding factor for sure. I think for myself a pretty good metric is "If I have an hourlong play session, am I going to have fun?" If this probably isn't true for vast majority of play sessions, then I'll probably pass.
I think it also depends on the kind of game. A story heavy game that's 50 hours long will be more of a turn off for me as there is rarely enough story to justify that length and I will probably not reach the conclusion.
Something like Monster Hunter or a puzzle game like Picross may have many many hours of content, but when I stop having fun I'm not going to feel like I'm missing the end of something I've started. Which also prevents the last few hours of a game "dragging" because you can feel you're almost at the end, and not really having fun any more but feel you should finish it because you've committed so much time already.
I think it also depends on the kind of game. A story heavy game that's 50 hours long will be more of a turn off for me as there is rarely enough story to justify that length and I will probably not reach the conclusion.
Something like Monster Hunter or a puzzle game like Picross may have many many hours of content, but when I stop having fun I'm not going to feel like I'm missing the end of something I've started. Which also prevents the last few hours of a game "dragging" because you can feel you're almost at the end, and not really having fun any more but feel you should finish it because you've committed so much time already.
Re: Ageing changing the way you play
For me it's just a question of time. I loves games just as much now, aged 37, as I have done at any other point in my life. I just simply don't have the time to play them. I might get one evening a week for 3-4 hours to actually play them downstairs on the TV, and anything outside of that is done via handheld. The best feature of the PS4 for me is remote play. I've played about 6-7 hours of The Witness, soley on remote play. There are a few exceptions which don't work at all due to dreadful controls, but on the whole I find most games work great - even playing online, I've played loads of Rocket League this way.
I'd love to have time every day to play 'properly', and the fact I don't does alter how I buy games too. I really, really want to play MGS 5, The Witcher 3 and Just Cause 3, but know that those three games alone would take me over a year to finish. And I've still got to get through Arkham Knight and DS2:SotFS first! Work, children, partner - they all have to come before gaming really, and whilst I'm not unhappy with my life, I would so love just to have a little bit more time to game. But rather than dash through games, I don't really alter how I play the ones I do get to play, I still try to get as much as I can from them, do all the side quests etc, explore everywhere. It just takes so much longer.
I'd love to have time every day to play 'properly', and the fact I don't does alter how I buy games too. I really, really want to play MGS 5, The Witcher 3 and Just Cause 3, but know that those three games alone would take me over a year to finish. And I've still got to get through Arkham Knight and DS2:SotFS first! Work, children, partner - they all have to come before gaming really, and whilst I'm not unhappy with my life, I would so love just to have a little bit more time to game. But rather than dash through games, I don't really alter how I play the ones I do get to play, I still try to get as much as I can from them, do all the side quests etc, explore everywhere. It just takes so much longer.
Re: Ageing changing the way you play
I've been thinking about this over the day and actually a few more things come to mind.
Multiplayer.
My friends don't have as much time as they used to. Many don't play games any more. And scheduling a time for everyone to get together and play games seems like such a huge effort for what seems pretty trivial. I'm not really a fan of playing with random people (they're either way too good for me to have any enjoyment, spout terrible abuse or both) as such I tend to avoid games now that have a heavy multiplayer focus. They look great fun, but I'll never get to really play them.
"Problematic" areas
Everyone has their own limits, but I've found as I've grown older, I'm less likely to tolerate parts of games that make me uncomfortable for good gameplay. Sure, a game may be great as long as you look past all the weird sexualising of very young girls, but there as so many great games out there that I don't have to make that concession for I'm no longer willing to look the other way on things that bother me. If the game is presenting me with things I find uncomfortable things for a reason, I'll consider playing it and I fully accept that I'll be missing out on some great gameplay experiences, but I'm okay with that.
Negativity
This is more on how I approach talking about and listening to games. I'm done with people just shitting on everything. You can only define yourself by hating things so much before there's not really anything there. It's just so dull after a while and it really wears down the enjoyment of the hobby. People actively buying crap games they know they won't enjoy to see how bad they are. You have a limited time on the earth. Please do not waste it playing Other M because it had a reputation of being terrible.
Which also makes me realise that I have been very negative in the past few posts. Growing old doesn't just mean I can have a dodgy beard, buy beer and sometimes people mistakenly call me sir thinking I'm actually a functioning adult. It does also bring some positive changes.
Positivity.
