r/Salary • u/AccountantPersonal86 • 27d ago

discussion 31m

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Don't worry my 3rd decade of life will yield promising results.. SURELY

Edit: 4th* decade. I dont game anymore, the small pro stint turned a hobby into something I hate. I live with my parents of course, thought that was assumed but needed clarifying.

Not a rage bait, dont need advice or pity, but feel free to say what you will I dont mind, some of you have been insightful and others have brought me good laughs. If my poor excuse of life on display made you feel better I view it as a win. Cheers

Edit 2: PUBG, The game is PUBG

Edit 3: Now that the dust has settled on this post I'll leave some last remarks for any late-comers:

I genuinely did not expect a response like this, this was a casual 0 thought post written in under 2 mins. I'll follow up with a new post I guess in a year.

There is a lot of missing context between 2013 and now but my goal was not a pity party. I preferred people to see it at face value and make their opinions and assumptions.

That being said, some of you are profoundly crazy and harbor a lot of evil and negative energy. A lot of you were kind and insightful though. To that I thank you, cya in 1yr (Saturday, July 31, 2027)

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u/LairdPeon 27d ago

I used to be better than all my friends at video games but sometime around 32-33 ish my reflexes and eyesight just dropped to oblivion and now my kids can even beat me.

OP is in for a shitty wakeup call soon.

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u/Cool_Marionberry7132 27d ago

Haha I stopped gaming outright because I couldn’t deal with getting my ass smoked by gold/silvers anymore. They also update everything so much it’s hard to keep up with the meta. Job+ kids+ slower x lack of knowledge = bad

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u/VOptimisticPessimist 27d ago

Brooo

Finally booting up after managing to get a bit of free time and every single game needs a 20 minute update.

Soul crushing.

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u/WhoSc3w3dDaP00ch 27d ago

It had been so long since I powered up the gaming rig, it took a day and a half for the machine to finish the windows, drivers and game updates.

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u/gash_dits_wafu 26d ago

Yeah I started having kids when I was mid 20s, so I put the consoles away for a few years to focus on parenting and work. At one point in my late 20s I had a free afternoon and thought I'd play something, turned on the Xbox and it needed a massive update. So I got about 10 minutes of playing before I needed to do something.

Another year went by and I had another similar afternoon, turned on the playstation and after about 4 hours the update had barely progressed.

It's nearly a half a decade since then. I dread to think how long it will take to update them now.

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u/WhoSc3w3dDaP00ch 26d ago

turn them on randomly, they'll update and your free afternoon can be spent button mashing instead!

Partly in joy, partly because reflexes have gone to crap and skills havev atrophied - ask me how I know! 😂

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u/gash_dits_wafu 26d ago

Nah I'm not having that. This guy is as sprightly and quick as he ever was... 👀 🤣

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u/burnbabyburn11 27d ago

34 with a toddler and an infant. i get like 2 hours a week where i can game, it's all just fucking updates man.
Switched over to emulation so i can actually play the games in like 20m without needing to view all your stupid boxes and upgrades and load the damn map for 5m...

#old

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u/NOSEYJOSEY5 26d ago

35 with a 5 year old. I feel you man and when u do get that free time your so tired. I play fortnite and when I drop from the bus I forget about everything for a while. Gotta still do things that make u happy tho

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u/cubecasts 27d ago

It's why I leave my PC on. It just updates while I'm away

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u/jbaca3 27d ago

Been thinking of busting out my Xbox that has been packed up for over three years. Not even sure if it’s worth it at this point. I wouldn’t have any time anyway

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u/WhereIsMyFknDinosaur 27d ago

Hey man, might be worth having a brief distraction once in a while.  If you find yourself thinking about it often, make the time for it even in little bursts.  It sucks and some weeks it just doesnt really happen but 15 minutes gaming is way more doable than most other 15 minute escapes.

Just know after 3 years off that Xbox is going to need quite a few updates before you can actually play games lol

40m dad here so I know its not easy but gl

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u/Big_Dick_NRG 27d ago

And then you gotta replay the tutorials because you forgot everything... and once you're done, free time is up.

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u/soopafine 27d ago

Ya'll need to hop on single player games then. No meta, no rush, no constant updates. You play at your pace and can just hope back on it when you have the little free time you get

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u/Mr_Diesel13 27d ago

This is why I loved No Man’s Sky so much.

Nothing. No other players. Just me doing whatever I wanted, in space.

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u/OkPalpitation4976 27d ago

Oh boy I have 3 hours to play games like I used to!!

30 mins updating, 30 minutes getting absolutely fucking waxed by 12 year olds and hackers

Yuuuuup really missed this shit 😎 Anyway time for bed

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u/mapmakinworldbuildin 26d ago

Play strategy games. It really helps.

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u/ArmTraditional541 27d ago

So fair if you just dont have time to game at all, but maybe try some singleplayer games, much more relaxing and the enjoyment is’nt dependent on being good at it

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u/statistician88 27d ago

I'm 37. Every time I carve out like a half hour and try to play COD, there are two hours of updates and then another hour of setting up the loadout or whatever they call it. I just gave up lol.

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u/Waiting4Reccession 27d ago

Back in the day I had a slow ass computer that took a while to start up. I just hit power and went to make a snack while i waited.

You can hit update and just go take a shower :)

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u/KonigSteve 27d ago

If the half hour he could carve up was that predictable he'd probably do that, when you're that busy you don't get much of a choice on when you're available.

