Does your competetiveness fade with age?

Miszou · February 2016

Here's an interesting little article about gamer competitiveness fading with age...

https://rockpapershotgun.com/2016/02/18/rps-asks-are-you-a-competitive-player/

At 44, I can say (from my perspective) that it's pretty accurate. 20 years ago, I was all about the frags, the PvP, the teabagging, the hardcore modes (permadeath), the twitch combat, the bragging rights etc.

Over the years though, this has changed and now I'm quite happy to just take my time exploring and helping others in PvE dungeons over a glass or two of wine. PvP just doesn't interest me at all any more. It's just too stressful and I know I'll never again match the abilities of an 18 year old hopped up on energy drinks and youth.

Anyone else getting old with me?

AlienSlof · February 2016

100% agree here! At half a century+ my competitive days are behind me. I played Quake 3 competitively in leagues and all sorts, but now I take things much more sedately. Plus, thanks to a stroke a few years ago, I don't have the dexterity I had back then, I just don't have the reflexes any more.

Now when I play PvP, I do so for giggles, not caring if I die or not! It's great fun when you just don't care!

BabeestorGor · February 2016

51 now, started playing rpgs when I was 14.
Was never that competitive. PnP rpgs are a social and cooperative thing anyway.
I am less argumentative now, I'd rather play games (even imperfect ones) than argue about them.

Xeven · February 2016

Max APM in this game is somewhere around 60 due to global cooldowns, not including things on seperate cooldowns like dodge roll or blocking. You don't need to be super fast to compete at the highest levels, you just need to be smart and make good decisions quickly.

DMuehlhausen · February 2016

It's more about time than age.

I use to always be a MT in world leading raid guilds. That was when I was 24-27 no family or kids or full time job. Now I have 2 kids both under 4, a wife who hates gaming, and a full time job that I normally put in 10 hours a day.

So while I'm still ultra competitive I've just come to the realization I just don't have the time anymore, and for the foreseeable future won't be able to put in the time required. So now it's more about hey I have maybe 90 minutes tonight lets get on do quest x, y, z then do my daily pledges. If I get that done then the rest is bonus time. Most nights I get X and a daily done and I have to be satisified with that.

RatedChaotic · February 2016

na late 30s still strive to be the badass. Tho being exmilitary thats to be expected.

deleted008293 · February 2016

I'm 32 and I have to say that indeed with the aging you become less and less competitive in games.

altemriel · February 2016

I don`t know, I am 35 now and I am as good as I was in my 20s.

Nestor · February 2016

Miszou wrote: »

Anyone else getting old with me?

Count me in with the old farts. I enjoy the game without feeling the need to be the best at anything.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour · February 2016

Nestor wrote: »

Miszou wrote: »

Anyone else getting old with me?

Count me in with the old farts. I enjoy the game without feeling the need to be the best at anything.

Same here.

Molag_Crow · February 2016

Kinda... I used to be seriously competitive back in the day on games like Runescape, Halo, WoW, Gears of War, Battlefield etc etc. 10+ years later I'm not so competitive but I still play games in a competitive manner, not really to compete with others but myself, unless it's PvP or something.

wolfydog · February 2016

As an older gamer, when I was a kid, we didn't have online games. I always the best out of my group of friends and even when friends of mine would bring around other people who I didn't know as well, if they gamed too, I was still better.

My first major exposure to online gaming was Everqeust and that's super cooperative as it gets so to me online gaming has always been more fun about the coop aspect.

I do enjoy shooters and stuff too from time to time. I feel I'm a slightly above average player overall but I don't go out of my way to try and get better.

I do feel if I was a teenager nowadays, I probably would be a lot more competive and trying to do well online. Just in my own personal experience I was always the best in my group of friends so I guess didn't have a competive streak. A lot of time I would throw matches of SF2 or MK to make my friends feel better or just to take a short break.

Cuyler · February 2016

Has my competiveness faded? No. What has faded is my patience to deal with the inappropriate egos and childish behavior that goes with it.

xboxone1Q · February 2016

What's funny is at 24 no wife or kids i feel the same way about pvp I don't care as much as I did when I was younger.

. Having a Templar as a main didn't help either even at vet 16 does not matter.

NeoXanthus · February 2016

I agree with you Miszou but I like unpredictable nature of PVP so I have changed my play style. I use to be up front and center, now I mainly lob from afar. Stay in large groups with lots of healers. I love this game but I am starting to feel my own age at only 40.

dodgehopper_ESO · February 2016

I'm competitive by nature and to an extent I think you're right that I don't play as competitively as some of the younger crowd. I think that is more due to the constraints of life though than anything else. I hop on the game, enjoy what I can, and play my best with what time I have. I think that's the biggest part about getting older. This is not always true though. A gaming friend of mine is retired and in his sixties. The guy is a competitive monstrosity and has both the money and time to kill it. He's a pretty relaxed fellow which I think is generally a good thing in pvp despite what people believe. The person who can play like the iceman or just have fun and play relaxed will end up sticking with the game longer and get better over time, aging like a fine wine. Other low attention span audiences will move on rather than adapt. That's just my opinion. In this instance I really believe that slow and steady can and does win the race in a lot of cases.

