S1E15 - Gaming As We Age - “I Was A Real Estate Slum Lord in Ultima Online”

Gaming Preferences as We Age


In this episode:


We’re old(ish). We aren’t the young, twitchy gamers we once
were, and our lives don’t give us the luxury of spending 8-12
hours a day playing games. Because of this, our gaming
preferences have changed since we were younger.

For Void, instead of twitchy games like Counter Strike and
Starcraft, he’s moved into more narrative games and casual
experiences. The sleep function on a 3DS, as well as quicksaves
on mobile games help him balance his responsibilities as a
husband and father more easily than long gaming sessions can.

For Beej, his personality changed since he was younger. A
former griefer and MMO scammer, he has since moved from the
selfish, solo player who gained enjoyment from knowing he made
someone else have a terrible day because of a video game into a
team-player who doesn’t care about competition, winning, or
losing as long as he and his team had fun while playing.

For both of us, we find that lowering the difficulty of games
and using guides is no longer a knock at our pride. It helps us
clear games faster and experience the content the way developers
intended, rather than beating our heads against a wall and not
having fun. Our time is more limited, so why feel as though we
are wasting it?

Cooperative gaming is much more important to us now. More
games need a co-op mode rather than all competition. This is seen
in board gaming in titles such as Pandemic Legacy and the Lord of
the Rings LCG, and we hope the trend moves forward into video
games as more developers of our generation make titles based on
their own maturation and changes in preferences.

Despite the changes in what we care about and look for in
games, there are still many titles and franchises that we will go
back to no matter what. The Final Fantasy series, Mario
platformers, Bioshock titles, and the Elder Scrolls are among
game worlds in which we have been entrenched for so long that we
make time for, no matter what. If that means using quick save to
have short gaming sessions, so be it. If we have to lower the
difficulty or use a guide to find our next point-of-interest,
then no problem. We want to continue to enjoy the games that we
grew up with, not resent them because they’re no longer available
to us.



Weekly Geekery


Void - E3 Prep for VGNN / FFV Four Job Fiesta Prep!

Beej - 10% Happier / Reddit (just not the main page - find
subreddits like /r/patientgamers or /r/runninglifestyle for great
communities)



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