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[names are for friends]

Games are announced few years before release and you have enough of it even before it is released because of the constant marketing stream spoiling every part of the game.

I hate this so much. Your game doesn't exist to me until I can buy & play it, I literally do not want to hear about it until then. I definitely don't want to watch gameplay trailers, and I especially definitely don't want to watch a streamer play a game before release... that's actual gamer cuckoldry right there

 

[Von]

I’ll be 43 in October.

Gaming has always been my #1 hobby since playing pong on a 12” b&w back in the mid to late 80s. Satisfied then and satisfied now.

A little more selective since my career and this House of 1000 Chores keeps me busy day ‘n night but when I do make the time, I’m really enjoying it.

 

[Melon Husk]

My gamer self is over a year old. I think I videogamed for 10 000 hours, then it got a little boring because I became a master of videogames.

Shouldn't an iron man triathlon of videogames be a thing by now? If Greece hosts videogame olympics some day, sign me up.

 

[Quasicat]

41, definitely happy with gaming currently.

Own all 3 main consoles. Got a Quest 2. Backlog that could last me into retirement. Cost is coming down with subs; saving me money while I get more to play. My main issue is just lack of time to play all that I have.

43, and am in the same boat as above. My wife asks me what my plans are for retirement in 18 years, and I tell her to play through my backlog and go out for lunch everyday. She laughs it off and says I will someday answer her truthfully. The jokes on her though, as I am answering her truthfully.

 

[Jsisto]

35. My gaming time has decreased significantly over the last several years but I’m perfectly happy with the state of the industry as a primarily Nintendo gamer. Always something on the horizon that interests me.

 

[Esca]

42. Been gaming nearly my whole life. I'm fine with the current state due to the large amount and variety of games nowadays. Not a fan of some things going on, of well.
I have plenty of time to play games but I don't play them as much as I'd like sure to my severe depression and issues it has brought on with other things.

 

[PonyStation4]

22 and gaming is better than when I started with the Vita and Dynasty Warriors. The only improvements I'd want are phones with slideout buttons and better game streaming

 

[-Minsc-]

Probably can't call myself a gamer anymore since I'm not actively gaming currently. 40, over the hump to 41 so I lump myself into the 40-50 range.

Honestly, I am satisfied. Since I'm no longer interested in the latest and greatest the giant backlog is more than enough for me when I want to dip my toe.

 

[Kdad]

Gaf has a worse ageing population than Japan.

..with none of the cafe maids or club hostesses to make it better.

 

[Dorohedoro]

I'll be 32 in a couple of months, and not particularly satisfied or unsatisfied, but leaning toward the former.

 

[names are for friends]

22 and gaming is better than when I started with the Vita and Dynasty Warriors. The only improvements I'd want are phones with slideout buttons and better game streaming

Sony did that with the Xperia Play back in the day, it had a slideout gamepad. It was sick for emulation.

 

[Jaybe]

There are things that are great. The technology for one is in a good spot with SSDs, VRR, 4K, 60fps, Ray tracing elements. Quick resume. LFG, Backwards compatible games, some games getting upgrade patches. Game pass cheap if you did the gold conversion. Switch was good form factor to power. VR should continue to evolve. Dual sense seems like a good improvement.

Some bad trends, the chase for GaaS, mtx. Seasons, battle royales, Loot boxes, some franchises getting worse and worse, games pushing difficultly, or being just obtuse to the point of needing to google. Covid has slowed things down but priorities also seem elsewhere. Too many investors in the industry now. I hope a great new game catches my interest soon as I’ve been playing older upgrades titles. I’m hopeful GOWR and Starfield deliver as amazing single player games are what I love most. Maybe I’ll find a quality PvP or pve game as well to get addicted to that isn’t riddled with mtx (probably wishful thinking)

 

[Shakka43]

I'm still satisfied with current gaming but not too thrilled about its future.

 

[TLZ]

Expanding the 40-50 age bracket to see the list of my middle-aged brethren.

 

[moerser]

36, i honestly dont give a shit about the state of gaming. if theres a game im interested in i will play it. if theres nothing that seems interesting i just carry on without playing a videogame.

 

[DavidGzz]

I fit two categories but I chose the 40-50 cause I am embracing growing older. Gaming is fine. It will be better by Spring of next year though! RE4 Remake and Diablo 4. Hnnnnng

 

[Benniewise de Clown]

Can't vote, but I'm 38.

 

[DavidGzz]

What's funny is the percentage of fanboys in a so called mature forum. 30-40 year old corp worshippers. SAD lmao!

 

[Classicrockfan]

I’m 44 and I like the state of gaming.