I'm much more positive than I used to be. I want to define myself by what I am and what I like, not by what I'm not and what I hate. If you like a game, don't keep it a secret. The Internet is such a big place that any game you're bound to find someone else who thinks it's the bees knees too. I've only really started using Twitter properly at the start of the year and at the beginning it was a bit like shouting into the void, but now I have a few more followers and I just use it to talk about stuff I find neat. And you know what, sometimes other people do too. And that's nice.
Appreciation.
I've come to appreciate every part of game making a lot more now. From the strict restrictions of older consoles blooming into creative decisions which form gameplay, to the vast variety happening today now that middleware allows game making to be easier than ever allowing for a huge influx of ideas and creative folk. I feel more aware of the work in every part of a game now and I'm often in awe that these things ever get made in the first place.
Related to the above, I'm also less shy about telling folk directly that I enjoy their work. Again, Twitter can have a problem of mostly anonymous users saying horrible things without any reason. It's nice to balance by just telling the people directly, and your followers, that you've enjoyed their work. Spread the word of things you love and maybe give a little bright spark to someone's day. I've written a few articles for a retro games site recently, and seeing the positive comments really put a smile on my face and just made me think; why not do this more often?
So it's not all gloom and doom folks!
Multiplayer.
My friends don't have as much time as they used to. Many don't play games any more. And scheduling a time for everyone to get together and play games seems like such a huge effort for what seems pretty trivial. I'm not really a fan of playing with random people (they're either way too good for me to have any enjoyment, spout terrible abuse or both) as such I tend to avoid games now that have a heavy multiplayer focus. They look great fun, but I'll never get to really play them.
"Problematic" areas
Everyone has their own limits, but I've found as I've grown older, I'm less likely to tolerate parts of games that make me uncomfortable for good gameplay. Sure, a game may be great as long as you look past all the weird sexualising of very young girls, but there as so many great games out there that I don't have to make that concession for I'm no longer willing to look the other way on things that bother me. If the game is presenting me with things I find uncomfortable things for a reason, I'll consider playing it and I fully accept that I'll be missing out on some great gameplay experiences, but I'm okay with that.
Negativity
This is more on how I approach talking about and listening to games. I'm done with people just shitting on everything. You can only define yourself by hating things so much before there's not really anything there. It's just so dull after a while and it really wears down the enjoyment of the hobby. People actively buying crap games they know they won't enjoy to see how bad they are. You have a limited time on the earth. Please do not waste it playing Other M because it had a reputation of being terrible.
Which also makes me realise that I have been very negative in the past few posts. Growing old doesn't just mean I can have a dodgy beard, buy beer and sometimes people mistakenly call me sir thinking I'm actually a functioning adult. It does also bring some positive changes.
Positivity.
I'm much more positive than I used to be. I want to define myself by what I am and what I like, not by what I'm not and what I hate. If you like a game, don't keep it a secret. The Internet is such a big place that any game you're bound to find someone else who thinks it's the bees knees too. I've only really started using Twitter properly at the start of the year and at the beginning it was a bit like shouting into the void, but now I have a few more followers and I just use it to talk about stuff I find neat. And you know what, sometimes other people do too. And that's nice.
Appreciation.
I've come to appreciate every part of game making a lot more now. From the strict restrictions of older consoles blooming into creative decisions which form gameplay, to the vast variety happening today now that middleware allows game making to be easier than ever allowing for a huge influx of ideas and creative folk. I feel more aware of the work in every part of a game now and I'm often in awe that these things ever get made in the first place.
Related to the above, I'm also less shy about telling folk directly that I enjoy their work. Again, Twitter can have a problem of mostly anonymous users saying horrible things without any reason. It's nice to balance by just telling the people directly, and your followers, that you've enjoyed their work. Spread the word of things you love and maybe give a little bright spark to someone's day. I've written a few articles for a retro games site recently, and seeing the positive comments really put a smile on my face and just made me think; why not do this more often?
So it's not all gloom and doom folks!
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gallo_pinto
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Re: Ageing changing the way you play
In my life, Josh's point is best illustrated through the Zelda series. I can name even the most minor characters in Ocarina of Time and explain every minute detail of the game's progression. I know most of the plot points and characters off the top of my head from Majora's Mask, less for both Wind Waker and Twilight Princess (even though I have replayed both of those) and I have only a vague idea about what I did in Skyward Sword. I think it's similar to the fact that most song lyrics I have memorized over the years are from when I was in middle school.