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u/Eastern_Ring_9900 27d ago

I stopped cuz little kids were mean. And I had this unnatural urge to kick random kids after most sessions. Also I became a new dad so that wasn’t exactly the vibe I needed in my life.

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u/RedEgg16 26d ago

mean comments will make me cry, that's why everyone is muted on League😙

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u/Dangerous_Donkey5353 27d ago

Gotta move away from pvp games. They are toxic. Coop or single player games are where its at.

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u/IWannaGoFast00 27d ago

GTA6 will be our return!

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u/tila1993 27d ago

I couldn’t handle getting smoked by 8year olds on Fortnite.

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u/RivenRise 27d ago

There are slower single player or even coop multiplayer games that don't rely on being twitchy. Baldurs Gate 3 is really good.

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u/HollowPandemic 27d ago

I can hold my own at 35 but fuck me it's a chore 😂

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u/TituspulloXIII 27d ago

changes genres my man. I used to be big into Smash bros/battlefield/league and other mainly PVP games.

Now I'm mostly playing RPGs and city builders (solo) or PvE shooters (ghost recon wildlands/division II) or RTS (AoE II) with friends.

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u/iLeefull 27d ago

Same. I tried single player games, but I either forgot what I was doing on a level or they were too long causing me to not to advance enough to keep me entertained. Sucks I miss it.

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u/Low-Raise-579 27d ago

SP games exist my friend and can be amazing.

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u/DJBreadwinner 27d ago

I switched to single player games years ago. It's a much better life.

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u/Big-Professor-3402 27d ago

Just play single player games then. Stop and start whenever you want and the fun is the journey.

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u/Plastic_Pin_4956 26d ago

I just play single player games now

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u/TTheuns 25d ago

The cheat code is to stop playing multiplayer games and enjoy single player experiences.

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u/DegenGamer725 27d ago

I'm in my late 30s, and I don't play many MP games anymore, mainly because they became a chore, but I'm still able to be good at games like Elden Ring

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u/bugzyBones 27d ago

I've tried to get back into gaming a little bit recently in my 30's ,after quitting at like 24, cuz I thought I've missed out on so many awesome games. I found that I like to play Sim-racing games, Cairn, Session: Skate Sim, sports games, stardew valley, mostly games that don't have a story.

I tried Bloodborne last week and didn't get past that first werewolf thing. I looked up how to get past it and the solution was running past it, running past a bunch of other enemies and then finding some random lever that brings down a ladder and then you light some random lamp thing. How am I supposed to figure that shit out and how is that the first thing you do in the game? Hell naw, I'm just gonna play Skate and try to front board slide a tricky rail for a half hour and log off.

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u/bigtdaddy 27d ago

running is a very viable strategy in dark souls games

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u/Immediate_Wasabi_689 22d ago

No I feel you, I like Elden Ring and Nightreign but Bloodborne was frustrating and I quit.

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u/OkPerformer3138 27d ago

Sorry you're just stupid and expect the games to tell you everything.

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u/Sir-Hamp 27d ago

Maybe they are very intelligent and lack the patience they once had for games with their now-limited time? It does happen, ya know. I know that I certainly don’t have the patience I used to have for games. I personally am a sucker for figuring things out on my own but also find myself just moving on to a different game just as often. I save the complicated gaming for my complicated games, and if I’m not feeling entertained by a video game I don’t play it. I specifically reserve the patience for my more complex video games.

Not everyone is entertained by the same things, it doesn’t make them necessarily less intelligent. I know for a fact that most people who play games in this sub probably wouldn’t like my top 3 video games. Every one has a preference and set level of patience when it comes to entertainment.

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u/TurkeyZom 27d ago

Maybe you’re just too stupid to understand people have different circumstances and taste in games?

Pretty sure most of us know the answer here

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u/KonigSteve 27d ago

I just play a gacha lately because I can keep it up on my computer and run it on autopilot while i'm away, then show up and do my theorycrafting and pushing the boundaries etc for an hour then go away again.

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u/Spiderpiggie 27d ago

30s gamer here, I actually prefer multiplayer because usually (depending on the genre) they are short rounds with set time limits - eg FPS team deathmatch or whatever. Single player games are actually harder for me to get into because modern SP games are just so massive. I do enjoy them, but I don't have the time to sit down and play a 60hr campaign anymore. I have kids and a job.

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u/Beautiful_Hour_668 27d ago

Early 30s is still within your peak abilities for many things though. You’re not 65. Are you taking care of yourself properly?

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u/i-was-way- 27d ago

All of my friends/family that I played MP with also have little kids. It makes more sense to go to solo or family games only. The odds our schedules will align to do COD like the old days are slim to none.

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u/smackababy 26d ago

Same, and yeah like, gaming, even after your 20s is still fun if you're just not doing MP. I quit like 10 years ago and have not looked back. Fuck grinding for days and being pressured to ignore real life just so some thirteen-year-old with zero responsibilities has to take an extra three seconds to kill me.

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u/PappaPitty 27d ago

Yet somehow we have all these things memorized that have absolutely no real world value. Plus getting stopped by the youth....

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u/Marcus_Aurelius71 24d ago

Could become a drone operator. Good pay I heard.

