How has your gaming habits changed over the years?

Lufia Erim

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So I'm sitting here contemplating (again) over rebuyong destiny. And i started thinking about how my gaming habbits have changed since i started playing games as a kid.

As a child, i was a console player. My father had bought all of the popular consoles aince he too was an avid gamer. Thus i played what he played. From mario to mortal kombat to contra and star fox and final fantasy, any game i could get my grimy little hands on, i played.

As i got a little bit older i shifted to more story oriented games. I loved any fantasy story i could get. Final fantasy four and six, lufia , chrono trigger and the like i flocked towards them. While i would still play games from other genres, Jrpgs are really what i enjoyed as a kid to my mid teens.

Then i discovered online gaming. Diablo 2 was my weapon of choice. Being able to comunicate and play with others was something that filled my uounger lonely self with mich joy. Years were spent playing diablo 2.

Once i hit adulthood though, i found a new genre . Shooters. Online no less. I discovered CoD and battlefield. While i woul still play the occasional JRPG , mainly square enix titles, many nights and days were spent on my headset shooting mofos with friends from work.

I'm 26 now. I have become an avid Fighting game player. Again online is the name of the game. I absolutely love the idea of having a match. One on one against another person. My skill against his. For better or worst. Up until the match starts. The chances of winning are equal to both players. Use what knowledge you have and try to beat them into submission.

So thats basically a sum of my gaming history. I noticed that now i play only mostly online games and have for a long while. I do still enjoy singleplayer games, but i have noticed that unless a game has online play, i tend to lose interest quickly.

TL;DR: How have your gaming habits changed over the years?
 

Silentpony_v1legacy

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Jun 5, 2013
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I think the major change I've made in the last 5 or so years has been to look at any new game, any game at all and think "What are the publishers/developers trying to get over on me? What are they lying about?"

Once I thought well of game devs and the like and was interested in whatever bullshit story they had to tell. Console, mobile, Gameboys, PC, didn't matter. If it was good, I was good. Hell, I played Daikatana when I was 10 and thought it was alright. Wasn't Hexen but it was better than Army Men Sarge's Heroes, and that's all that mattered.

Nowadays I'm in Yahtzee's "Its shit until it can prove otherwise" camp. I simply, literally, do not trust any dev or game companies to have my interests, as a gamer, at heart when making a game. Granted all companies want to make a profit, so I don't hold that against them. But I don't trust for a second any dev actually cares about telling a good story or having a fun game. They care about least amount of effort + most amount of hype to sell as many copies as possible before reviews/word of mouth get around.

See Arkham Knight, State of Decay Year One, Wasteland 2, any of the Assassin's Creed PC ports for examples.
 

StatusNil

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For one thing, I used to prefer lengthy RPGs to all other genres when I was younger. And by that, I don't even mean as a kid, but back when I got back into gaming as an adult. Now though, I have a whole list of RPGs sitting on my Steam account that I never seem to get around to starting, like the first two Witcher games and Skyrim. It just seems that nowadays I dislike being in the middle of several games at once, and when I get a chance to start with something new, I tend to pick something that seems brief and more throwaway at first. (And, on reflection, something that isn't going to break my heart, like the Mass Effect trilogy did in the end.) Which I then proceed to spend an inordinate time on, chasing cheevos in an OCD way.

Case in point, I recently played the first Halo twin stick shooter thing "(Spartan Assault", or something like that) that I got for next to nothing on the Steam sale, because I figured it would be a nice gaming snack, so to speak. And it was, but I ended up putting a frankly embarrassing amount of hours on sheer grinding to tick off the 90 mission objectives like "Kill 80,000 Elites With Rusty Spanner in mission X" on a freaking chore list. I know it's dumb as hell, but I find it somehow.... soothing, I guess. Clearly I have issues.
 

