Aging and videogames: when do you begin to suck?

[lamaros]

Going to say it again. But you're going to get your ass handed to you even if you have magic fingers reaction times if you just pop in to a FPS every now or then. Has nothing to do with age.

I play CS:GO several times a week, and have for the past year. I am immeasurably better now than when I started, as demonstrated both by my own opinion of myself, and my skill relative to those I play with (who have been playing for 3+ years). Another friend who only plays once a month or so is consistently poor.

I also played CS back in the beta days, when I was late teens early 20s. I'm pretty confident I am way better now than I was then.

It's not age, it's just life and lifestyle.

[Margalis]

I once thought I was pretty good at Unreal Tournament until I decided to play online with randoms. The game had been out for like 5 years at that point, so the only people still playing were gods. I literally didn't hit a single person with anything in like 15 minutes. Point being, if you don't keep up you get left behind.

I don't feel like I've gotten any worse at games for any reason other than lack of practice. But I've never been big into multiplayer FPS games, which is where that sort of degradation would probably show up most. In genres I play more of I still start on the highest available difficulty level, like a real man. 

[brellium]

I've never been big on FPS's even though I've played them alot.

My goal in an FPS was always situational awareness. If you're ever in a fight, you should always first realize where you are and then form a tactic to kill them using the map. My best example was in an old Planetside base with the covered stairs on the outer wall. Someone got the jump on me and I ran up the stairs knowing that they were a giant blind spot, jumped down and killed the poor fool from behind.

Mostly I just sniped since I could pin down entire platoons. You don't win battles by killing people, you win battles by tying up 30 fucks for 10 minutes.

[Jeff Kelly]

I'm done with competitive gaming. I'm even mostly done with cooperative multiplayer. So I don't really care if I'm getting slow as fuck the older I get.

I play by myself and so the only one berating me for being stupid/slow is me.

[Falconeer]

I know very well that a good chunk of your ability in FPS is map awareness and constant practice. That doesn't have much to do with my situation though, as I have mentioned many different game genres. Also, lifestyle isn't my issue. I work 9 to 5 and then I dedicate ALL my remaining time to gaming. You could say that I am privileged enough in this stage of my life to have about 8 hours of gaming time every day, weekends usually go higher than that. Yes, that's right. My son is 21 years old (and plays less than me but is generally better at anything we play together), my Italian friends suck and are all playing the REAL FAMILY! game now so we never hang out, and my primary partner is a gamer too and doesn't always live with me (she's back in the US now). So, time and dedication aren't my issues. Gaming is my only addiction, and I actually take it too seriously. Sure, as someone else pointed out, I spread myself thin between many games, but that's why I mentioned MechWarrior and Smite because they are two games I have definitely stuck with for more than a year playing every night. And my results were still extremely disappointing. Sure, this could mean that I've always been terrible, but I can definitely feel that some issues that I've mentioned before are new:

- when I aim at something and quickly move the pointer on it, it's always a slightly imprecise movement that requires a correction. I can see this even if I am just chasing icons on the desktop on Windows. This didn't happen ten years ago. Aiming-eye-coordination issue that I didn't have.

- when I enter a room in an FPS for example, it takes my eyes a few tenths of a second to put everything into focus. As a result, I often don't recognize an enemy from the background. When I do, I'm already dead. This didn't happen ten years ago. I could have missed or been slower than my opposition but I didn't have problems seeing them. Eye-focus-contrast issue that I didn't have.

This is not to say that I feel like I'm 90 years old, my hands shake even when I am not doing anything or that I have to squint in my every day life every time something new enters my field of vision. But my everyday life doesn't require millisecond reactions or pinpoint precise movements. If you think about it, even our cars are easier to drive than videogame ones.

Clearly we all rot/age differently, as it is pretty obvious from the widely different answers in this thread. I might just need a new pair of glasses and I am not even kidding, or an eye visit, maybe I simply get less light in my eyes and with everything being somewhat darker comes longer reaction times. It is still obvious to me that my reaction and eye-hand cooordination capabilities have been subtly deteriorating in a way that is impossible for me to deny anymore, and wouldn't probably show anywhere else than in something as incredibly precise and fast as competitive action games. Dedication, tactics, smarts, all help a lot. But we are not all gifted with the same skill potential and so we are probably not all gifted with the same endurance. I am glad to see that some of you are still holding up better than me. Thank you for all the replies, they are valuable to me.

[Jeff Kelly]

Don't get me wrong. We all get slower over time or have to deal with different things like slower reaction time or imprecise movement due to age or age-related effects.

At nearly 40 it hasn't slowed me down to a point where I can't play certain games though and so I don't really care all that much. I'm not really that much into multiplayer anymore and so it doesn't matter that much if I take a few tenths of a second longer to aim or don't consistently get headshots or the the highest units/min count in RTS.

So it's more a question if the changes in speed and accuracy you experience really affect your gaming in a real way which would suck or if you're just a bit angry that you're not as quick and ptrecise as you were ten years ago.