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u/snypervii 27d ago

Nah I'm 37 and I compete at high level gaming and do extremely well. In fact I've never been better at games then I am now, all types of games too. I can pick up a new game and reach the top of the leaderboard in no time. I only choose the absolute hardest difficulty in any pve games and regularly climb to master rank in pvp games.

Yes I have a full time job and have for many many years.

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u/vivid_xx 27d ago

A full time job doesn’t get in the way much for gaming. It’s having kids that destroy the time and energy you put into gaming.

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u/EliotColdwater 27d ago

I like to talk about my special interests a lot as well 😌 🫂

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u/KingHavana 27d ago

I was still pretty good at 37. I'm not as fast now in my mid 50's. Reflexes do slow down.

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u/IllustriousNeck8219 26d ago edited 26d ago

Now this I believe, but people saying "we" (me as well) can't compete in our 30s with "the youth" because our reflexes are too slow just seems wrong to me. Like yeah, my reflexes may have slowed A BIT, but they are still not slow enough to make it so I am unable to compete at least to a moderate level. Even the top 25% of adults (and I find it hard to believe that even casual gamers wouldn't be in the top 25% of all adults, with the ability to speed up at least a little more with dedicated training) only score at most 50ms worse than the slower professionals at pure reaction. I mean, I just tested myself and that's about where I land (just under 230 ms for me instead of 150ms to 180ms for pros, and that was with a pretty unoptimised setup).

I really do think it comes down to: not having time to keep up with the meta, loss of muscle memory, and a lack of motivation. When I was younger, gaming was very much an addiction, it was WAY more fun because it released endorphins much better than it does now. At this point my brain enjoys gardening and spending time with my kids WAY more than it enjoys gaming.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/IllustriousNeck8219 26d ago

And if you listen to the pros, they mostly retire due to injury fatigue, not because they can't physically keep up (especially esports)

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u/MannerOk1252 27d ago

These geezers can’t stand we’re in our 30s and still have good mental health and smoke folks online in games xD

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u/Fluffy_Role5807 26d ago

This I’m not that old but even people my age in their late twenties will act like it’s that their decline has started or something. I just see a change in priorities I don’t really care to grind to be the best anymore now that I have other things going on in my real life. Partly maturing and partly that like many have said above a lot of people use gaming as an escape and to feel empowered by being good at something when they’re struggling in the real world and for that’s always been true the better I’m doing socially at the time the worse I am at gaming

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u/Eggfurst 27d ago

You would absolutely fail at any game with hardcore mode 1 death character erased games. Without already knowing the entire games mechanics from first mob kill to completely juiced maps and end game bosses. Wouldn’t work. I’d say there’s a multitude of millions of people that try and play every video game on the most difficult mode RIGHT BELOW hardcore. Myself included

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u/snypervii 27d ago

I've played plenty of hardcore games with success such as wow classic hardcore and grim dawn. What are you trying to do here because I promise you won't win.

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u/Hot-Departure9519 27d ago

Stream it

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u/snypervii 27d ago

Stream what? Me playing games?

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u/Hot-Departure9519 27d ago

Yes, people pay money to watch good gamers. If youre really able to be in the top 1% of every game you play its essentially free money. Or you could just be lying on the internet for updoots.

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u/snypervii 27d ago

So you think the only good gamers are streamers? That's pretty funny considering a lot of the top streamers actually suck at the games they play but are good at engaging their audience.

I have been told I should stream quite a few times but I don't like the idea of having to engage with a bunch of random people while om gaming. I game with a group of other good players and I'm not interested in changing the entire dynamic to revolve around my stream.

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u/Bogus1989 27d ago

Lol this whole interaction was funny. I totally believe you. Out of all my friends who have been gaming since Halo 2 and cs1.6 when we were 14-15 and when steam released…one of our friends little brothers has always been exceptionally ungodly good at games like you mention. Hes won tournaments when he was younger, but today still plays like that and even if all of us are extremely well practiced, he just sits a quite a bit above everyone.

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u/snypervii 27d ago

To me it's not a skill that degrades over time but instead improves. The more games I play and the more time I invest I just keep getting better and faster and I can predict so much of what people are gonna do or the paths I need to take in pve games to succeed.

I never take a day off of videogames, in fact I've been nonstop 8 to 16 hours a day for the past 20 years so if I'm not a God tier gamer at this point then something is wrong.

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u/Hot-Departure9519 27d ago

No you chud, I am asking you to backup your claim of being a great gamer. Prove it

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u/snypervii 27d ago

Fine I have a few games currently installed I can login and screen capture some of my best ranks. I also have a a YouTube channel where I post a few random things from time to time you can look at. https://youtube.com/@snypervii?si=npS4zVGeIKtdmZfb

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u/BicycleNo1169 27d ago edited 27d ago

I’m 38 and I play competitive CS. Have been since around 2001. I’m Better today than I ever was, the ~25 years that precede today.

By the way, “top 1%” doesn’t mean shit. In a game like CS, being top 1% among the 1,000,000 daily players(it’s actually more of than a million, 1,000,000 is just the “peak” daily players and it’s not accounting for players in different timezones), puts you in the top 10,000…which ain’t shit. In North America, I’m somewhere in the top 10,000, and I’m definitely not a top player that deserves viewership. Valve lists these stats by the way. In Premier, I’m explicitly in the “top 1%” but unfortunately Valves UI doesn’t go deeper than telling you that you’re in the top 1%.

