30 year old gamers feeling disenfranchised?

[xDarc]

I don't know about you, but I am. There's only a few relatively obscure games I'm really looking forward to, PlanetSide 2 being the biggie. Right now, I have been playing nothing but CoD Black Ops - Zombies for 5 months, around the time I just stopped playing SkyRim without even both to finish. No exaggeration. There are a total of 7 games on my steam account.

So here's is who I want to here from. If you're 30, and you started out with the children's toys, the consoles, and as you grew up- you moved onto PC and witnessed the glory days of the mid 90's; I want to hear from you.

If you're 30, and you did nothing but put product in your hair and chase tail from 14-25 and only recently bought an xbox360 because you remembered nintendo being fun as a kid- you're not like me- but i'll hear from you anyway.

Tell how much attention is being paid to you and what you want? How happy are you with the current crop of games? What do you miss? etc. I know there's a handful of you who post regularly.

 

[Nazulu]

I'm not sure with disenfranchised but there is absolutely no attention to me, current games I find really pathetic making really obvious mistakes and I really wish there was more shoot 'em ups cause I can hardly find any. Something like this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Der3M9Y3EEc&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PLD1BFF23A4FFEA9EC

I just find them easy to get into.

 

[Bad Jim]

Well I'm 33 and I'm having fun with Skyrim, Minecraft, Orcs Must Die, Portal 2 etc. I can't think of anything age-specific that developers should be doing for us but aren't.

Maybe you're just getting tired of games. Most people go through that in their 30s. Childrens' brains are wired for play, 30 year old brains aren't. If you can't think of any specific reasons why they are failing you, but you're just going 'meh' a lot, it's probably that.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

36, still having a lot of fun gaming. There's even a big resurgence of TBS games, so I can't even complain about that.

Most people go through that in their 30s. Childrens' brains are wired for play, 30 year old brains aren't.

I don't know about THAT. Most people I know my age (or older) are quite enthusiastic about play. They just don't really have the kind of time for it that they used to, most particularly when they have kids. If anything, it just makes them crave the little bit of time they DO get for it more.

 

[xDarc]

Maybe you're just getting tired of games. Most people go through that in their 30s. Childrens' brains are wired for play, 30 year old brains aren't. If you can't think of any specific reasons why they are failing you, but you're just going 'meh' a lot, it's probably that.

Well it's not that I don't play any more, it's just that they don't seem to make any that I wanna play. So I end playing the same game over and over for months until something new comes along that seems worth it.

My biggest gripe is this: In the 90's innovation wasn't a buzz word. Every bit of tech, every game engine, was being rebuilt from scratch every year or two. For me, that was the best thing about gaming, imagination combined with the power of technology.

When Xbox360 came out, and stayed out going on 7 years now- all of that felt scuttled with games being made for hardware that is the equivalent of a dinosaur.

When the xbox did first come out, the PC gaming community still felt a bit insulated from the effects of consoles.

What are the effects of consoles? They started being cool again. Nintendo stopped being cool in jr high. If you still played nintendo you were probably not very popular, etc. Gamers were a tiny market for a long time. The new consoles changed all that and started outselling other types of entertainment media, which was largely unheard of up til recently.

Why? Did you ever wonder where all those people came from? Maybe the face of the gamer has changed, but gaming has gone mass market. Gaming has gone McGaming, for McMoney. That's how I feel about it these days. Every new game is just a bland calculation to sell copies. There are a few gems, and while minecraft isn't my bag because it reminds of playing with legos which i stopped doing a long time ago, it is definitely a gem.

However, almost all games for PC in late 90's early 00's used to be like minecraft. You could pick up any number of titles that had something special or unique about them, some new technological feature that you had to see to believe. etc.

Now a days it's just re-release CoD/BF/GoW every year or two because that's what McGaming is now. Stick to what you know. Stick to the formulas. Well those games are all garbage anyhow, they took the most important thing out of an FPS game, moving. You have to crouch, go prone, to manage an artificial accuracy modifier... it's like some parent acting as ref while a match is going on shouting "No running, kids!" Forget about dodging bullets, which used to be just as important as shooting them- and made the game fun in the first place.


They want everyone to sit and take potshots at each other so there is no "skill" in those games any more. They want everyone to get kills, everyone to have fun, and to be able to do so while having a hand free to eat/drink because we know xbox players love the couch. They make it so anyone can play and thats what made FPS gaming a house hold item. Dumbing gaming down made it sell more. Don't know how else to put it. Well guess what, I remember what they were like and today's versions are complete jokes, empty shell comes to mind.

Should give you an idea where I'm coming from now.

