Computer games and age

[GoodSarmatian]

The time thing is bad, and it's only really a problem with strategy games for me. In most other genres I can just finish after the level/quest, but with games like Civ there's always just a few turns until I finish a wonder or take a city.
It's the reason I won't get Shogun 2 any time soon, although it's currently the only new game that interests me.

 

[cman2010]

As I get older I find I tire more quickly of games, and have less time to paly them, but I still like games just only play for 5-8 hrs a week.

 

[Akka]

I am 31. I think that the age of computer gaming is over for me.

I'm 32, and I have never been as much of a hardcore player than I am now.
Saying there is an "age" for a hobby is ridiculous. The subjects you dig may shift with time, or your tastes may change and you may end up not interested anymore with something you liked when you were younger, but there has never been a particular age to enjoy some kind of entertainment.

I liked football when I was a kid, I stopped being interested when I was a teenager. Doesn't mean that football is only for children.

I used to be a very passionate gamer, in my teens. It started when i was 9 with my first computer, an Amstrad CPC6128. Then came the Amiga, and finally the PC.

I just do not find any satisfaction in games anymore. I'd rather spend the time writing in my diary or creating new fiction, or even take a walk downtown.

What about you? We are, of course, in a forum of a site dedicated to a computer game, but i suspect there are other people who play very little nowdays, or not at all. Although the majority most probably still is very much involved in such games

I'm still just as much loving with video game as ever - perhaps even moreso - but I'll give you one thing : the transformation from one niche market made by passionnate people, to a money-based greedy industry made by sh... marketing a-holes, has been extremely detrimental to the "soul" of gaming. I'm seeing much less enjoyable games now than fifteen years ago. But it's not because I like video games less, it's because games have been watered down to become bland and thoughtless products made for the masses of casual retards that form the market.
You can see the same things with movies or music.

 

[sophie]

I'm still just as much loving with video game as ever - perhaps even moreso - but I'll give you one thing : the transformation from one niche market made by passionnate people, to a money-based greedy industry made by sh... marketing a-holes, has been extremely detrimental to the "soul" of gaming. I'm seeing much less enjoyable games now than fifteen years ago. But it's not because I like video games less, it's because games have been watered down to become bland and thoughtless products made for the masses of casual retards that form the market.
You can see the same things with movies or music.

And just like with movies AND music, this really isn't any different than it was 5, 10, or even 15 years ago.

 

[Akka]

And just like with movies AND music, this really isn't any different than it was 5, 10, or even 15 years ago.

Man, if you think things haven't changed in the video game world since fifteen years ago, you need to get down from outer space and awake in reality.

Music and movies have made the transition to the mass market since decades (they were both around when the mass market actually emerged), but video games are a very recent happening - it's barely since the mid-nineties that they started to get known to the large public, and since late nineties/early 2000 they started to actually become an industry.

 

[Kyriakos]

I agree with Akka. In the past there used to be many small computer game companies, in fact it was the norm. They all got bought by larger ones, and things went downhill from there...

Sometimes a game is better when fewer people are involved in its creation, since it is more personal and it expresses a set idea more cleanly. For example my favourite game "Another world" (1990) is said to have been made by only one person.

 

[Maniacal]

The 1983 video game crash was at least partially caused by the market being flooded by low quality games produced by small development teams, so yeah its nothing new.

 

[Akka]

I agree with Akka. In the past there used to be many small computer game companies, in fact it was the norm. They all got bought by larger ones, and things went downhill from there...

Sometimes a game is better when fewer people are involved in its creation, since it is more personal and it expresses a set idea more cleanly. For example my favourite game "Another world" (1990) is said to have been made by only one person.

Yeah, Eric Chahi ^^
Though let's be honest, Jean-François Freitas helped him with creating the musics, so he was not COMPLETELY alone

(BTW, he's working on From Dust, which seems like it will be absolutely great)

 

[Kyriakos]

The music is great too

 

[sendos]

My Dad is in is 50's and he's still playing Alpha Centauri and other strategy games. I just loved the time when I played against my brother and my dad in AoE2. The result was that I beat my Dad and I lost to my brother.

I still remember that quote from my Dad when I launched my second attack against him: "Oh, You're back, you're back!" in a panicked tone.