Poll: Can you outgrow videogames?

[Mordwyl]

"Can you outgrow video games?", you ask? Okay. Now let's change that question a little:

"Can you outgrow x?"

You have the option to replace x with video games, films, books, art, ice cream, puppies, etc.

Video games are too universal to be considered a children's hobby.

 

[linwolf]

Yes as you get older you taste changes there are a lot of things that I have outgrown, I don't think that gaming will ever be one of them but you never know.

 

[Denamic]

That's like saying, "Can you outgrow entertainment?"
No, you cannot 'outgrow' it.
You can become bored of it, sure, but that's not 'growing'.

 

[Akai Shizuku]

Making the implication that video games can be outgrown is also implying that video games are juvenile, a concept which I've never understood.

 

[Nooners]

HEY! Extra Credits! I think you have another possible topic here to think about!

 

[Therumancer]

This is just a little topic that came up with me and a friend on X-box Live the other day, as the title says, do you think it's possible to outgrow video games?

I answered "Maybe" because it honestly depends on the state of the industry. Back in the 1990s and perhaps the beginning of this passing decade I would have said "no" solidly as video games were growing up the people playing them. The gaming industry backing down to censorship and the like, contreversy over game content that lead to a "soft ban" on things like graphic sexual content and child killing, and of course the current legislation being debated right now over limiting free speech when it comes to games, all have contributed to a situation where I think the number of truely "adult" games has been diminishing even under an "M" rating, and if the current legislation goes through, I expect that games will dumb down to the level of toys for the protection of the industry.

Don't get me wrong, I do not think graphic sex, child killing, and other things are nessicary to make a game "adult", it's simply that when such limitations exist at a level greater than say "R" rated it discourages creators from pushing the envelope at all. Add to the fact that in some of these respects (like say killing children) we had games willing to do those things years ago, but not now, and you see how even before the current Supreme Court battle there was an issue.

If the gaming medium gets cut free to the point of other similar mediums like movies, then no, I don't think it will be something you can outgrow, any more than you can outgrow movies or TVs. On the other hand if it doesn't break free from the current fetters, or the current supreme court ruling is lost, then yes... I think there will be something of an age limit on video gaming.

 

[T-Bone24]

Can you outgrow film? I mean as a whole media, can you outgrow film? Or books or music? No? Well then, same answer.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Maybe other people can but I will never outgrow it. I'll be playing Pokemon till I die

 

[The Bum]

No, hell i know old guys who pla Wii sports resort so they can bowl again. Admitedly it's a happy-clappy causual game but still a game none the less

 

[EatPieYes]

Of course I can - but why would I want to?

 

[BlastedTheWorm]

You can outgrow anything, really.

 

[Mafoobula]

I could be a 100+ year-old bed-ridden wretched human being, and I'll still be on a laptop or some handheld, playing whatever games will be playable for my crippled fingers. I doubt I'll be able to play a game that requires millisecond-precise movements, but something like, say, Professor Layton sounds doable.

 

[Danzaivar]

games as a whole? probably not. certain kinds of games? yes. I used to love just jrpgs and dynasty warrior-ish games (this was years and years ago). I can now no longer stand either. Mindless repetition just doesn't do it for me anymore (referring to grinding, btw..)

Exactly the same as this guy right here.

My avatar might be of Cloud, but I can not for the life of me sit around and play FF7 anymore.

 

[SaunaKalja]

Way back when I was young and had gotten my gaming "career" underway, I did think I would eventually stop playing games. Now, some 15 or so years later, there's still no end in sight.

But of course someone can, for whatever reasons, stop gaming.

 

[SimuLord]

Can you? As in "is it possible"? Of course. A few kids, a six-figure job, a new hobby discovered, and games can be put by the wayside.

Are games an essential part of a gamer's psyche and self-identity to the point where "outgrowing" them is quite unlikely? Depends on the games, really. To "outgrow" a game like Fallout or SimCity would require either a major step forward in one's expectations of the writing quality of media (and when I say Fallout, I mean games like Fallout 2 or even New Vegas that were masterfully written and on a level with other forms of media, not Fallout 3 which was shallow as a kiddie pool) or, in the latter case, outgrowing one's love of problem solving and building, almost like outgrowing LEGO or model railroading. How do you "outgrow" something that engages the mind of anyone from age 3 to 103 that touches it?

So can you? Yes. Is such a thing likely? Not by a longshot.

 

[Nouw]

Depends on person. For me? No way! For other people? Probably!

 

[vivalahelvig]

You can never outgrow awesome.

Pah, my lvl 99 Typhlosion could take them all out with 1 hit everytime, and still need 400k more xp to level up!

OT: No, i dont think you an outgrow video games, as if you stop, it will always gnaw at the back of your mind as you remember the good times, and then you start playing again.