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[Mr Nash]

Most of us started playing games when we were young'uns, and have probably logged insane amounts of time on tons of titles over the years. So, now that you are older, and hopefully wiser, how do you tackle playing games? Has graduating university and switching into career mode, or possibly starting a family changed how you play games compared to, say, 10 years ago? Have you found a way to still play as much as you'd like?

Now that I'm far closer to 30 than I'd like to admit, I'm noticing I gravitate towards games that can be played in short controlled bursts. I still love RPGs to death, but don't have the time that I used to for logging huge marathon sessions with those games. Racers, brawlers, and stuff of that ilk usually dominate my play time now. Even when I do make time for an MMORPG like FFXI, I usually end up being a Beastmaster for the convenience of being able to start and stop playing whenever I like.

So what say you? Now that you're older has your gaming habits changed?

 

[Deleted member 1235]

I now feel extremely guilty while I play games as my girlfriend looks on in disgust.
Other than that, I still love it, I probably don't play for as long, but thats more to do with RSI from this computer job than anything else.

 

[olimario]

Olimario's Gaming Habits
-I've moved from multiplayer to single player a lot.
-I no longer care about any sort of badass appeal and lean towards titles with interesting art styles. (Pikmin, Katamari, etc...)
-I like pick up and play titles now more than ever. (Wario Ware, Donky Konga, Katamari Damacy, etc...)

I haven't liked football games since Tecmo Super Bowl and I haven't enjoyed baseball titles since RBI.

 

[bobafett]

10 years ago I played games to death, had a lot of patience and stuff. Now I'm 28 and I don't have time to play, although I still admire and follow closely the industry. Funny enough, the so called mature games appeal more to me, like GTA, MGS3 and GT4.

I think I'm becoming a casual gamer.

 

[AniHawk]

I now look for cheaper games and deals (mainly started this month with all the games coming out this year- I imagine it will stay this way).

 

[DCharlie]

-2d6 to all gaming abilities over the last few years for me.

The days of clocking Ghouls and Ghosts on one credit are loooooooooooong gone

 

[Late Stage Marxist]

I don't touch JRPG's anymore.

I don't care about Metal Gear Solid as much as I once did.

I complete games before I move onto the next one (more often than not). PSX RPG days were bad for jumping from game-to-game.

I don't play games that conistently frustrate the shit out of me, or I just knock down the difficulty. I'm not as patient as I once was.

 

[bishoptl]

I still go on the 4 hour gaming jag at least once a week, but luckily some of that can be written off as work-related. Other than that, I'm in the "short controlled bursts" camp - with a family it's hard to find the time. I'm lucky in that everyone in my house likes games to some extent, my better half is into RPGs and adventures and that helps.

I still love the sports games, though, and will make the time for league play on Xbox Live when it comes to ESPN hockey.

 

[drohne]

i buy a lot more games and play them a lot less.

 

[swoon]

Olimario's Gaming Habits
-I've moved from multiplayer to single player a lot.
-I no longer care about any sort of badass appeal and lean towards titles with interesting art styles. (Pikmin, Katamari, etc...)
-I like pick up and play titles now more than ever. (Wario Ware, Donky Konga, Katamari Damacy, etc...)

yea. this is me. i only play saturday from about 12-5pm (but not in a row) now and late evenings, also. i tend to dislike "mature" games and bloody games and like platformers and whatnot.

 

[belgurdo]

Until FFVII I played exclusively platformers and fighting games, then I played pretty much only JRPGs until recently, as I've gotten tired of them. Now I buy mostly platformers again and western RPGs

 

[Spike]

I find myself talking more about games on this board than actually playing them.

 

[Alex Anderson]

i buy a lot more games and play them a lot less.

Same

Although I really clamped down on that severely. I went on a stretch in 02-03 where I did that way more than I should have. I'm now a reformed, stingy CAG >

 

[heavy liquid]

Now that I'm older (and married.. house.. job.. blah, blah), I also tend to try to try and stay away from RPG's. There are the few exeptions (KOTOR, for example), but I mainly try to stick with shorter games. If a game is polished and shorter (like Riddick or Ninja Gaiden), I'm all over it. It means I have a good chance of finishing it, and I'm already guilty enough when I look at my collection. I don't need to add to it.

I still love playing multiplayer though, even though I don't get to do it as much as when I used to. That's another thing: it only gets harder to get together with friends the older you get. Everyone else is getting married and having kids. Thank God for Xbox LIVE. If I can, I'll go on a 4 or 5 hour gaming binge on the weekend, either single or multiplayer. Sure, it's not the kind of binge I used to do, but it's just as rewarding.

 

[teepo]

i grew sick of jrpgs.

