Topic: How long do you think you will be gaming?

I don't think I'll ever quit entirely, but I'll probably be more of a casual gamer a decade from now.

Hopefully as long as I physically can. You know, before arthritus and/or death make that not exactly an option.

Until i find something else that helps me forget about my problems.

when they stop being fun :T

I'm 22 and I still game on! I don't know when I'll stop gaming because even if I'm a game designer, I still ought to play games. To me, games are the only source of media that keep me active and give me joy and relieve me of depression. If there are many other ways (which I've tried btw) that can relieve me out of depression and are just as great as say the game media, then I guess I can stop gaming.....wait what am I saying? I can't do that because I got a LOAD of games to play before I die! :3

As long as there are new, innovative ideas and gameplay is always kept at the forefront. This is why I love Nintendo so much, they keep the gameplay experience front and center where it belongs. I recently tried out The Order: 1886 on my PS4 and what I played worried me. It was an excellent visual and narrative experience, but what I played could hardly be called a game. At its core; it was a movie, though an excellent one, with some sloppy shooting sections. The problem with many studios in the modern gaming industry is that they try to be something they aren't. Gaming studios are not, obviously, movie studios, but you tell that to executives over at Ready at Dawn or Quantic Dream and they'll argue with you. Cinematic qualities can certainly enrich games, just look at the Uncharted series, but they should never overshadow the gaming qualities.

What I look for in games is not just an audiovisual experience, but an immersion factor. All other mediums have you experiencing the material from the outside, gaming is the only one that lets you in. Beyond that, though, it's one of the few that you can just lose yourself to and escape. For example, Super Smash Bros. doesn't enrich me with any sort of deeper undertanding of society or convey any emotions or try to plug some agenda, its sole purpose of existence is to be fun. It's colorful, it draws inspiration from a rich library of games, and its gameplay is tight. That's it. To some self apponted elitists, it could be considered "simple", but that's precisely what sets it leaps and bounds ahead of popular "mature" games like Assassin's Creed or Call of Duty.

It's when games try to really push the envelope and reinvent the wheel that they fall flat. The secret is no secret at all: simplicity is perfection in gaming because through it, complexity can be found. The reason why Super Mario Bros. is still fun to this day is because it has ageless, simple gameplay. B is to run and throw fireballs, A is to jump, D-pad is to move. We don't ask why Mario does what he does, we don't spend more time watching the game play itself than we do actually playing it, and we don't have to pay $9.99 to play through World 8. It is what it is, and you either take it or leave it. Yet a game that appears so simple on the surface is actually quite complex. There are invisible blocks and warp zones everywhere and timing jumps can mean the difference between life and death. It takes a real master of the game to make it all the way to the end of World 8 because the challenge presented is real.

The day that gaming stops focusing on that type of experience is the day that I will hang up buying new games. I will most likely never stop, however, as the sheer volume of games that have released up to this point in time far exceeds the amount of time I'll ever have in my life to play through them all.

As long as I have eyes to see and fingers to press buttons, I'll be around.

I'm 31, have been gaming for roughly 25 years, and am just way too much of an enthusiast to ever stop, even if life circumstances force me to tone it down from time to time.

I really don't game as much as I used to.
Recently I've found my interest has dropped immensely. I'll start a game, maybe play halfway through it and I'll lose interest.
Last game I beat was Dragon Age: Origins in early January. I've started several other games since then and I haven't beaten one yet.

When will I stop gaming? I'd like to think I'll still be gaming when I'm a grandparent. I can't see myself completely stopping. I guess if life gets in the way, sacrifices would be made. Like reading good books and watching Audrey Hepburn movies, it's something I'll always do, even if I don't take the time to do it as often as I'd like to.

I've been gaming for almost 40 years, and I don't plan to stop any time soon! (I am a grandparent and sometimes game with the grandchildren.)

As long as I live, I guess

EDIT: As long as NINTENDO lives

I'm almost 19. Lately, I've been buying games just to buy them. I bought tropical freeze, and thought it was fun, but not mind blowing. I haven't felt that about a game in many years, and I wish the feeling would come back. Until then, I just keep buying games, hoping I can feel that same excitement that I felt a couple years ago.

I know exactly what you're talking about.

I'm older than you but feel the same way. I gamed a lot from 1988 to the GameCube, then I picked up a 360 early on, sold it, then didn't really play games for a couple years. Bought another 360 and got into it again, mainly playing online shooters and action games until I bought a second-hand Wii for my Nintendo fix. I sold the 360 after not playing it much for a year and bought a Wii U at launch. Loved it at first but looking at my monthly play times for the past 14-16 months I maybe average 5-10hrs of gaming. I just can't get into it as much now and I don't know why. I start games, get bored, then just stop playing. I own Bayonetta, got into the 1st game and played for 5-7hrs then just stopped. I haven't even taken the 2nd disc out of the case! Nothing on the Wii U horizon interests me either, aside from Zelda, which I basically feel I am obligated to pick up.

Some PS4 games interest me now (and future ones) but I'm afraid I will buy it and not really use it.

Don't know if this is just another lull in interest, or if my days of playing games are coming to an end.

Depends, but like some say here, I'll game until I'm physically incapable of playing. I also see myself buying lots of games but not playing them because of job/family in the near future. I guess I'll just watch my children and grandchildren play...

@Undead_terror Please tell me where the below gif is from, I remember watching that as a kid one Halloween and I have been trying to find it for a long time!

Anyway, on topic. I'm 33 and I still play a couple hours a week. I have a son that is almost two and another one on the way and I am planning on play video games with them and their kids. I don't think I will really ever quit though I will continue to have many hobbies beyond gaming. I would rather spend time gaming than watch T.V. or movies (or whatever it is old people do at night).

When they finally get round to legalising assisted suicide in the UK, I'll just set my specifications as whenever I'm no longer capable of finishing a level of New Super Mario Bros 58.

@Ryno That comes from this, cartoons from back then were(and still are) swell!

Anyways, i'll be playing games for as long as this @SheldonRandoms still is being revved up here, and even when I have kids, i'll pwn them in Super Smash Bros............Also Flipnote Studio is something different, but ehhhhhhhh, still counts I guess!

The urge to game for me comes and goes in phases. I am 38 and mostly play Nintendo consoles

My interest in gaming comes and goes a lot, but it always comes back, so I'm pretty confident I'll be playing games for many years to come.

I feel like it's almost more fun to talk about games on here, than actually PLAY them. I hate that feeling. Few games really excite me any more. I guarantee, most of my game purchases this year will be based upon reviews and recommendations. Not because I'm EXTREMELY hyped for anything. Even my most hyped game this year (Splatoon) looks really really cool, but I'm just not feeling the hype like I used to. The last time a felt ABSOLUTE HYPE for a video game, was Mass Effect 3. Oh my gosh. That game... wow. The wait killed me, and the pay off was just mind blowing. Nothing that has came since even compares to the hype I had for that game.

Not even Smash Bros. this year had me as hyped. It had me hyped at first, but as it came closer to release, and the 3DS version came out, I just didn't care any more. I've played Smash Wii U for about 15 hours max... compared to how much I played Brawl and Melee, that's NOTHING. I just feel like I'm buying games, and for what? Because people say they're good? Why am I buying half of the crap that I buy, if I'm not excited for them? Maybe I just want to discover my next "mass effect". That next game that makes me obsessed. I used to feel like that with Nintendo, and gaming in general, but now... its just different.