But for me, it's not such a terrible tradeoff. I'm 29 and that combination of more disposable income and much cheaper game prices means that while I don't dive as deeply into the games I play, I have a MUCH deeper knowledge and appreciation for the medium than I did when I was a teenager. As a teenager buying my own games, I mainly stuck to a couple of series and genres that I knew I liked (Zelda, Final Fantasy, Nintendo multiplayer games, Kingdom Hearts). And while I know those games like the back of my hand, I missed out on Resident Evil, all Mario platformers, Metal Gear Solid, Sonic, Silent Hill, all fighting games, Metroid, Castlevania and many, many other franchises. In 2016, I complete many more games and from a much wider array of genres and studios. That's one of the main reasons I like this podcast so much.
So the way that it has manifested itself in my life is as a tradeoff between knowing the games I've played deeply or having a stronger and richer appreciation for video games in general. And for me at least, I prefer the 2016 way.
But for me, it's not such a terrible tradeoff. I'm 29 and that combination of more disposable income and much cheaper game prices means that while I don't dive as deeply into the games I play, I have a MUCH deeper knowledge and appreciation for the medium than I did when I was a teenager. As a teenager buying my own games, I mainly stuck to a couple of series and genres that I knew I liked (Zelda, Final Fantasy, Nintendo multiplayer games, Kingdom Hearts). And while I know those games like the back of my hand, I missed out on Resident Evil, all Mario platformers, Metal Gear Solid, Sonic, Silent Hill, all fighting games, Metroid, Castlevania and many, many other franchises. In 2016, I complete many more games and from a much wider array of genres and studios. That's one of the main reasons I like this podcast so much.
So the way that it has manifested itself in my life is as a tradeoff between knowing the games I've played deeply or having a stronger and richer appreciation for video games in general. And for me at least, I prefer the 2016 way.
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GSMason
Re: Ageing changing the way you play
Hearing Josh's thoughts on this on Twitter and on here definitely struck a cord with me. Wait til you get to my age etc Josh
Anyway I recently turned 34 and have a very busy job (lots of hours), a wife, a 3yr old and a baby due in September. This isn't the best combination for gaming and like other have said this often leaves me with a handful of hours per week.
This has improved slightly in my current job as I do longer days but have some days off in the week now and again.
I have changed my mindset and approach to gaming quite a bit especially in the last couple of years
1. I can't play everything - I used to think I probably wouldn't get to everything in my backlog let alone keep up with new releases. I've recently concluded I definitely won't! The number of hours I game simply doesn't tally with how many games are coming out and how many I own
I now have a small backlog of games I'm very keen to get that I try and keep at less than 15 or so. My theoretical backlog of loads more games I have acknowledged I'll sadly never get to.
However I've becoming better at picking up new releases I want to play rather than every highly rated game. I'm starting to game more like I consume music or films - picking up stuff from artists/studios I love and highly rated stuff from genres I love or recommendations from friends. I'd never try to see every highly rated film or listen to every highly rated album so why should I do this for an even more time consuming media.
2. I agree with the sentiments about wanting to feel progress in each play session. I love games I can dip in and out of and have been getting back into multiplayer gaming. Heroes of the storm, hearthstone, rocket league and now overwatch are all games I love. They also give me a sense of progress, are quick to play a couple of matches and don't leave me feeling I've got hours to go to 'finish them' even if I might dedicate lots of hours to them. Rocksmith 2014 is also great for this.
Anyway I've gone on long enough. Need to crack on with life is strange.
Anyway I recently turned 34 and have a very busy job (lots of hours), a wife, a 3yr old and a baby due in September. This isn't the best combination for gaming and like other have said this often leaves me with a handful of hours per week.
This has improved slightly in my current job as I do longer days but have some days off in the week now and again.
I have changed my mindset and approach to gaming quite a bit especially in the last couple of years
1. I can't play everything - I used to think I probably wouldn't get to everything in my backlog let alone keep up with new releases. I've recently concluded I definitely won't! The number of hours I game simply doesn't tally with how many games are coming out and how many I own
I now have a small backlog of games I'm very keen to get that I try and keep at less than 15 or so. My theoretical backlog of loads more games I have acknowledged I'll sadly never get to.
However I've becoming better at picking up new releases I want to play rather than every highly rated game. I'm starting to game more like I consume music or films - picking up stuff from artists/studios I love and highly rated stuff from genres I love or recommendations from friends. I'd never try to see every highly rated film or listen to every highly rated album so why should I do this for an even more time consuming media.
