As we journey through life, our habits and interests naturally evolve. One intriguing aspect of this evolution is how our gaming habits change over time. From childhood platformers to modern RPGs, our preferences shift and adapt to our life stages and responsibilities. Join me as I reflect on my personal gaming journey, exploring the ways in which growing older has influenced my love for video games.
Why I Started Playing Video Games
I was introduced to gaming when I was fairly young, and it’s thanks to my mother. She started playing video games, NES 8-bit, when my brother, eight years younger than me, was a newborn. I guess she was bored of being awake after feeding him at night. Games have since then, been an interest of mine. I started thinking about how gaming habits might shift and change as we age.
I realized this while playing Octopath Traveler, a game from a genre that I love. This was a genre I played much when I was younger. But I’m not doing it anymore. What changed?
Early Gaming – Platforming
When I was young, platformers were the way to go. Super Mario Bros was the first game I ever played. I played that type of game for a fairly long time. Sure, Super Mario Bros was followed by other platformers such as the Mega Man Series, but it took me a while before I discovered my next genre: role-playing games!
Even though English isn’t my first language, I learned to love these games. I’ve always been a fairly good language student, so I understood a lot of it and in fact, playing games probably added to my interest in learning more English. Adventure and RPG games have been my favorite games for a long time.
Gaming as a Teenager -Arpgs and Strategy
Fast forward a few more years, and along came the ARPG: action role-playing games. I discovered Diablo and the mix of action and hack-and-slash kept me entertained for a long time! Going from action games and platforming, to RPGs and then to more action-based games is one shift, for sure.
The next big shift was when I started playing games online. The first game, of course, was Diablo 2. This game and the expansion Diablo II: Lord of Destruction were the first games that I played online. I still played this game offline as well. But there was something special meeting and playing with others.
A few years later, after Diablo, I also played strategy games, something I also played when I was younger. One example was Age of Empires and Age of Empires 2. Eventually, I moved on to even more of Blizzard’s games, Blizzard has had a lot of my life in terms of time spent on their games. I played StarCraft and the expansion Brood War. I played some of the Heroes of Might and Magic games, and I tried playing SimCity (it didn’t go well…).
The Early 2000s – mmoRPGs, Studies, and Starting a Family
Then came 2004, and with it a game that was very important to me and millions of players for many years. I wasn’t that interested at first, but I decided to try it. That game was the first MMORPG that I played, and that game was World of Warcraft. This is a game that I’ve spent countless hours on. I played both on official servers and…well let’s just say the servers were free…
Even when we started out playing World of Warcraft, I quickly realized I did not have the time or the interest to start raiding. It took too much time and I was studying and I wanted to do well with my studies. I also quickly realized I wasn’t interested in playing player versus player (PvP). Player versus environment (PvE) has been my favorite way of playing. I don’t mind killing monsters, but I can’t stand fighting things that look human. That’s also something that kept me from exploring the first-person shooter games.
I’ve played a few FPS games in the past, but they are few. I’ve started playing more FPS games nowadays, but there are reasons for that. I played World of Warcraft until our first son was born. And by playing I mean I was acting in a guild and participated in playing with others. When I became a mom my schedule was not consistent enough to keep up with my friends, and I didn’t feel like I could participate in a guild anymore. There wasn’t enough time, and I had more to focus on now. All the responsibilities now that I had a son and a household to take care of.
At the same time, my ex started his studies. I had been working as a teacher for a few years but when our son was four months old, his dad began his studies at the university and I had to take responsibility for the child care and household, mostly since I was at home. This also made me stop playing with my friends because I didn’t have the time. I came back to playing single-player games again. I tried to play World of Warcraft for a while, but it didn’t work out for me in terms of keeping up with the others or making any progress. That was not much of a problem because I always liked creating new characters and exploring the classes, but I started to fall behind and eventually stopped playing altogether.
Playing Games as a Parent – Mobile and the Era of Cozy Gaming
A few little years later I didn’t play that much. Oh, I still played games, those games were short and something that I could mostly do on my phone. Games like Hayday were the kind of games I could still play. Eventually, I found my way back to single-player games again, and I played Diablo three when it came out. I played it together with my eldest son on the PS3. I played more on my PS3 since solo play meant I could play whenever I wanted to. Or when the kids were asleep. I returned to the kind of games I used to play when I was younger later, but I didn’t change my game style much until two years ago.
Recently I have played some moba-games (multiplayer online battle arena) games. I also returned to strategy games like League of Legends. But didn’t enjoy the steep learning curve and toxic community. I didn’t have time to get good at it and gave up. The gameplay is nice, but matches take too long. I have played similar games on my iPad. One example is Wild Rift, League of Legends but adapted for mobile devices. For a while, I also enjoyed playing Mobile Legends, which is a rip-off from League of Legends. The game is different in some ways, but have some story for the characters and I like that game. The learning curve is shorter. The matches are shorter than in other games, this helps a lot when you’re a parent and struggle to find the time to play.
Visiting a New Genre
Two years ago a former colleague of mine mentioned that I had to try out Borderlands. I also, in his opinion, had to try Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. I was skeptical since I don’t play FPS games, but he showed me one of the games and I liked the game style, so I bought it on Steam. It is fun, but it also means going back to a single-player solo shooter. You can play multiplayer, but I’ve never tried this game mode.
Another game that’s been taking quite a bit of my time is Stardew Valley. This is probably the only game I own on not two but three different platforms. I first bought it on Steam, later on iOS, and finally bought it for my Nintendo Switch. It’s a good game since it’s easy to start and the days have a limit so you can see if you have the time to play through another day or if you should stop. This helps but also brings me back to the point of not having enough time anymore for gaming.
I don’t have as much time I have all the responsibilities and of course, this means I had to change the way that I played. I still like playing games, but the way I play has evolved and changed. That does not mean I don’t take the time now and then to stay up late later than I should and play. I’ve also tried playing Fortnite with my kids and sure it’s an OK game, but it’s nothing that I would personally choose for myself if I just wanted to sit down and play something. In the fps genre, I preferred Marvel Rivals released in December 2024.
Conclusion
Reflecting on my gaming journey, it’s fascinating to see how my preferences and habits have evolved over the years. From the simple joy of platformers to the immersive complexity of RPGs and online multiplayer games, each stage of life has brought new gaming experiences and challenges. As a parent, I’ve had to adapt my gaming habits to fit a busy schedule, but my love for games remains strong.
Gaming has been a constant source of entertainment, learning, and connection throughout my life. It has shaped who I am and continues to be an important part of my routine.