I actually had to stop and thing about how us Canadians talk about college. We talk about credits. From what I remember, even at my French uni we talked about credits, even though we didn’t really make our own schedules.

I’m still a long way from kids (and marriage for that matter). But I find that when I do get free time, my choices are “go do something new and exciting! Or play the same game I’ve been playing for 6 years.”

For the record, not all Americans talk about college the same way either. In California we talked about units, but in Texas they talk about hours and mean the same thing.

When I was young it was a choice between gaming, reading, watching TV, or playing outside. In college there seemed to be so much less free time with work and school. The high point of my gaming was after marriage and before kids as something my husband and I did together on the weekends. We were heavily into Diablo 2 when our son was born. Gaming is still something we do together and now include our kids in, but like you, the balance, reasons, goals, and time commitment have changed over time. Now a lot more of my drive to play is about the people and social aspect since it’s hard to find time for that when you have kids. Now we can game with our friends after the kids are in bed and no one has to get a babysitter.

In that sense I think the perspective you gain and the choices you make with your time do show “growing up”, but continuing to play shows that we all want to hold on to some of that youthful fun.

I used “growing up” in a bit of a poetic form. Used literally, I agree that it would be a little weird considering that I’m coming up to 30. In some cultures, I’m old enough to be a grandma!

My genres have actually stayed pretty similar over the years, but then I’ve never been very big on reflex-type games. I can’t say I had bad reflexes, I just never gave those games a try. The closest I came were platform games, and those were more muscle memory based than anything else. I *can* notice my learning slowing down and my reflexes being less sharp in WoW. I cringe and hope that it’s due to the more relaxed form of raiding my guild does and not due to getting older… (I’m not even 30 yet, I can’t possibly be loosing it, right? Right?)

What you say about being a kid is something I’ve felt as well. I’ve never understood those who say they miss it. I found that childhood was a waiting period, where I waited to finally be a person and do what I want to do. I also worried far more as a kid because I didn’t understand the world enough and I didn’t have the resources to deal with things. As an adult, I have way more control over my life. And even from a happiness perspective – as a kid, every little obstacle and letdown was the end of the world. I was angry and sad soooo much as a kid. I’ve found that over the years I’ve become way more detached and patient, which in turn has made me a much happier person.

AMEN!!!!!!

-Anslym