Is gaming better as a kid or an adult?
There are pros and cons for either demographic: whilst being older may be ideal since not only you bypass age restrictions, you also have the capability on purchasing it with your own money without having to ask parents for that given that you have employment and recurring income. Gaming as a kid gives more time without having to dwell much on responsibilities that adults have to worry about but at the same time are held by school.
As an adult I finish more games. I have more patience and there's a lot of things that are better today than when I was a kid (level scaling/difficulty scaling is definitely one, and so is the art).
But I miss storytelling. I miss game mechanics that worked really well but we're based on the limitations of the hardware and software available at the time. I miss having to explore because there were no walkthroughs or guides or anything.
So I think perhaps gaming has gotten better, but my experience with gaming isn't as good now as it was when I was a kid because I have something to compare it to and it can't beat my nostalgia.
Yes.
It's a tough question to answer, since we can't go forward in time and game as a kid with the games we have now. And playing games now that we had when we were kids is different, since you already know all about them. I think I have to answer "as a kid," though.
As a kid, we had a sense of wonder about all the new things we were unlocking. But how much of that was just being a kid and how much was the still-evolving game industry finding new ways to be exciting? Playing games now feels insane to me, because I grew up being astonished by Galaga and Pac-Man. Comparing those to Elden Ring, which is graphically and difficulty-wise and story-wise light years ahead, just doesn't make sense. At the same time, I don't know that I could have gained much from playing Elden Ring as a kid. For one, I would have been destroyed by the first enemy and turned away crying... not that different as an adult if I'm honest. But I probably played as much Super Mario Bros as I did Elden Ring.
I'm lucky that I have time to game as an adult. Sure, it's only about 3 to 5 hours per week, but that's better than a lot of adults. Some weekends I'll get 10 or 15 hours to game. As a kid I could play for hours a day. I could have friends over most days after school to game with. They could spend the night on weekends to play late. I could borrow their games, and they could borrow mine, so I usually had a new game to try even if I didn't have my own money.
I mean when i was a kid i struggled to get double digit fps in ironforge, but now i struggle to get that same sense of wonder from ul'dah. But also i actually have more than three games so i pick adulthood
Ul’dah is still pretty cool, though.
Honestly the thing I feel that kids have in their corner that is really great is a lack of experience.
The kind of awe that I felt when I started up Starcraft or Diablo for the first time just isn't there now, I have too many reference points from earlier games to get that "new and awesome"-feeling from most games anymore.
I hadn’t felt that feeling in many years, until I played Elden Ring’s DLC. It was the first time since being a kid that I felt a true sense of awe and wonder. I wish I could relive that feeling again.
"fresh meat" and then just getting insta killed. It still sends shivers down my spine. Such a sweet childhood memory.
brace yourself
christmas noobs are coming
I remember Cyberpunk 2077 sucking me into its world, I sometimes walked slowly through the streets taking in sights and sounds.
I had that all the time as a kid, Monkey Island, Betrayal at Krondor, you name it. For children, like you said, everything is new and a fantastic experience, give it enough years and it becomes not stale, but normal.
Now, many years later it has become rare. But when it happens it's awesome again.
That's also my reason for not being excited over GTA 6. It will never live up to feeling of 3, Vice City or San Andreas, even 4. Those times are over for me. 5 was fun, but nothing special anymore.
The pros of gaming as an adult is that you now have the money to go buy all the games you wanted to play as a kid. The cons are that you no longer have the time.
I have to say that the lack of responsibility and abundance of time makes gaming as a kid better.
College Adult, growing up my parents only let me play games on the weekends and even then it was rare that I could play for longer then like 2 hours. Most my crazy long gaming sessions occurred when I was at a friend's house and it turned into an obsession because of how much I was limited.
You should add a third category, cause I had the best time playing games in college. So many late night gaming sessions with friends, and while I didn't have money to buy many games, there were ways to obtain them.
As an adult I have more money and pretty good at balancing gaming with everything else, but it's mostly solo gaming because friends I would play with in college are also busy all the time
Thats the correct. Young adulthood.
Too young to be a real man, and too old to hang with the kids, but enough job money and time to afford any game you want and all the time to play it.
Personally, gaming was a much bigger deal to me as a kid. I still play as an adult, but they just don't evoke the same feels as they did when I was young. Probably doesn't help that I am stressed, tired, and have a million obligations distracting me, but that's adulthood for you. A lot of the time, I find something like a hike or bike ride more rewarding than games these days.
I think gaming as a kid was better simply because of the fact there was a bit of mystery to it.
you rarely knew about upcoming game releases unless it was a major title or was heavily advertised in like GamePro or EGM. most of the time you'd go to the store or a rental place and you'd discover a game right there on the shelf. Some of my favourite games I never knew existed until I rented them from Blockbuster. And many times recommendations game from previously said magazines or word of mouth via your friends. And if a game was cancelled prior to release chances are you wouldn't be bummed about it simply because you probably didn't know it existed in the first place.
We don't have that now. now everything is covered from head to toe everywhere or in early access or whatever. takes the fun out of it.
Also there was nothing better than picking up a game and reading the manual on the drive home.
