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for those who are in their 40s or above, how's your gaming reflex? specifically for competitive games.
- Thread starter Robot Carnival
- Start date
Bond007
Member
I want to say no- cause i still play COD at a high level along with other games.
However, when i play with my 17yr old son- i do feel slower and my kill counts generally always come in lower (Destiny). Could come down to weapons of choice too. But i cant help and feel a step slow when im playing a game with him.
I do not tell him this. lol
However, when i play with my 17yr old son- i do feel slower and my kill counts generally always come in lower (Destiny). Could come down to weapons of choice too. But i cant help and feel a step slow when im playing a game with him.
I do not tell him this. lol
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Putonahappyface
Gold Member
ClanOfNone
Member
The last multiplayer game I really played and enjoyed was Halo 3.
I’m not a particularly competitive person in the first place, and in gaming even less so.
Closest I get nowadays are just the leaderboards for stuff like Slay the Spire and Issac. Putting a daily run in your game with a leaderboard will keep me interested for a LONG time.
I’m not a particularly competitive person in the first place, and in gaming even less so.
Closest I get nowadays are just the leaderboards for stuff like Slay the Spire and Issac. Putting a daily run in your game with a leaderboard will keep me interested for a LONG time.
Trogdor1123
Member
43 and it has slowed a bit but I also find I think things through better and can plan better so it can be the opposite. But pure reaction time, it’s down. Time catches us all.
ArthriticZombie
Member
I’m 52 and have been gaming since the 70’s. I’ve definitely slowed down in my 50’s but gaming isn’t what it was like when I was in my prime. 
dcx4610
Member
Honestly, I haven't noticed any change. Maybe even better because I understand the nuances. The only big change for me is attitude and competitiveness. In my teens and early 20s, I wanted to be the best. I loved standing side by side someone in the arcade and beating them in a fighting game. Now, I barely even play fighting games and if I do, it's just for fun. I have zero desire to play against other people. Even playing against friends, I lose interest in about 5 minutes. That's the weirdest change to me getting older. Same goes for FPS games. No interest in online and trying to be #1. I just like playing single player campaigns.
Laptop1991
Member
While my reflexes will be slower than 20 years ago, i don't play competitive games, i never have even when i was a lot quicker lol.
struggler_guts
Member
Just turned 30, glad to see the future is still bright based on these replies!
coffinbirth
Member
Oddly, I've gotten better.
I owe this to the extended grind sessions during COVID lockdown. Hardest I've grinded games since I was a kid and basically prior to the existence of competitive shooters, haha. This has caused a major drop off in my single player game sessions, however. Backlog is getting ghastly on that front. I keep thinking it's a gaming phase, but it's been like four years now.
I owe this to the extended grind sessions during COVID lockdown. Hardest I've grinded games since I was a kid and basically prior to the existence of competitive shooters, haha. This has caused a major drop off in my single player game sessions, however. Backlog is getting ghastly on that front. I keep thinking it's a gaming phase, but it's been like four years now.
*Nightwing
Banned
My reflexes developed over a lifetime of martial arts training but it always translated to excellent reflexes in gaming.
If you don’t use it, you lose it.
But constantly training and using reflexes just makes them better with age. It’s the muscles that get slower with age and slow you down. Reflexes can get better with training and practice at any age if not having cognitive issues.
Now my arthritis killed my rapid finger movement and I don’t play competitive fighting games anymore, but my sim racing improvements show reflexes are still suprizingly spot on and better than most all youngsters I compete against.
If you don’t use it, you lose it.
But constantly training and using reflexes just makes them better with age. It’s the muscles that get slower with age and slow you down. Reflexes can get better with training and practice at any age if not having cognitive issues.
Now my arthritis killed my rapid finger movement and I don’t play competitive fighting games anymore, but my sim racing improvements show reflexes are still suprizingly spot on and better than most all youngsters I compete against.
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ResilientBanana
Member
Not what it used to be, but new games aren't great.
Gp1
Member
My reflexes are fine, I used to do a lot of sports that required quick reflexes + cs1.0-1.6 (the bunny hoping era), Warcraft 3, mp fps of that era, etc.
The problem is that the younger generations are even faster, so it gets complicated. Competitive Pc fps/rts multiplayer is another completely different beast even when compared to old Ninja Gaiden games. Your ooda cycle definitely gets slower with age.