Catfood220

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Well I have always been a console gamer and probably will be because I like the simplicity of sticking a game in and booting it up. Ok, there are now patches but that doesn't bother me too much. I used to be a Nintendo fanboy and was pretty much up until my mid 20's, I still think the Gamecube is one of the best consoles ever made. But then Nintendo went weird and started experimenting with my experience, the Wii was a dumping ground for so many badly ported games with tacked on motion controls and party games that towards the end of my time with the Wii, all I was playing Resident Evil 4 over and over again. So I switched to PS3 and have enjoyed games as they are supposed to be played, with a controller.

Having said that, I am still a Nintendo fan at heart and will probably buy a Wii U for the new Zelda and Bayonetta 2 alone.

Then again, maybe not. You see as I am now a person with a full time job, I don't have the time that I used to have for gaming. I have maybe 2 hours a night to play games if I am lucky. Oh yeah, there are days where I will just take the time to do nothing but play games but those days are few and far between. As such, I don't have the time to dedicate to stupidly long games, I used to love playing JRPG's, some of the best times I've had have been with Illusion of Time, Tales of Symphonia, Skies of Arcadia and Paper Mario. This passion has fallen by the wayside as I simply do not have enough time to dedicate to them. Demon's Souls being another example, I like the game, I just don't have the time to spend on a game where I might get nowhere. So these days I tend to lean towards shorter, more linear games that I can finish over the space of a week or 2. Trying to again t get through Skyrim, its slow progress despite enjoying the game.

Oh to be young and carefree again.
 

Super Cyborg

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I used to play JRPGs and Nintendo games only. I've now come to appreciate most genres, with the games I don't play much or at all being FPS's, Sports, and Fighting games.

This year there has been a big change in my gaming habits, with how much I play instead of what I play. I have ample free time that I could be playing more games, but I spend my time doing other things more. I read through some various manga and discuss it with people on another forum, I watch random YouTube videos, cook a fancier meal than usual, and spend a lot of time planning travel. On top of that, I have studying for the GRE and getting ready to apply for Grad School. Probably in a year or so I'll be out of the slump, as I have ups and downs over time with how much I play.
 

asdfen

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Oct 27, 2011
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When I was a kid I could not afford all of the games that interested me. Now that I am older I have time enough resources to play every game that even mildly interest me. Althoguth I am sick of FPS/TPS genre as it has been degenerating over last decade without anything new being introduced there it is all the one and same Doom game reskined over and over again. I also now stay away from MMO and online games because there is nothing but drama there instead of gaming. Also because I consider the social aspect that they force on me too demanding in terms of time and effort.
 

Maximum Bert

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I suppose I used to play mainly arcade style games and was pretty limited in my choice of games when I picked up my first console (SNES) basically the libray consisted of fighters and platform games with a few shooters (bigger now).

On the C64 and before I had a much wider selection because they were so cheap I honestly did not think about genres at this time it was just hmmm this game looks interesting ill try it, same with the arcade when I was allowed to go (was pretty young).

FFVII was the game that ushered in a new love of story driven games for me I had tried RPGs before but had dismissed them as garbage before this one, it also expanded the types of games I would buy beyond a few genres taking me back to more of the C64 days when I really did not bother to much about genre. This was the time when I had the most spare time to spare as well so length meant nothing to me. If it was really long it did not matter as long as it was good. I also went off fighters a bit not entirely but I was feeling pretty burnt out.

N64/Xbox was what got me heavily into shooters plus my friends played them but I burnt out quickly on them after Halo 2 and have not really been that bothered by the genre since. After this my apathy for fighters was removed again and I have enjoy the genre as much as I used to up until this day.

Now I am much more picky about what games I play simply because of time I dont care about length or gameplay so much as having a good experience so whether thats through gameplay, story or whatever it does not matter to me now as long as it provides that satisfaction. I still try a variety of genres but I cant get through games like I used to. I also found I have a high tolerance for older style games that I never had before, I guess games just age a lot better for me now and I can play many games from the early 90s or before without complaint. On a side note it is nice to be able to go back to old favourite games and see they are just as good as you remembered.
 

Guffe

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I've been playing the good stories I like. Zelda every 5th year or so, MetroidPrime, Mario64/Sunshine/Galaxy, Pokemon, Smash, MarioKart are series I always return to. Been in a Nintendo family and so far keeping that tradition going.