Roselle · February 2016

As I'm approaching 30, I would say I am less competitive these days since I have a lot less time to devote to MMOs than, say, 10 years ago.

Although, if I once again had a bunch of time on my hands...I'm pretty sure I would try to rule the MMO world.

bikerangelo · February 2016

I'm not far past the legal drinking age and I find it healthier for me to have fun in games rather than be insanely competitive.

Moonshadow66 · February 2016

I'm 41 and I have to say that I agree. I'm noticing myself getting slower in doing things in general, but also in games. I'm not 20 or even 30 anymore. I'm not 80 yet either, but for me everything started to slow down the closer I got to 40, and now above. During the last years, and now even more, I enjoy the more smaller things and take my time; nothing bad about this either, I guess

Acrolas · February 2016

It's a video game. I'm not going to worry myself over something that will not matter for *** when they unplug the server.
It's fun. But it's not the type of fun that pays my bills, keeps me healthy, or expands my education.

The article has nothing to do with being competitive. Being competitive comes in many shapes and forms.
The article is about a guy who eventually outgrew being an obnoxious basic bro. Well all know those guys. People who take even the most leisurely things entirely too seriously and amp up the aggression for all the wrong reasons.

People who suck the fun out of everything are not being competitive. They're being, as the article says, total nobbers. The only thing they're winning is high blood pressure and a false sense of identity.

wayfarerx · February 2016

I've never been much of a "competitive" gamer, mostly because the people you compete with or against tend to be absolutely terrible humans that I can't tolerate for more than a few minutes at a time (ESO is better about this in general but there are still plenty of gamer bros out there).

As I have gotten older I've accumulated more things to actually care about rather than my e-peen. In my early twenties I had little else to do besides gaming and partying. Now in my mid-30s I've got a wife & kids & career & hobbies etc. I game to relax and have fun, not to try to prove anything about how 1337 I am.

Steel_Brightblade · February 2016

Almost 40 and I'd say I'm still competitive but like to t think that age has made me less of a Richard about it

.

Waffennacht · February 2016

It's not that I'm constantly trying to be the best... it just ends up that way!

freespirit · February 2016

My 2 cents worth........

I'm mid 50's, when I was at school computers did not exist, my keyboard skills are poor verging on pathetic.....

Am I competitive no not really.........

Was I when I was younger.....

In sports very, very much so.

Gaming for me only started when my kids reached their teens and then probably only because my youngest worked out that by getting mum involved, he ultimately ended up with a better PC!

Having said that he is now doing an Honours Degree in Game Design and Programming and his rig is way,way better than mine.....

Jealous? Who me???

WalkingLegacy · February 2016

No, I'm approaching 29 this year and was in the Marine Corps. I'm competitive at everything.

I turn the littlest things into competitions with my woman. She love/hates it.

Mettaricana · February 2016

I'm on ans off competative after an hour I loa e interest hence qhy pvo took so long to rank up

fastolfv_ESO · February 2016

all i did was pvp in the first 6 years of daoc, harcore competitive highest rp holder for my class for ages all i wanted to do was win. Now i run a casual pvp guild with no requirements to join the grp and no minimum hours needed to stick around, all just for fun. All it took was 14 years to settle down a bit and try to have more fun, im too old to rage over a pvp death lol

Xandryah · February 2016

I think it depends a lot also about Game Design and Combat System Design .... i believe you can do a lot in MMO's that makes PVE and PVP enjoyable for many players.

Right now, ESO is more about hoarding kills fast, so more for younger people imo...

NoMoreChillies · February 2016

i played many fps shooters competitively (AA, COD, CS) and was most successful in BF3 as scout chopper pilot (still ranked haha)
As i am about to hit 40, i can notice my twitch skills are not what they used to be. Watching my 15yr old son do things i cannot anymore does shed a new light on it.
My attitude has changed the most: I no longer care about the insignificant

Purdomination33 · February 2016

Early 30's.

For me, it's not that I am not competitive as in I don't like winning (killing/not being killed) but my perspective is better. When things do not go my way I rarely feel too much emotion. For most of us with real world responsibilities making time to play is a LUXURY. Unfortunately my most common emotion is freaking embarrassment ie getting killed by a Vet 1 or something. As soon as I die realizing I just smashed buttons instead of a skillful counter attack...again...for the 2,000th time. When will I learn!!!!

Was never much of a gamer when I was younger. There is this bizarre correlation between the fiance moving in and my desire to sit in my office playing video games, it's really weird...

Grunim · February 2016

I dunno, it really depends on an individual. I'm also in the over 50 crowd and I enjoy PvP activities, I just don't take the drama part of things seriously whatsoever. I do know I have a strong dislike for competitive PvE stuff so I avoid any PvE where achievements or leaderboards matter.

For PvP, I'll keep an eye on a leaderboard sometimes because in PvP I actually show up where I never do in PvE haha.