Crispy™ I can't aim for shit in FPS anymore

[A horse of course]

Something odd I've noticed over the past four or five years is that my l33t skillz with a mouse are getting progressively worse. This isn't because I've become accustomed to console pleb autoaim or thumbsticks or anything - whilst I have played on consoles a fair bit, 85% of my playtime has been on PC, and I virtually never play FPS titles on anything other than mouse and keyboard. Yet at 27, I'm actually finding many of the 90s/early 00s titles I played as a kid vastly more difficult than I did when I originally played them.

Obviously this isn't much of an issue with Doom clones, but anything later than that is a bit of a problem. When I was younger I found daisy-chaining pixel-perfect headshots no problem, yet today I find it practically impossible to do so in the same games unless NPCs waltz straight into my recticule. I'm also slower to actually react to enemies appearing, and I'm actually finding it difficult to keep up with moving targets these days. Now, as far as I know I don't have any sort of degenerative muscle disease. Has anyone else noticed this problem? Is it merely a symptom of growing old and losing the finely-honed edge of youthful ADD exuberance? Is this why the Codex was formed in the first place - old men, embittered by the loss of their pewpewing skills, banded together to proclaim turn-based combat superior? It's not the increased difficulty that bothers me - I could always start setting everything to low/casual - but rather the fact that I no longer enjoy playing shooters on PC as much as I used to due to the frustration of constantly screwing up.

 

[J_C]

Something odd I've noticed over the past four or five years is that my l33t skillz with a mouse are getting progressively worse. This isn't because I've become accustomed to console pleb autoaim or thumbsticks or anything - whilst I have played on consoles a fair bit, 85% of my playtime has been on PC, and I virtually never play FPS titles on anything other than mouse and keyboard. Yet at 27, I'm actually finding many of the 90s/early 00s titles I played as a kid vastly more difficult than I did when I originally played them.

Obviously this isn't much of an issue with Doom clones, but anything later than that is a bit of a problem. When I was younger I found daisy-chaining pixel-perfect headshots no problem, yet today I find it practically impossible to do so in the same games unless NPCs waltz straight into my recticule. I'm also slower to actually react to enemies appearing, and I'm actually finding it difficult to keep up with moving targets these days. Now, as far as I know I don't have any sort of degenerative muscle disease. Has anyone else noticed this problem? Is it merely a symptom of growing old and losing the finely-honed edge of youthful ADD exuberance? Is this why the Codex was formed in the first place - old men, embittered by the loss of their pewpewing skills, banded together to proclaim turn-based combat superior? It's not the increased difficulty that bothers me - I could always start setting everything to low/casual - but rather the fact that I no longer enjoy playing shooters on PC as much as I used to due to the frustration of constantly screwing up.

What I noticed is that in today's games, which has lots of detail, shit load of effects, bloom, shaders whatnot, aiming is harder because the enemies don't stand out from the background that much, they almost blend in if they are at least medium distance. I can aim much better in the older games, where the graphics are more simpler and have better contrast between character and background modells.

Spoiler

And of course you are getting older paps.

 

[Gozma]

I blame optical mice

 

[Konjad]

I'm sorry to say this, but this sounds like you've got a brain cancer.

Alternatively, maybe you play less of those old FPS games and/or had a long break, so you just lost these skills and need to retrain them?

 

[Tehdagah]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/touch/story.html?id=9736367

Canadian researchers find ‘over the hill’ begins at age 24

I'm feeling the same

 

[Konjad]

Just start taking drugs, no need to play games then.

 

[Angthoron]

Are you playing these same games on higher resolution than originally? Higher res will have a pretty major impact on your aim - you're much more likely to hit shit at, say, 640x480 than at modern resolutions, even at 1080p stuff.

 

[Ranselknulf]

When was the last time you had an eye exam?

 

[Turjan]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/touch/story.html?id=9736367

Canadian researchers find ‘over the hill’ begins at age 24

I'm feeling the same

Teens have better reflexes than someone in their mid-twenties. Don't ask how it is a few decades later.

 

[Turjan]

Are you playing these same games on higher resolution than originally? Higher res will have a pretty major impact on your aim - you're much more likely to hit shit at, say, 640x480 than at modern resolutions, even at 1080p stuff.

Also this. Less pixel.

 

[Destroid]

Good thing I never relied of precision aiming in the first place.

 

[Outlander]

 

[Renegen]

Practice on Osu!! (the 2nd ! is mine), it's a proven method of improving your hand eye coordination while listening to catchy tunes! Only 87% of the songs are weeboo shit!

 

[Humanity has risen!]

There's a reason why all the FPS champions are kids in their late teens, we gradually decline. Not like aiming like some AZN Counter-Strike autistic freak makes for interesting gameplay anyway.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Cocaine is the only known substance that can actually reverse mental aging and make you a better, more alert and more reactive person.