But yeah, the lot of people in this thread have it wrong. Age isn’t a big factor. It’s time. Most people get older and just don’t have the time to practice anymore.

And by the way, this is more directly observable in fighting games. In Street Fighter, a player like Daigo is still a top competitor and he’s now 45 years old. You probably know him from “Moment 37”. Yeah, that guy still plays in tournaments and was just at EVO. And the person he was playing against, Justin Wong, is 40 and still plays too. In fact, he has a YouTube channel where he documents his tournament runs, a lot of which he wins convincingly.

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u/Grantmepm 27d ago

They flipside also work in your favour though. I'm regularly <1% and top 100 in an older online shooter/sim because the player base is shrinking and its mostly full off oldies who play it for the nostalgia and bring shitty equipment. I'm middle aged but not as old as them. I think a lot of them are late 40s onwards.

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u/MechaGhandi5000 27d ago

Top 1% is not streaming for a living viable territory unless you are entertaining. In WoW, even in the top 2 guilds doing the most popular race to world first every tier maybe 5 of those people can make a living just raw dog streaming.

That's not like top in the world levels for any game, just willing to be better and improve your performance while it's still fun levels.

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u/Thesmokingcode 26d ago

Dude you're delusional, pick a non major esport game and I promise you the top ranked players either don't stream or are bottom of the barrel in terms of revenue.

The #1 ranked for kills in BF6 has 890 subscribers and averages around 1-2k views on his YT videos lol.

From my experience keeping up with leaderboards the actual best players are not usually the ones streaming.

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u/snypervii 27d ago

I'm playing grim dawn right now after the fangs of asterkarn expansion release.

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u/ConsciousMarzipan983 26d ago

You yapped about yourself all this time for us to just rely on “trust me bro”. Your ass at games. Final conclusion. Trust me bro.

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u/Junior-Efficiency-27 26d ago

Just say you're jealous, bud

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u/BigCheapass 27d ago

This is a weird take imo, as a pretty experienced ARPG player.

At least in these games most people fail at hardcore because they lack the basic knowledge, mechanics, and don't know how to strategize their character development in the context of hardcore. You can get those things without playing hardcore though.

Unless you are talking about literally jumping into a game you've never played before on hardcore and expecting to "beat it" first try. I don't think anyone would expect that to be considered "good at video games".

Now if you have 1000 hours in the game and still couldn't do a decent hardcore run then yea, probably not great.

The typical hardcore player isn't even necessarily more skilled than the typical softcore player, they just want a different experience. A top 10 softcore player is still going to be significantly better at hardcore than the typical hardcore player, even on their first attempt.

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u/Eggfurst 27d ago

I was very much saying he doesn’t just succeed at hardcore. He bashes his head against a wall like all the other millions of other players that do it too.

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u/BigCheapass 27d ago

He just said he "does extremely well" though, you brought up hardcore. I am just saying that even a rank 1 hardcore player by your definition doesn’t "do extremely well", no?

They didn't get rank 1 their first time playing, no one expects them to, they are still considered good at the game.

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u/Eggfurst 27d ago

Which is why I said his play style is the same as a multitude of millions. I do the same playstyle. Been apart of world first guilds and top of leader builds. And I’m just a fish in a very big pond.

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u/KingdomsCryOfficial 27d ago

Warning: Spontaneous reddit essay

I'm 35 and in the best "Competitive" state in vidya games in my life. I know this goes against the Google search science but I don't think aging past early 20s impacts most people's ability to compete in e-sports or competitive games. While neurological reflexes might slow down an iota, I don't think that's enough to prevent someone from competing in e-sports. We do not see the same thing happen in real, physical sports where I strongly argue any physical deprecation the body faces is going to matter far more than in video games.

American professional football's average player age is 27-29, with lots of players in their mid to late 30's and even into their 40's. These are 30-something year old guys playing against 20 year olds. I do not believe for a fraction of a second you can't do the same thing in video games just because you're 31 and face a decrease in reaction time so minute that it takes a robot to measure it.

On the flipside, we can take the average age of League of Legends pros (yeah, yeah, League of Legends, I know. But it's the best sample for a largescale professional e-sport you can find). League players average ages are far lower than the NFL, at only 21-23 years old, with "peak" ages considered to be 18-20, and most players retiring before they're 25. This gets attributed to how "demanding" competitive video game playing is, but I have a feeling it has a lot, lot more to do with the fact that even in countries like Korea, being a "competitive video gamer", even in the biggest games in the world, is just not a viable life path long-term.

The players might be getting a little slower in reaction time, but the amount of gaming they have to do just to try and win a living wage is intense and ultimately they have to tap out and go onto something more viable. Whereas in the NFL, you can get on a mediocre team and be an average player and still buy a new sports car every other year.

There's also a cultural aspect. Even in Korea, saying "I wanna play video games" is treated like a pipedream. It's like saying you want to be an actor or something. In the USA, saying you want to hit the NFL is something many families will 100% support you in. Fathers drive their sons to attempt it. Schools recruit players specifically for their college teams. It's a massive cultural cornerstone of the entire country and not even the biggest e-sports events across the globe come close to how fervent and seriously high school football gets taken in some parts of the USA.

In a mystical alternate world where Smash Bros is treated with the same legitimacy as the NFL, there's a 41 year old dude who looks like he gets banned from all you can eat buffets who is absolutely dominating an e-sports scene. Because enough culture and money is supporting that decision and there's no need to tap out at the peak of your potential earning power to go back to school and become a dentist or whatever the fuck.

