Show notes
Gaming Preferences as We Age
In this episode:
- We’re old(ish). We aren’t the young, twitchy gamers we once were, and our lives don’t give us the luxury of spending 8-12 hours a day playing games. Because of this, our gaming preferences have changed since we were younger.
- For Void, instead of twitchy games like Counter Strike and Starcraft, he’s moved into more narrative games and casual experiences. The sleep function on a 3DS, as well as quicksaves on mobile games help him balance his responsibilities as a husband and father more easily than long gaming sessions can.
- For Beej, his personality changed since he was younger. A former griefer and MMO scammer, he has since moved from the selfish, solo player who gained enjoyment from knowing he made someone else have a terrible day because of a video game into a team-player who doesn’t care about competition, winning, or losing as long as he and his team had fun while playing.
- For both of us, we find that lowering the difficulty of games and using guides is no longer a knock at our pride. It helps us clear games faster and experience the content the way developers intended, rather than beating our heads against a wall and not having fun. Our time is more limited, so why feel as though we are wasting it?
- Cooperative gaming is much more important to us now. More games need a co-op mode rather than all competition. This is seen in board gaming in titles such as Pandemic Legacy and the Lord of the Rings LCG, and we hope the trend moves forward into video games as more developers of our generation make titles based on their own maturation and changes in preferences.
- Despite the changes in what we care about and look for in games, there are still many titles and franchises that we will go back to no matter what. The Final Fantasy series, Mario platformers, Bioshock titles, and the Elder Scrolls are among game worlds in which we have been entrenched for so long that we make time for, no matter what. If that means using quick save to have short gaming sessions, so be it. If we have to lower the difficulty or use a guide to find our next point-of-interest, then no problem. We want to continue to enjoy the games that we grew up with, not resent them because they’re no longer available to us.
Weekly Geekery
- Void - E3 Prep for VGNN / FFV Four Job Fiesta Prep!
- Beej - 10% Happier / Reddit (just not the main page - find subreddits like /r/patientgamers or /r/runninglifestyle for great communities)
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