Topic: How have your gaming habits changed as you became older?

[Razorkid]

      I really got into videogames when I was seven and received my NES.  My folks struggled financially during my childhood and with three other siblings plus the price of games, I received only one game on Christmas/birthday (rarely twice a year). So I did what a lot of kids did then, went to family & friends houses and played other games there.  I rented games occassionally, but that was always at the whim of my parents.  Because of this, I rarely beat any games outside the few I owned and actually consumed the majority of my gaming through Nintendo Power.


Man, I loved game magazines!


    Every time we went to a store, I would make a beeline to the magazine rack and read the latest Nintendo Power.  When I was finally able to save up for a sub of my own (at 9yrs old), every month I would pour over each page, cover to cover, and just absorb any and every game they presented. I couldn't get enough ! This continued into the 16bit era and my pre-teen years when I got a SNES. By then, I was able to make money doing yard work/snow removal and was finally able to rent games on my own (Blockbuster was my mecca).  I rented everything and beat the majority of it, too, which surprised me.  I figured that since the games looked better and the hardware was more sophisticated, the games were going to be more difficult.  That proved to not be the case and really put in perspective that games were meant to be beaten (contrary to the majority of what I played during the NES era).

    During high school and the N64 era, I had a real job and actually bought games more regularly (especially used ones from the mom & pop's around the corner from my house).  I continued to engross myself in gaming through magazine subs (EGM, Nintendo Power, Computer Gaming Strategy) and still beat everything I owned...then I hit college


    For some reason, even though I had more free time, I played console games less. before the Gamecube  came out, I built my first PC as a freshman and solidified my love of pc gaming (Baldur's Gate, Diablo, and Half Life had just came out recently and were my first pc purchases).  When the Cube hit, I got it day one and beyond the initial launch window of games, I didn't play it it like I did my previous consoles because I left it at home for my brother. 


That's when my backlog officially began.


  After college, I was single, had disposable income and no responsibility to anyone but myself and played console games even less. Spent more time clubbing/bar hopping with friends and gaming had turned to World of Warcraft almost exclusively.  Console gaming had stagnated for me and couldn't offer anything better than was on my pc...then the Wii came out .  Suddenly, I was made aware again of why I loved Nintendo and the experiences they provided. I bought every game worth playing and was a Wii /PC gamer.

  Once I met my wife and started having children, my free time over all shrunk down considerably and my entertainment backlog grew substantially (led by games of course). Suddenly, looking at gaming magazines, listening to 8-10 gaming podcasts weekly, and constantly lurking on forums became waaay to much pressure on me to keep up with Jones's on playing all the latest and greatest.  I came to the realization that I would never again be able to have the time to play everything that I want to and therefore needed not to be constantly reminded of that.  So, I downsized my gaming culture intake and just focused on games.

  This turned out to be much more rambly than I expected but I guess my major points are:

• I game mostly portably now, as I have very few long stretches of time that I can dedicate to games.
• For the bigger experiences I'm a nocturnal gamer because I can play uninhibited once the family is asleep.
• I never buy anything new or recent except if it is something that I absolutely must play immediately (which probably occurs only once or twice a year).
• I don't read gaming magazines, websites, or blogs (outside of NWR) and lurk the forums occassionally instead of hourly. I just don't want to know whats the latest and greatest when I have so many great games in my backlog that I have yet to get to. And this way, I don't get caught up in the hype or zeitgeist or what have you and not feel that peer pressure to join in (as silly as that sounds).
• I only get games that I have full interest in (Steam Sales Bundles be damned )
• I'm happier when a game is short and sweet.  Long console/PC games scare me (hello Xenoblade )
• I play jrpg's almost exclusively on handhelds (I love my psp go for all the cheap psone/psp jrpgs)
• I still beat my games, but I rarely return to them and only play for the storyline/main campaign. 
• I have no interest in the things that add replay value to games (exception being 999) or extend the games length (collectibles, character unlocks, etc)
• Because of my second shift work schedule and family life, I don't play online multiplayer games. But I do have a Game Night once every week (Sundays @8pm) in which I play a coop multiplayer game on PC with my brother and our adult friends over Skype (right now it's Hell difficulty in Diablo III).

Like how I imagine people felt like when they got their first library card or cable tv was invented, I have come to terms that I will never be able to experience all the great things that is gaming in my life time.

And I'm okay with that


How have your gaming habits changed over the years?

[broodwars]

Well, my gaming habits have changed a bit, but they've mostly stayed the same.  I still put a ludicrous amount of time into the games I play, I still read gaming magazines, I listen to gaming podcasts, I still read gaming-centric websites, and when I play games I still mostly have that "100% Completion" mentality.

The main thing that's really changed for me is that as a kid I would play my small collection of NES/SNES games incessantly.  I'm pretty sure when I was 7-8 I probably played and beat Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers at least once every day, and Mega Man X got a similar treatment when I got my SNES.  These days, games are longer and more involved, and my patience for less-than-pleasurable gaming experiences is a lot thinner than it used to be.  "Game length" also means a great deal less to me now than it used to, and in fact games that pad their run time now really annoy me.  So instead of constantly playing and replaying a few games, I tend to jump around a lot from game to game depending on my mood.  If I'm not feeling a game, I'll just put it down.  Maybe I'll pick it up again later, and maybe I won't.  And considering that my favorite genre is still the RPG, that's usually the death sentence for whatever game gets put down.  I almost never replay games, as there just isn't the time.

