your physical motors slow down, not your mind. your mind don't decline until late old age if you keep yourself in decent health. just look at all those old scientist and inventors. Einstein, Stephen hawkings, many many of the most brilliant scientist and inventors, researches are 50+ etc. Stephen Hawkings, Einstein, chess players are smarter at old age then when young.

what makes older age less ideal for gaming is not mind related, but reaction times, physical motors related, and physical stamina.

fourColo

United States363 Posts

January 03 2012 08:03 GMT

#122

Boxer has maintained an incredible competitive spirit. A lot of people miscredit him for MMA's success when it seems that he does very little coaching. Boxer is more likely grinding out game after game to improve his own skill in the only way he knows how. Controlling for revised priorities, which appears not to be the case for Boxer, he seems to be steadily falling in skill relative to younger players.

Again, this is likely due to his shoulder.

zimz

United States510 Posts

January 03 2012 08:07 GMT

#123

On January 03 2012 17:03 fourColo wrote:
Boxer has maintained an incredible competitive spirit. A lot of people miscredit him for MMA's success when it seems that he does very little coaching. Boxer is more likely grinding out game after game to improve his own skill in the only way he knows how. Controlling for revised priorities, which appears not to be the case for Boxer, he seems to be steadily falling in skill relative to younger players.

Again, this is likely due to his shoulder.

not really. he was declining since bw way before any shoulder problems. its quick motor skills, where people in the teens 14 15 16 - 22 got real dexterity advantage, etc.

Vigor

Canada77 Posts

January 03 2012 08:12 GMT

#124

@amlitzer and @habeck exactly. if ur 30 and can still have the feeling deep downinside that starcraft 2 competitive is fulfilling then ur fine

Agnosthar

631 Posts

January 03 2012 08:13 GMT

#125

Thankfully I'm not old enough to be able to give anecdotal experience as to a cognitive decline. That being said, it's pretty rare for me to see someone past mid 20's being faster than me mechanically. Pro players with very low apm like White-Ra stay competitive due to their game understanding and effective apm.

In a few years I'm sure I'll have lost my dexterity/speed advantage though.

Spectorials

558 Posts

January 03 2012 08:17 GMT

#126

I was a beast at an online FPS game for the best part of 10 years.

I am nowhere near where I was in any game now, not even competitive lol

26 now.

I would say I have deteriorated a lot

Huckleuro

United Kingdom294 Posts

January 03 2012 08:22 GMT

#127

I have just turned 27- Have been within the gaming community since 2000. Played semi-professional level CS1.6 between 2002 and 2006. Play casual sc2 at masters level.

I can, without any doubt or bother say that my reaction times are definitely not what they were when i was 17- 20. Now, im too ignorant to know whether this is 100% down to aging, or because i simply dont use my reactions as much any more.

Millard

United States11 Posts

January 03 2012 08:24 GMT

#128

I think 20 years from now RTS games will have multiple top level 40+ year old pro's.

I'm19 btw and the people who say they are 20 and they feel "ancient" are sad as fuck like the male brain doesn't even finish maturing until about age 25 for most people right?

Nabes

Canada1800 Posts

January 03 2012 08:26 GMT

#129

I think it depends, if you picked up competitive gaming as an adult(25+), you are going to be slow and i think no matter what your improvment is going to be slow. Where if you have a kid that has been competitive at gaming since he/she were 12, and is now 25, they've had all that experience and such. It is like learning a language and you are born into a bilingual family, you know 2 languages easy, where a person in Canada/US can grow up only knowing english but learning another language is a pain in the ass and requires years of schooling.

shockaslim

United States1104 Posts

January 03 2012 08:26 GMT

#130

I can say that in general gaming I don't have it like I used to. Not because of age, but because of this thing called a full time job.

Huckleuro

United Kingdom294 Posts

January 03 2012 08:28 GMT

#131

I think esports is too young to judge how age will effect ones performance.

As players get older, their drive for the game (especially in the past) decreases greatly. Other ambitions, women and other factors creep into your life- you train less and less.

White-Ra's apm isnt _that_ low, and even in his youth he never had red hot super fast mechanics/ apm.

Tobberoth

Sweden6375 Posts

January 03 2012 08:40 GMT

#132

Anyone over 25 whining: Look at WhiteRa. That's right, I'm afraid you have to find something else to blame for your lack of success.

