It’s honestly maybe more flattering than you realize.
Motor Reaction time starts to decline around age 30.
Comparing a 20 year old and a 30 year old. About a 200ms decline. That’s not huge in real life activities. But it can make a difference in games.
So essentially if you are over 30, playing against 20 year olds, you are literally playing with a handicap.
If you still beat them, that’s something.
It could mean your prediction skills are superior, that they circumvent motor response delays.
It’s likely something like that is occuring.
Some humans are really really good at compensation in the brain.
When something starts to slow down or not work as efficiently as it used to, people with higher cognitive intelligence, often find alternatives approaches to compensate for this loss. To the point where the end product is even superior to a young healthy brain.
This is actually the real reason why people who are higher educated and more intelligent show less severe dementia symptoms and get the disorder later in life. (Or so it seems. But actually they don’t get it latter. Just have noticeable symptoms later)
They actually have it just as bad (biologically) but are masters of brain compensation.
A famous study on nuns is how we first learned about this. If you are interested.
He concluded that Alzheimer’s disease is likely caused by early childhood experiences or trauma instead of something from adulthood
Woah
It’s all super interesting, thanks for all the info!
I got accused of using scripts in a street fighter 6 lobby, I was so flattered ! And I didn’t even know scripts existed or what they do!
I am near 50 and I am not even good.
I could never remember all the button combos for fighting games like that, it’s impressive!
I don’t use them and some people frown on them but there are modern control scheme now with some auto combo and easy special moves. So it’s better than before on that front but still not for everyone I guess.
Virtua Fighter is my favorite. Simple 3 button layout and all reflex. It’s intuitive and you don’t have to remember a shit ton of moves.
Crossplay get mad when I tell them im playing with a controller and im beating their keyboard and mouse ass. Son I’ve been gaming on a controller since 1984, your keyboard is no match
“I can shoot the dot in a yellow subpixel on a dpad that moves 100 pixels at a time”
There’s just something about fps with keyboard and mouse that my brain doesn’t grasp, a controller is muscle memory and second nature so I’ll always prefer them.
Same to be honest. I can click my way around a screen, but I can barely aim with any precision.
I find it easier to roughly aim where someone is, and then fine tune with character body movement, which is something accomplished way easier on dual sticks
Nobody on rocket league would ever believe someone in their mid 50s could play at champ 1 level.
And when I was having a bad game and the inevitable toxic bullshit was typed up the reply of “I’m probably over 20 years older than your dad and I’m at the same rank as you are” usually got them to stfu. It felt great.
Bathe in their anger
Ohhhh yeah getting called a cheat is fun and sexy but I’m still high from when I googled my gamer tag years ago and I had made a list of “gamers to look out for”.
mmmmmmm
You should frame that
Every now and then my quake 3 reflexes kick in and for a few minutes I become a God.
I loved Quake 3: Arena as a kid. That and Unreal Tournament, I can still see that Facing Worlds map in my head.
Unreal Tournament was a drug. So many times, that game caused the, “IT’S MORNING ALREADY!?” effect.
When I was a kid, I had this fantasy that gaming 10s of years later would be fantastic… Schooling all the kids with my 20+ years of experience they lack, running circles around them.
Turns out dulled reflexes are a bitch and it’s exactly the opposite.
Competitive multiplayer games are nowhere near as much fun as they used to be. I do still feel good about being able to complete (non-dexterity-based) puzzles and make complex deductions a lot faster than them, though.
The trick is too just play the 20 year old game online still instead of moving on to the newer shooters. Everyone still playing is 30+ and have diminished reaction time as well so you still have a shot lol.
CS 1.6 is still going for a reason 😂
I was ranked in the top 10 for pistol kills in modern warfare 3 for over a year and a half.
Then I lost interest in fps games for a few months. Tried to come back and play with some friends, and completely sucked ass.
This is my main problem as well. I can still get to the same skill level I had, but if I stop playing for 2 weeks, I’m basically back to square one.
Honestly I can go 3 days without playing Rimworld and I’ve completely forgotten what was happening, and half of my mods are unfamiliar again so I have to start over.