 

[jiggle]

I don't have the energy to pull an all nighter any more. Probably 2-3 hours/day max for me now. Sometimes even less. RPGs used to take me less than a week to complete, now require a month of two.

Other than that, everything's still the same. I'm still playing mostly JRPGs. Although, I try to play some of them in japanese now.

 

[Dyne]

i grew sick of jrpgs.

Same. I'm not buying another RPG until I finish my backlog of them, which in turn means never.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

I still play long sessions, but i'm not working at the moment, so maybe thats why . I'm really still a kid at 20 .

As for gaming tastes, it hasn't changed at all, just expanded. I'm into Nintendo games obviously, but now i'm more into RPGs, including hardcore western RPGs like ES3. I'm also into story driven games, or games with non linear paths like Deus Ex. I can handle gore better than I did as a kid, so thats been upped a bit, but I played quite a few gore & blood games back then too.

In short, I play all the games I did as a kid, and more.

 

[gtmax]

Yeah, i play a lot less games now. I almost exclusively only play racing games. I only like games that are consistent in their given world, if that makes sense. I don't have any patience to go through an RPG FF style or anything of the like.

I hate gaems with puzzles because it's a stupid gameplay-lacking gimmick. Playing games as an adult is a curse because you moderate your own playing time, meaning that you can burn yourself out of playing games. When you were a kid your parents regulated your gaming time, so you always wanted more. You could also only afford 1 game or so a month, so you never got enough.

Now i look at my games and dont' feel like playing much of anything. Last great game i played was Transformers.

One thing i don't do is agonize over graphical details like most here do. I still remember how to enjoy games.

 

[Blackie]

I use to play games quite a bit more than I do now. At least once or twice a day when I was in the 5-10th grades. I played mostly rpgs and action/adventure or platform games. Plus tons of Mario Kart in whatever form it was available. I didn't stop until a game was completely finished, either.

Now I hardly play anything but Halo multiplayer or co-op with friends. I started Metroid and stopped when I hit the artifact collecting. Bought Super Smash and never play. Bought F-Zero and never play. Haven't touched my PS2 since I beat FFX, or my gamecube really. The only game I play besides Halo is Wario Ware.

 

[element]

i play games that I can get a good amount of entertainment in 20 or 30 minutes. So a game of Madden or a couple races in Burnout. I don't have the time to be spending playing games that can suck me into them for hour at time.

There are the rare games like Call of Duty, and probably Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 that I will play through.

 

[Pachinko]

Age 3-5 - Atari 2600 games , space invaders knock offs , pitfall and dig dug

Age 6-7- NES games , especially mario and megaman , liscensed stuff from disney and ninja turltes was also my type of thing

Age 8-12 - Gameboy and sega genesis- herzog zwei even though I sucked horribly back then, sonic the hedghog and links awakening

Age 13 -I didn't get a SNES until I was 13, it was almost dead by then but I played all the good RPG's like FF3, chrono trigger and mario RPG. I also liked donkey kong country at the time, I dabbled in PSone stuff by renting the system becuase it had good graphics.

Age 14-17 - The playstation era, I did have an N 64 breifly but only bothered with mario and zelda. Mostly I ate up RPG's during these formative teen years , especially squaresoft stuff. Final fantasy 7-9 , tactics, xenogears, grandia. I also really liked resident evil games.

Age 18 to 21(present) - I traded my N64 for a dreamcast and due to it's mostly arcade game related titles, I grew to enjoy faster paced games that took less time to play. Fighters especially, racing games somewhat. I was still into RPG's a little bit at first but since I finished skies of arcadia nothing has really shot my interest up much. I'd say currently I still like arcadish games on consoles, I started PC gaming around the age of 19 so I really like FPS and RTS titles now as well.

 

[SentientStone]

I find myself valuing owning a physical copy of a game more than the actually playing of the game.

 

[Drinky Crow]

What the first poster said. The wheel has turned away from RPGs and back to my original genre preference: arcade shoot-em-ups and racers. That said, I managed to clock 60-some hours in Phantom Brave -- I'll bet the music is permanently encoded in my daughter's forming brain.

 

[SantaC]

age 6-7 NES

age 11-15 into snes rpgs

age 16-21 into the internet multiplayer fps games like quake & CS

age 22-25 getting bored of the fps games. into more Nintendo stuff again.

have always been into Mario, FF and especially zelda.

 

[TekunoRobby]

I have the uncanny ability to genuinly enjoy every game genre out there. I've also become more aware of game development since I was younger and have learned to respect the hard work and labor people put into games. I used to simply write off bad games or games that didn't appeal to me but now I can easily admire the qualities of the game even if it doesn't fit my personal preference.