I enjoy the occasional multiplayer game of FIFA/NHL with friends on any console we decide to play on.

I also love a good RPG game and lately been getting all the old RPGs from the Nintendo Eshop. Games like Fire Emblem and GoldenSun. I also like JRPGs líke the Tales series and Xenoblade.

I've never been much into shooters and the one game that would be my "game that breaks the rule" is Warcraft III. That game is the one game I keep going back to even if it is PC and a strategy game. Counting all the "own maps" I've been playing online on B:net I think it is the one game I've put most time into. I've done a little MMO:ing with GuildWars, WoW and LotrO but I doubt I've outplayed Warcraft III at any time.

The things I play haven't really changed, I play anything I get my hands on and at least give it a try if it seems interesting. The latest titles I've played (last 6 months) are MarioKart, Xenoblade, DeuEx, SplinterCell, Darksiders, FireEmblem, Trine, Shante, MuaramasaDemonBlade and Splat00n.
The only thing varying is how much time I have to play depending on life in general.
 

Cowabungaa

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I definitely went through a couple phases I played all kinds of games during those phases, but there were definite trends in each one.

- A sort-of proto-phase was from my 6th until 11, in which I played whatever I was available on the old DOS computer we had at home or at friends' places. I had little real taste for games, simply picking up snippets here and there, though it did mark my first real videogame love; Pokemon Red on the first big purchase I did as a kid, a Gameboy Pocket.

- The first proper phase, about from 11 (late 2001 and onward, for reference) to about 13-ish I think, was mainly dominated by building and RTS games after we got a proper PC. Simcity 3000, Red Alert 2, Theme Hospital, Rollercoaster Tycoon and Age of Empires 2 abound. I also got a Gameboy Advance with some random games later in this phase.

- After that, from about 13 to 16 I think, was when I got into console gaming with my GameCube alternated with an FPS phase on the PC. I didn't have much money so I missed out on a lot of the GameCube classics, but a shitton of Mario Party, Metroid Prime and Super Smash was played. On the PC I started with the likes of Unreal Tournament, heavily, and Soldier of Fortune and moved on to Half Life 2 and CounterStrike Source later on. It ended with me buying my own PC.

- I think from around mid-15's 'till about 19 I had a heavy MMO phase on the PC, starting with some Korean MMO's, later moving on to WoW and trying some other MMO's like Warhammer Online and Age of Conan briefly after that. On the console front I moved towards an Xbox 360 on which various genres were played, though mostly shooters. My GameBoy was seeing less and less use during that time.

- From around 19/20 'till I think 23 my gaming library grew exponentially thanks to me getting a lot more disposable income. I finally got online banking so many a' Steam sale was raided in those days. Genre-wise I was all over the place, though a slight return to shooters, TF2 and Battlefield, and a heavy presence of singleplayer RPG's, Dragon Age, The Witcher, Fallout, some old CRPG titles, was noticeable. On the console front I got a PS3, with my 360 dying shortly after, on which I played a lot of genres, FPS I mostly abandoned on that platform with a few exceptions because my PC wasn't powerful enough. I also got myself a second-hand DS on which I played an absolute ton of different games, though mostly turn-based RPG's and games like Ace Attorney. I started developing a critical eye in these years and started favouring exploration over pure action.

- The last phase started in my mid-23, last year, until around now. My videogaming time went down a little, purchases went too, in favour of more real-life gaming with me getting into Magic the Gathering, boardgames and, finally, roleplaying games. On the videogame genre front I've mostly moved away from the big names in favour of indie titles ala Sunless Sea, This War Of Mine, Thomas Was Alone, etc, though that can't really be called one genre. It also marked a return of my GameCube usage, with second hand, older titles being a little friendlier on my now-smaller wallet. Well, except that some of the big titles are pretty freakin' expensive second-hand, as it turns out.

I'm pretty happy with where I'm at now. Playing a lot of different games, a lot of variation, really taking care to appreciate them and think about them critically. I'm also quite glad I spend less time on them as it makes me savour the time I have all the more. Mostly the before-last phase coincided with a very bad time in my life, which meant that I pretty much wore out playing videogames. There is indeed something as too much of a good thing.

