I'm 45, which in absolute terms I suppose, isn't particularly old. Neither is it necessarily old as is relates to enjoying gaming. But I've recently noticed a phenomenin that I'm beginning to suspect IS related to my age and I'm wondering if anyone else has come across this.

As I get older, I find myself becoming more reluctant to try or purchase new games. To paraphrase Abe Simpson, "What's cool became weird and scary.". All right, maybe not to that degree. But, with a number of exceptions that would require less than two hands to count, I see new games and think either, "Eh, seen it before." or "That looks cool, but man the learning curve looks like a beast." or some other mental obstacle that just makes the game seem less appealing than it probably is.

So, I need some feedback from some other older posters. Ever felt similarly? If so, what did you do to break out of it?

I'm too young to answer that - *Points finger* HA HA !

I get that feeling with some games, but not more so than when I was 20. There have always been games that have been less appealing, but also lots of games that I'm very curious about. If anything, then my curiosity has increased over time, because now I have a vast amount of games available to me at very reasonable prices. When I was 20, I had a smaller budget, and the amount of discounted games was much smaller, so my selection was much more limited.

As an example, I can now buy games such as "Puzzle Quest", "Dark Arcana - The Carnival", or "My Boyfriend", which I would never have considered before. But for 2$ or less, I'll happily risk that on the off chance that the game surprises me (and the first two did that, very much so).

I've always been a very curious person in general though, and whenever I find myself becoming too enclosed in the bubble of my previous experiences and preferences, I get curious what I may be missing, and try to break out of it. Usually I do this by spending a part of my budget on things that I wouldn't consider buying otherwise, but that are so cheap that I won't be disappointed if I don't like them. Cheap games from a sale, books from a second-hand shop, etc.

It's not really about getting old, everyone feels that way. I barely watch any TV show, anime, movie you name it because everything looks like shit and the stuff that doesn't it just seems like way too much trouble to sit down and watch a gazillion episodes of it, and I'm only 21.

South Park has detailed this condition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRSYhLn4RCI

On a more serious matter, I don't know, I usually joke around that I have a lot of inertia, so it's hard to get me into something but once I start I cannot be stopped. Part of it is time which I don't have as much as I used to so I'm more conscious about how I use it. I guess it just hasn't affected my gaming because it's my favorite hobby and I more or less decided to play everything regardless of how shitty it is, if only to understand why it's shitty.

The only thing I don't like about getting older is my memory turning to shit.




The only thing I don't like about getting older is my memory turning to shit.




The only thing I don't like about getting older is my memory turning to shit.

im feeling like that lately, and its sorta rubbing off a little on my 'back catalogue' too however i worry its more a 'dont feel like playing' thing than a meh thing. I wouldn't mind but im not exactly getting on in years either, mind you im not a baby now either!
e: years not ears!

The "Eh, seen it before part", I can relate to for sure. However, with the extreme hand-holdy way many games often are these days, I rarely find myself complaining about excessive learning curves.

I do, however, find myself with a similar less-than-enthusiastic attitude about many new games. Perhaps part of it is getting older, having experienced such a wide variety of games, such that the next big thing that excites the masses fails to instill similar feelings in me. Or perhaps some of it is that so much of popular gaming has become repetitive. Maybe I've just figured out what I like and focus on that. I'm not sure.


It's not necessarily a bad thing. Staying open to new ideas is a good thing, of course, but there is nothing wrong with recognizing what you enjoy and do not enjoy, and being a bit more discerning about what you play.

Then again, maybe it is just the cranky old man developing in me in me.

I'm cold and there are wolves after me.

I'm like that a little - but more with new "retro" styled games where I think "why cant these damned kids come up with something a little new instead of old crap?!" - and I'm only 33!
but then with two elder siblings over ten years older than me, it's maybe less surprising - her friends were my only friends for some time as I grew up!

This happened to me even before becoming an old fart. I remember some Splinter Cell demo from the Xbox days that when I went to start it popped up a big picture with like 2 or 3 things mapped to every button and I said "Screw this."

I'm not sure if I ever really broke out of that, but since then I've found more ways of getting recommendations for games to try that I trust more than before. Now I can watch things like videos or read recommendations on a forum like here to see what new games are worth the time to check out. Also as others have said, having more access to cheap legit games today than 10 years ago makes me more willing to try stuff.

I'm 33 and I'm exactly this way with fighting games! My favorite game of alltime is Street Fighter 4, for reasons I won't mention but obviously everyone knows it's quality. But I had my soul crushed several months ago when I decided to pick up and finally master Tekken. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is just a diabolical beast of a game that has no pity or remorse for noobs, and if you even think about jumping online and fighting a few random people, you will be beaten into a crimson paste in the most humiliating fashion conceivable.

Now I look at new fighters and think about how time consuming they are and the utter humiliation I will face online getting my ass beat that I simply don't bother with them anymore.

However, I'm still looking forward to Capcom vs SNK 3, if that ever becomes a reality. They great thing about Street Fighter is that I grew up with it, and the moves never change much so the learning curve isn't so steep for my old, feeble mind :(

For me, it's that every Tom, Dick, and Harry is getting in on the "Let's make a game" thing now. I guess I'm from the "Just because you can doesn't mean you should" school. I'm generally not interested in serials, or indies, or even "Oh, if you want the FULL experience, you have to buy and download a bunch of this other stuff too."

So for me it's not age, or waning interest in games, but more so the "Let's throw everything against the wall and see what sticks" approach. There's just a lot of crap out there to wade through.

Sorry - 50 here and not afraid of new things. I do love rpg's and always will but not against new games and types of them. Just take some time - let the prices drop and then try them -- I hate to waste money on something I will not like. Maybe that is you problem - just tighter with your money?

As games go more online with more collecting mechanics and less challenge, more cutscenes and less interactive storytelling, I certainly find myself buying less.

I think that has more to do with the games changing to fit new customers and styles than it does my age, however. If Fallout 4 came out tomorrow and was pretty much like New Vegas I would buy it day one without question.

I thought this would be a thread about farting.

so disappointed