As a child, I was first introduced to gaming via the Commodore 64 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64), and since then, my life has never been the same. New consoles and new games were seemingly being released all the time. I had to play it all, every game... I was a regular at my local video game store, always trading in the old for the new. It didn't matter what the game was about, I just had to play it. This 'ritual' went on all the way through my college years. Action Adventure, Shooters, Strategy, Role playing, I loved them all. To this day, I still own every console, and once a month I have a retro day, where I go back and relive the days of my childhood gaming glory.
Games back then seemed to be so much more of a challenge than games that are out today. They almost seem watered down. Made at a level where anyone can pick up a controller and easily beat it. I feel almost cheated at times when I can complete a game today in less than a week. I know that so much more goes into games today, the production levels are amazing, but it just does not feel the same. (Maybe this is why my genre selection has shifted towards MMO's. There's still a challenge there, that and there is technically no end unless the developers take the game offline permanently.)
Towards the end of my college career, I was introduced to the MMO genre by a game called Everquest. It began to consume me, I logged hour after hour in the brand new consistent online environment. As the years when on, new MMO's came out, and I played them all. I couldn't get enough. My consoles began to collect dust. I stopped buying every new game, it became less and less important to have another completed game under my belt.
Does this happen to all of us as we age? I still play console games today, but 90% of my game time is spent in an MMO (currently SWTOR and WOW). Is this me 'settling down'? It seems that I have missed out on so many great titles out there, but to be honest, I really have no desire to even try.