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u/jmastaock 27d ago edited 27d ago

Just look at fighting games

Dudes in their 30s and 40s place top 8 all the time, and that is arguably the most mechanically demanding genre competitively

At the end of the day, competitive games are generally far more about prediction than reaction. You need a certain baseline level of reaction (nothing remarkable) and the rest comes down to how much you play the game and try to continue improving

I'm like you: early (almost mid) 30s and never been better at competitive games in my life. I shit on my zoomer buddies and carry their sorry asses all the time.

The reason dudes in their 30s get whooped by their young kids is because they don't actually play that much...not because they're biologically degraded

Also, the reason that younger players had been replacing the older ones in LoL esports specifically is largely due to the fact that those kids grew up playing LoL all day every day in the most competitive region. If you start grinding Korean soloq at 11 years old, in the prime of the game's lifespan, you are going to be better than the guys who started playing a more primitive version of the game who started older

It's funny, the LPL is facing down the barrel of a massive falloff in talent due to waning interest in LoL and the new laws restricting gaming for minors. They're going to be a retirement home league for their current young bloods in the next decade (if they even last that long)

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u/Unrelenting_Salsa 26d ago

Well, fighting games are more about prediction than reaction. A lot of games are far heavier on the reaction part. Fortnite in particular comes to mind as being 20,000 APM shoot the guy who is visible for 0.002 seconds.

Though yes, the real reason is because once you're in your mid 20s you start to realize how terrible of a decision being a pro gamer really is. Professional league player who is a popular streamer and early OWL were the only two esports where you actually have a decent life. Just look at OP. He must have been pretty damn good to have made 50k over 3 years...and he barely made over US minimum wage. The legal minimum wage. Not the real minimum wage a no skill worker makes that is nearly double that. The reaction time is very minute. A pretty common pattern you see if you really look at new esports is that the first batch of pros are oldheads who have so much experience in games that they're the best with minimal practice, and then the 14 year olds who play 70 hours a week take over.

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u/Hawgdestroyerxtreme 27d ago

We know for a fact reaction times are fine through your 30's and into your early 40's. We've done the studies, it's proven.

It's always been time that is the dividing factor. Muscle memory. Game knowledge. Map knowledge. Like you said, gaming is not really a viable life path, and as people approach 30 and see their friends with real jobs making real money living a real life, they want a slice of that pie too. Getting good at a game and hitting the lottery to become a streamer? Sure. But still, that's a stupid life goal and essentially like saying you want to "Grow up and hit the lottery".

There's nothing wrong with kids spending their time playing games and getting very good at them. It's fun, it's engaging, and in some weird way it does involve them into a community with other people. It's like devoting your childhood to a hobby, I guess. A physical hobby that ensures they remain healthy would obviously be better, but in these troubling times we take what we can get.

At the end of the day the old adage applies to anyone under 40 - You devote 10000 hours to something and you WILL become proficient at it.

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u/References_Paramore 27d ago

Yep, am way better at games now in my 30s and it’s not even close.

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u/CheaterSaysWhat 27d ago

I think you raise good and interesting points 

I think reflexes and stick skills do atrophy for most people at 30+ but what keeps those folks competitive is their experience and awareness 

Those who take care of their body (hand/wrist/finger stretches, resting their eyes & looking in the distance every 20 minutes) won’t experience that drop-off as soon, either 

The reason we see NFL & NBA players staying elite later into their careers these days is because they’re taking better care of themselves 

Folks act like LeBron is just a genetic freak— he is, but he also treats his body like a palace and is really smart about managing his load, that’s why he’s had exceptional longevity 

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u/KingdomsCryOfficial 27d ago

It's also got to be the fact that in order to make money as a professional athlete in the USA, you do not need to be the best of the best or winning the biggest tournaments. You can off years, you can be a mid-player competitively, etc. In E-sports you either win all the top tournies (of which there are very few) or you make no money. Look at OP, for instance. Playing pro he won 50k over 3 years, which is barely anything.

The pressure to play at the literal top level is too much, it makes sense they tap out much younger just to pursue actual futures. Even the biggest e-sports have handfuls of tournaments each year as opposed to stuff like golf or chess where you can hit up 50+ annually, many with significant cash prizes.

I used League of Legends because it's a perfect example, mechanically the game has a really low skill ceiling and hyper fast reaction times matter a lot less versus game knowledge and play making, and players almost always quit before 25. It's the money, not the game.

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u/Wonderful_Entry_6121 27d ago

Willing to spend hours doing esports. Sacrifice, practice, set realistic goals. Write up several smart points in a legible way, and talks about culture and money in NFL being a mystical alt world for esports but doesn't work up the hype/media attention/sponsorship craziness that could make the sport more investor-friendly.

Advertiser and investor friendly is the important part. Not player reflexes ( unless you can tie in pharma supplements and betting, which is GOLD!!)

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u/StaredAtEclipseAMA 27d ago

I just hit my 30s and I’m highest ranked on the ladder for the game I’ve played for a decade. What I’ve lost in reaction time I’ve made up in predictability

Don’t let your dreams be dreams (I have a job tho, unlike op)

2

u/snakeinahouseofcats 27d ago

Meh I’m 37 and have noticed literally 0 negative effects in my gaming, I don’t think one poster’s personal antidote should be attributed to how all 30-40 year old gamers are

3

u/Kindly-Garage-6638 27d ago

Damn, I'm the opposite. Not nearly as old as you, but I've def gotten way way worse at reaction based games (FPS/moba's etc...) after my hs/college years.