2. I agree with the sentiments about wanting to feel progress in each play session. I love games I can dip in and out of and have been getting back into multiplayer gaming. Heroes of the storm, hearthstone, rocket league and now overwatch are all games I love. They also give me a sense of progress, are quick to play a couple of matches and don't leave me feeling I've got hours to go to 'finish them' even if I might dedicate lots of hours to them. Rocksmith 2014 is also great for this.
Anyway I've gone on long enough. Need to crack on with life is strange.
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Mononoke
Re: Ageing changing the way you play
A great topic for discussion! I've certainly noticed significant changes in my game playing habits. The biggest change, though it gradually unfolded over several years, was a clear moving away from multiplayer games or modes. Whilst I've always loved the single-player experience, I by far used to spend more time playing Halo multiplayer than anything else in my teenage years. At 24 I've simply lost interest in the competitiveness of multiplayer and in certain cases the grind/repetitiveness to level up and progress in that sense. My previous gaming friends moving away from consoles to PC and me still not having a gaming PC myself certainly has something to do with it but even then, I would never commit the same amount of hours to a new multiplayer game like Overwatch or Titanfall in the same way again. I'll still occasionally play a few rounds of something here and there with friends, particularly in social gatherings and even dip in to multiplayer modes against strangers every now and then, but it's not something I make much gaming time for anymore.
Instead I focus on single-player games nowadays. Like you Rahool, and like many others here I'm sure, I used to get only several new games a year and play those repeatedly and so know the likes of Half-life 2 or the Halo's or Bioshock very well. However, I would say I played them a lot because I really loved them too and they're still amongst my favourite games so I'm always wanting to go back to them and many others as much as I can (Bioshock Collection I'm looking at you). It's not much different from revisiting a favourite film, other than the greater time commitment, but for a favourite that shouldn't be an issue anyway.
Saying all that, over the last couple of years I have increased the amount of new games I play per year in order to broaden my gaming horizons and hopefully gain a greater appreciation for the medium on a whole. I try to keep it at a 70-30% split between new games and replays of games and probably only dive deep into a few new releases every year now. Like Flabyo and Craig I have also become more discerning about what sort of game I'm willing to play compared to the past and whether it respects my time as a player or not. As much as I enjoyed playing through Ni No Kuni the year it came out I wonder if I would have the same commitment to finish it today because of the ways in which I did feel it wasted my time even then. I too have to be picky about big, open-world games, usually RPG's because of the time commitment involved. It was the main reason I didn't play Witcher 3 when that came out and still haven't (besides never having touched the series before) because it was not a timely release for me to be playing a 70-100 hour experience or however ridiculously long that game is.
As much as anything though, what I tend to look for nowadays in new videos games is either one of two things - 1. A gaming experience I have played before but executed upon really, really well (i.e. Doom, Uncharted 4, Dark Souls III etc) or 2. A new gaming experience or novel idea that is different and possibly even innovative (and these usually end up being indie games for the most part - Proteus, Ether One, Brothers, Jazzpunk etc).
Instead I focus on single-player games nowadays. Like you Rahool, and like many others here I'm sure, I used to get only several new games a year and play those repeatedly and so know the likes of Half-life 2 or the Halo's or Bioshock very well. However, I would say I played them a lot because I really loved them too and they're still amongst my favourite games so I'm always wanting to go back to them and many others as much as I can (Bioshock Collection I'm looking at you). It's not much different from revisiting a favourite film, other than the greater time commitment, but for a favourite that shouldn't be an issue anyway.
Saying all that, over the last couple of years I have increased the amount of new games I play per year in order to broaden my gaming horizons and hopefully gain a greater appreciation for the medium on a whole. I try to keep it at a 70-30% split between new games and replays of games and probably only dive deep into a few new releases every year now. Like Flabyo and Craig I have also become more discerning about what sort of game I'm willing to play compared to the past and whether it respects my time as a player or not. As much as I enjoyed playing through Ni No Kuni the year it came out I wonder if I would have the same commitment to finish it today because of the ways in which I did feel it wasted my time even then. I too have to be picky about big, open-world games, usually RPG's because of the time commitment involved. It was the main reason I didn't play Witcher 3 when that came out and still haven't (besides never having touched the series before) because it was not a timely release for me to be playing a 70-100 hour experience or however ridiculously long that game is.
As much as anything though, what I tend to look for nowadays in new videos games is either one of two things - 1. A gaming experience I have played before but executed upon really, really well (i.e. Doom, Uncharted 4, Dark Souls III etc) or 2. A new gaming experience or novel idea that is different and possibly even innovative (and these usually end up being indie games for the most part - Proteus, Ether One, Brothers, Jazzpunk etc).
