I'm not normal. I'm 21 and I'm still going strong. [grin]

After gaming for <way too many years> I'm doing so a lot less mostly because I'm bored. The way I see it, most games are level-based retreads of what I've played years before, with different graphics and the thinnest patina of meaning, often conveyed through inflexible, matchbook story (seemingly written by those who hate reading).

The problem with aging is that you tend to accumulate-- even if by accident-- more and more knowledge about lots of different things. But when the media you've grown up with doesn't grow up with you, it can be a real drag. Most games aren't about much of anything, and certainly aren't (as Ernest Adams once said) about something larger than themselves. By comparison, though, books, movies, and music can be.

I find myself playing less because, at the moment the industry is, by and large, locked in a cycle of producing games that are about fighting, simulation or puzzles. This might just be a phase of an nascent media, but my fear is that this formula will leave those who make and fund games believing that "that's all there is" to what games could be.

I was beginning to think that there were no games that could capture the essense of fun, particularly that (as someone mentioned) were aimed at older audiances. But I encourage anyone that likes short bursts of fun, and a "story" more open to adults, try the (somewhat new) leisure suit larry (magna cum laude) game. It should solve all your problems. On top of that for you men, you can get another "hobby" done at the same time..... thats what I call quality time management

In case it's of interest, I'm 16 and I play less than I used to, mostly because of programming projects. And I know a guy around 40 who's still going fairly strong and plays more than I do.

Off topic, but...

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Original post by Wavinator The problem with aging is that you tend to accumulate-- even if by accident-- more and more knowledge about lots of different things. But when the media you've grown up with doesn't grow up with you, it can be a real drag.

Part of the reason they don't grow up is that they have such a short lifespan. The technologies available have objectively improved in many ways. What passed for "realistic" a couple years ago is now a poor imitation. What was good AI a couple years ago is now simple minded. I've tried playing some of my favorite NES games, and I get the feeling they'd be fun if only the controls could be revamped. Lon Chaney and Charlie Chaplin may have been great, but over all advances in story-telling, cinematography, and sound have made their movies difficult to watch. I can see why they were considered great, but even a half-way decent romantic comedy beats them in many ways. I've been meaning to read the Count of Monte Cristo, but I've had many warnings from people I would've expected to like it that it's really not all it's hyped up to be.

Another problem: Try finding a working NES to play cartridges on, now try to find a working cartridge. Or, more revealingly, try to get King's Quest VI (my favorite and still worth playing, in my opinion) to run on a modern computer. Advances in technology can make video games literally unplayable. It takes much longer for a movie or book to die in this manner (and movies are much more easily translated to new media and books much more easily translated into modern dialects).

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Most games aren't about much of anything, and certainly aren't (as Ernest Adams once said) about something larger than themselves. By comparison, though, books, movies, and music can be.

I've thought about this, so I'm honestly curious when I ask: What can video games be about?

I haven't been able to come up with much, but some games are truly great. I feel Tetris holds a place among classic (not necessarily video) games like chess, checkers, go, and reversi. Deus Ex may be another example (the way it got people to use non-lethal weapons without in game penalties is truly amazing) of a true classic able to hold its own against more "respectable" media. These I would say are larger than themselves.


More on topic, Wavinator's comments remind me of what C.S. Lewis said of books: Excepting text books and other instructional materials, if it's not worth reading when you're grown up, it's not worth reading as a child. Some of the games I liked when I was younger I liked in the same way people back in the day enjoyed movies of things simply moving. Some of the games I liked when I was younger I liked in the same way that I can enjoy romantic comedies (or, really, any sort of film) so long as I don't watch too many and stick to the better ones (wow... how many hours did I waste on crappy side scrollers?). Very few are worth playing now (more would be worth playing with some slight tweaks). I wouldn't mind playing Gorf again, but I don't think there was much loss when we got rid of our Vic20 (and you thought the Commodore 64 was old school).

For me, I'd probably still stay up late and play (even after my design job) if I didn't have a wife and small son. In fact, I actually still buy games at an alarming rate... way more than I have the time for.

Which ends up with me playing most of them for less than 3 hours on average apiece. At least it's enough to get the gist of the gameplay and novelty (which is my main motivation for buying them).