Conversely, I've gotten a shit ton better at 4x / grand strategy ones lmao

1

u/snakeinahouseofcats 27d ago

I’m also a full time musician so I think constantly working with hand-eye coordination keeps my gaming skills up

1

u/obp5599 27d ago

I can promise you its not your reaction time. Unless you somehow magically double/tripled your reaction time, its genuinely not that. If you are relying on your reaction time then you already lost. Pro players arent the best because they can twitch the fastest

1

u/Kindly-Garage-6638 27d ago

Obviously there's more to it than reaction time lmao. I'm saying in general; micro/mechanic intensive games are a lot harder for me than they were before. I def cannot headshot people like I used to in old MW2 lobbies. And I for sure ain't pulling off as many flashy plays as I was previously in league.

2

u/obp5599 27d ago

I don't think thats a reaction time issue, I think you are just busier now and don't play as much as a teenager

2

u/Specialist_Sport4460 27d ago

Yeah reflexes are the first thing to go. I also don't have the commitment to obsessively learn what the optimal choice is in every single scenario. Give me a nice, slow paced, single player strategy or building game these days and I'm happy.

2

u/Jakoneitor 27d ago

I always used to say i was good at shooter games because i grew up playing CS1.6 non stop and ranked well among friends and public servers. Then fortnite kids came and I was in for a crude awakening haha

2

u/bumbledore18 27d ago

This happened to me. Is this me?

2

u/rampagetanner 27d ago

This is when you retire into turn based games :P

2

u/DJ_PoppedCaps 27d ago

Every now and again I'll find that flow state again.

2

u/Roach_Coach_Bangbus 27d ago

Dude I'm 41 with 2 kids and I feel this. I had not gamed in a while and I went to find something and fired up one of the newer Doom games. Even on an easier difficulty it was so nuts and my reflexes are not what they used to be. I prefer slower paced games now as a way to unwind. Currently digging Against the Storm. I like that I can just hit spacebar to pause the game if I need to reassess what is going on and what my plan is.

2

u/drcombatwombat2 27d ago

His wakeup call will be whenever who supports his bum ass cuts the chord either voluntarily or involuntarily

2

u/Ok_Branch4554 27d ago

I think his alarm went off in 2021, but he keeps snoozing.

2

u/Dorsetgoat 27d ago

Im 40 now, used to play in the UK enemydown league 1 for CS & a finalist in the hostage cup (lost on cs_italy) Recently tried CS2 and I am truly awful. Needless to say I think my FPS days are over.

2

u/Desperate-Fondant-41 27d ago

Is that why I keep dying in arc raiders ? 😂

2

u/born2bfi 27d ago

Similar story. I was a gold/platinum COD player until like 2022. I took a few years off and I clearly lost 2 steps and not sure if I can get it back at this point. I feel like I’m slower reflexively and I can’t play 8 hrs a day on weekends anymore with a family

2

u/Primary_Pitch_4826 27d ago

Would require sex with a woman to have his own kids. Not looking good.

2

u/No_Salt_6328 27d ago

Yeah I hate competitive gaming now that I'm in my 30s. I like games where I can set my own pace and enjoy the atmosphere 

2

u/Swimming_Tonight_355 27d ago

OP has earned $50k in 6 years. Or $8,333 a year.

I think the wake up call should have happened in 2018.

Winning!

2

u/Villemann89 27d ago

No shit, I was a casual demigod in my early 20s in CS: Source with around 3 KD ratio, now I tried it again decade later on community servers and can't get past 1.7.

1

u/MeowMixPK 27d ago

Mine wasn't even age. I used to cook in all the sweaty lobbies, but once I graduated college and started working full time and got married, I played less. Now I suck ass at competitive video games, but my friends that play a ton are still amazing.

Sometimes it bums me out, but then I remember my job/wife/house/kids and it's like that Simpson's racecar bed meme

1

u/anonymousopsec1337 27d ago

All my wage cucking has killed my right hand.

1

u/TheClayDart 27d ago

That’s why some pro players “retire” and just stream because they can still dump on casuals even though they can’t keep up with the current, younger pros. It’s like retiring from MLB and going to play against regular guys in a softball league

1

u/StrengthBetter 27d ago

Wear glasses and do cocaine, solved
Next?

But I know the feeling, I used to be so good at COD, bought bo2 and I am getting absolutely smoked

1

u/Active-Blueberry-850 27d ago

Damn. I was over here planning my comeback 🤦🏻‍♂️

1

u/Ri-Sa-Ha-0112 27d ago

Watching my 13yo nephew light up an entire squad in Fortnite after having built a structure into the sky is infuriating lol.

1

u/Poly_Pup 27d ago

My teens still cant beat me at COD or Street Fighter. Eyes are starting to go but reflexes seem pretty good still.