 

[Alex]

...Meh, not really. I'm just a lot more critical on games than I used to be. And considering the mass games are released in compared to what I remember when I was younger, that's a good thing.

I'm probably more into multi-player now, despite it being x10,000 more difficult to set a match up.

 

[Vormund]

- I play more multiplayer (online) this would be more due to broadband, but I still played a lot of Quake Team Fortress back in the day.

- I play more 'pick up and play' games, I don't have the time/patience to play long games...unless it is something really special.

- I don't play as much. simple as that.

 

[DarienA]

I still love RPGs(turn-based), Racing games and action/stealth games.
The missus and I converted one of our bedrooms into my game room, all my systems, surround sound system etc is in there with a awesome reclining chair and daybed.
I don't play nearly as much as I use to in terms of # of days in a row, but when I do play I spent ALOT of time playing in one session.
I dabbled in online gaming with my DC, Xbox and PS2, but decided I'd rather focus on games with a beginning and an ending so I'm done with online gaming.

 

[BobbyRobby]

In my early teen years, I pretty much only played Nintendo games and JRPGs.

Once I started going to online message boards, I've branched out a lot more. I take risks and buy pretty much anything I think might be up my alley after hearing impressions on forums. This lead to me to appreciate whole genres of games that I wrote off as boring.

In the recent past, I've bought Astro Boy and Gitaroo Man based off things I heard here. Two amazing games that I never would've considered if left to my own devices.

 

[Lathentar]

I play more multiplayer oriented games.
I play most my single player games at work.
The only single player game time I get at home is in binges. Burnout 3... 1 week 20 hours.

 

[Phoenix]

I play fewer games that require more than 30 hours to finish entirely.

I play more games that I can get enjoyment out of quickly such as online multiplayer.

I reject out of hand any game that would require me to spend considerable time with it (like MMORPGs and 100+ hour RPGs).

I play more games that I can put down easily and return to at a later date.

I play games that have a lower learning curve and have much more focussed gameplay rather than giving me 8 billion options.

 

[Son of Godzilla]

I usually play videogames till the first level/savepoint and quit. I've done this for about twenty games atm.

I give up easy, but go out of my way to buy hard games.

I usually end up playing Day of Defeat instead of videogames.

I used to really enjoy single player games, now I've got no time or devotion to play em.

 

[Ranger X]

Olimario's Gaming Habits
-I've moved from multiplayer to single player a lot.
-I no longer care about any sort of badass appeal and lean towards titles with interesting art styles. (Pikmin, Katamari, etc...)
-I like pick up and play titles now more than ever. (Wario Ware, Donky Konga, Katamari Damacy, etc...)

You resumed it so well!

I would also say that rpgs could be fun if they had some "story so far" features. This would make them more pick up and play.
I would also say that when growing up, we also become less and less biased in our opinions and views about this industry and it's products.

 

[djtiesto]

Wow, lots of people have stopped playing RPGs... that's almost exclusively what I've played since I was a kid, and continue to today... why did you stop? Not enough time? Games not being as good as they once were? I play games more than I did at college, since I have a good job and I can now buy more games, and have more quiet time, a girlfriend that also likes them, and less of a social life (thankfully).

Oh yeah, I've pretty much stopped playing multiplayer games since I've left college. Nobody I know down here really plays them (most of my friends and my g/f only play single player games).

 

[Doom_Bringer]

-I play less games for shorter period of time (5-8 hours a week) because of study/family
-I spend more time on message boards talking about games instead of playing
-I also don't enjoy RPGs as much as I used to

 

[open_mouth_]

increase in age
increase in # of games i'm interested in

decrease in time
decrease in patience

 

[HooDoo]

increase in age
increase in # of games i'm interested in

decrease in time
decrease in patience

Exactly the same.

 

[atomsk]

i dont have the time/patience to "finish" a game anymore. with a few rare exceptions (a new mario or zelda game, etc)

the last game i can remember finishing is Katamari (with unlocking the eternal stages, still didnt take that long)

if i can get 15-20 hours of play out of a game, i consider it worth the money i spent. working, having a 2 year old in the house, and having the tv all the game systems are hooked up always playing cartoons. and a gf who will complain i'm spending more time in front of the computer/playing games than with her... will limit ones game time...

that said, i've manged to put 20 hours into burnout 3 so far, and about 5 into fable.

at the moment, my copies of pikmin 2, and konga vol 2 are feeling a bit neglected. ah well

 

[evil ways]

increase in age
increase in # of games i'm interested in

decrease in time
decrease in patience

Same here, but I've also grown to despise pitfall deaths, like more recently in Shinobi, Nightshade and Maximo.