I think you'll find gameplay for entertainment has to coincide with having extra money and extra time simultaneously. Which is pretty darn rare after about 23 or 24. Before then gifts and allowance money pays for most adolescent gamers needs and long school breaks provide the time. But later, between work and family you have neither time nor money to spit sideways. Show me a fella or gal who sits on the sofa exercising their thumb after kids come and I'll show you a divorcee, you know? The forties give gamers more opportunity to indulge on weekends and the occasional weeknight. We are just on the cusp of some computer literate people reaching retirement so that will be an interesting and potentially huge market.
I bought my first gaming system on credit from Montgomert Wards. It had a Donkey Kong (version 1 !!) arcade style game, a Pac Man kind of thing that went woof-woof and an airplane you manuevered through obstacles to face a giant robot at the end. It was used regularly for about 6 months then became a dust catcher under the TV before I finally packed it away. The 640 Kb computer brought a whole new capability and market for games. I remember frying my eyes and x-raying my sinuses raw playing games like; Earthrise, Ys, SimCity, Prince of Persia, Railroad Tycoon etc. But it did seem that as time went on buggy products became acceptable (which just totally turned me off as a gamer) and less imagination, humor etc was making it through to the shelves in place of the chop/hack/shoot/explode genre. If I wanted to pay large amounts of money to be bored mindless then I'ld get a premium cable package. While my son was happily occupied with Mario Brothers, Snowboardinng, Car Races and Duck Hunt, I still enjoyed the challenges and graphics of SimCity and tried its spin-off, The Sims. The first "tutorial" with the Hatfield family had me laughing myself silly, it was really too bad the whole game wasn't as inventive. Then I was drawn into the creative side of the game, there were many 3rd party objects, character meshes and skins that put the official stuff to shame! It was great entertainment just to flit from site to site and see all that was available. Then there were all the official and 3rd party programming tools for making your own characters, objects, animations and even behavioral changes. It was the first time I ever learned a computer language "by intuition". But I was hooked on "creating" for my game enjoyment as well as thousands of others world-wide. It really did inject a lot of imagination and talent into the game and kept it wildly popular for years. That urge to create lead from wanting to make a game mine to wanting to make my own games. Anyway, where you are along the life-cycle (as well as gender, economic status, educational level etc) appears to not only influence the number of games you play but also the type of games you enjoy.

At the risk of repeating:
I'm 27 and the reasons I don't play as much as before are:

-I can't find enough time so I gotta pick carefully. That leaves overly complex games out, as much as I love them :(
-Meteorically rising prices means picking even more carefully
-Mature games are actually juvenile games with blood and/or poop jokes. (conker was.. stupid.)
-Most storylines are laughable token fantasy or token action stories. (insert RPG or FPS name here)
-Most characters, even on mature games, are flat and cartoony (not graphically). Syberia nailed this with the lead, but not with the rest of the cast.
-As mentioned before, mandatory logo-staring. It's in the box damnit! don't make me look at the box!
-samey gameplay on most new titles (hooray katamari!)
-As mentioned before... why are gamers tolerating buggy software? I mean memory-leaking topcrash buggy kind of software! EW!
-Not enough party games to play with friends. I don't own a Gamecube though.. Maybe I should. I'm considering Revolution for that, if they get it right it could be the ultimate party game. Currently I'm using my PC with a MOMO Force Feedback wheel and some racing games. Worms worked in the past too.

So things to aim at with future games:
-Playable in both short bursts and long runs.
-Cheapen each individual title. There are ways to do this, and I intend to explore them :)
-A good storyline. Not too deep, not too shallow, not too stupid.
-Story and dialogs adjusted to targer audience. This should be a no-brainer. I'm 27, I haven't laughed at poop jokes in over 10 years.
-Characters designed beyond looks, at least protagonist AND antagonist.
-Risk some original gameplay, even if it has to be tucked inside mini-games.
-topcrash and leak free, completable with incorruptible saves out of the box.
-party games! splitscreen, turn based, brawler style, whichever works!

I'm 36 and have three kids. It's all about the time. I can't really play any MMOs anymore, because the time investment is just too much. When we had fewer and smaller kids, me and my wife made a kick-ass EQ group ;-)

I agree with everyone else: I can't play anything that's only half-OK, because there's just not enough time. If something sucks in the first two hours, it goes on the shelf. Even if something is good, but takes too long (like Jade Empire), it won't get finished.

At least one of the kids is big enough to want to play with me, so it's not an either-or on the family-vs-games spectrum!

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Original post by hplus0603 Even if something is good, but takes too long (like Jade Empire), it won't get finished.

I'm starting to hate that game.

My interest in games has declined. In fact, my interest in games is nearly dead, plus I have less time to devote to an increasingly moribund activity (games are just more technically sophisticated today, not any more ethically complex or intellectually engaging; in fact, one could argue that they have regressed in those two areas).