This Thread is kinda a tribute to my former self.

Back then, i felt much more drawn in into games, and i didnt care much for flaws, or realized that people lke you and me are those who made that games.

i still remember, when i was playing Ocarina of Time.

Remember when that giant Tree (Decu tree or how it was called, was 'Deku' over here in germany, didnt inform myself for the english words used) told you about the three Goddesses? When they did fly around in that infinite, darkened Sky? i wished sooo much for being able to move in there, to discover what lies behind those Clouds. Or when they told ya about the Golden Lands? I wanted to go there!.. or that stage where Link meets the elders he rescues from the temples? (That thing where water's flowing down into nothingness) i wanted to jump down there (As Link, of course lol) to see whats down there.

Same with most of the games. If a game offered a open world (like, dunno, almost any RPGs World Map) i couldnt wait to just go in any direction to find out what this world had in stock for me.

today, i call all the flaws i see, and everytime i run into a dead end (no matter how beatiful that place is desinged), i tell myself 'Well, the dev's didnt make anything behind that wall, its a dead end. stop wasting your time here. turn around'

and the most recent example would be castlevania.. lets put it that way;

ten years ago, it would have sounded like that: 'Aaaah, damn, i think i cant go there!'... today, its more like 'DAMN YOU stupid bitchass Camera, i jumped into sure death because this Game SUCKS! The Dev's are noobs! i wouldnt have died, when this game's camera wasnt total shit!'

.. yeah, pretty much this.  ^^ how about you guys?

It's the opposite for me.

Not saying that I was a crap gamer when I was playing N64/PS1 games, but right now I'm able to play games more stategically and better in games overall.

I dunno if this would be a good example but when I played MGS1 for the first playthrough back in the PS1 days, I struggled quite a bit and my dad would help out a lot. But when I bought MGS1 on PSN last year, I whizzed though without difficulty. The reason why I say it may not be a good example is because I technically did play MGS 1 like 4, 5 times after my first playthrough so I kinda remember where everything happens.

But a better example for me would be the difference between the PS2 and PS3 eras.

I lwas absolutely horrendous in FPS games during the PS2 days but now I say I'm pretty darn decent at FPS games for the PS3 and I love FPS now.

That also pretty much applies to me about other genres now I guess. RPG especially. I play far better and more effectively.

The only area where this doesn't apply is Pokemon games. I've been a master trainer since Red/Blue and since for every Pokemon game :) My skills in Pokemon have never changed.

Generally, I would say that I was a better gamer when younger simply do to the amount of time I could play ... When I was in my late teens it wasn't difficult to play 2 hours a day on weekdays, and many more hours on weekends, while I'm lucky if I can get 2 hours to play a week now. The handful of times I have made time to master a game in the last decade I believe I have been a better gamer than I was when I was younger due to the ability to be paitent and use strategy, but those are rare occurances lately.

i know what you mean, and yupp - its the same for me when it comes to the efficiency of playing a game. i am far more able than before!

but what i was saying is, that the feel of a game changed quite a lot. Back then, a Game was like an awesome adventure to me. today, its just a game, and i blame mediocre games for beeing mediocre. Back then, i didnt care much for flaws when they werent fatal, i thought 'well, if Element X of the Game is like it is, so i think it is intended to be like that.'. today, i blame 'notsowell-working' elements for beeing messed up. ^^

spellin' it out the simple way: i appreciated a Game much more back then, today i am a darn crittic.

The better you are describing is one that is more carefree and appreciative and not technically-based critical.

I thought you meant literal skill-wise.

In the non-literal sense, I've tried to maintain my carefree, enjoy it all attitude, but it's definitely not quite as great as when I was five.

In the literal skill sense, I've drastically improved. :)

It depends what you call better.

My reflexes used to be better, I was rocking unreal tournament and half life death match. I also had the time and patience back then to learn all the maps inside out and the spawn rates of power ups. I could also play certain games over and over again. I used to edit the runtime library in the executable of the original civilization to create different game types, and wrote a level editor for Dune 2 to make crazy scenarios. I simply don't have the time and energy for that anymore (2nd kid almost here)

I'm a better gamer then I was since I pay for all my games now :) Nowadays I have more money for games then time to play them, so it's usually just 1 play through and on to the next.

I also don't get frustrated anymore as I used to. I have broken many mice, several keyboards and controllers in my younger days. I smashed GT3's disc into pieces by throwing it on the carpet because the brain dead AI was pissing me off too much.

I guess I'm a bit more forgiving for graphical glitches, mostly gaming on ps3 now instead of pc. I bought a playstation with Tombraider 2 when it came out and promptly tried to return the console cause it looked like a mess. I'm glad I kept it otherwise I would have missed MGS and FF7.

However I'm a lot more critical when it comes to cheesy storytelling, misbehaving cameras and bad repetitive gameplay.

lol haha my bad... I obviously misinterpreted your OP and hence even in the poll I voted "I'm the opposite".

My vote should then go to hasn't changed much.

I definitely wasn't a critic when I was playing games during PS1/N64 eras. I just play the darn game, play the shit outta it and just get pure entertainment from the games, which I still do.

PS2/Gamecube era was no different. If the game was fun to play, I play it.

The only thing that has me changed from the PS3/Wii days compared to the PS2/PS1 days is the graphics. I'm not a graphics whore by all means but nowadays when I I see crappy graphics for a PS3 game, I'll be disappointed.

I never used to be like this. MGS 3 like many would agree was one hell of a graphics beast along with God of War. But when I played other PS2 games, I would not feel disappointed even it if was inferior to those to games in terms of graphics because I wouldn't give a damn.

But now I would critic the graphics.

i cant really say yet im assuming ur older married and working so its ok that happens

its good that ur not spending time playing video games but if u have spare time then try to keep up ur skills

but im 18 young and my skills are excellent 2.6 k/d 

I am a better gamer now than i was 7-8 eyears ago. But i did have alot more fun as a young child playing games back then rather than now. The whole surge of online gaming has made everything all competitive and serious.I miss the good old days where if you wanted to play with your friends or someone else together yall would invite each other over and play together or take turns seeing who would get a highest score or rating. Sadly those days are gone unfortunately.  :(

nope