That's why you don't see fps pro players way into their late 30's.
The problem is that the younger generations are even faster, so it gets complicated. Competitive Pc fps/rts multiplayer is another completely different beast even when compared to old Ninja Gaiden games. Your ooda cycle definitely gets slower with age.
That's why you don't see fps pro players way into their late 30's.
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Roberts
Member
Having an adventurous, fearless thrill-seeking toddler in my early 40’s sharpened my reflexes to near-superhero levels. I don’t know if it has anything to do with gaming but I think I’m better than I have ever been now that I’m 47. There is no way I would have patience to die-retry something like Sekiro in my 20’s or 30’s
Jigsaah
Member
One of my buddies said the other day while playing Warzone "Your gaming age is just crazy"
I'm 42, but I guess he meant I still play like I did in my 20's. I don't think that's completely accurate. I'm definitely not in my prime, but I'm still whooping on these youngsters so I went with that option.
I'm 42, but I guess he meant I still play like I did in my 20's. I don't think that's completely accurate. I'm definitely not in my prime, but I'm still whooping on these youngsters so I went with that option.
Wonko_C
Member
I turn 45 in September, I don't feel I've gotten worse, but what I've noticed is that ever since I've started playing VR games in 2017, I find them easier to play than flat versions: I do better times in racers, have much better aim in shooters, I can beat harder levels in rhythm games, etc. etc.
I find it funny that people who play way more fps games than me, -younger people even- have trouble grasping reloading guns in VR, while I picked it up instantly.
I find it funny that people who play way more fps games than me, -younger people even- have trouble grasping reloading guns in VR, while I picked it up instantly.
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Moochi
Member
I'm 41. I have neurological problems. Still, I'm climbing the ranks in CS 2 Premiere league pretty consistently. I have decided that games with controllers and aim assist aren't for me. I will not play a shooter that has cross play. The aim compensation on controllers is so high now that I think it puts the average mouse and keyboard user at a disadvantage. Elite players will still dominate with mouse and keyboard, but I am not elite.
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Tekken and other fighters are the only games I still play now that I did decades ago that I can compare. I seem to be able to react to stuff better now than I could in my 20s. There's stuff I've been able to react to that I couldn't dream of doing back then. It may just be experience over time that has made me better now.
Muffdraul
Member
For me, multiplayer was fun back in the day when it meant playing doubles on an arcade machine like Space War or Joust, or playing Combat or Warlords or Activision Boxing on Atari 2600 sitting on a couch with a bunch of my friends, or playing Doom/Marathon/Quake/Descent on the LAN at work against my co-workers, yelling profanity down the halls into each other's offices. Once it turned into playing online against anonymous strangers, it stopped being fun. I finally got my own PC at home in 1999, right when Quake 3 was hitting hard. I played it for a while, but I literally couldn't tell if people were cheating, or if they were just so much better than me it seemed like they were cheating. I pretty much hung up my multiplayer gloves completely not long after Halo 2 released. I actually came back to it for a bit when Destiny 1 was new, but that only lasted for a few weeks. I did much better than I expected in PvP, but I chalked it up to the game being brand new and the playing field was briefly level.
Neolombax
Member
Not exactly 40 yet, I'm 38. Recently reinstalled MW3 and I'm not exactly hitting my shots. I was fine in season 2. Maybe its just the case of getting used to it again but I couldn't be bothered and uninstalled. Could explain why I enjoyed Concord, that game is molasses compared to COD.
Icymanipulator
Member
Reactions are still good, above the average, but worse then when I was in my 20s, that’s life lol
Hoddi
Member
47 and my reactions still seem pretty okay. I'm no competitive gamer but I've been doing decently enough in COD for the past week. I obviously can't hold a candle to those lvl999 360 no-scopers but I'm also not getting trounced by other casual players like myself. I don't put too much stock into reflexes being the only reason though.
I also tried that reaction time test and managed in the 160-200ms range so I'm (hopefully) not a complete old fart yet. Still far off from the quickest humans which bottom at ~100ms according to Google.
I also tried that reaction time test and managed in the 160-200ms range so I'm (hopefully) not a complete old fart yet. Still far off from the quickest humans which bottom at ~100ms according to Google.
42 and I still mostly dominate in Call of Duty when I enter a match, I can actually swing the tide in late joins, not that it means much
Obviously there are those that do give me trouble and I do have my bad games, But I'm alright I guess.