It’s why I switched to the boardgames for the competitively itch
I ended up getting glaucoma in my late 30s, so my eyes have really sucked in my middle age. Occasionally though, life throws me a bone and it all seems to click. I agree though, I prefer co-op these days. Not much use in multiplayer aside from maybe sim racing
Oooof when it clicks
Last time I was really good at competitive shooters was in my 20s playing MW2, Left 4 Dead, and Battlefield 3. Battlefield 4 and Black Ops 1 were when I felt it shifting, and now I just don’t play online shooters anymore.
I feel like multiplayer games need a special chill lobby for verified players over 30. One where you can step aside and deal with the kids without causing issues. A space where you can call it a night without spoiling the fun because it’s 8:15 and you really need to get ready for bed.
It’s not necessarily just your reflexes, the console players with their built-in aim hacks are fucking ridiculous these days
e: OR SO I WILL KEEP TELLING MYSELF
That’s funny - MW2, BF: Bad Company 2 and BF3 were the last competitive shooters I really enjoyed, too. I had a good time playing Apex Legends for a while, but not because I was good at it… more because I could have fun playing my own version of The Running Man until someone inevitably found me. I was that wimp that would drop in some remote corner of the map and spend as much time as possible avoiding combat.
I’m 53… and that was how I started playing.
It took me two years and a bit of fiddling with the controller setting to “git gud”. My K/D ratio for the first couple of years was 0.11 (prolly lower but that was the lowest it would show.) and I eventually got it up to 0.71 (approx 1.1 for the last few seasons).
Im amazed at how many people play these games without a headset. I can usually hear them before I see them.
You might have fun checking out Hunt Showdown.
While twitch reflexes help, you can also get a big advantage by game knowledge, tactical thinking, creative plays and/or patience. Not too many kids playing though…
Arc Raiders has been pretty fun imo. There’s a ton of room for outsmarting your opponents, or even just diplomacy in some cases.
Just last night, I was paying in a group of three, my two teammates were up ahead with me lagging behind. Another group suprise attacked us from on top of a huge concrete wall with massive high ground advantage, firing on my teammates whom had little more cover than sparse trees. This group hadn’t seen me yet, so I told my friends to keep them occupied while I flank. I found a strong position to their side where they had no cover from me, but I had cover from them, lobbed a couple grenades and opened fire. It caused them to scatter in a panic, trying to find cover from both me and my teammates, and we absolutely slaughtered them. Felt incredible. Damned shoot on sight bastards lol.
Also, runs can be an absolute maximum of 30 minutes, but usually shorter, so good for people with actual lives to live.
This is me with Overwatch. My game sense helped me so much more than click head skills. I would support main and shot call and it was a huge game changer. I eventually went to dps role and was amazed and how effective I actually was just from literal years playing backline and knowing how most games would flow and who to target. I eventually outranked my support and tank roles in dps despite being mediocre from a skill standpoint.
That’s why I’m an RTS enjoyer. Less twitch reflexes and more know-how, control, and good habits.
I can basically play like I was younger but I can’t stay hyper focused for as long 🤷♀️
You can also see a lot of multiplayer ranking systems basically make sure only the turbo grinders make real progress past a point
You might be just as good but they make sure it takes hundreds+ hours per season to get to the top.
Yep. There’s definitely a shorter performance arc when firing up a fast-paced game. Couple short rounds to warm up, then several good rounds, then frustration at why your hits don’t land as hard. Time to take a break. Used to last a lot longer at top level a decade ago.
How I used to play Counter-Strike for 3-4 hours as a kid amazes me. Last time I think I bailed after 30 minutes.
I got kicked from a Cursed Halo game for being too good with the reverse throwing pistol. (I was leading my shots)
Use their anger to nourish your soul
There are public lobbies for cursed halo? Awesome lol
Original Cursed Halo: CE (custom edition on PC), so custom servers.
My buddy and I weren’t doing so hot last year and used Halo Infinite as our therapy. Pretty sure both of us alternated between being called a bot and a cheater every other match. It’s amazing sometimes just how bad you can do and still be called a cheater. (High plat to low diamond lobbies, we weren’t amazing)
That one time in CS 1.6 I got a lucky burst and three headshots…
I miss high school, oh wait no I don’t
I never put in the time to get past about average, so lower goals for me.
I’m ngfl this snortled me
Thanks friend