I might've put too much effort in writing this.
 

Leon Royce

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From age six to today (25), I have always loved one type of game above all else: Exploration games.

Morrowind, Deus Ex, the Original Tomb Raiders, Dark Souls and recently the Witcher 3. But I have played all sorts. I started on console with PS1 titles like Tai Fu, Spyro and Wipeout3 and pokemon Red. The late 90's/ early 2000's were the best: Morrowind, Deus EX, Age of Empires 2 and UT2004 being standouts. I had my online competitive play days then.

As I moved through my teens and the misery of school got worse and worse I found myself playing more and more violent games. Dark times... FEAR, Dead Space, RE4 over and over again, anything with gibs.

Online has never grabbed me since Unreal Tournament. I'm just not interested.

I moved from PS2 to an Xbox360, the least memorable console of the bunch. I only really liked Red Dead Redemption, Dark Souls and Vanquish.

Sadly, gems like Morrowind and Dark Souls come about only every few years. And there are only a handful of titles with good Coop. Especially LAN.

Now, I play some shooters, but mostly I'm looking forward to Dark Souls 3, Fallout 4, MGSV, Deus EX Mankind Divided, and am still enjoying the Witcher 3, which came out of nowhere for me. The next year should be better than the past 3. Even Dishonored 2 has peaked my interest now that they are no longer constrained by the last gen's memory limitations.
 

shrekfan246

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May 26, 2011
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Pretty extensively, though the actual types of games I play have remained relatively consistent, all things considered.

I play more than I did when I was younger, though. I never had any tactical RPGs or stealth games as a kid, and I love those now. Shooters, platformers, JRPGs, action-adventure, and the occasional WRPG have always been part of what I play, as well as a strategy or simulation game every once in a blue moon.

So I suppose the biggest change would be in how I actually play games. When I was younger, I tended to not really care about any sort of story a game had; it was just window dressing that presented a barrier between me playing more. I often would listen to music while playing, even over the cutscenes. I've got a lot of fond memories of listening to Underoath while playing Kingdom Hearts.

Now, if a game has a narrative focus to it I find it hard to have anything else playing in the background because I'll either miss parts of the story or I'll miss parts of whatever else I'm listening to, be it music or a movie or television show or Youtube or whatever. Or both. So I have games that allow me to not pay such close attention to what they want to say, like Diablo III, for when I want to focus on other things but also play a game.
 

maninahat

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Nov 8, 2007
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My gaming habits have changed a lot. Previously, when I had more time and less income, I'd pour hundreds of hours into one game at a time. Now that I have more money and less time, I buy more games, but specifically get the shortest or cheapest ones available, because I'm often only able to spend a few hours per game. As soon as I feel I've got a reasonable amount of fun out of a game, I uninstall it before I start resorting to routine/skinner box level grinding. Basically, I hate when a game waste's my time, whereas what I did before was want a game to waste my time.
 

Mister K

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Apr 25, 2011
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I was really... Well, I just bought whatever had good cover. Sometimes it resulted in me buying great games (Def Jam: Fight for NY), sometimes - in purchase of abominations (Some part of Dynasty Warriors. What? I do not like this genre at all).

As I grew and my knowledge of English became better, I started looking for games that had good gameplay AND story. Heck, in the end I ended up translating some parts of Final Fantasy X for my father.

Another thing is that I didn't really play a huge variety of games. I played Tekken 5 single player (I don't have gamer friends), FFX, Def Jam, Devil May Cry 3 and a few others.

Now, however, I play almost every genre of the games (except for racing, RTS and sport sims) and I also check everything I can before buying them (except for spoilers to the story) and make concious decisions. I mean, I still do make spontainious choices sometimes, but those that I make are worth it.

Also, I have a story with fighting games. At first, as I've mentioned before, I used to play solo. Then, when I got PS3 I started playing them online and I was about average, but most importantly, I was having fun. Now, however, I don't play them as much. I mean, as I've said before, I've discovered many other types of games and Fighting games demand a lot of time to get good with them. But I am thinking about "making a comeback".
 

