Does age have any weight in the equation? (fighting games)

[Evil_Riu48]

before posting your opinion please read this post
you can select more than one answer in the poll
there is 2 questions that we are going to be analyzing in this thread

1) how young is 2 young to play a fighting game ?
a) at what age does the human brain is ready to handle all the fundamentals in a fighting game all the reacting , taking decisions and managing the decisions when you are playing?
b) if you take out the experience that years of playing fighting games or any other video game gives you and you only take the age into consideration and we take a 12 years old who has never play a video game in his life and we face him against a 25 year old who has never play a video game in his life who truly has the advantage?

2) after many years at what age does your age start to effect you to the point that you are at a disadvantage because of it?
it is not a secret that after ''x-age'' your brain start to slow down it can not longer react as fast as it use too or take decisions as fast as it use too

 

[Braindead]

Holy crap you're alive!

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Age does matter, but it doesn't affect everyone equally. There are also a lot of other life factors that combine to affect your performance at various stages as you progress through life other than just your age. For example:

-How prepared are you? Are you riding on your previous successes, or are you grinding and staying on top of things?
-How much free time to do you have? Have marriage, children, job or other life circumstances left you with little time to practice or play?
-In general what are your priorities in life?
-Do you still have friends that play the game? Do you have a team or playing partners?
-How well do you adjust? Are you able to constantly adapt to new things, or are you the kind of player who learns a set still and continues to play it, win or lose.
-How intense is your competitive drive?
-How well are you able to keep your passion alive for FGs? Are you just as excited to play them at 40 as you were at 25?
-Are you good at picking up new games?

And for the young ones, two of the biggest factors:
-Do you have other family members who play fighting games (or other competitive games)? This was a huge factor for MIT, Sonic Fox, etc. A younger player who has a parent or brother who can teach them the ropes, correct mistakes and provide a constant day-to-day training partner for as long as they want to play is a huge advantage and goes a long way toward making young players into seasoned competitors.
-And generally: what were you born around? Did you grow up playing video games, of any type? Were you raised playing other types games that required reaction time and strategy? How much did your parents allow you to play, what type of games interest you, etc.

I don't think you can categorically state whether a person is at advantage or disadvantage based on them being a certain age.. I think it all depends on 20 other factors and aspects of their life. We don't really have enough information about how age of the brain affects FG players, because it's hard to find much older (say, 50-60) y/o players who are living in the same set of life conditions as someone much younger and were raised around the same set of influences.

 

[Circus]

I have a friend here in Florida called Rey and his son who is just about 8 or so goes even with decent players in the Tekken scene. Little Rey is his name.

It's more about experience and information retention. Sure older players should have more experience that teaches opponents tendencies and situational moments but younger players have the advantage of being able to soak up and permanently retain the information better.

From certain young ages its suggested to pick up different languages, skills, and other things like math because of this. Older players will have a more difficult time completely revamping their gameplay if they never have, whereas younger players could likely experiment and soak up more due to their brains still getting in higher development.

So yea, imo it really doesn't matter much at all about the age of a player. There are tons of other factors more important.

 

[Zoidberg747]

I would argue the older people might have a disadvantage since your reactions slow down quite a bit.

 

[Evil_Riu48]

Age does matter, but it doesn't affect everyone equally. There are also a lot of other life factors that combine to affect your performance at various stages as you progress through life other than just your age. For example:

-How prepared are you? Are you riding on your previous successes, or are you grinding and staying on top of things?
-How much free time to do you have? Have marriage, children, job or other life circumstances conspired to leave you with little time to practice or play?
-In general what are your priorities in life?
-Do you still have friends that play the game? Do you have a team or playing partners?
-How well do you adjust? Are you able to constantly adapt to new things, or are you the kind of player who learns a set still and continues to play it, win or lose.
-How intense is your competitive drive?
-How well are you able to keep your passion alive for FGs? Are you just as excited to play them at 40 as you were at 25?
-Are you good at picking up new games?

And for the young ones, one of the biggest factors:
-Do you have other family members who play fighting games? This was a huge factor for MIT, Sonic Fox, etc. A younger player who has a parent or brother who can teach them the ropes, correct mistakes and provide a constant day-to-day training partner for as long as they want to play is a huge advantage and goes a long way toward making young players into seasoned competitors.