For me I can say that I notice that I'm not as good as I was twenty years ago but right now I still can play everything so who cares, really

[Shannow]

Falcon as a dedicated gamer you know that the answer is always a bigger monitor and a faster video card!   

[Pennilenko]

Falc, if you are constantly overshooting your desired objective, you're control interface is too sensitive or there is input lag. Nobody with as much practice as you should have the kind of deterioration you are experiencing, unless they have some kind of undiagnosed neuromuscular issue.

[Margalis]

Maybe you should consider going outside, getting exercise and having more diverse hobbies. I don't mean that to be snide - it's good for your eyesight because it makes you focus on different points, good for your circulation, muscles, etc. 8 hours of gaming every day sounds very docile and possibly inviting some repetitive stress injuries. (Maybe minor ones that are registering as precision problems)

In professional gamers physical problems, especially wrist / arm related, are fairly common.

You may just be overdoing it and maybe need some "crosstraining."

[Engels]

I've found that while my immediate twitch response can't possibly match what I was able to do in my 20s and 30s, I've found the silver lining in some games that require impulse control. World of Warships is a good example; playing a Japanese destroyer is an exercise in patience: You can't just zoom ahead and start torpin' because the first enemies to the fight are normally other destroyers and very lethal cruisers. You have to pick your avenue of approach quite carefully to get an effective hit on a slow battleship. In my younger days I'd have had difficulty controlling the impulse to run in. Nowadays, I'm content to resist the pressure to engage and meander in the back while I see the lay out of the land. Most of the time anyway.

So, I just think that there are games that increasingly reward thoughtful gameplay and planning while keeping the action going. You just need to find one that you like.

[Yegolev]

Skimming through here... I am doing a great job if I can dodge sleep enough to get 10 hours of gaming in a week.  Usually it is much less.  What's the average for the group?

[Engels]

The average may be meaningless unless you divide F13rs into the 'parent' or 'not a parent' categories.

[Paelos]

Skimming through here... I am doing a great job if I can dodge sleep enough to get 10 hours of gaming in a week.  Usually it is much less.  What's the average for the group?

Probably 10 yeah. Sometimes more if I'm not traveling on the weekends.

[HaemishM]

10-20 for me depending on how much I get to play during lunch at work.

[Yegolev]

That's pretty fucking sad for childless people.

[HaemishM]

I watch lots of TV and sports.

[Engels]

I'm averaging 20ish. Not only childless, but blessed with a partner who games too. I kinda poop out at around 10ish and watch a thingie or two on the internets before heading for bed. 

[Paelos]

I watch lots of TV and sports.

That and I'm technically an executive now. The job demands more time, and I travel a ton during the holidays.

[Yegolev]

TV is so 20th century.

[Rendakor]

Having kids (or more specifically, marrying someone with kids) has cut my gaming time down considerably. Mobile games (cellular, 3ds and Vita [including PS4 streamable stuff]) are a lot easier, since I can play while socializing while the family.

[Shannow]

Gaming time starts at 8:15pm at my house. The 6 year old goes to bed at 8.  Usually 3 or 4 hours a night.

[HaemishM]

I find unless I'm in a tournament or something, I can't game for more than 1-2 hours at a stretch without wanting to do something else, even when the game is good. I've been doing Shadowrun Dragonfall in 45-90 minute chunks because I just have to stop after that. I think I have ADHD.

[Megrim]

I know very well that a good chunk of your ability in FPS is map awareness and constant practice. That doesn't have much to do with my situation though, as I have mentioned many different game genres. Also, lifestyle isn't my issue. I work 9 to 5 and then I dedicate ALL my remaining time to gaming. You could say that I am privileged enough in this stage of my life to have about 8 hours of gaming time every day, weekends usually go higher than that. Yes, that's right. My son is 21 years old (and plays less than me but is generally better at anything we play together), my Italian friends suck and are all playing the REAL FAMILY! game now so we never hang out, and my primary partner is a gamer too and doesn't always live with me (she's back in the US now). So, time and dedication aren't my issues. Gaming is my only addiction, and I actually take it too seriously. Sure, as someone else pointed out, I spread myself thin between many games, but that's why I mentioned MechWarrior and Smite because they are two games I have definitely stuck with for more than a year playing every night. And my results were still extremely disappointing. Sure, this could mean that I've always been terrible, but I can definitely feel that some issues that I've mentioned before are new:

- when I aim at something and quickly move the pointer on it, it's always a slightly imprecise movement that requires a correction. I can see this even if I am just chasing icons on the desktop on Windows. This didn't happen ten years ago. Aiming-eye-coordination issue that I didn't have.

- when I enter a room in an FPS for example, it takes my eyes a few tenths of a second to put everything into focus. As a result, I often don't recognize an enemy from the background. When I do, I'm already dead. This didn't happen ten years ago. I could have missed or been slower than my opposition but I didn't have problems seeing them. Eye-focus-contrast issue that I didn't have.

This is not to say that I feel like I'm 90 years old, my hands shake even when I am not doing anything or that I have to squint in my every day life every time something new enters my field of vision. But my everyday life doesn't require millisecond reactions or pinpoint precise movements. If you think about it, even our cars are easier to drive than videogame ones.

