Older gamers today, particularly those who have been playing for a long time, face a lot of challenges. Although we’re all treated to fantastic games as of late and an all-time high in terms of accessibility, these problems still persist. It’s both amusing and frustrating at the same time, and all we can do is live with it and adapt.

With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at some of the most notable ones out there:

There are so many options

This year alone handed out a plethora of great games with many more to come in the remaining months. So far, we’ve had games like Resident Evil 2: Remake, Devil May Cry 5, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Ace Combat 7. There’s more to look forward to not just this year, but also in the near future as this generation will likely close up with a bang with Pokemon Sword and Shield, Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us 2, and Persona 5: The Royal about to enter the fray.

Though it’s awesome that we’re getting so many options, it’s also frustrating. You’ll have a hard time deciding what to get, especially since...

Time is so limited

With time being so limited, it’s just impossible to finish multiple 30+ hour games within a couple of months, especially when you only have fewer than two hours of free time a day. Moreover, a lot of games today have high replayability while some provide numerous side quests, making them last more than a hundred hours. Moreover, multiplayer games like DOTA 2, Fortnite, and other first and third-person shooters and MOBAs are essentially endless.

Older gamers, especially with jobs and families to tend to, can barely invest time in new games. Personally, I’m in the middle of a playthrough of FE: Three Houses and The Witcher III, barely scratching the surfaces of both titles. With that in mind, considering gamers barely have time to play, people who play them tend to do speedruns instead of fully immersing themselves into it, putting a damper into the overall experience.

Reflexes are starting to slow down

Older gamers, especially those in who are in their mid-20s and above, really don’t have time to invest making themselves better in certain skill-based games. Moreover, this is also the timeframe where one’s reflexes are starting to slow down and stagnate. If you were able to have a fairly outstanding K/D ratio in FPS games back when you were younger, this may no longer be the case as you get older. In any case, this leads to frustrating instances in certain games, especially battle royale titles.

This is the case in Fortnite. Younger gamers somehow find it easy to erect large towers within seconds. Meanwhile in PUBG, their aim is somehow flawless and they can somehow take out enemies like well-trained killing machines. Though their moves look easy to emulate, older games who once possessed a great deal of skill find it hard to replicate them due to age catching up.

Budget-related problems

Gaming is an expensive hobby, even if you’re playing free-to-play games. After all, consoles, PCs, and smartphones don’t come cheap.

However, you’ll need to commit a lot of money if you want the latest titles, the best experiences, and even online multiplayer. For example, you need to pay $20/year for a Nintendo Switch Online. To be a PlayStation Plus user (two free games a month + online multiplayer), you need to pay $60/year. Meanwhile, most new releases and triple-A games cost $60 at release. This is further compounded by added costs like paid DLC and extra content.

This is not a problem if you only spend to support your hobby. Unfortunately, this is never the case as you have to pay the bills, eat, and use cash for other essentials. Buying all the games you want just isn’t an option. Thankfully, publishers usually hold sales and prices always go down within months after release.

Lack of gaming friends

As people get older, they carry more responsibilities and are forced by their personal circumstances to give up their hobbies. Your friends might then be affected and in turn, your pool of teammates dwindle. Though you can always find other gaming buddies, it will be quite difficult. After all, building chemistry and relationships from scratch require a lot of time and effort. Plus, we gamers are a bit of an awkward bunch and at times, making friends is a skill we need to improve.

Meanwhile, some may not even have friends who actually play. Your real-life circle of friends may have different hobbies or are facing circumstances in life that won’t allow them to own consoles or play the same games you do. In turn, this requires us to actually find and make friends online which is quite a challenge.

Although these problems may seem to be common and even trivial in nature, they hound older gamers - like yours truly - every day. It affects us every gaming session, whenever we see a trailer for a game we want on our consoles, and when we try to squeeze in time to play.

Yet, we still continue to play. We never stop diving into immersive worlds, putting ourselves in the shoes of the protagonists, and overcoming their obstacles.