 

[GnomeChompsky]

Play is everything to everybody. It's fine to be all adult and serious, but we tend to be at our most productive, paradoxically, when we're enjoying ourselves, no matter what we're doing. Everybody's brain is wired for play, at every age. Most advancements in consumer technology essentially lead to toys for adults. Smartphones and tablets are ostensibly useful, and we're all excessively self-congratulatory about those sorts of things, as though they represented real progress, but really, they're little more than fun gadgets.

But as "they" say: do what you enjoy, and you'll never work a day in your life.

38 here, and I've been disenfranchised on and off since the beginning. I basically started with Atari 2600 and Vic 20, and followed all of gaming's evolution ever since, with frequent periods of complete disinterest and pessimism, punctuated by shorter but far more memorable periods of enjoyable immersion.

I basically passed over consoles altogether between the Intellivision and the PS2, playing only the very occasional PC game during that time, and maybe a console game or two for short periods if my friends had them. Most games during that period simply did nothing for me, and I was basically waiting for things to (inevitably) become more interesting.

That said, the most disappointing period so far in gaming's history has been the 360/PS3/Wii era, which we're currently still in. Disappointing for much the same reasons that most other popular culture and contemporary media has been disappointing to me lately. Which is to say that interest is not so much a function of age, but of outlook. Most of my friends are fine with the current state of gaming, but most games (and movies, and TV shows) these days just don't appeal to me, personally - too violent, too shallow, too similar, too much shameless corporate product.

But of course, things always change, the pendulum always swings back. There have been very interesting developments lately, and I'm looking forward to seeing where it's all headed.

 

[Tanis]

I'm not 30, yet, but I sometimes feel like it because I started on hand-me-downs.

From Atari/NES when my peers were playing the SNES/SEGA.
Hell, PS2 was first gen (handheld or home console or PC level) that I was 'current' with.

 

[Rawne1980]

32 and started with Atari 2600 in the summer of 69 .. er .. I meant 84.

There are about 3 maybe 4 games come out a year I have any interest in. Nothing to do with wanting things "as they were" though it's purely because I like big open sandbox games like the Fallouts and Elder Scrolls and I like modding.

The Indie scene isn't my thing at all. I played games that looked like most of them years ago and if I wanted to relive my youth i'd grow my hair and get a mullet, it's cheaper.

 

[Iwata]

I'm 31. I started gaming with the ZX Spectrum in the mid-80's, and I've had every major console since the NES and the Master System.

I'm having more fun as a gamer (mostly PS3) right now than I ever did since I lost my old Mega Drive. This is a golden age of gaming, and I'm old enough to fully enjoy it and support it. The one and ONLY thing where I feel letdown is by Nintendo's abandonment of our generation, and that's pretty much it. And I abandoned PC gaming completely over problems with Steam, but that's another story.

I am happy. I get to relive the old classics easily, and I get to play the awesome new games of today. All is well.

Edit: oh, and my girlfriend is also a gamer, and we're expecting a baby girl this July. We fully intend her to follow on our footsteps.

 

[bluesession]

I'm not 30, I`m 26.
I grew up with, really old black & white computer, then NES, then sega genesis and from there on pretty much with PC (I did have a PSX but still preferred the PC, I'm a big RTS Fan), I also bought a PS2 (which I sold shortly after) and now I have a 360, Ps3 and NDS)

So I'm not like you in many aspects, though I still have an opinion about the current gaming.

I think this is one of the best moments for gaming EVER for many reasons:

The graphics (IE: the death of the polygon count).
I love 2d graphics, so I suffered for many years the transition (that was imposed on most games) from 2D to 3D.
Remember 1999? How games look horrible just because they HAD to be in 3d? In my opinion, Mario 64 (and every 64 game) looks awfull, and It looked awfull when it released.
Nowadays we are seeing a lot more 2D games, from pixel art to HD drawings (bastion) and games companies don't feel presured to make 3D games with "fantastic new polygon counts". And this realization that games don't need the latest tecnology to sell brings me to my second reason,

The Indie.
Never before we had such a big Indie industry. We have the pleasure of watching fantastic games rise from almost not budget, minecraft, fez, supermeatboy, the binding of Issac, VVVVV and a lot more I dont know.

I'm pretty sure I have more reasons, most being arround how games are now more aprochable, more about playing instead of sucking quaters (or time) like the NES or genesis games.(I guess MMO still do that)
Yeah It's true gaming is generally easier these days(though there is Demon's Souls), but (the final reason for now) gaming is also getting a lot more varied, we still have rambo FPS (COD BF) we had the resurgence of Adventure Games, the resurgens of Platformers (VVVVV ,Splosion Man)and new genres like the tower defense, the garden sims, the motion control stuff, the DOTA games, MMOs, whatever genre Angry Birds is and so much more.
The only thing we dont have a lot is RTS
It's true some may not like all this genres (like motion controls, which are really great for kids, so Stop complaining is not for you! )and there is a lot of shovelware arround, but still the number of good games outweight the shovelware.