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Sinclair Gregstrum
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Re: Ageing changing the way you play
I've really enjoyed reading people's responses to this topic, and a great deal of it resonates with me. Apologies in advance for the long response. I wrote it over a couple of days and even if no one bothers to read it I've actually found it quite an enjoyable and cathartic process!
I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember, from the day my Dad bought us a ZX Spectrum +2 when I was maybe 5, right through to the present day. I've never had time off, or drifted away and come back. Gaming's just always been there. Looking back over these nearly-three decades of button bashing, this is without doubt the period at which I'm playing the least.
I'm 33, have a busy job, a wife, a 2 year old with special needs, and a 6 month old. As people have said already, apart from that relentlessly selfish little boy that still lives within all of us, as you grow older you accept that gaming has to take a back seat when the aforementioned loves and commitments come into your life. It doesn't mean I love it any less (in a way I crave it more than ever thanks to the lack of time I have to indulge), but it becomes something you have to make a real effort to find the time for rather than the default pastime it used to be.
I now play a couple of times a week, for a 2-3 hours at a time, and yes, this massively impacts on the games I now choose to play.
Shorter games are where it's at now.
8 hour campaign you say? Sold!
50+ hour epic? I shall sadly decline, thank you very much.
There are exceptions. Roughly once a year I'll get the bit between my teeth with a game, such as The Witcher 3 in 2015, and almost as a test of stamina and willpower I’ll go through it just to prove to myself that I still can. Outside of that anomaly though, anything above around 15 hours has to really hit the nail on the head in terms of my personal gaming fetishes to earn a place on the roster, and length is consistently the trump card in deciding what ends up getting played.
I'm also in agreement with what other posters have mentioned about needing that feeling of progression.
If I read or hear the word 'grind', I'm largely out nowadays. I want to feel that in my sacred play sessions I'm actually getting somewhere. In a classic JPRG for example I could literally play for a week or more of my gaming time, and make little to no progress other than buffing some stats. Personally, that's just not worth it anymore.
Multiplayer gaming has also taken on a completely new complexion in recent years. Playing games with friends was a big part of gaming as a kid/teenager. It was pure, social enjoyment and a truly wonderful experience that played an important role in forming and maintaining some great friendships.
Nowadays it serves as a way to keep in touch with just a couple of existing friends. One a former work colleague and fellow gaming Dad in Manchester, another a university pal who now lives in Germany. Co-op is the order of the day, either going through a campaign together or playing PvP where we can all be on the same team. Halo 5 was spot on for us, and now we’re meeting up once a week or so on The Division which has been a lot of fun.
In terms of how well I ‘know’ the games I now play vs those of yesteryear, I absolutely agree that the in-depth knowledge I had of something like NiGHTs Into Dreams on the Saturn (which I still play to this day), vs an Uncharted, or even Halo 1 vs Halo 5, isn't even comparable.
When I was a wee lad and well into my teens games were an expensive, high value item that were purchased for birthdays and Christmases, with the odd exception if I'd had my eye on something and saved up to buy it myself. Back then you pored over every inch of a game, discovering all it's intricacies, falling in love with it over countless, endless play sessions.
In answer to Josh's question, the peak era of this for me was the mid-late nineties and the Sega Saturn. I played a lot of Mega Drive before it, and a lot of Dreamcast after it, but during the Saturn era I was old enough for my Mum not be able to tell me what to do all the time, and young enough to not have any really serious exams to worry about (not that I ever did worry too much about those mind.....).
These days, not only am I fortunate enough to have the money to buy pretty much whatever I want, whenever I want, but games are now thrown at us left, right and centre like never before. Full price, half price, no price - games are everywhere! This coupled with my limited time to play them breeds a short term-ist attitude of play it, 'complete' it, and move on. Rinse and repeat. It's sad in a way, and I just hope there are still kids out there falling in love with games the way we did back then, and spending the time on things that they deserve rather than treating them in the fairly disposable manner I do now.
It feels like this could easily segue into a dissertation on the disposable nature of modern society, but I'll spare the internet that one for today.
If you've made it this far in my ramblings, thank you and congratulations.
What a great topic.
I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember, from the day my Dad bought us a ZX Spectrum +2 when I was maybe 5, right through to the present day. I've never had time off, or drifted away and come back. Gaming's just always been there. Looking back over these nearly-three decades of button bashing, this is without doubt the period at which I'm playing the least.