 

[SoupNazi]

Get your eyes checked.

I am not even kidding.

Recently I noticed the exact same thing. Headshots just weren't happening. In tactical games like ArmA/DayZ, I wasn't seeing players or other elements of the game that my friends were seeing. Or I would watch a video of such a game and not see something that the Youtuber has pointed out, like a player in the distance - I had to pause the video and look for it specifically where he described.

Then I bought a PS3 to play GTAV, and I couldn't read the text from my couch. At all. I had to move in at a distance where the game was ugly (aliased) to be able to read the text. I also started noticing that I don't see things I used to - there is a particular bus stop in town that I take when I'm out drinking and I started noticing that I do not see the number of the bus at the same distance (a traffic light nearby) that I used to easily see it.

So I got my eyes checked and I have -1 and +0.25 in each eye, which is pretty bad. And it actually improved my performance in games, especially in ArmA, and also in Insurgency when I'm playing sniper class, when I wear my glasses.

 

[Jaesun]

 

[chestburster]

Imagine when you're 50 and you'd have to aim in Oculus VR.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Frustration is part of it. If you get anihillated constantly your will to fight effectively vanished.
For some reason I sucked at some MP games (like Fistful of Frags).

So eye check + energy drinks.

 

[AlexOfSpades]

I feel the same Ed, i can't aim for shit in UT2004's instagib matches anymore. I used to do insane kills, now i'm missing most of my shots. Either i need to play more, or my eye-to-hand coordination is fading away

 

[Surf Solar]

So eye check + energy drinks.

Energy drinks, hell even coffee dont help me in FPS games. They make me too twitchy and I am more prone to rush into situations I would usually don't. Depends on the person I guess.

 

[chestburster]

If I make it to 50 I sincerely doubt I'll be using a 2031 VR headset to play vidya

In 2031 you'll pay $9.99 for a DLC to make your vidya game retro-compatible with your legacy monitor.

 

[Angthoron]

Are you playing these same games on higher resolution than originally? Higher res will have a pretty major impact on your aim - you're much more likely to hit shit at, say, 640x480 than at modern resolutions, even at 1080p stuff.

Possible, but I never noticed a difference going from a BBC Micro B display to an 800x600 and then 1280x1024 CRT when I was younger.

Me either, but that was CRTs and same aspect ratio. Now you have wider screens, so ratio is off, and you'd generally need to move the mouse a bit differently. Plus, if your system suffers framerate drops, you need to actually aim predictively.

Get your eyes checked.

I am not even kidding.

I'm not sure if it's my eyes - it "feels" wrong too, like I'm no longer able to handle a mouse with the same level of precision.

What kind of mouse do you use? Inbe4 Metro.

 

[Excidium]

scrub

 

[Melan]

They told you about excessive masturbation, didn't they.

 

[Angthoron]

Are you playing these same games on higher resolution than originally? Higher res will have a pretty major impact on your aim - you're much more likely to hit shit at, say, 640x480 than at modern resolutions, even at 1080p stuff.

Possible, but I never noticed a difference going from a BBC Micro B display to an 800x600 and then 1280x1024 CRT when I was younger.

Me either, but that was CRTs and same aspect ratio. Now you have wider screens, so ratio is off, and you'd generally need to move the mouse a bit differently. Plus, if your system suffers framerate drops, you need to actually aim predictively.

Get your eyes checked.

I am not even kidding.

I'm not sure if it's my eyes - it "feels" wrong too, like I'm no longer able to handle a mouse with the same level of precision.

What kind of mouse do you use? Inbe4 Metro.

Interesting theory. I don't think it's that though - I switched to a 1080p monitor long before I noticed this issue.

I was using a Mionix NAOS 5000 up until half an hour ago. Switched to a shitty "MSI GAMING MOUSE" that was bundled with my laptop because it feels lighter, so I'll try that out for a while.

Worth playing some mix and match. If you don't notice your eyesight/reaction time dropping otherwise, it has to be something with your hardware or the way you're using it (posturing - different desk height or the likes, for example)

 

[Average Manatee]

I've experienced this but it's always been fixed as soon as I turned off excessive framebuffering or mouse smoothing and stuff like that. I don't really feel a difference in old games that are still responsive and stable 60 FPS.

Keep in mind that you might have some wishful thinking in remembering your childhood. It's easy to overestimate how awesome you were and underestimate how you spent 2 hours trying the same level over and over on max difficulty until you finally did it perfectly (which is all you remember).

Are you playing these same games on higher resolution than originally? Higher res will have a pretty major impact on your aim - you're much more likely to hit shit at, say, 640x480 than at modern resolutions, even at 1080p stuff.

Also this. Less pixel.

Games don't work like this. Unless higher resolutions actually expand the viewport and make it harder to see things.