 

[rofif]

Fiddy!
Overall I'd say I'm satisfied, no one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to play games you don't want to play and with emulation being what it is there are plenty of options. I gave up chasing the latest "hot thing" in gaming many years ago and just play what I want, regardless of reviews, hype streams and all that bollocks.

Once you grow up past that FOMO mentality, things become a lot more enjoyable...I do miss the 16-bit era though, that was the high point for me of video games still feeling like video games rather than AAAAA megabudget, cinematic, DLC driven epic time sinks.

You are satisfied with history of games.
Now look at day to day releases and remove the history. It’s not so colourful then

 

[Fredrik]

Expanding the 40-50 age bracket to see the list of my middle-aged brethren.

Didn’t know it was possible to do that, happy to see some familiar names there, had no idea there was so many older people here Turns out we’re quite a sizeable chunk of gamers who’ll be closing in on 60 once the next Fallout comes out.

 

[Kamina]

Shit, GAF is old

 

[UltimaKilo]

OP here collecting data to sell... Nice!

 

[Gurgeh]

55 and been gaming since my dad brought home a binatone pong machine, overall gaming is ok, wish there was more experimental/different games out there but understand why companies dont want to risk 50/100 million on a game that may not sell

 

[cireza]

This for me. 54. Joke was as a kid I had tons of time and no money to game. Now I am older will all of the main stream gaming systems and no time to play.

And here is a preview of the next phase : having the money, having the time, but being too old to play properly.

 

[Aenima]

Impressive how a forum where most ppl is over 30 reads like is filled with 12 year old warriors.

 

[Fredrik]

And here is a preview of the next phase : having the money, having the time, but being too old to play properly.

Yeah I fear the day I have aching hands and too slow reflexes to play the best games. I’m so happy I got to experience finishing Elden Ring a couple days ago, I guess that type of game will be difficult eventually.

 

[Arun1910]

Oh man this thread makes me feel ripe and young at 27 haha

 

[TLZ]

Didn’t know it was possible to do that, happy to see some familiar names there, had no idea there was so many older people here Turns out we’re quite a sizeable chunk of gamers who’ll be closing in on 60 once the next Fallout comes out.

 

[TLZ]

Oh man this thread makes me feel ripe and young at 27 haha

I remember I was 27 once.

 

[TLZ]

20.

 

[Benniewise de Clown]

What's funny is the percentage of fanboys in a so called mature forum. 30-40 year old corp worshippers. SAD lmao!

Is it really any different from sports?

Just take a look at football. Grown men bashing eachothers skulls over a game where 22 people play with a ball. And those grown men don't even take part in those matches.

 

[Schorschi]

Iam 57 and I enjoy gaming, but I don't like political messages in gaming. i think gaming is pure Entertainment, not a plattform for LGBT and other stuff

 

[Fredrik]

Is it really any different from sports?

Just take a look at football. Grown men bashing eachothers skulls over a game where 22 people play with a ball. And those grown men don't even take part in those matches.

Heh yeah at least we’re not going to esport arenas just to beat up fans of another team, yet.

 

[H . R . 2]

OP here collecting data to sell... Nice!

I have already addressed that
just ...no

 

[DelireMan7]

35 and still happy with gaming.

Plenty of old and new games I am excited to play.

I would appreciate a bit more risk taken by the dev to create new IP and less focus on graphics and technical stuff. I don't need game to be ultra realistic and ultra giga smooth. Just give me interesting world/characters and fun gameplay. I don't care if a screenshot of your game can be mistaken for a real picture.

 

[BLAUcopter]

The moment you realize the majority of warriors here are probably older than 30.

War never changes....

 

[Cryio]

Holy hell at the 30-40 and 40-50 range of votes completely decimating 20-30.

I'll be 29 this year. State of gaming? I'm in-between.

PC gaming has never been better. Nowadays usually great performance, great visuals, PCs outdoing consoles for AAA consistently visually.

It's great we finally have RT, TAA and modern upscaling techniques honestly. Aside from tessellation and SSR, HBAO+ and skin subsurface scattering, visual technologies kinda stagnated since 2013. We finally have proper lighting, proper shadowing and proper reflections. We still need to work on those GPUS particles, fluid smoke and water simulations and physics.

For older games, DgVodoo, DXVK and more recently, VKD3D have been boon for compatibility, perfect rendering and increased performance.

Mesa's Zink has been ported to Windows recently and it vastly improved OpenGL performance for AMD. Possibly for Intel and Nvidia too.

Linux gaming has more or less become a reality in 2022, due to Valve's involvement.