I also play handheld games now, though I attribute that less to a change in my gaming habits than the fact that handheld gaming doesn't suck now like it did in the Game Boy era.

I do think my gaming horizons have broadened as I've grown-up, though.  Up until earlier in this console cycle, having a console other than a Nintendo-made one was almost unthinkable to me.  But now I feel I need more and different experiences than you can get on a Nintendo device, so now I'm very much a multiplatform gamer.

[Pixelated Pixies]

My gaming habits and idiosyncrasies have not changed so much as they've intensified. I've always hated tutorials, cutscenes and load screens. Now I just hate them even more. I was, for example, playing through Beat the Beat earlier today (Rhythm Heaven Fever) and was super frustrated. The game itself can be pretty frustrating but that's not why I was getting aggitated. The reason I was losing the rag was because every time I f***ed up and wanted to restart the level I had to quit, go back to the main menu, select the game, watch the intro, skip the tutorial, and only then could I start playing the damn game again.
 
I'm ok with difficult games as long as I can keep playing. Games like Super Meatboy and Bit.Trip Runner are great examples. Both are thought to be very difficult, but I found them to be easy going largely because immediately after failing or messing up you're back playing the game.
 
I have always had a hatred of anything that comes between me and playing the game, but this has really intensified as I've gotten older. JUST LET ME PLAY THE GAME!

[SixthAngel]

I find myself caring less and less about new games and getting more old games.  I was getting worn out on the same old stuff and it was why I got the Wii (and was very happy with it) but I've had no desire to get another console even though I eventually bought them all the previous generation.  Every time  I see something about Mass Effect, Call of Duty, Dragon Age, Skyrim, Diablo 3 etc. I see older games in the same vein that are nearly universally praised by critics that i haven't played yet.  Dragon Age?  Baldur's Gate is 5 bucks and is supposed to be absolutely amazing. 
New games really need to do something different or be from a select few series to get me excited now.

[Razorkid]

The main thing that's really changed for me is that as a kid I would play my small collection of NES/SNES games incessantly.  I'm pretty sure when I was 7-8 I probably played and beat Chip 'N Dale Rescue Rangers at least once every day, and Mega Man X got a similar treatment when I got my SNES.

  I remember doing this as well as a kid. My brother and I would invent different ways to play through games (upside down, controller behind the back, speed runs, etc) to add spice to a game we've beaten twenty times over.  I sure would have loved the achievement system as a kid who owned only a few games, but now any added replay value is just wasted on me.

  These days, games are longer and more involved, and my patience for less-than-pleasurable gaming experiences is a lot thinner than it used to be.  "Game length" also means a great deal less to me now than it used to, and in fact games that pad their run time now really annoy me.

This x100.  As a kid, I was use to playing through anything I got my hands on, quality be damned. As I got older, I developed a tendency to bull through games regardless of how much fun I wasn't having merely because I owned it or it was the popular game everyone liked.  Then I got smart and realized that I played games to have fun and adopted the same attitude of just dropping something if it wasn't any fun. Also, padding in games infuriate me now as I just want to get through the experience at a natural pace and not be held back artificially.

...I tend to jump around a lot from game to game depending on my mood.

 I do this a lot on my 3DS and it facilitates this habit very well with all the different types of eShop, Ambassador, and VC games I have on it.  It's also because of this preference to jump around that I prefer digital vs physical copies, something that has definitely changed from when I was younger and loved physical collections.

[ShyGuy]

My patience for game frustration is much smaller too. I think with age comes perspective.

[S-U-P-E-R]

Really? I feel like I get more patient, the more games I play. I wonder of that has something to do with the kinds of games I play.

I think video games affected the way I analyze and learn things, mostly for the better. I mean, what are video games if not problem-solving exercises? When I try to learn something new, I go through a process of read/watch->prepare/practice->do process quickly and confidently.

[Lithium]

i'm not that old (i'm 21) but one notable difference in my gaming habits from when i was a kid and now is that my preference switched from liking long games to preferring short games. Much of that has to do with game filler reasons, the only exception to that was Xenoblade, since it was the only game i played that was that long which didn't have any filler.

but now I'd rather have a short, taut game experience that's high quality than a long game to give me "bang for my buck" a lot of that has to do with having my own money. So now its less finding games that bring monetary value than it is finding games that are worth my time. Because of that I tend to be a little harsher than others when deciding whether or not i liked the game or not. I also tend to be harsh about game stories for the same reason, especially if the story is delivered through unskipable cut-scenes/scrolling text, if the game developers are going to force me to sit through that then it better be worth my time or else that's a knock against the game (but if the story/dialogue is actually good then i'll forgive it) when it seems that most people are willing to forgive bad game stories


outside of games themselves now i never keep up with game news, i prefer reading features about games and then getting the news from word of mouth from forums and podcasts.

