This topic has come up quite a few times before actually, and I'm pretty convinced I know the answer I'm a similar age to you, been gaming since early 80's too, started on amiga/spectrum and ended up on PC and been playing ever since. Anyway, there's 4 main points I have for you. 1) I think waning interest as we get older is inevitable. The problem is that 99% of games are aimed at kids, and teenagers. Usually in your 20's you can still get fun from them because you are basically still just an overgrown teen But in your 30's it's harder. I assume that in our 40s and beyond it will be even harder still. But we can't expect to enjoy the same things we did as a kid. I also loved Sesame Street and thought beer was about as appetising as petrol. But things change. 2) To mitigate that, you have to spend more time researching games and less time actually playing. And even visiting a few sites like this wont be enough, because mainstream sites are still mostly only focused on mainstream titles. So the bulk of the discussion is going to be on games like Battlefield 3, Assassins Creed 9, and whatever else. And although they are nice games, when you are our age, they just don't cut it because we've played them all before a hundred times. When you played Wolfenstein 3d, then doom, doom 2, quake, quake 2, rise of the triads, quake 3, unreal tournament, unreal tournament 2004, tribes, hidden & dangerous, rainbow 6, delta force, soldier of fortune, soldier of fortune 2, fear, halflife 1/2, eps, etc..etc..etc.. basically, there comes a point when a new FPS just isn't worth playing anymore. They might look pretty much photo realistic these days, but the gameplay just hasn't moved on enough to make it fresh to us. It's still fresh to the under 30's but we have to deal with it. The same is true of RPG's too, and MMORPG's, and RTS, TBS, and whatever else. However, there are occasional exceptions, and these are the ones you need to weed out. And it's not an easy task because really, there is nowhere you can go and find a bunch of old timers who are still hardcore game players But with enough googling and reading, you'll eventually find some exceptional games that are just better than anything we had in our day, or just never even existed back then. They are rare, especially in this age of sequels (more on that in point 3), but they do happen from time to time. They also may be different for you than they are for me, but I'll mention some that I still really enjoy. Arma 2, it takes a long time and some persistence to get in to because it's just so clunky and runs badly in single player. But once you fully uncover just how massively deep the game is, it's pretty mind blowing. In multiplayer, with 60 something people, on a map that's something like 50km squared, with tanks, humvees, choppers, jets, all kinds of stuff going on.. It's a huge war, and it's just something that we never had in our day, and I really love it. Also, EQ Mac. It's EverQuest like the good ole days, without all the modern silly stuff they added over the past 14 years. It's not for everyone, but I loved the original game and in this age of WoW and MMO's that are so easy and accommodating, it's a blast to play something that is truly brutal. But you can also multibox which is a great experience. Also, Forged Alliance, it's an old school RTS but with quite modern graphics etc. Imo, it was the peak of RTS's and hasn't been beaten since. The sorta-sequel (Supreme Commander 2) has smaller maps and is dumbed down. A few more quickly: Fallen Enchantress, Space Rangers 2, Terran Conflict (like a single player Eve but better in some ways), and also it's worth playing modded versions of games too. (Look up Nehrim, and The Final Nights mod for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, etc). Also, in between I play lots of old games 3) Modern gaming does indeed suck, because it just doesn't really evolve. The problem is that for younger people, they are mostly content because as I mentioned in point 1, they just haven't already played everything to death yet. So basically each decade, gaming just keeps catering to a new generation of teenagers. For example in shooters, now everyone has Battlefield 3, several years ago everyone was mad on Counterstrike Source or something, several years before that it was Unreal Tournament, etc..etc.. Each new generation gets a new game with new graphics, but it's really just something that as already been before it. Great for each new generation, sucks for the previous generation though because they just keep getting the same stuff remade. It's also been made even worse by this sequel issue. And it's been reported on the BBC and a few other places too, so I know I'm not making it up anymore But basically, people expect such good graphics now that it automatically means that every new game has to cost many millions to make. You could have the greatest idea in the world, but games usually don't get taken seriously unless they are good looking, and that costs millions. So you are stuck with having to get that money from publishers, and because it's so much money, they are just not interested in risking it on new ideas. The result is an endless stream of sports games, FPS's, RPG's, and all the usual suspects for the past 10 years or more, and they are all basically the same game. The publishers will only invest if it's a sequel to an already popular game, or it's at least a new game that doesn't break the mould or do anything too drastic. Hence the wall to wall sequels, and hence games like TSW which are just quest based grinds that copy WoW's formula and the higher quality missions eat up the budget and mean that you are pretty much done with the game after a month. Although we now have light at the end of the tunnel thanks to Kickstarter for more broader thinking funding, and games like Minecraft which have created a new wave of indie gaming where one person or small team with a good idea, can in fact make a game and be relevant now. 4) Variety is the key - not just in games but also hobbies. I play guitar too and it's amazing, I have even performed live etc. But everything loses it's appeal if you do it too much. So play guitar some days, then play games other days, and mix in various other things too, then each one can remain fresh. The hard part is finding multiple hobbies and making sure you do them all. I do guitar, gaming, and a bit of TV (only a few select shows that I like), but I try to mix in some physical stuff too. But it's hard to keep motivated to do that, because it's just so easy to sit and do nothing but play games ALL weekend and then feel depressed on sunday night because I did nothing else. But if you have the will power to do other things, it's FAR more rewarding, and it makes each hobby feel far more exciting too.