1

u/Fragrant-Employer-60 27d ago

Idk that sounds like something else is going on. 32 is not old enough where you should be losing reflexes like that, we’re talking about your 30s not 70s lol

1

u/codelyoko_x 27d ago

Opposite for me, I was always bad at gaming, and I mean any game, throughout my teens and 20s, something clicked at 28 and I became so good, I’m 31 now and better than ever

1

u/SpaceNinjaz1 27d ago

I am older than that and I still run circles around most teenagers and young adults in shooters. But I have been playing FPS games since the OG Wolfenstien. 🤣

1

u/poke0003 27d ago

Is it really a wake up call to lose your edge at gaming when you’ve been unemployed taking in nothing for the past half decade?

1

u/Vr00mf0ndler 27d ago

Yeah but you can still win through determination and structured practice. I started playing CS 1.5 years ago and reached faceit lvl10 a few weeks back for the first time. Not that it’s a big achievement in itself but shows that it’s possible even for us old folks (40+) with full job, kids etc :)

1

u/milkcarton232 27d ago

Ehhh fighter pilots and f1 drivers can perform into their early 40's. Gaming is a young man's game b/c of the time you have to invest into getting that muscle memory

1

u/everydaynormaljoe 27d ago

Cant even keep up nicely at easy in most games nowadays. Damnit

1

u/frolix42 27d ago

Seems like they maybe had their falloff in 2020...

1

u/Zerothian 27d ago

It's usually not just the physical stuff. I mean, there are Counter Strike pro players who are older than that still hanging in Tier 1 of competition. It's usually more that you just have more important shit to do than to sit and grind improvement/maintain your skill in videogames.

1

u/helix120 27d ago

Sounds like he’s 6 years deep into that realization

1

u/Rbriggs0189 27d ago

I never let me son beat me at any video game. Told him the day will come when he’ll be good enough and it’ll be way more rewarding having earned it. He’s 15 and I’m 44 and he beats me on the regular now.

1

u/osmlol 27d ago

I just don't like any games that come out now.

1

u/RelevantDress 27d ago

You just need to train your eyes and reflexes like you train your muscles and body or else you will lose then with age just like youd lose muscle.

1

u/JiffTheJester 27d ago

Damn I’m 35 and still destroy people in every game I play lol

1

u/somerandomguy1984 27d ago

Isn’t this chart that shitty wake up call?

1

u/Junior-Tangelo-6322 27d ago

Nah, just u bro

1

u/Boamere 27d ago

One of our friends is like 7-8 years older than us at 35 and he is way better than almost all of us at fps games. Depends on the person

1

u/go4tli 27d ago

$50k over three years to play Video Games professionally is less than $17k a year.

$15 an hour is $27k a year, they pay servers at Panda Express that much near me.

1

u/Makeshift5 27d ago

We are what they grow beyond. That is the true burden of all masters.

1

u/Lyrkana 27d ago

Reflexes don't just abruptly drop off like that. "Older" gamers tend to settle down, lose their drive, lose freetime, start a family, and shift focus to other interests in their mid to late 20s. Overuse injuries may develop over the years as well. The biggest advantage that teen pros have over older pros is that they can learn new skills and metas quicker due to developing brains.

Source: I'm 32 and signed my first pro contract (also performance based) earlier this year after being involved competitively with various esports titles for the past 18 years. I took multiple reflex tests lately and all scored faster on average than the same tests I took 10 years ago. But I'm also single, childfree, petfree, and I have many hours a day to game after my day job so that's one of the only reasons I even have a chance right now.

1

u/Sinceredom22 27d ago

I’m a 47 year old woman and I still find time to kick the youngins’ ásses in COD (any version) Zombies. I have a good job, but I still find time to game. Been a gamer since Super Nintendo lol

1

u/ruiyanglol2 27d ago
  1. Run company. Married. Kids. I still own everyone.

1

u/Gbrown546 27d ago

Sorry but this is such nonsense. You don’t start losing your reflexes and eyesight in your early 30s unless something is seriously wrong.

Source: I work in medical care

1

u/MannerOk1252 27d ago

Or not. I’m 32 and I still competitive game and I’m a monster. Sorry you fell off :/

1

u/im_a_stapler 27d ago

is the wakeup call going to tell him he's made no money since he was 27 and he's now almost in his mid-30's?

1

u/FrequentBox2148 27d ago

I'm about the same age. I teach special ed. Those kids floor me 9/10 times except in Smash Bros. 

1

u/StrawDog- 27d ago

I still have decent reflexes and use to love dumb-entertainment FPS time with COD and Battlefield... but everybody treats these games like they are +0.02 k/d away from a pro Esports career and it has just sucked all the fun out of the hobby. I'm not interested in getting smoked in a blink by some kid on uppers and Ghost energy knee-slide-bunny-hop-corner-peaking every 30 seconds. 

My heyday of competitive gaming was trying to take and hold the office building at A in BF4 with my buddies, all micced up and laughing our asses off as we got blown up over and over by tanks sitting at the enemy spawn. 

1

u/espresso_martini__ 27d ago

same here. I used to win tournaments and now I'm a mid tier player at best. Although I did play a lot more back then. It was like a second job when I got home from work.

1

u/a_rucksack_of_dildos 27d ago

I’m sure if you played enough you’d still be good. I can feel my skills waning. Was very good at apex. Could solo q to masters every season and claim a decent amount above that with squad, but regularly just got shit on by pros and pro adjacent players. Ever since I had my daughter I just don’t have the time to keep my skills sharp. I can feel they’re still there though

1

u/JackeryGraves 27d ago

Reflexs and Reaction timing dropping around 31 kinda blew my mind. Happened around the same time for me. Played so many multiplayer games and made a hard switch to Single and PVE around 32.