I'm 33, have a busy job, a wife, a 2 year old with special needs, and a 6 month old. As people have said already, apart from that relentlessly selfish little boy that still lives within all of us, as you grow older you accept that gaming has to take a back seat when the aforementioned loves and commitments come into your life. It doesn't mean I love it any less (in a way I crave it more than ever thanks to the lack of time I have to indulge), but it becomes something you have to make a real effort to find the time for rather than the default pastime it used to be.
I now play a couple of times a week, for a 2-3 hours at a time, and yes, this massively impacts on the games I now choose to play.
Shorter games are where it's at now.
8 hour campaign you say? Sold!
50+ hour epic? I shall sadly decline, thank you very much.
There are exceptions. Roughly once a year I'll get the bit between my teeth with a game, such as The Witcher 3 in 2015, and almost as a test of stamina and willpower I’ll go through it just to prove to myself that I still can. Outside of that anomaly though, anything above around 15 hours has to really hit the nail on the head in terms of my personal gaming fetishes to earn a place on the roster, and length is consistently the trump card in deciding what ends up getting played.
I'm also in agreement with what other posters have mentioned about needing that feeling of progression.
If I read or hear the word 'grind', I'm largely out nowadays. I want to feel that in my sacred play sessions I'm actually getting somewhere. In a classic JPRG for example I could literally play for a week or more of my gaming time, and make little to no progress other than buffing some stats. Personally, that's just not worth it anymore.
Multiplayer gaming has also taken on a completely new complexion in recent years. Playing games with friends was a big part of gaming as a kid/teenager. It was pure, social enjoyment and a truly wonderful experience that played an important role in forming and maintaining some great friendships.
Nowadays it serves as a way to keep in touch with just a couple of existing friends. One a former work colleague and fellow gaming Dad in Manchester, another a university pal who now lives in Germany. Co-op is the order of the day, either going through a campaign together or playing PvP where we can all be on the same team. Halo 5 was spot on for us, and now we’re meeting up once a week or so on The Division which has been a lot of fun.
In terms of how well I ‘know’ the games I now play vs those of yesteryear, I absolutely agree that the in-depth knowledge I had of something like NiGHTs Into Dreams on the Saturn (which I still play to this day), vs an Uncharted, or even Halo 1 vs Halo 5, isn't even comparable.
When I was a wee lad and well into my teens games were an expensive, high value item that were purchased for birthdays and Christmases, with the odd exception if I'd had my eye on something and saved up to buy it myself. Back then you pored over every inch of a game, discovering all it's intricacies, falling in love with it over countless, endless play sessions.
In answer to Josh's question, the peak era of this for me was the mid-late nineties and the Sega Saturn. I played a lot of Mega Drive before it, and a lot of Dreamcast after it, but during the Saturn era I was old enough for my Mum not be able to tell me what to do all the time, and young enough to not have any really serious exams to worry about (not that I ever did worry too much about those mind.....).
These days, not only am I fortunate enough to have the money to buy pretty much whatever I want, whenever I want, but games are now thrown at us left, right and centre like never before. Full price, half price, no price - games are everywhere! This coupled with my limited time to play them breeds a short term-ist attitude of play it, 'complete' it, and move on. Rinse and repeat. It's sad in a way, and I just hope there are still kids out there falling in love with games the way we did back then, and spending the time on things that they deserve rather than treating them in the fairly disposable manner I do now.
It feels like this could easily segue into a dissertation on the disposable nature of modern society, but I'll spare the internet that one for today.
If you've made it this far in my ramblings, thank you and congratulations.
What a great topic.
Re: Ageing changing the way you play
I can really relate to Josh's post, he's said lots of things that I've thought more and more of recent years.
I'm 31 now and still very much an avid 'gamer' however whereas when I was in college at 16 I could play games to my hearts content really (And frequently did) as i get older I naturally have more responsibilities the main one being to help look after my 1 year old son, who I hope will be a Zelda fan but as of yet has shown little interest - Captain Toad Treasure Tracker on the other hand is another matter however
I've always been a gamer and always will what changes however are my gaming habits. As I mentioned in my teenage years I was at college where I found myself with a lot of free time on my hands being single and not having a job this meant I could play games for hours and hours. Unfortunately due to the lack of job I could only really afford a few games every few months - usually the latest Nintendo releases on the GC and I would play these to death! (Luigi's mansion and Pikmin being prime examples)
Then came my part time jobs and disposable income which at the time was spent almost exclusively on yet more GC games, as I got better jobs I got better pay increases and ended up spending a small fortune on games - I was one of those that always brought the limited editions! at this point me and the other half spent most of our free time gaming (yes I had the luck to get engaged to a gamer
)
Then came my Son who as i've mentioned is not that interested yet but he is only 1!
