i am now (proudly) 48 and as such entitled to give my experienced opinion on the matter. I read somewhere in the posts above that when aging, brain power decreases. That is off course bullshit, it just works differently. But i agree, yes the changes are profound and they hurt playing AOC. I still play AOC several times a week, however not vs humans, because i am no longer interested in competition aspect. Main changes i experience are:
- inconsistency: i have bad days, or bad games, when i just cant see much ahead, lacking plan and just go on auto-pilot. Other days i can still be sharp and eager.
- tension curve: the timespan i can work at 100% focus is getting shorter on average. I use to be a quick starter, playing very solid and opportunistic in dark and feudal, bit i burn my energy faster. After i kicked the first punches in early imp my allies have to follow up.
- sloppyness. Misclicks, timing errors, forgetting about little thing like monk going on relic hunt, boar lurers etc. Sometimes even deleting a tc in dark age bcause i hit del instead of enter to chat.
- multitasking: this usually goes quite well, maybe because it is routine, or it is because brain power does not diminish. It just gets channeled down differently, through learned pathways.
- when a plan fails, my game gets ruined it is hard to make a switch. What to do... while i used to use my own disadvantages in favour of myself, now i often dont have the appetite to turn my game around.
- learning new strategies / unlearning wrong ones: this is a hard one. Especially some hotkey uses i cant bother myself to use.
- being less interested, less eager, just playing for fun. Yes, maybe the most important thing why you dont see many players of my ages. Life takes you somewhere else. The sole reason that you play stops to exist: you are no longer interested into competing with someone you never meet in something that does not really matter anyway. With the interest, the fire within leaves the field.
- the whole experience changes. The way i play now is purposing me in a different way then it did 20 years ago.
My peek periods were when i was 31-32 playing DM in AOE1 and when i was 40-43 playing AOC. If i would meet my former self in a game, i would might even win some games, because of the skills i learned. Still, i can not talk like the most players here. I was 30 when i first started playing AOE1 and 37 when i start AOE2. I never really had a good shot at being competative. Still, most players i ever met looked up to me, not only because of my age. In the end, just having some friends games is a good way to spend my time.
EDIT: in addition to all this, i feel that i still could be and sometimes will be on my top level, it just would cost me more: daily gaming, keeping myself in best condition etc. It just not worth it for me to continue to try. I guess every AOC player will reach that moment sometime.
- inconsistency: i have bad days, or bad games, when i just cant see much ahead, lacking plan and just go on auto-pilot. Other days i can still be sharp and eager.
- tension curve: the timespan i can work at 100% focus is getting shorter on average. I use to be a quick starter, playing very solid and opportunistic in dark and feudal, bit i burn my energy faster. After i kicked the first punches in early imp my allies have to follow up.
- sloppyness. Misclicks, timing errors, forgetting about little thing like monk going on relic hunt, boar lurers etc. Sometimes even deleting a tc in dark age bcause i hit del instead of enter to chat.
- multitasking: this usually goes quite well, maybe because it is routine, or it is because brain power does not diminish. It just gets channeled down differently, through learned pathways.
- when a plan fails, my game gets ruined it is hard to make a switch. What to do... while i used to use my own disadvantages in favour of myself, now i often dont have the appetite to turn my game around.
- learning new strategies / unlearning wrong ones: this is a hard one. Especially some hotkey uses i cant bother myself to use.
- being less interested, less eager, just playing for fun. Yes, maybe the most important thing why you dont see many players of my ages. Life takes you somewhere else. The sole reason that you play stops to exist: you are no longer interested into competing with someone you never meet in something that does not really matter anyway. With the interest, the fire within leaves the field.
- the whole experience changes. The way i play now is purposing me in a different way then it did 20 years ago.
My peek periods were when i was 31-32 playing DM in AOE1 and when i was 40-43 playing AOC. If i would meet my former self in a game, i would might even win some games, because of the skills i learned. Still, i can not talk like the most players here. I was 30 when i first started playing AOE1 and 37 when i start AOE2. I never really had a good shot at being competative. Still, most players i ever met looked up to me, not only because of my age. In the end, just having some friends games is a good way to spend my time.
EDIT: in addition to all this, i feel that i still could be and sometimes will be on my top level, it just would cost me more: daily gaming, keeping myself in best condition etc. It just not worth it for me to continue to try. I guess every AOC player will reach that moment sometime.
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