Is there a noticeable loss of skill with age ? Simply put, can one go from amazing to hopeless as he ages ?
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Usually as someone gets older eyesight can get worse, as well as motor skills simply due to age. It’s not super noticeable though.
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To an extent. It’s common for people’s reaction times and eyesight to decay as they get older.
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Ya I’m over 20 and I’m practically blind and my senses don’t work anymore, it’s a miracle I can still breathe and eat food.
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The older you get - the worse your reflex. 6 years ago i would be atleast high diamond, now i barely holding up in plat
Sometimes i can see when i should’ve shoot or use save skill, but my reaction for fingers is just slower than my eyes.
Did you really have to use the word “decay”? Makes me feel even worse for my age. I’m decaying. Help.
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You get worse as you age not because your reflexes become bad but because you have less time for video games.
Unless you’re talking approaching old age.
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Your reaction times and possibly your eyesight will diminish, so if you ONLY play twitch characters yes, to a point you will be limited by your age. Your mind however, barring actual diseases , will only get sharper with more experience and that can be applied to strategy and execution which some characters in this game make very useful.
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There’s a difference between like, starting gaming at 15 and now you’re 20. I doubt there’s much skill decay there unless you suffer from bad joints or broke a bone.
Just for example purposes, my mom can’t play video games anymore. She LOVES Mario games and when I was growing up we’d play the good ol Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo together. She’s in her mid forties now and can’t hold a controller because of her carpal tunnel. But we’re talking a good two decades of age. Everything declines eventually.
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Yes but, its not particularly because of age. Priorities change, people can’t spend every night and weekend playing games. Thats what causes people to get worse.
I stopped playing fps games for a while and my aim was horrible. After a few weeks of playing though I got to a point where my aim was average.
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To a point. You’re probably not pushing grandmaster if you’re 65 years old.
There’s no discernible difference between a 30 year old and an 18 year old though.
The younger person probably has an easier time learning new characters but the older person probably has an easier time understanding why strategies work.
It’s all practice, like with any learned skill. You can be young, play casually and not work hard on improving, so your skill will grow slowly, or you can be middle aged but work hard every day and get good. Do what the best players do, that’s the only way to improve.
It really depends on the person (genetics probably plays a big role I’d assume). I mean I’m 31 years old and I’m a fitness nut. I go to the gym everyday, but I’d by lying if I said I had the same gaming reaction time as I did when I was 18.
If you guys could have seen me back in my CS and unreal tournament days. whoa, I was scary. But thank God games like Overwatch exist. I don’t have those snappy MLG reflexes anymore, so it feels good playing heroes like Reinhardt, Winston, Moira, and Mercy. I may be getting older, but I still have exceptional game sense. Also, I gained new strengths as I got older, like being a leader (coordinating win conditions, ult management, ult synergy, strategy, and being a dedicated shot caller). So what I lost in reflexes I picked up with wisdom and healthy confidence and communication skills.
But this is still my hobby, so if I want to act like a goof ball from time to time and tea bag my teammate who got slept by a wild sleepdart I’m probably going to do that. Or if I want to start doing my Arnold Schwarzenegger impression while I earth shatter the enemy and mop the floor with them, I’m going to do that too. 
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I wear reading glasses to play. They’re surprisingly helpful. I’m old.
wow just 31. I thought you were like 60 or something looking at the way you talk saying I’m old and stuff. No offense.
Im 32, 33 this april. I have never had this good reflexes and aim ever in my life. You can say Im in my prime and getting better everyday still.
Im a Diamond rank D.Va and a 2800 SR Tracer main on my secondary getting better with aim everyday.
So dont let your age decide you from what you are and what you want to be.
Honestly, I think everyone has a base skill level and then they can improve to an extent with practice. Some people are just naturally better than others.
Yes, and in gaming its actually most noticable. The reflexes particular to gaming start to deteriorate around the late 20’s and early thirties. Thats why all the OWL players are so young. The sweet spot is late teens and early 20’s
Oh definitely.
Pretty much past age 24-25 you’ll start seeing decline in what they call “twitch reaction” times (the ability to see something and quickly react) as well as just overall game sense, since, as you age, your ability to process large amounts of information (and believe me, there’s a lot to keep track of in this game when you think about it) starts to decline.
I notice it with my younger brother. He’s in his teens about 10yrs younger than I am. I’m generally better at strategy, general team cohesion (call outs and such), but when it comes to raw mechanical skill… my younger bro just mops the floor.
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The only real advantage younger kids have over adults is time available to them. When I was 19 yeah I could spend all day playing games. Now that I’m an adult though, not so much! When I win the lottery though, you can bet your buns I’ll be top 500… Just gotta start actually playing the lottery…
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You definitely get worse with age.
I feel I am just too old to be playing competitive games now. Five years ago I was a beast at every FPS I tried, but my reaction times are so much worse now that most players I come across are better than me. I’m 14 by the way.