My point is that as I get further through life my time spent playing games has decreased a lot and I'm in this strange paradox where I can afford more games and consoles now but don't have the time to fully enjoy them like when I was 16 and had very little money. This also means my to play pile or 'pile of shame' is rather big at the moment, but what I have started doing as of my sons birth is to start one game in particular and try and stick to through to completion maybe with one or two score attack games in the background to break it up - I also keep a list of all the titles completed - 2016 is looking like this so far -
Games completed 2016
- Last of Us Remastered
- Warioland 4
- Halo 5
- Life is strange
- Firewatch
- Resident Evil 0 HD
- Axiom verge
- Wind Waker HD
- Uncharted Drakes Fortune
- Uncharted 4 A Thief's End
- Uncharted 2 Among Thieves
- Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception
- Twilight princess HD
- Metroid Fusion
People who know me have asked after not seeing for long periods of time 'are you still a gamer?' or 'why are you still playing those games?' and my answer is that no matter how old I get not matter where my life takes me I will still be a devoted gamer, its the reason I sought out podcasts and discussion groups so that I could talk with like minded people.
Ageing might change the amount of time or how I interact with the medium but at the end of it all I will always have a special place in my heart for games - my partner and I have a running joke that when I'm very old all she needs to do is put me in front of a PS4 and that will keep me occupied in the nursing home
I'm 31 now and still very much an avid 'gamer' however whereas when I was in college at 16 I could play games to my hearts content really (And frequently did) as i get older I naturally have more responsibilities the main one being to help look after my 1 year old son, who I hope will be a Zelda fan but as of yet has shown little interest - Captain Toad Treasure Tracker on the other hand is another matter however
I've always been a gamer and always will what changes however are my gaming habits. As I mentioned in my teenage years I was at college where I found myself with a lot of free time on my hands being single and not having a job this meant I could play games for hours and hours. Unfortunately due to the lack of job I could only really afford a few games every few months - usually the latest Nintendo releases on the GC and I would play these to death! (Luigi's mansion and Pikmin being prime examples)
Then came my part time jobs and disposable income which at the time was spent almost exclusively on yet more GC games, as I got better jobs I got better pay increases and ended up spending a small fortune on games - I was one of those that always brought the limited editions! at this point me and the other half spent most of our free time gaming (yes I had the luck to get engaged to a gamer
) Then came my Son who as i've mentioned is not that interested yet but he is only 1!
My point is that as I get further through life my time spent playing games has decreased a lot and I'm in this strange paradox where I can afford more games and consoles now but don't have the time to fully enjoy them like when I was 16 and had very little money. This also means my to play pile or 'pile of shame' is rather big at the moment, but what I have started doing as of my sons birth is to start one game in particular and try and stick to through to completion maybe with one or two score attack games in the background to break it up - I also keep a list of all the titles completed - 2016 is looking like this so far -
Games completed 2016
- Last of Us Remastered
- Warioland 4
- Halo 5
- Life is strange
- Firewatch
- Resident Evil 0 HD
- Axiom verge
- Wind Waker HD
- Uncharted Drakes Fortune
- Uncharted 4 A Thief's End
- Uncharted 2 Among Thieves
- Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception
- Twilight princess HD
- Metroid Fusion
People who know me have asked after not seeing for long periods of time 'are you still a gamer?' or 'why are you still playing those games?' and my answer is that no matter how old I get not matter where my life takes me I will still be a devoted gamer, its the reason I sought out podcasts and discussion groups so that I could talk with like minded people.
Ageing might change the amount of time or how I interact with the medium but at the end of it all I will always have a special place in my heart for games - my partner and I have a running joke that when I'm very old all she needs to do is put me in front of a PS4 and that will keep me occupied in the nursing home
Re: Ageing changing the way you play
My tastes have definitely recoiled in this current generation of consoles but I don't see it as a negative. I've put in about 300 hours into various versions of Binding of Isaac and I still find it an absolutely satisfying game to play.
Life changes and time does become more precious. Don't resent what you do now but cherish the times when you scoured every corner of City 17 et al and enjoy the times you do have now, even if they are briefer.
