Ever feel you've got worse at games?

[Reprise]

Since before I went to university 3 years ago I haven't been playing computer games very much. I kind of "out grew" games a bit. I don't mean that in an insulting way, but I just wasn't interested in the new consoles and didn't have as much time for playing games.

I finished uni just a while ago and I've since been playing video games a lot more, but boy do I suck now! I actually can't believe how bad I've become at certain games. RPGS I'm fine with, but 'quicker' games with faster pace action I tend to not be very good at.

Take Nights on the Saturn for example. I started a new game last night as I had lost all my Saturn saves, and I was terrible at it. It took me ages just to get past the boss with the mice rockets (forget its name) and on the final level I kept running out of time. I never remember ever being that bad at it, even when I first bought the game. I always remember finding it really easy (the challenge was in trying to get the best scores)

Anyways, my question to you is do you also find that you've got worse at games? Maybe it's just me.

[Riqz85]

I do feel this, especially with the newer games but you know why mate? Leaving out the usual reasons: less time less practice etc it's because the gaming population has increased a lot and nowadays you're not just competing against your RL friends but the whole world.

And by that it's the whole world of 14 year olds that do nothing but play CoD4 all day.

Although mostly mate, it's because we have little time to dedicate to games in general i think.

[Flake]

Also, we're getting older. When I was a kid I could game all day long, no problems. Now I can only play for about 45 minutes before I need to take a break and relax my hands.

[(-_-)]

I've definitely gotten way better at games as an adult. I was awful as a kid. I also find that the longer I leave a game untouched after having become frustrated with it, the more likely I am to come back to it and overcome whatever was stopping my progress with a lot more ease.

[saturnfan]

Well I guess it has to be in perspective, when I was a little kid I was naturally pretty awful at video games, although I don't feel my talent really peaked until high school and early college when me and my friends would spend a lot of time playing together.

Now a days I kind of suck at the more action packed games. But then again I don't really play those games too much.

[rainnyx4]

Sometimes when I pop in an NES game I feel like this.

Like, I KNOW I beat StarTropics when I was a kid. But a few years ago I tried playing through it after I got a copy at GameStop. I managed to get all the way up to the last level. And then I was like "How the hell did I ever do this when I was 10 years old."

But certain games I was never able to beat when I was young. I can tear through the original Castlevania now. But when I was a kid this game resulted in many a thrown controller.

[KillemallCFH]

I wouldn't say I've gotten worse in general, but I haven gotten worse at some specific games. In high school I would just play one game extensively for a while and get really good at it (I did this with Super Metroid, Halo 2, and Super Smash Bros. Melee). Nowadays, I don't have quite as much time for gaming, and I like to diversify my gaming a lot more. So while I may have lost some skill at those specific games, I don't feel like I've gone into a slump with gaming as a whole yet.

[alexjames01]

I don't feel I've gotten worse but instead I feel I've gotten a little streamlined with completing games. If anything, I feel i've gotten better... but also more detached. When I was younger I had the time to kill to talk to every character in RPG's and explore every area in adventure games. I set out to know all there was to know.

Now i find myself using some formula to quickly beat the game. I still usually try go for total completion of the games (every hidden secret/level/item) but if it's not going to count towards total completion (finding out more of the story by talking to more characters for example...) i skip out on it.

But this thread reminds me of when I was younger and battled for the top Galaga score against my older brother. I would spend days trying to beat his new top score... then gleefully gloat about it once i finally took that top spot. He, of course, would come into the room and destroy my new top score within minutes... I'd once again spend the next week trying to regain my 15 minutes of domination.

Now however, the tables have turned and I see games different then I once did. With a lot more logic. I think this came with age and I think it made me "better" at games then I was when i was a kid.

[slowslow325]

I do feel this, especially with the newer games but you know why mate? Leaving out the usual reasons: less time less practice etc it's because the gaming population has increased a lot and nowadays you're not just competing against your RL friends but the whole world.

And by that it's the whole world of 14 year olds that do nothing but play CoD4 all day.

Although mostly mate, it's because we have little time to dedicate to games in general i think.

Hey! I'm a 14 year old and I don't own, or want to own, Call of Duty!

Because of this, I can't contribute much to the thread, but I don't think I've gotten worse at games. However, I remember when I was about 8, instead of really playing the games, I would always find ways around them. The weird thing is sometimes I would succeed. Now, looking back, I can't believe I spent that much time trying to figure out how to get atop the castle in SM64, etc.

[h8b1llg8ts]

Street Fighter ...

SFII is my game and no one can beat me on both the SNES version or my arcade. But with the newer ones online I suck so bad its not even funny.