Heh, I can vouch for that too. I remember one day some years ago when I visited a shop to look for some DS games, when I saw a mother and her son also looking for some DS games themselves. The son showed his mother Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and she said "No! This game is not for your age! Look, it writes 18!". To that the son replied, "But mom, all my friends are playing this game!"

We all change as we progress in life. I factor it more in line with patience and attitude. Its not that I'm less patient... its that my priorities are drastically different now than they used to be.

So, 20 years ago, reload, die, reload, die, reload, die... etc... I was figuring things out and making progress. But drop a 5 page "readable" in the game and I simply click next and move on. Today, I'd rather read the document and shame the developers for putting "gotchas" in the game that weren't based on logic.

Games are much more recreational for me now than they used to be, so I expect them to be less frustration and more fun. I don't think they have changed, I just think I viewed them differently when I had more time and less life obstacles.

I still think the majority of the MMO shift is poor and is driving an equal number of fans away than it is drawing in. That is an extreme case where web based gamers are moving into a new territory and running off skill based gamers. I don't think casual games are wrong per se, but seeing the existing franchises bend and break at the sight of a new dollar they didn't have is beyond sad IMHO.

I also consider backlog. I'm trying to put a hold on new games until I make some progress on existing ones that I already own.

Maybe I can better answer this way... the games I really loved 10 years ago... I still really love today. If I were changing too much, I would likely view those game in a different light now.

I'm trying to think how my gaming preferences have changed since I was, say, 17. (I won't count when I was a kid, because back then I would gladly play pretty much anything that was called a game.)

I don't know really. Maybe I was more after graphics back then, but then nowadays everything looks glorious compared to games back then. I was going to say that nowadays I'm prone to replay many games just because it feels easier than trying to learn a new game, but then I recall doing that even back then, replaying many games through several times even though I had many other games waiting to be played.

Maybe nowadays I'd be much less inclined to read a manual to learn to play a game, but then I can't say I really enjoyed it back then either. Back then I simply didn't have an option as simulators etc. didn't have much of tutorials.

One thing has changed though, for some reason I am not anxiously waiting for some new game(s). It seems almost everything has been invented already, now it is mostly about improving on the old. Even the innovative indie/mobile games are mostly just different kinds of puzzle games. It could be also due to the huge gaming backlog I have.

Back then I was fantasizing about some advanced Elite-like game, or ultra realistic racing or flight combat games, or "virtual reality" dungeon crawlers... I think we have all those already?

Come to think of it, I should force myself to get excited about Star Citizen, just for the old times' sake. It sounds exactly the type of game I would have killed for as a teen.

I put the Tea bags in the Freezer the other day ......

*lol* The last game I thought this was Dragon Age.

To be honest: I stopped reading those "manuals" they give you today. They aren't fun to read (they all start with "xyz is a game where you're flying spaceships with simulated physics..." instead of "Welcome to the 384th 'Bear's Claw' Squadron, young pilot") and furthermore, most games will highlight the button you have to press directly on-screen or tell you what you have to do. Learning curve? Nope...

But besides of non-existing learning curves: I'm 15 years younger than you and I feel the same. The only title I have on my radar is Watch Dogs. Could be interesting. Something between GTA and Assassin's Creed, mixed with (hopefully) fresh elements (the hacking part). Other games? Yes, there are other games I could buy... one day... or not... But Watch Dogs is the only one I'm waiting for. I'm not even overly interested in Star Citizen and other "new old games"...

I am always more amazed at how stupid I can be than how smart I've ever been. =)

I'm in my mid-twenties and I'm already there. When I hear people talk about MOBA I feel the way my dad must have felt when techno music appeared. :P

I do tend to stick to established genres I already like and find myself once again gravitating back towards the peaceful and enjoyable pace of play I find with MMO games. I have at this point a number of "old favorites" within this genre. Right there is an enormous amount of game time which makes it pretty easy to just ignore a lot of new stuff. In particular, most indies do not interest me although there are some noteworthy exceptions. These however tend to be the cream of the crop everyone else under the sun has heard about too.

I'm at a point now where finally the buying/collecting has come to a near halt. Both my GOG and Steam wishlists are empty. Yay! It isn't like some new things may tempt me as time goes by but even crazies like me reach a point where enough finally becomes enough and beyond, at which time the guilt and questioning of one's own sanity begin to come into play.

So yeah, unless something appears to be really exceptional now and also for Mac OS X, like the upcoming Mac Bioshock Infinite release, I probably don't care. I don't feel any need at all to break out of this. What I needed to break out of was buying games faster than I could play them.

There may be hope for me this time. I passed on the last Groupees bundle which for only 5 bucks was a good deal but I kept asking myself, why do you really want this? You don't have time for those games anyway. So why flush another 5 bucks down the toilet? You won't actually play them.

I'd still buy a good classic here or maybe a Mac game on Steam but at nowhere near the rate I'd been doing it for the past few years. I suppose maybe it is time this old man grew up a little. lol