I don't think you can categorically state whether a person is at advantage or disadvantage based on them being a certain age.. I think it all depends on 20 other factors and aspects of their life.

I agree with you 100% but do you think age can give a player a very small advantage over another ? can vote for some of the options I just want to know what other people think

 

[Sage Leviathan]

Age is always neutral.
To say it isn't is to give too much credit to a certain group, which leads to miscalculation and voluntary/involuntary disrespect, among other mishaps.

Granted, human decision making becomes more accurate as we get older, but through repetition, analysis, and other modes of logic, anyone can best... anyone!

 

[CrimsonShadow]

I would argue the older people might have a disadvantage since your reactions slow down quite a bit.

I would also argue though, that for most of the people who are winning tournaments, reaction time isn't necessarily the biggest reason why. There are probably many people in the pools who would test with faster reaction times than the champions, but they still lose to a combination of game meta/engine knowledge, planning and preparation, fighting game fundamentals, ability to adjust, mental toughness/focus and good strategic acumen. Probably most importantly, the ability to predict with other players will do. Just plain old good decision making.

They can't have terrible reactions, but they might not react nearly as fast as their 15 year old selves, either. "In-game" reactions seem to involve a lot more factors than just the raw speed of your neural response.

I think we need more information on how important people's brain changes really are over time, but it's very hard to get, since people's life conditions usually don't stay the same. We can't find someone who is 50 years old now and was raised playing high-level FGs from the time they were 6 years old, for example. Everything has changed.

The post Super-turbo era has only been in place for 20 years. The era of having home consoles and arcade sticks with all the latest games to practice rather than having to go to the arcade, plus Youtube guides, frame data, forums with top players, streams of all top tournament play, semi-reliable online netplay etc. is even shorter, which means that there's not a large amount of data yet on which to conduct a study.

 

[Sage Leviathan]

Here's a cool thing to think about.
Hypothetically speaking, if everyone learned the same things at the same rate, older people would know more simply based on age!

But not all information is at the table all at once for us, and everyone learns different info at different rates.

Put an inexperienced person against an experienced person in a 5-5 MU. It isn't guaranteed that the experienced person will win, but you must admit that odds are a little more in their favorite.

You see now how age doesn't impact competition the way it's expected to? What matters is the information we run into, how we process it, our practice, and our observation

 

[Circus]

I think the more proper question would be:

Are people who start to play fighting games competitively at a young age that then grow into adults at an advantage over those adults who pick it up later on in life even if both players technically have played for the same number of years?


Answer: Hell the fuck yah. Hands down. That goes for everything competitive, from sports to mental abilities.

 

[Qwark28]

Some of you say age is neutral or list other factors.

Meanwhile younger people are more reckless, make bolder reads while people over 25 have a better developed cortex that allows them to assess risk better. Which is why you see young players go for more risky stuff and older ones being more cautious or fundamental.

 

[Circus]

Some of you say age is neutral or list other factors.

Meanwhile younger people are more reckless, make bolder reads while people over 25 have a better developed cortex that allows them to assess risk better. Which is why you see young players go for more risky stuff and older ones being more cautious or fundamental.

Thats a fair assessment of play style considering players like Knuckledu, CJ Truth, Lil Rey, Noah, Oxygen, and of course Sonic Fox fall into that offensive style.

But the question isn't about play styles or who is more safe, its about who has the advantage. Judging by results alone I don't think there is. Both styles of play produce great results in all games.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Some of you say age is neutral or list other factors.

Meanwhile younger people are more reckless, make bolder reads while people over 25 have a better developed cortex that allows them to assess risk better. Which is why you see young players go for more risky stuff and older ones being more cautious or fundamental.

Despite that, you still see plenty of risky older players -- along with players like MIT and DJT who have played like Buddhist monks with patience, thinking and footsies since their mid-teenage years. Regardless of maturity in other areas of life, I don't think it's quite this simple when it comes to fighting games.

I think personality probably has just as big of an effect on playstyle as age.

 

[ZigZag]

My 11 year old bro gives me GGs on MK9, i'm better overall and have more fundamental knowledge, but he's good enough to give me a run for my money some days.