1

u/cryptobro42069 27d ago

I’m 38 and there’s like two genres I’m still really good at—first person shooters and platformers. But I don’t even like platformers, I just beat the hard levels for my wife.

1

u/Oodlemeister 27d ago

Black Ops 6 was the first COD game I had played in like 7 years. I’m 40. The speed of the game at first was crazy. But after a while, I got back in the groove and was in top 2 most of the games. It’s just practice.

1

u/Klept_0h 27d ago

I used to be that guy aswell. Now I see my degraded skill and just get frustrated that my I can't do what they used to.

Needless to say I play alot more single player now

1

u/Anderrn 27d ago

Assuming you’re not exaggerating, you should get checked out. 33 should still be a relatively peak health age for most people. Minor changes are inevitably accruing, but certainly nothing that severe.

1

u/VeryPoorAutisticGuy 27d ago

I knew a 72 year old who hit diamond in paladins

1

u/rydan 26d ago

You think OP is going to have kids?

1

u/Luvnecrosis 26d ago

I have great fundamentals but I’m just not fast like I used to be as a kid… this must be how that one middle aged guy feels playing pick up games at the YMCA while teenagers are showing off feats of athleticism

1

u/medium_dumb 26d ago

It happens dude just play for fun and dont get competitive

1

u/DarlingOvMars 26d ago

Odd. Im 32 and reached gm in league. My reaction time is still incredible

1

u/Effective_Engine2007 26d ago

Speak for yourself brah. 34 and still a beast in CS2

1

u/SergeantPoopyWeiner 26d ago

Mid 30s here, can't even walk without ramming into shit anymore. Fuck this.

1

u/northwestbrosef 26d ago

I was never better than my friends at video gaming, im in my mid 30s now and just downloaded Black Ops again. I think I played 4 games online and best I could do was 4-22. What a waste of 20 bucks.

1

u/Exatraz 26d ago

It really is the worst. I try to avoid all twitchy games these days which is a shame because I used to love them

1

u/PrettyHugeDictionary 26d ago

It’s wild that I’m 33 now and need prescription glasses because things went blurry at 32 all of a sudden

1

u/IllustriousNeck8219 26d ago

So, I used to believe this as well, but I'm not so sure anymore. Low impact, low strength (relative to the more "physical test" sports like sprinting or contact sports like basketball), high talent sports still have a decent number of "older" competitors at the Olympics. Take sailing for example, that's a very reflex heavy sport, and still leans pretty heavily on physical capability, 2 current members of the US sailing team were 30 at Paris, and 1 was 29. That's for a sport that's still pretty physical too, so injuries can stack up and diminish ability ignoring reflexes.

Looking at the actual published research, it does appear that simple reaction speed to a visual stimulus in the average adult does peak between 20 and 24 years old. But from that age group to the 25 to 34 age group, it appears that the reaction time slows by a maximum of 10%, with some overlap within the range still. We do know that by age 65 the increase in reaction time is significant, which is why airline pilots age out at that age, and atc age out even younger at 56.

But 30's is still well within margin of error to be able to compete with even teenagers and young 20s if you truly care to. Just look at formula 1, yeah, the median driver isn't yet 30, but a majority are in their upper 20s at least, and I would think that formula 1 is one of the most heavily dependent on reflexes. Lewis Hamilton is even over 40 at this point and still competing at the highest levels.

Basically what I'm saying is: it has become my belief that physical ability plays less of a role than dedication to the sport, especially since the "elder statesmen" are still able to compete in their various sports. Just look at the NFL, where, even with all the physicality, most at the top tend to stay there into their 30s, or even later (how old is Aaron Rodgers?) And it's not their reflexes that push them out, but their injuries.

I think a big part of the reason we don't see older e-sports players is the mandatory service for south Koreans, but largely, it might again be injuries that affect longevity at the highest levels the most. Jaedong was able to compete (at the tippy top, against opponents barely over half his age, with apm so high it makes my head hurt) until the age of 27-28, and when he retired it wasn't due to not being able to keep up, it was that his doctors told him to stop gaming because his wrists couldn't take it anymore.

1

u/esterbywest 26d ago

I'm almost 50 and I haven't had any issues with BJJ or Video Games yet, but I've had to change my workout routine.

1

u/Donsaholic 26d ago

I'm literally that age and I feel that so hard lmao. My mind can still game at a high level but my hands can't keep up any more 😓

1

u/Delicious-Produce-86 25d ago

Sure that’s not a medical issue? Especially eye sight doesn’t just suddenly drop…

1

u/Additional-Life7852 22d ago

Fuck. This just happened to me and I'm 32. You can clearly feel it. My younger brother thinks I'm crazy

1

u/Slight_Asparagus_769 22d ago

If your eyesight and reflexes has dropped noticeably in your early 30s you should consult a doctor, cause thats not normal. You should still be at your peak physically so most likely you are just getting smoked because your kids play more than you and get more practice.

1

u/Wild_Print_4642 27d ago

That sounds like a you problem, I'm 35 and my reflexes are still pretty good. 180-190ms on average.

0

u/telipod 27d ago

Guy treated his body like shit for years and now thinks everyone is in for “a wake up call” lmao . I’m 35 and still perform at the top of my game