Back when I was a kid it sorta bothered me but I let it be and kept playing no matter what. Nowadays I can't stand them, especially when they're repetitive. It bothers me that I'm not getting killed by an enemy or a boss but more like a crappy leap pf faith. I don't have the patience anymore to put up with that sort of shit, especially on 3D games and when it's caused by camera issues.

 

[Teddman]

I play more games at once (have at least one going for every system I own, which is a lot).

I finish half or less of the games I begin.

Not as much time to play games, which in turn leads me to get annoyed at games with poor save systems.

Tired of games with overbearing plots and scant gameplay (Xenogears, etc).

I play less multiplayer games, but more online multiplayer games.

 

[Kola]

When I was young I didn't have the money to support my gaming addiction. So before I bought a game I used several days in comprehensive studies if it does fit my gaming habits and when it was bought I spent all the time with it and finished each and every side quest. The time was there.

Now, 10 years later I've got more money and thus more games. What is missing is time time time. But when I look at the games I bought when I was younger I have to admit that now I'm still playing the same suspects even though I'm much older: Mario, Zelda, Metroid and the like. Just SEGA games have nearly completly vanished since the fall of the DC. RIP.

 

[Prospero]

Mostly, I've drifted away from twitch gaming and toward strategy gaming. I thought at first that it was because my reflexes were starting to go, but I think the problem is more that I don't have inclination these days to repeat a task over and over and over and over and over and over until it becomes rote. Also, I'm starting to worry about developing RSI, and arcade shooters don't help. (I'm loving Gradius V right now, but I can already see that I'm going to have to put it down soon, or at least cut my gameplay down to 1-2 credits a day.)

I rarely ever game for more than 1 hour at a time. I put 2-3 hour marathons into Pikmin 2, but that kind of play is an extreme rarity for me. Since I'm splitting my leisure time between gaming, reading, writing, and studying go, gaming is a pretty low priority for me right now.

 

[DSN2K]

dont play for more then a hour at a time.
less Sports games
play more RPGs
play alot more PC titles then I did before.
gone off RTS a little, used to play C&C etc.. for hours but I cant seem to do that anymore.
never complete games anymore.

 

[Razoric]

Like a lot of people here, I tend to shy away from 50+ hour games nowadays. I was actually excited to here Fable was short. That means I'll be able to beat it in 1-2 weeks.

I tend to play more online gaming than anything (counterstrike, warcraft 3, socom 2, etc).

And like others, I buy more games yet play less. I think I need help.

 

[Bauer Action Hour]

-Play sports games more frequently (baseball and football specifically)
-Buy fewer games, I'm much more picky than I used to be
-Don't rush out to buy every title when it comes out, I'm more price savvy
-Play rpgs and "involving" games more often
-Play almost no mascot/platformers outside of Ratchet and Clank
-Play games less frequently in general, since the Internet became my time-sucking vortex

 

[evilromero]

I play far less games than I used to. Back when the N64 launched I played Mario 64 without sleep over a weekend. Did the same for Zelda, Banjoy-Kazooie and others at the time. Now, only a very few games have managed to make me keep that same kind of dedication. Only Mario Sunshine and Animal Crossing so far. And I own all the systems and buy all the big games, so I'm considering the likes of Halo and GTA.

 

[AeroGod]

I can feel myself slowly moving away from gaming. A good game can still captavite me to play for hours and hours in a row (Most recently Burnout 3), but that isnt often. During the N64, PSX, DC, and early PS2 days I would play anything to completetion and spend 10 hours a day playing games, almost everyday. Similar to previous gens like SNES Genesis and NES, and late 90's PC. I played anything pretty much just to play it have a new game.

Now though, I still buy alot of games I suppose. Not as much as I use to. In the previous gen I probably bought at least 1 game a week. But now Im starting to cut back to 1 or 2 games a month if I can, but even still I might rarely complete the game if it takes to long. I just get board with it and never come back to it, or at least not for awhile.

The only games I know I can buy and play and play are MMOs. I still have a sick devotion to Dark Age of Camelot even though Ive come to HATE the game, but Ive made alot of friends in the community. Once WoW comes out though, Ill be leaving it for good finally.

 

[Infinitemadness]

Well, thanks to work and when I had a girlfriend it became less gaming solo and more gaming with my lady of the past. Now I just game on my own again and its usually no more than 2 titles at one time. Anymore and my head will probably explode. My job ALMOST got me to hate videogames in general. ALMOST. I got Sly 2 and Pikmin 2 for turning me back.


What I do miss are those early years in high school (before driving) When I would just put endless hours into FFII and III. and VII too come to think of it. Great times. Not a care in the world

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Buy a whole lot more.

Play a whole lot less.