As a kid I had time play games but no money to buy games. As an adult I have money to buy games but time to play games …
i think it depends on your circumstances in life more then anything else
As you said, there are pros and cons. A child's brain is something else, I remember excitement and curiosity that an adult's brain just cannot replicate. I don't think I'll ever feel what I felt when I played Half-Life or World of Warcraft for the first time. Games are still enjoyable though - just in a different way.
Adult. I can afford it more easily and nostalgia means gaming systems cost less too due to lower spec requirements.
I think gaming as an adult is better honestly. But that’s thanks to all the experience and understanding built up from gaming as a kid. I would not have had the patience or understanding to play and complete some games as a kid that I was able to do now.
I mean rpgs are closer to virtual worlds now. I gotta give it to adult just based on games being better than I was a kid. still love that old sega shadowrun though.
I loved games as a kid. They were my life. As an adult, I don't really care that much any more. I still get into some games and play a bit, but I don't have the sense of wonder, awe, amazement, and pure fun anymore.
This so much.
Gen 3 Pokémon games which I mainly played as a preteen were basically my second home, I knew almost everything there was to know about them.
Games I played later in life, including later Pokémon games, I mostly forgot the details after playing.
gaming is better as an adult if it's something you never did as a kid. not knowing how something works adds to the fun of playing a video game, and kids are blank slates when it comes to experience.
If you're asking us adults, most of us wouldn't know. Most of us dont have time for it anymore.
Am adult, have a full time job, raised a kid, and never had a point in time where I couldn't game for without needing to make it a priority. Time spent watching shows and movies went down because I enjoyed games more, but if one has some down time they can choose to play games as an adult.
Gaming as a kid was fun because it was new, it is still fun as an adult because I can pick and choose what to play and when to play it.
TV is the biggest waste of time. I enjoy some shows, but I can acknowledge that a lot of it really is just something to fill time rather than "art." I've cut back my TV and YouTube consumption a lot, and it enables me to do a lot more non-passive hobbies. Worst case scenario I read or game, which I consider a much better use of my time.
I remember the Wii U being the greatest thing with a newborn because of the second screen. Holding a sleeping baby and playing Breath of the Wild was cool :D
Yeah, because the priority is not becoming destitute, not being a deadbeat parent, etc.
Me being a shit parent? Fuck off. You know nothing about me and your response reeks of being an entitled asshat.
Do you even have kids or a career or do you just live in mommy's basement? Are you a nepo baby maybe? Clearly you don't understand what you're talking about and have never had to really struggle.
Anyone can be a parent. Being a good parent, however, takes sacrifice. There are only so many hours in the day. And sure, I could game once they're asleep but that means the laundry,dishes, lunches, etc. can't get done which is a direct impact on their lives and your own. Most young parents will have to deprioritize gaming for years to make everything work. Imo good parenting comes with selflessness. Once your kids are properly automated you can slowly regain leisure time.
This heavily depends on how many hours you need to work each day. Two parents working 20h/week can have a lot of free time and may be able to afford a decent life in many places
You're not wrong except I've never been met with such a dream situation.
Maybe you should collect your shitty, entitled, poorly informed take and just fuck all the way off? Again, you clearly have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. You're either a troll or an entitled moron.
Speaking of time management, this concludes our conversation. Goodbye.
Maybe you should take a long walk off a short cliff.
Ackshually, we don't. If we prioritized gaming, we would not have any money for the games and hardware or the place to hook it up and use it.
"Prioritize" doesn't mean putting it above everything else.
How do you think most gamers have money for games?
It’s okay to prioritize family or whatever instead of gaming. But I know plenty of older gamers that don’t struggle or use “don’t have time” as an excuse to not play games.
For me personally the steam deck was a game changer, now I have a little pc I can carry around with me. I no longer needed to worry about those long ass quests or lack of save points because I can just put it to sleep and pick it up later when I have a moment.
It's still not as great as being able to sit down and just get lost in a game but it's better than not having time at all.
Some of us got our sea legs at a very early age.
I'm in my early 40s, and I've found that I enjoy story-based games played on an easy difficulty more. Life is stressful enough nowadays, so I don't need the added stress of competitive gaming.
For me, it's a different kind of enjoyment. Now, I'd rather let my mind wander through a story-based game than frag anything that moves.
For me it's much better as an adult just because I don't have poorly informed adults scaremongering over the latest bullshit the news made up.
When I was a kid my mother would immediately jump on every single "the kids are bad" bandwagon there was. As a result I could really only play games at friends houses because were weren't allowed to have video games of any sort. I even bought my own xbox and tv so I could have it in my room when I was 14. The moment she found out she threw it away while I was at school. Never mind the fact that I had spent 500 dollars of my own money.
Thanks to finding out about piracy rather early there was no longer the financial limitations either.
So yeah playing in childhood was much better. I could actually focus and go along with storylines and actually have time to practice and get better at games.
Nowadays, story based games are completely out, because once i eventually can play again i would need a recap of what happened last time and thats ignoring the fact that as soon as i put on earphones to even try to focus on a game, my wife instantly gets jealous and tries to do everything possible to get some attention.
Similarly for any team based or skill based games, there just isn't time to practice. So all multiplayer games are out as well, because it kinda sucks when in the evening i eventually can boot up my PC, start a game, launch a match and then get insta killed by past version of myself(basement dwelling 14 year old who practices every waking moment).
As a kid I had time to play what I wanted As an adult I can play what I want but have no time to do so