I've yet to play Uncharted 4, a series I'm head over heels for but I just don't feel the need to keep up with the industries constant need for us to jump from game to game all the time. We should play what we want, when we want without feeling like we're missing out on other experiences elsewhere.
Life changes and time does become more precious. Don't resent what you do now but cherish the times when you scoured every corner of City 17 et al and enjoy the times you do have now, even if they are briefer.
I've yet to play Uncharted 4, a series I'm head over heels for but I just don't feel the need to keep up with the industries constant need for us to jump from game to game all the time. We should play what we want, when we want without feeling like we're missing out on other experiences elsewhere.
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Sellardohr
Re: Ageing changing the way you play
Alex79uk, you described my feeling exactly when you said you wish you had time to play a game "properly."
Games have been a big part of my mental health self care for a long time. I need a nice dose of fantasy every now and again, checking out of this world and getting lost in a different one, so that when I come back to this world I'm not so sick of it anymore.
With the amount of time I have to play, and with how tired and cynical I find myself, it's harder and harder to get lost in a different world. I dip back into old titles a LOT in order to accomplish this -- I spend a month or two on Morrowind at least once a year.
I know enough about games now that when I spot the flaws in one, the bits of hackneyed writing or the obvious places where the designer's presence is too strong or the bowing to trends, I check out. I don't have time for that -- which is a sentiment a lot of you are expressing, albeit about different things.
But when I do manage to check into a world, be it in a book or a video game, and it starts to seize me (and I know it within a few minutes of its happening), I'm so grateful.
I'd sum up the difference between my younger self and now by saying I'm much more self aware about the role video games play in my life, and so I'm more technical about how I go about playing them. I know what it is I need to get out of them, and I go straight for that.
Games have been a big part of my mental health self care for a long time. I need a nice dose of fantasy every now and again, checking out of this world and getting lost in a different one, so that when I come back to this world I'm not so sick of it anymore.
With the amount of time I have to play, and with how tired and cynical I find myself, it's harder and harder to get lost in a different world. I dip back into old titles a LOT in order to accomplish this -- I spend a month or two on Morrowind at least once a year.
I know enough about games now that when I spot the flaws in one, the bits of hackneyed writing or the obvious places where the designer's presence is too strong or the bowing to trends, I check out. I don't have time for that -- which is a sentiment a lot of you are expressing, albeit about different things.
But when I do manage to check into a world, be it in a book or a video game, and it starts to seize me (and I know it within a few minutes of its happening), I'm so grateful.
I'd sum up the difference between my younger self and now by saying I'm much more self aware about the role video games play in my life, and so I'm more technical about how I go about playing them. I know what it is I need to get out of them, and I go straight for that.
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hazeredmist
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Re: Ageing changing the way you play
Off topic maybe but wow! I find randomly generated games like that entertain me for about half an hour, I have no idea where the depth lies in Binding of Isaac. And I've tried it on many formats. Yet I keep hearing about people ploughing insane time into it. Wish I understood...dezm0nd wrote: I've put in about 300 hours into various versions of Binding of Isaac
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hazeredmist
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- Posts: 1709
- Joined: June 25th, 2013, 12:45 pm
- Location: The DMZ
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Re: Ageing changing the way you play
I think Destiny is / was the last game I have truly got everything possible out of in terms of action / multiplayer. I've tried it with The Division and I just can't keep up with people anymore, and I have no doubt when my mates return to Destiny it'll be the same story. Weekdays I have so little time, and I am too wiped out on a Friday night to be as switched on with a game as I have been in the past. More & more I'm finding myself regressing into single player narrative-heavy games, with my recent completion list containing the likes of Until Dawn and Life is Strange. My most recent purchase is Beyond Two Souls which I'm playing though now in little chunks, fully knowledgeable that it probably isn't that good but I need games that require little skill for those times I'm sat bleary eyed after a hard day / week, and can't be arsed grinding online shooters. I will still buy those games though for the odd time I can play with my mates as the social element of gaming is a big one for me when I do have the energy / time, but ploughing 1000+ hours into a game like I did with Destiny is almost certainly never going to happen again.
Handheld gaming is easily the biggest thing for me though, I consistently play at least a little bit of a game on one of my many handhelds every single night before I go to sleep. Can't beat it.
Handheld gaming is easily the biggest thing for me though, I consistently play at least a little bit of a game on one of my many handhelds every single night before I go to sleep. Can't beat it.