Clearly we all rot/age differently, as it is pretty obvious from the widely different answers in this thread. I might just need a new pair of glasses and I am not even kidding, or an eye visit, maybe I simply get less light in my eyes and with everything being somewhat darker comes longer reaction times. It is still obvious to me that my reaction and eye-hand cooordination capabilities have been subtly deteriorating in a way that is impossible for me to deny anymore, and wouldn't probably show anywhere else than in something as incredibly precise and fast as competitive action games. Dedication, tactics, smarts, all help a lot. But we are not all gifted with the same skill potential and so we are probably not all gifted with the same endurance. I am glad to see that some of you are still holding up better than me. Thank you for all the replies, they are valuable to me.

My first reaction was that you might just need new glasses =) Also, what Margalis said - our brains need different forms of stimulation to work at their best. Try to actually cut down a bit, and join a soccer club or go bowling, or something.

* It just occurred to me, you work nine to five at a desk job, probably, staring at screens? Then you come home and spend another four / five hours staring at a screen. Your eyes just get tired dude.

[Merusk]

TV is so 20th century.

As is not being able to multitask it onto your second or third monitor.  

I'm getting about 2-3 hours a night and 3-6 on weekends depending on what's going on. However my kids are all over 10 and not into major time consuming activities. Most of my non-gaming time is sucked up in home maintenance or projects I tackle to get away from machines.

Last weekend for example I closed up a creepy window in my bed/ bath and then shampooed the rugs.  Means I haven't played fallout in about 4 days now

[Falconeer]

Thank you for all the advices, seriously. I was looking for this. Still, I might have exaggerated in the second post to stress that I am truly dedicated to gaming. As I stated in the opening post, I still play football semi-professionally so I am not a couch potato. Problem could really be in my eyes. One way or another, I've been wearing glasses or contacts my entire life and it's true that I spend -between work and games- about 12 hours every day in front of a monitor.

[lamaros]

You might just be tired too. Most people don't sleep enough, and you might have just gotten used to this over time and not realise how much it's having an effect, compared to younger days when you probably slept a lot more.

[Merusk]

Thank you for all the advices, seriously. I was looking for this. Still, I might have exaggerated in the second post to stress that I am truly dedicated to gaming. As I stated in the opening post, I still play football semi-professionally so I am not a couch potato. Problem could really be in my eyes. One way or another, I've been wearing glasses or contacts my entire life and it's true that I spend -between work and games- about 12 hours every day in front of a monitor.

Could be bifocal time. Sucks but for those of us who've had glasses since preteen years the time for readers comes in the early 40s.  You should be getting annuals anyway but make sure they do the reading check in addition to the distance one.

[Margalis]

The average may be meaningless unless you divide F13rs into the 'parent' or 'not a parent' categories.

I'm not a parent, but my gaming habits are probably 5 hours or so most weeks, then occasional huge binges a few times a year. But it's tough when you make games and have a lot that needs to get done, to justify playing a game for a significant amount of time.

[HaemishM]

TV is so 20th century.

As is not being able to multitask it onto your second or third monitor.  

Yeah, I can't combine my TV time and gaming time. I want to focus on one thing, not be continually distracted by this other thing. About the only time I can do that is if I'm painting miniatures - then I'll turn on something that doesn't necessarily require my full attention like a baseball game, a non-Liverpool soccer game or the Nightly Show or Late Show. But dramas/story-based stuff? Nope. I want my full attention on those.

[Nebu]

Yeah, I can't combine my TV time and gaming time. I want to focus on one thing, not be continually distracted by this other thing. About the only time I can do that is if I'm painting miniatures - then I'll turn on something that doesn't necessarily require my full attention like a baseball game, a non-Liverpool soccer game or the Nightly Show or Late Show. But dramas/story-based stuff? Nope. I want my full attention on those.

Same.  I've never understood people that would watch a movie/show while gaming.  I tend to give 100% attention to the task at hand, so I either game or watch but never both.

As for the thread topic, I have noticed a small but significant decrease in my reaction time as I've aged.  I was never sure if I was just coming back to the norm out of a lack of practice or through some genuine twitch response decay.  I'm sure it's some combination of the two.  I did run a 40 for the first time since my 20's and that has sure showed a slow down. 

I'm finding that I now prefer strategy games with some twitch, but as little as possible.  WoT and HoTS seem to be perfect for me.

[Yegolev]

Gaming time starts at 8:15pm at my house. The 6 year old goes to bed at 8.  Usually 3 or 4 hours a night.

Sex happens between 8:00-8:15, then.  I like a firm schedule.

[HaemishM]

That's what she said. 

[Shannow]

 

[Paelos]

I can game and watch TV if the game isn't story-based. Like if I'm playing D3 or HOTS? I'm watching sports on the TV. If I'm playing Witcher 3? No.

[Yegolev]

I can only do one, but I don't have that attention surplus disorder that you find in some people.