There are pros and cons for either demographic: whilst being older may be ideal since not only you bypass age restrictions, you also have the capability on purchasing it with your own money without having to ask parents for that given that you have employment and recurring income. Gaming as a kid gives more time without having to dwell much on responsibilities that adults have to worry about but at the same time are held by school.
Honestly the thing I feel that kids have in their corner that is really great is a lack of experience.
The kind of awe that I felt when I started up Starcraft or Diablo for the first time just isn’t there now, I have too many reference points from earlier games to get that “new and awesome”-feeling from most games anymore.
I decided to have high moral standards, and now I’m constantly burned out by checking if the publisher or development team’s owner is fucking over some people, either by enforcing patch updates (small hill but I’ll die defending my right to glitch out of playable areas), employee overworking, prioritising shareholder profit over fun factor, gatekeeping based on identity or political influence etc. As a kid I had no worries and could play games built by EA, Epic or Bohemia Interactive without thinking about how they profit off American wars.
I hadn’t felt that feeling in many years, until I played Elden Ring’s DLC. It was the first time since being a kid that I felt a true sense of awe and wonder. I wish I could relive that feeling again.
“fresh meat” and then just getting insta killed. It still sends shivers down my spine. Such a sweet childhood memory.
brace yourself
christmas noobs are coming
I remember Cyberpunk 2077 sucking me into its world, I sometimes walked slowly through the streets taking in sights and sounds.
I had that all the time as a kid, Monkey Island, Betrayal at Krondor, you name it. For children, like you said, everything is new and a fantastic experience, give it enough years and it becomes not stale, but normal.
Now, many years later it has become rare. But when it happens it’s awesome again.
That’s also my reason for not being excited over GTA 6. It will never live up to feeling of 3, Vice City or San Andreas, even 4. Those times are over for me. 5 was fun, but nothing special anymore.