BeerTent

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May 8, 2011
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This is actually really interesting to sit down and think about. I never did until now. I had this massive post about all of this, but maybe I'll condense it down.

Here's what we had to play on over the years. The "Amstrad Laptop" The "Hercules" computer, named after it's monitor. The 386, that's KB of RAM, and the 256... MB of RAM After that, it was just upgrades and my own computer. I also had numerous consoles. Genesis, PSX, and then my own XBox, and I latr nabbed a 360, but hardly ever played it.

I grew up on those silly little DOS games that were everywhere. "Share-ware" Games like 3D boxing, and eventually Sim-City and Wolfenstien 3D. On the PSX, I mostly played ARPG's, JRPG's, and Fighting games. Memorable mentions to FFT and Megaman Legends. On the XBOX? We had so many games, I could never really stick with any one thing other than Phandom crash...

During and after the PSX, but before the XBox (You'll notice, a generation was kinda skipped.) We got Half-Life, along with a 20GB HDD. We were like, "Holy fuck this is SO REAL! WE ARE LIKE, REALLY THERE GUYS! PHOTOREALISM ACHIEVED!! [http://195.154.69.184/media/2008/aug-08/1024-hardman-in-the-city-02.jpg]" and with the HDD, we were like, "Shit, dude... We're NEVER going to fucking fill this thing up. Like, We're going to have this when we die." 20GB... A little over half of the requirement of WoW.

When we beat Half-Life, we used the old WON System. Got CS, DoD, NS... We formed a clan, and I was an idiot child growing up when it came to the internet. So, I went from ARPG's and fighting to straight up shooters. And the glory that was 10-15FPS... Stuff like this, is why I remained on the PC. Mods, Mouse+KB was so natural...

This remained for many years. Shooter, a little bit of this and that... Never really want back to ARPG's, but I've noticed a shift in the past two years. I need more Strategy. I don't have what it takes for the Comp FPS world because don't have the money nor the hardware. The rare "Cool non shooter" is becoming the "Awesome non-shooter." since I consider the only good Battlefield game was 1942. The last good CoD was 2, and It's all Source. I was in a Clan for Dystopia before I got bored of it, and eventually that imploded in a little ball of flame without my Clan around to keep it alive. (Who remembers that little disaster of a game?)

Maybe I just needed a break from shooters. The past year and a half has been games where I need to slow down and think. Where I have time to figure things out... But now, I'm slowly going back to it with my eyeballing more shooters like KF2, depth, and Dirty Bomb.

Still though, Trove is coming up I'm gonna try that once I get my acct info squared off, and it's probably gonna sit along side the biggest anomaly I just CANNOT put down... Minecraft.
 

