Asklemmy

i am well over 40 and still play games. The "problem" is that gaming now compete with lots of more important stuff like: kids, family, dogs, home repairs, sport activity, wife, work, errands to run, and sure I am leaving out many.

So, forget sitting on a computer or console for even half hour. I consume quick mobile games, where reflexes are not decisive (that's age, thanks).

I even bought a real Nintendo DS Lite with the cracked cartridge to load games on microssd, and my kid loves it, but even New Super Mario Bros takes too long between saves for the free time I have, so you get the idea.

Would I still do hours gaming sessions even if I could? No, too many hobbies and ideas that pop up all the time to work on... Maybe this is because I cannot for the sake of life get closed to modern games. AAA are cashgrabs, indie require too much time researching them, and anyway I need mobile gaming, that sucks overall.

Mine is biking, it was very hot for a few weeks, and so i stopped, but now that it’s getting to be the fall and perfect biking weather… i can’t. They found a cyst aggressively growing inside my jaw and i have lost 1/3 of my jaw bone mass. The surgeon installed a marsupialization and said it will take me 10 months to grow the bone back…assuming it even can. In the mean time, the surgeon is afraid of me even eating chicken, let alone doing anything that could have me fall.

they say the 30s is generally where your love for video games go to die.

Such a claim is baseless. Video games have been evolving every few years for their entire existence. Such a claim sounds as ridiculous as someone in the 60s saying that people grow out of watching animated shows in their teens.

Either your priorities have just shifted, or you might be in a bubble where you only see the same old games that have already been done, so nothing piques your interest.

To be fair, the video games industry has turned into a myopic late-stage capitalist hellscape, so I think it’s kinda hard to continue to love what’s on offer these days

Man I'm in my mid 30s and really loving gaming more these days. Lots of independent shit that's had me hooked.

In the past few years I fell away from cars/motorcycles (building, racing, etc) and am loving sitting on the couch at home. It's a stark contrast and has been a lot of therapy time, but I did it for years while not enjoying it. I think my takeaway is leaning into what I want and away from what I don't

As a mid fifties dude that plays video games, I would say as I have aged other things start becoming more important. It is not that I don't enjoy them, its just the allure of playing a game till the sun comes up is now few and far between, because I'd rather be well rested for a nice bike ride during the day, or spend the time baking some homemade bread. Also tastes change too. Last year I was heavy Into MechWarrior5 and getting to the "Only 4 % of players acheived this" stat , but today I just bought Wingspan bird cardgame on Steam LOL. Probably the furthest from MechWarrior

Environmental/political activism. I used to be pretty active in local groups. When I had kids, I bowed out to help my spouse. Now that I have time again, I feel unmotivated - news is just so damn depressing.

I used to love writing little short stories and whatnot as a cathartic emotional outlet, but over the past couple years I just... haven't. I think it's coupled with my decrease in reading, since a good, well written book usually inspired me, but I just haven't been reading like I used to either. I keep telling myself I'm going to get back into both, but that hasn't happened yet.

Mine is Magic: The Gathering, except I fully realize that I am pulling away from it and why.

The game sparked an immense amount of joy when I picked it up in high school. Now I barely recognize the game anymore. It doesn't truly have an identity of its own and exists in this permanent state of limbo where 3rd party IPs are taking over the demand for new product and the rules are becoming so bloated that they can't fit them on cards anymore.

This is such an "old man yelling at clouds" moment for me, because I heard just about every reason under the sun for why people quit the game when I was playing from power creep to changing art styles to just getting priced out of the hobby in general. I realize now that those people were not wrong, they were just not the target audience anymore. I am no longer a profitable demographic to pander to. I never buy packs anymore, and I've even stopped buying singles and I don't attend tournaments or collect anymore, so why would Hasbro/WotC make products for me? Especially when there are deep pocketed whales out there who will pay top dollar for their favorite crossover set, no matter how silly or out of place it might seem.

I wish I could enjoy the game the way I used to, but I just can't be bothered to hop back in when it doesn't feel the same anymore.

Mine is video games.

I'm 40 and I'm gaming now more than I ever have before!

Granted, part of that is because I'm retired young and have all the time in the world. But another part of that is because I made a small Discord server with a few close friends from my high school days. It's how we stay in touch, since we've all moved away since childhood.

We game online every Monday and/or Tuesday evening. It gives us time to talk and catch up through Discord while also playing some fun online multiplayer games together. The rest of the week, we share news, memes, videos, and other text discussion through various channels I've set up in Discord.

I've never heard of anyone losing their love for video games as they get older. If anything, continuing to play games later in life will help keep your cognitive functions strong. Remember the Skyrim grandma? She's still going strong in her late 80s. It's never too late to get into gaming again.