I run out of reasons forn now (Its 10:00PM here and I get back to study)

So yeah thats my opinion, I don't know if anyone will read it all.
BTW, just before I leave, I wan't to tell you some of the best games I've played in the past 3 or 4 years. maybe you can find something more interesting to play than COD zombie mod

So hear it goes:
Assassins creed saga(LOVE IT) Mass effect saga, Bastion, VVVVV, RED ALERT 3(THE BEST RTS EVER in my opinion), Little Big Planet, Portal 2(1 also but i like more the second) and lastly free to play gem that is still in Alpha (but can be played) AirMech. Check it out, you can run it from Chrome

 

[Lunar Templar]

30, grew up on the consoles (NES,SNES,PS1,PS2 mainly)

donno if I'm 'disenfranchised' or not, but i am eagerly awaiting a return to that LONG stretch of time when there where awesome games, every where where, of ALL generas, IN the mainstream.

you know like the good ole days *hobbles off on a walker*

 

[Isalan]

31 in a couple of weeks here. Started out with an Atari ST of all things, back in '86 probably (?).

As for am I being catered for? Dunno. Seems to me you cannot afford to cater to one person or even one demographic these days. And even then, each and every single one of us is different.

Saying that there's plenty of games I've enjoyed recently and am looking forward too. Witcher 2 was a recent fave, and I've played a decent amount of Tribes over the last few weeks. There's a few things on the horizon I'm looking at too. Diablo 3 sooooo soon, Assassins Creed 3 in a few months, new Starcraft xpac, and I'm getting quite interested in Borderlands 2. Some of the kickstarter stuff is really lighting my fuse too. Looking forward to Wasteland 2 immensely, and if they get the Carmageddon reboot right, well, I'll be a happy gamer for a long time methinks

 

[Vault101]

girl gamers are more disenfranchised

hahah KIDDING kidding.....

you cant define somones tastes as "30 years old...plays games" what if they really like current games?

 

[bullet_sandw1ch]

scp: containment breach has renewed my faith in gaming. how can an indie game have that much variety and chance? even in alpha!!

 

[WickedFire]

Hell, I only recently turned 20 and I've been feeling disenfranchised recently. It could be that acually studying games design has made me notice every little flaw in a game, or that now I have money I don't have to force myself to love every game I buy/recieve. Then again, back to the studying games design, it could be that right now having to do assignments and coursework about them is just killing any interest I have for games at the moment.

There really aren't any games this year that, off the top of my head, I actually want. Could be that all the interesting titles are being held off until the next cycle, or that most of them were released last year. I'm just hoping its not a sign of, with so many games being painfully derivative of each other, that there is no longer any room for originality in the AAA industry.

I started gaming when I was 2. Could barely get past the first zones of the Mega Drive Sonic games, but since then I've always had some form of system or PC. During the mid 90's that was what we had, only got a ps1 once the ps2 was already out. I have fond memories of the original C&C, Sonic R, Sims, the PC ports of early Tomb Raider, and a plethora of other titles. Back then there was no DLC, no half finished "we'll patch it later" releases.

Damn it, now I feel old...

 

[Tanakh]

Most people go through that in their 30s. Childrens' brains are wired for play, 30 year old brains aren't.

Ahh... no, it's just you ( http://arxiv.org/abs/1203.2268 ), we older gamers usually roflpwn kids, at least my friends and I do.

OT: Near 30 now, and have never been happier with videogames, right now i just don't have enough time to play/finish all the games i want to, just to list a few that i play or wish i had more hours in the days to play:

- Frozen Synapse
- SC II
- Dangerous High School girls in trouble
- Botanicula
- Serious Sam 3
- The X3 games
- SF vs Tekken
- Neo Skavenger (google it! sooo much potential)
- Tribes
- DotA 2
- Witcher 2

And that's not counting the ones with grinds like Guild Wars 2 or Diablo III... damn, days are soo short. TBH i think the glory days of the PC are right now, especially with the indie scene working sooo damn hard and the PvP finally starting to popularize.

CoD Black Ops - Zombies for 5 months

If you like Shooters PvP, then why the heck you are not playing also BF 3 or Tribes? Or Monday Night Combat? If you like PvP in general, then Bloodline champions, DotA 2, SC II, Frozen Synapse, Street Figher just to mention the ones i do like... the fuck man, you have a lot of choices.