Oh and I deal with Jumpers like I'm playing Doom, it's a " GTFOH with that shit!" from me.
I regularly practice Jackie's Chans coin catch trick to keep me reflexes sharp
Hey, that's the coin trick my dad always did. Never did get that down. (He had a harder time putting the coins on his hand because his other hand was really weak due the stroke.)
FWIW I'm in my 50s and definitely slower. That test gave me a similar 160-200ms. (Not exactly reflexes but I participated in a psychology experiment where they wanted to measure how prompting could affect recognition. So they'd flash words on a CRT screen for different lengths of time and ask you to read them. Even when they'd flash a word for 1 frame at 60fps I could always read it. I doubt I could do that now.)
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
If I were still on consoles, I’d probably still be doing well in online competitive shooters.
On PC? Forget about it. I hung up my boots with Battlefield V. I wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t anywhere near what I used to be on consoles.
On PC? Forget about it. I hung up my boots with Battlefield V. I wasn’t bad, but I wasn’t anywhere near what I used to be on consoles.
Killjoy-NL
Gold Member
Pretty much this.
But depending on what people mean by "competitive" gaming, I guess my skills at 40 range from decent to above average?
I'm certainly no top 500 player in any competitive game and I can do amazingly well or absolutely horrible from match to match.
Overall I guess I'm still above average, but apart from occasionally playing COD, I don't really play twitch-shooters.
In any non-twitch shooter, there are various other ways to compensate for slower reflexes.
Mobilemofo
Member
I burnt out on multiplayer sometime 2013, tho i am the guy that normally carries my team in Helldivers 2. Otherwise, I don't bother with owt else.
Diseased Yak
Gold Member
49 here. Mine are fine, I do just fine in most everything with no noticeable slowdown. Then again, I don't play fighting games so maybe I'd be absolute shite at them.
First! As you can see by being the quickest responder it’s holding up fine.
Roxkis_ii
Member
Just did the test on https://humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime
(on moble)
I'm so sorry to people in my Overwatch matches.
Edit: Got 257ms on PC.
(on moble)
I'm so sorry to people in my Overwatch matches.
Edit: Got 257ms on PC.
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StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
On PC, I get about 190-220.Just did the test on https://humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime
(on moble)
I'm so sorry to people in my Overwatch matches.
Edit: Got 257ms on PC.
260 best 283 average. Played a few times. Fun!Just did the test on https://humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime
(on moble)
I'm so sorry to people in my Overwatch matches.
Edit: Got 257ms on PC.
cireza
Member
I still have pretty good reflexes and can play demanding games, however the main issue is that I lost interest in most of these. I have played to many of these, and can hardly find anything that feels new. I prefer turn based games, novels, games that have interesting ideas or concepts. But anything real-time is pretty often boring to me.
Morrie’s wig shop
Member
47 checking in, I’m mostly a player vs enemy, fire fight kinda guy.
I do how ever play a bit of Hell Let Loose and can spot and hit my targets no problem, I think it’s because it’s kinda like an actual simulation of actually being in a firefight in real life…
I do how ever play a bit of Hell Let Loose and can spot and hit my targets no problem, I think it’s because it’s kinda like an actual simulation of actually being in a firefight in real life…
gooner4life_uk
Member
My reactions are still very good, my biggest issue is sometimes it's like my fingers fight against so many buttons and want to act like i'm still on a NES Pad.
Should add - 43 here.
Should add - 43 here.
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TIGERCOOL
Member
I'm not 40, but I do have an older gaming friend group in our mid-late 30s with the oldest being 40 on the dot. We're still pretty competitive in every fps we play. The 40 year old guy is still one of the best at snap aiming of anyone I know. Two of us play competitive melee (one of the highest apm games out there) and keep up just fine.
Important factor here is that although we all have girlfriends and jobs, none of us have kids. If I've lost even half a step it isn't really noticeable because my game sense has improved over the years. If anything what's holding us back is a general lack of interest in current games. We tend to fall back on Overwatch as the only shooter we can all agree on despite kind of resenting it
Important factor here is that although we all have girlfriends and jobs, none of us have kids. If I've lost even half a step it isn't really noticeable because my game sense has improved over the years. If anything what's holding us back is a general lack of interest in current games. We tend to fall back on Overwatch as the only shooter we can all agree on despite kind of resenting it
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