[Morari]

I play fewer video games nowadays simply because there are fewer games actually worth playing. It's alright though, as other long held hobbies have simply moved in to fill the void instead.

[NWR_insanolord]

I, on the other hand, play a lot more games than I used to, because I have money now. I disagree that there are fewer games worth playing, though since Morari is primarily a PC guy I can see how that could be true in his case.

[MagicCow64]

I, too, have lost patience for most games. I remember being really appalled when games started shrinking to 4-6 campaigns, but now I prefer it. Most games run out of ideas within that time frame, so I'm happy to be done with them at that length. The only game I can think of that I wish was longer that I've played in the last few years is Limbo. Donkey Kong Country Returns might be the game I've spent the most time with in the last half-decade based on how satisfying the extra playthroughs were. Just beautiful classical design.

I tired to get in to Oblivion and Fallout 3, but both games made me gag after about 10 hours. Something about them just feels wrong to me, like the content is all synthetic filler.

Interestingly, I've gotten really sucked in to Dark Souls in the last few weeks, after almost giving up on it ten times in the first five hours. I might actually put 40 hours into iy, which I haven't done with a game in lord knows how long.

[Killer_Man_Jaro]

More games, less time. It's a simple mathematical change.

In terms of how I play the games, nothing has really shifted. I will still replay games I like, though perhaps not quite as much as I used to. The difference is that, whereas before playing a game for many hours at a time was fair deuce, now it takes up significant time in which I should have been doing something more productive. Basically, I now have far less room to be irresponsible with my work schedule, but I still am anyway.

As for the types of games I play, that has evolved a fair bit. I continue to enjoy the same kinds of games I did when I was younger, but nowadays, genres aren't nearly as partitioned as they once were, so I've gotten into a lot more games that I wouldn't have or didn't play earlier in my life. This has developed to the point where my favourite style of game is the self-titled action puzzle genre, which encapsulates many different games. Additionally, I'm more willing to experiment - I have never gotten much into RPGs (although the fact that Europe missed a lot of them probably had a part to play there), but recently, I've been able to expand my horizons and have come to enjoy certain RPGs.

Naturally though, the single biggest change is that I have more money to spend on games, so I now possess an intimidating backlog and continue to increase its size by snatching up deals left, right and centre. To some extent, this reflects certain changes in the video games industry; both factors play a role. This hasn't really changed my attitude on finishing games, as most of the time, I do feel an urge to complete what I started and, you know, get around to things eventually.

[Razorkid]

I play fewer video games nowadays simply because there are fewer games actually worth playing.

I disagree.  Especially compared to when I was a kid, there's a huge magnitude of high quality, fun games to play spread out over a wonderful variety of genres and play styles. This is even more true on the PC where everything from your standard AAA $60 blockbuster to free indie experiences are available.


 As a kid, it was easier to make a decision on what to play next because my tastes were narrow and the breath of games I had access to were limited.  Nowadays, I will try anything that strikes my fancy and really take community recommendations of games I've passed over to heart. 

[Ian Sane]

Two big parts of my childhood were arcades and magazines and they both pretty much don't exist anymore.  I had a subscription to Gamepro in 1994 and that was like heaven.  A lot of awesome games came out during that time as well like Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Earthworm Jim, Final Fantasy III.  It was during a real golden age for fighting games too and I was really into Street Fighter II and its numerous knock-offs (almost all of which were made by SNK).

The best time for gaming for me would have been when I was around 19-20.  This was when I first started having money so I started buying a lot of games, which I thought was really cool.  This was when my SNES collection really got going and early on there was so many titles to get.  Now I have so many that the only items remaning are either common titles I'm only sort of interested in or rare holy grail games (still need Chrono Trigger).  That's just the nature of a collection though.

When I was still living with my parents I would hole myself up in my room and play games all evening or all Saturday.  My parents' house is pretty small and that was a good way to have time to myself.  Now that I own my own house there is less need to lock myself away from everybody.  Also, while I'm still single and don't have kids yet, just owning a house eats up your time.  I can't play games if the lawn needs to be mowed or the toilet is leaking and needs to be fixed.  There are always a million chores that need to be done.  Also after a long day of work I want something more passive to do.  I usually play videogames on the weekend.  After work I really don't want to swear at the screen while some cheap boss kills me.

Though, honestly, videogames of my late 20's have just not been as good.  Two major shifts that I really don't like occured during that time.  The first is motion control which I absolutely cannot stand.  The second is that the console market has really changed to be more Western focused.  Japanese companies now tend to better support handhelds (which I don't really like much) and their console output is inconsistent.  Japanese videogames are my favourite and they've become somewhat rare these days.  I think we're clearly in a new era now and I feel like what I imagine fans of the pre-crash era would have felt like when the NES took over.

[AnGer]

In terms of genres, my habits have changed very little, I still like the games I played when I was a kid (I'm 24 fyi). That being said, most of the games I like have a rather old-fashioned style. 


In terms of platforms, there was a rather significant switch from being a person who prefers stationary consoles and did a little PC gaming over a consoles only guy to a handheld/PC gamer which was mainly affected by the time I spend on playing games and the lack of a TV to connect my stationary gaming devices to.