Scarecrow1001

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Jun 27, 2011
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My gaming habits can be marked with (almost) two franchises per console, majorly speaking.
My first console was a Playstation 1. My family got it when I was 3. I loved that machine so much, but mainly Crash Bandicoot and Spyro The Dragon. Now, my favourites in those series were the third game of each, but I did play the rest. So, mainly platforming with limited exploration. Throughout these years, I also played Donkey Kong Country (Kountry?) on the Game Boy Colour, and later the Game Boy Advance SP. Furthermore, our old clunky PC was used for Red Alert 2, and the Sims.
Past that, when I was in Primary School (I think Year 2 or 3?) we got a PS2. Without even realising it, I stuck to the same developers, and played mainly Jak and Daxter, and Ratchet and Clank. Various other games were mixed in here or there, but little else strikes me (apart from the Crash and Spyro games on that console). Wait! Kingdom Hearts was then! I borrowed it from a friend, and fell in love. And Spiderman 2, that game was incredible. This was when I became a lot more invested in games. The old PC was then moving on to The Sims 2, and my favourite RTS, Command & Conquer: Generals.
In between these parts, I got a PSP, and played a few games, but once again, the J&D and R&C games stick out. Also, DS! With Nintendogs. What a great game! Also, Mario.
I blew right past the start of the PS3/360 phase, and was given a Wii for Christmas one year. Lovely console, and really enjoyed some games, like Super Mario Galaxy. But then... as luck would have it, my Grandparents bought a new TV, which they recieved a PS3 with! As the only one really interested in games (and my brother posessing the console already), it was given to me. Thus started my really big interest. I loved the Assassin's Creed series, mainly due to the incredible worlds, fantastic stories, and badass characters. AC2 is still my favourite game to date, and the series tops my charts. But I also invested in over 100 games on the console. It... was messy. Over 50% of the games I barely played, let alone the 20-30% I actually finished. But, Assassin's Creed, inFAMOUS, the first Prototype and Bethesda titles ruled my console. Big, open world, powerful games. Also, HD re-releases of my favourite games from the PS1 and 2!
And now, currently. At 18 years old, I am currently playing The Witcher 3, (surprise surprise). Incredible open world, fun, fast combat... amazing. I have AC Syndicate on pre-order, due to me loving the games still, and... well, branching out into smaller games! Also, Steam. Even though I am primarily a console gamer, I have over 100 titles on Steam now... those damn summer sales.

I don't want to go on too long! So summary
3-6/7: PS1, Crash, Spyro, PC, C&C
7-14 PS2, J&D, R&C, KH, PC, Sims, C&C
14-17/18 (2010-2014), AC, various others (also, the decline and fall of interest in shooters)
Now, PS4, PC, AC, Witcher
 

Scarim Coral

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I pretty certain I had become more lazier at gaming. I mean looking back at my gaming childhoods, games were ALOT harder back then due to them not having a save function (heh I remember the old password mechanic as a way of saving). Games like Area 88/ UN Squardon, Donkey Kong Country and Castlevania were challanging back then!

Moving on, I was a Nintendo Fanboy from the SNES and Wii (never bought the N64 as I kept on playing the SNES) but once they left us in the dust in favour of parties and 3rd parties games on the Wii, I turn my back on them. It was also round this time I bought and build my own pc for the first time meaning it was capable of playing decent games so here I am, a pc gamer.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Ever since I upgraded from 6th to 7th gen I find myself buying less & spending more. So I'm pickier with what I buy nowadays.
 

NPC009

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Aug 23, 2010
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- More handhelds moods. The past few years, the (3)DS, PSP and Vita saw a lot of use. It's not really a mobility thing - I rarely play them outside of the house. It's about comfort, I guess? I no longer have any consoles near my bed, so my handhelds are getting all that action instead.

- I play more PC games now. Up until a few years ago, my hardware was never really up to it as I was satisfied with using laptops that were basically glorified typing machines. Severely outdated stuff. My current laptop is still pathetic but can play lots of lite games just fine, so that's what I've been doing.

- I have less patience for bullshit than back when I was a teen... I think. There's less 'play on hard just because I can'. On the other hand, I'm still able to drag myself through games like Mind Zero and Time & Eternity, which must mean my patience levels are still pretty impressive. It does feel more like work, though. Probably because it usually is.
 

leberkaese

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I lost the ability to be completely amazed by a game. Until I was ~16 yrs old, I was able to lose myself in games. I'd do nothing in my free time but play this single game for days or even weeks. Examples for games that made me go nuts have been Pokemon, Tales of Symphonia or World of Warcraft. These games amazed me and 'they must be the best thing in the world so I'm gonna spend all my time now playing them!' Nowadays, the best I can hope for is a game that makes me think 'Okay, this is a well designed game, I might want to play it until the end'. Witcher 3 is doing that to me right now, let's see if I'll finish it.
But I guess, this is the ancient root of my people blossoming within me. The german cynicism and effectiveness is taking over.

Also, I used to be a console game through and through (don't ask me about any good PC games from the 90's or early 2000's, I was all about Nintendo). Last console I owned was a Gamecube and I've been a PC gamer since then. I'm considering right now to buy a cheap PS3 to catch up on some exclusive titles I missed, but that's about it.