I'm 25 myself and I feel perfectly fine even though I do not exercise nor have a good diet. Yeah, I'm not a progamer, but my reason for only being plat is that I simply don't play even close to enough. I can easily do 100 APM when I'm in the zone, and that's with me playing less than 2 games a day on average on ladder.

Battousai13

United States638 Posts

January 03 2012 08:40 GMT

#133

I think it's interesting that people continue to bring up reaction speed as a factor of consideration in SC2. I don't see how that is a large consideration, given that StarCraft is not a FPS where you're getting shot at from all angles. The only real reaction-time dependent action in the game is responding to spells casted by the opponent.

For the most part, SC2 is a much more strategy-based game than Brood War was. At the top levels of competition, you can no longer make it a game of mechanics. The UI in SC2 is far simpler than BW's. You see extremely consistent players like NaDa with near perfect mechanics lose because of strategy. ForGG has shown that his BW mechanics allow him to play extremely abusively, but even he isn't immune to strategic failure.

By saying that SC2 is a more strategy-based game, I want to call attention to the fact that reaction time is second to recognition of the situation. The person that recognizes unit movement and reacts ahead of time achieves roughly the same effect as the person that can react reflexively to the situation. This is a game where build-orders are still capable of triggering automatic wins. Having high reaction time is advantageous, but not having it is in no way hindering.

HaXXspetten

Sweden15718 Posts

January 03 2012 08:51 GMT

#134

I'm 17, high master in SC2 despite very little actual playtime, and pretty high level at most other games I've been involved with as well. I do not know if I'm in my prime right now, or if I'll go up a little more before turning over, but as of yet, I've felt more skilled for every year, but I guess that pattern will be reversed in due time. Whether my current success is due to talent or age... I don't know, probably both. I do not think you can solely blame age as an all too deciding factor when it comes down to this though, just ask Boxer or WhiteRa

Although it is true that your reaction time etc gets slower when you get to a certain age and only deteriorates from there, if you put your mind into it, you should be able to overcome that issue. The real barrier is mental, and in that regard, age is irrelevant as far as overcoming it goes.

Latty

Germany567 Posts

January 03 2012 08:52 GMT

#135

i think, when you are 18 and you have to pick up new mechanics or something it probably will take you less time then if you were 25. but thats all.

im 27 and im improving well at my play, and im improving not just in sc2. so i think its bullshit.

when playing football or american football or basketball there is a age when your body just cant improve that much anymore, where your abilitiy to step up your game is not working anymore due to practice.
but in games the age ceiling is very high in my opinion.

Nifel

706 Posts

January 03 2012 09:04 GMT

#136

All I know for sure is that the 14 year old me would utterly crush the current me in BW, and probably also in SC2 if given a few weeks to prepare. The dedication, tenacity and, most of all, spare time I had back in the days is something I cannot compete with nowadays.

ElBlanco

Australia140 Posts

January 03 2012 09:08 GMT

#137

Athletes in a variety of sports seem to be able to keep going well past the age of 30. I have no doubt that once you start apporaching that age that you probably slow down a little bit. However i don't think it's that significant and i doubt it should affect you much unless you are a top level pro.

In my experience the only people who really lose their reflexes are those who don't use them often.

wOrD yO

Australia119 Posts

January 03 2012 09:09 GMT

#138

I used to play so much harder and actually enjoy it! i would rage alot at losing and idolise people alot more. Now I cant be fucked and am happy with a mediocre win/lose haha.

Lysenko

Iceland2128 Posts

January 03 2012 09:12 GMT

#139

When, and if, the compensation in professional gaming allows a person to have a normal household and family, you'll see the ages creeping up. Until then, people will drop out when they're in their early 20s, because they want those things and can't have them.

Stolat

Poland241 Posts

January 03 2012 09:16 GMT

#140

I guess it`s not about reaction speed and such things - its more about habits and feeling well in certain environment. Current "near 30" people are first gaming generation. So next generations - more used to computers, gaming, and such, with understanding parents (our generation) will be less and less limited in "gaming". So i guess in upcoming years Gamers age limit will be higher and higher. I dont know how far though, its really hard to predict