 

[Deleted member 28105]

It may have some weight in the equation. But I know for a fact that age, does not has any weight in the equation.

 

[Qwark28]

Despite that, you still see plenty of risky older players -- along with players like MIT and DJT who have played like Buddhist monks with patience, thinking and footsies since their mid-teenage years. Regardless of maturity in other areas of life, I don't think it's quite this simple when it comes to fighting games.

I think personality probably has just as big of an effect on playstyle as age.

Yes, but age alone does have the impact which I posted, that was my point alone. That is not to say they will always do it, these cases always come with the "tend to" stamp.

 

[CrimsonShadow]

Yes, but age alone does have the impact which I posted, that was my point alone.

I guess.. But I feel like I can take two 15-year-olds and throw them into an FPS, and one of them will camp dark corners with a sniper rifle, while the other one will rush people down with an SMG. I can take two 40 year olds and introduce them to the game and they're still just as likely to take one path or the other based on what kind of person they are.

I don't think it's necessarily fair to say that younger people are more reckless and bold. Some people lose fear and gain boldness with age and experience. Some younger people are timid and hesitant, afraid of making mistakes. Just depends on each specific person's qualities.

 

[Insuperable]

hi mommy

 

[Evil_Riu48]

I think age does has weight saying that it does not have any weight it would be like saying that a 70 year old can react and make decisions at the same speed as a 23 years old.

however I do not think age adds a lot of weight in my opinion is very insignificant between younger groups of players but it is there

 

[Kyu]

Well I'll weigh in on this since I'm one of the youngest in the fgc (14 woo). I think younger players are more prone to having quicker reactions/make harder reads/take more risks. The downfall is I think a lot of us youngins get impatient. If you look at that first time I played PPJs Hawkgirl, I was impatient as fuck. I learned from the GGA guys because they have the experience I don't. People who have played fighting games longer also have a better concept of fundamentals, but I play Bane so those are irrelevant.

 

[Qwark28]

I guess.. But I feel like I can take two 15-year-olds and throw them into an FPS, and one of them will camp dark corners with a sniper rifle, while the other one will rush people down with an SMG. I can take two 40 year olds and introduce them to the game and they're still just as likely to take one path or the other based on what kind of person they are.

I don't think it's necessarily fair to say that younger people are more reckless and bold. Some people lose fear and gain boldness with age and experience. Some younger people are timid and hesitant, afraid of making mistakes. Just depends on each specific person's qualities.

There's a difference between a game that kills you in 3 bullets and one in which you need minimum 15 seconds of fuck ups to die in.

 

[Evil_Riu48]

if there is any sport out there that can be compere to fighting games I guess that would be chess... this is interesting
http://chess.about.com/od/chesshistory/a/Whats-The-Peak-Age-For-Chess-Players.htm

 

[Pig Of The Hut]

On behalf of @GGA 16 Bit, @Maxter and myself This is the greatest props thread I/We have ever received for anything

Thx!

 

[Braindead]

On behalf of @GGA 16 Bit, @Tom Brady, @Maxter and myself This is the greatest props thread I/We have ever received for anything

Thx!

I agree with you, Bit and Maxter.

But don't feed me that BS that Tom Brady is nearly 40 years old. The guy doesn't look a year older than 27

 

[Pig Of The Hut]

A more serious answer (not to dilute the above)

As for 70 year old vs a 23 year old, well idk but I'll let u know in 38 years

The greatest and I mean the ONLY property where I feel at all held back by my age is the responsibilities I have vs a 16 year old.

Cry me a river kids, boo HOO school is hard, I have so many activities to do, don't have a car, work 13-18 hours a week w school

Get on my level son, doesn't come close to what I and many have in terms of responsibilities and we place

I do feel there's a huge strong merit in "starting young" I got a nes at age 4 Hogan's alley, duck hunt, Mario and track n field mat. Played MK since 1992 and ran train at all arcades I went to w my 2 quarters in the machine and kids leaving cause I was on the machine and it was a lost cause

Starting young w sports, reading, anything carries you far greater that's why my daughter has mandatory hit box practice from 1pm-3pm after school

Evo 2025 is coming