Emulators are better than ever. PS1, GameCube, Wii, PS2, PS3 emulators are VERY mature. N64 is getting there. Xenia for X360 and XEMU for OG Xbox are making nice progress. Recently even Vita seems to be making strides. Switch has 2 healthy emulators. CEMU is kinda developing at a glacial pace for general 3rd party releases, though Nintendo Exclusives run great. Mostly all of them are running Vulkan, with some of them still clinging to OpenGL or in Xenia's case, DX12 for now.

As for the actual official games releasing, AAA development has slowed down to a crawl. Pandemic + long dev times. Games still kinda limited to cross-gen titles, thought that seems to finally start to end with 2023.

Prices to 70$/€ are asanine. We also need less open world games and more focused experiences. We need more properly directed, linear expériences.

We also need:
A new Splinter Cell
A new 3D Rayman
A new Darksiders
A new Devil May Cry
A new Deus Ex
A new Prince of Persia
A new Sly Cooper
A new Legacy of Kain?
More Half-Life / Metro / STALKER like games
Better superhero games IMO in the vein of the Arkham games.

 

[DavidGzz]

Is it really any different from sports?

Just take a look at football. Grown men bashing eachothers skulls over a game where 22 people play with a ball. And those grown men don't even take part in those matches.

Nope, and I find that SAD af too. I don't watch sports. I just feel like once you're 30+ you should have a good enough job to afford any platform that plays games. Games are not any worse or better because of the metal and plastic powering them, but these fanboys will tell you different!

 

[NeonDelta]

39 years old.

thankful for Gamepass because the amount of money i would have wasted on games that i end up playing for a few hours then stop.

only really play the big blockbusters, mainly single player. that and F1 games. disappointed in all the multiplayer focused GAAS shit that is taking over the industry. give me a 10 hour single player story driven adventure any day

 

[Highway Star]

I'm 57 and can honestly say I've been gaming since pong, because I have. I still love gaming and always will even when I'm back in diapers. The only problem I have with gaming is the media and forums which seem to make console wars toxic. I never cared who makes the hardware because it's really about the games you can play more than who sells the most consoles.
My secret to keep the enjoyment of gaming is to have multiple hobbies, so that you don't burn out. My avatar gives you a little insight to my one of my other hobbies.

 

[Kamina]

I have already addressed that
just ...no

 

[names are for friends]

Impressive how a forum where most ppl is over 30 reads like is filled with 12 year old warriors.

I assume that's the lower end of the 20–30 bracket or, dare I say it, the lower end of the 'others' bracket that's posting from mother's iPad. I desperately hope so anyway.

But seriously, any public forum is going to be full of dumb bastards to some degree, and probably also a handful of paid marketers and even glow-in-the-darks. Literally anybody could come on here

 

[Diseased Yak]

47 here, been gaming since the start, and I game more hours a day now than I did in my 20s/30s.

As for the state of it, there are so many great games to play now it's overwhelming, even with tons of time to do so. I guess if I had to name an issue I'd like to see fixed, it's the whole crunch mentality. I worked at a major game studio for a while, but jettisoned myself from the industry even though I was on the database admin side of things; I just didn't like the whole industry feel.

 

[nikos]

38 and having as much fun gaming as I ever have.

 

[damiank]

Too old for this shit.

 

[soulbait]

Seeing the majority of the responses are 30+ and there is still a shit ton of console war-ing on this site, is concerning.

 

[_Ex_]

I started playing video games when I was 3 years old. I'm now 43 and have never stopped playing. In four decades of experiencing this mediums' evolution, I have seen quite a few highs and lows. Overall I would say today the medium is doing well and I'm happy with it. There are some factors like over-monetization, fragmented releases, and political BS that I do not appreciate. Also the death of dedicated true portables is sad times. But the industry is so huge now, with so many different platforms and contributors, that there's always something new and fun to experience.

 

[Havoc2049]

Seeing the majority of the responses are 30+ and there is still a shit ton of console war-ing on this site, is concerning.

You can take the boy out of the Sega vs Nintendo, but you can't take the Sega vs Nintendo out of the boy.

I'm 51. Luckily, I was an Atarian back when I was a kid and was above such petty nonsense. Frak the Intellivision, C64 and Amiga! Atari 2600/7800, Atari 400/800/XL/XE and Atari ST 4-Life!

 

[SirTerry-T]

You can take the boy out of the Sega vs Nintendo, but you can't take the Sega vs Nintendo out of the boy.

I'm 51. Luckily, I was an Atarian back when I was a kid and was above such petty nonsense. Frak the Intellivision, C64 and Amiga! Atari 2600/7800, Atari 400/800/XL/XE and Atari ST 4-Life!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What this guy said but replace the (snigger)...."Commode 64" with a ZX Speccy