When do you hit your prime in gaming?

Retr0gamer

I don't have the time to invest so much into a single game to become as good at it as I used to. I really don't think I'm getting worse at games, in fact I think I'm getting better. Playing some platformers and shmups now and I'm much better at them starting off than I was in my teens. However I just don't have the time to invest in them and have too many games still to play. When I was younger getting a new game was an event and I milked them for everything they were worth. It's how I managed to 1 credit ghouls n'ghosts. Nowadays the toughest thing I find is staying with a game to see it through to completion without be dragged away by the next big thing.

Mr. K

The last games that I feel I became absolutely brilliant at were Goldeneye and Mario Kart 64. I played them a huge amount though, way more than I play anything these days.

I can afford to buy most games these days, so I go through them very quickly. I imagine I'm better at games generally than I was in the Goldeneye days (aged 11), but don't put as much time into any one game anymore.

There is, however, an exception to this trend in Resident Evil 5, where I invested about

120 hours

over a few weeks. The spoiler tag is there to hide my shame...

Funky

around 2005/6 when playing CS I reckon, but I hope to be better at SC2 when it gets released 8)

Jazzy

EmSixTeen wrote: »

2003-2008 for me, I can feel myself going downhill now. So, 15-21. for me.

that

Polar101

I was playing Battlefield 1943 the other day, and didn't hit a tank at point blank range. So I'd say my prime was either a couple of years ago, or it is still in the future.

Stretchryan

While in college and then on the dole and once i got a job it has gone downhill but getting back into now on the xbox360 so many good titles...

Pugsley

The 15-21 region that EmSixTeen suggested sounds about right.

The only truely competitive (computer) game is Starcraft, and modern pro gamers at that are picked up at about 14-15 and after about 2-3 years of intense practice and coaching their fit for proleague play. Some get there quicker than others, ie: KTF Flash, was playing Starcraft on national TV in South Korea at the age of 13/14, won his first title at 15, and has been the best Terran player in the world for the last 3 years (although recently Fantasy is up there too)

Most gamers go downhill pretty steeply after their mid twenties, as can be seen in the Starcraft world and FPS's. Fatality and Voo both went downhill after their twenties and stopped being the top 2 is the world, and in CS the SK team that dominated CS 1.3-1.5 got ousted and replaced as the younger players came about and replaced them, their reactions couldn't keep up.

juanjo

playing battlefield 1943 the other day, got a headshot on practically a pixel so i guess I still got it! (luck, that is) :P

I don't play that much anymore but I stll get in cod5 (hardcore search and destroy) and get sum kills. My brother got all the prestiges and I didn't even get the 1st one, but I still go there and blow some meat up. still I think that the party chat is the best part.

edit: forgot my age. 36. So all is rainbows and candies I guess.

Promac

I'm 33 and easily get in the top 3 scorers regularly on COD4/5/6. I think it's just about keeping up the practice. In these online games, a bit of strategy also helps and that only comes with age. It's not all about reaction times - I find the younger FPSers are more interested in running around as fast as possible, guns blazing while bunny-hopping around corners and don't have the experience to do really well in the long run.

With solo play it really is just a matter of keeping your hand in. I can only play games on hard mode now or I get bored.

fergalr

Pugsley wrote: »

The 15-21 region that EmSixTeen suggested sounds about right.

The only truely competitive (computer) game is Starcraft, and modern pro gamers at that are picked up at about 14-15 and after about 2-3 years of intense practice and coaching their fit for proleague play. Some get there quicker than others, ie: KTF Flash, was playing Starcraft on national TV in South Korea at the age of 13/14, won his first title at 15, and has been the best Terran player in the world for the last 3 years (although recently Fantasy is up there too)

Most gamers go downhill pretty steeply after their mid twenties, as can be seen in the Starcraft world and FPS's. Fatality and Voo both went downhill after their twenties and stopped being the top 2 is the world, and in CS the SK team that dominated CS 1.3-1.5 got ousted and replaced as the younger players came about and replaced them, their reactions couldn't keep up.

[citation needed]
But seriously - while it makes sense to me that it is a lack of reactions - couldn't it also be that they got less determined when they got older, or that a new individual or team, with better tactics or training regimen, (tactics in a sport tend to evolve and improve over time) came along, and beat them because of the better conditioning?

Its not easy to put a finger, definitively, on what caused it...
...if the best players had some sort of objective reaction test that they did over time, and it was possible to track their deterioration on it, and correlate that with falling performance, then that'd be interesting. Otherwise you have to be careful coming to conclusions...

koHd

12. After that, it's all downhill.

Darksaga87

I think the 8 and 16 bit generations would be the more experianced gamers as we had to put up with the glitches and bugs that were found in the (s)NES and sega era.

I think I may have peaked last year as I notice that im not as swift on MW2 as i was on MW and cod5.

In therms of enjoyment, i think the peak is when you dont look foward to games anymore. I was like a child when MW2 came out, same with the new mario bros game.
So I figure my inner 16bit child is still breaking through at times.
I loved MGS on the PS1, but MGS4, it bored the crap outta me. Even though i love stragey games.
I remember the day when I deleted WoW off my computer as one day i noticed, my phone hadnt been turned on in 4 days. So that was enough of that.
I still love gaming. But miss the old days when I used to get sucked into the game and felt i was apart of it. Now, at times, I know im only playing a game. I know im not Etzio, But I felt like I was Altair.
I hope i never get bored of gaming. Its a great way stimulate the mind.

Hercule

If I had no job or responsibilites like I did after secondary school I would go back to being in my prime - its not age specific, it is totally situational