I started gaming with a Commodore 64 way back when the dinosaurs were walking around :(

Back then I played mostly arcade games. When the NES and Genesis arrived, I began expanding my horizons to Action, RPG, and Strategy.

Then I moved on to FPS's with the likes of Battlefield 1942 while maintaining the aforementioned genres.

Now, however; with all of my responsibilities, I find myself centered around mostly Action titles. I still like RPG's and Strategy (FPS too, however; my reflexes aren't what the used to be), however; I don't seem to have enough time to really get into them - an hour here, an hour there, does not allow me personally to really get into a game like I used to.

Any of you have a similar genre transition as you aged and more responsibilities were placed on your shoulders?

I game less. I own more. I'm pickier, satisfied less easily. I stop playing games when they stop being fun. As a kid I would continue to play for hours something I was not having fun at. Can't imagine doing that now. I don't brag or take pride in "beating" something any more. I play to find delightful and interesting and though-provoking things. Elegant mechanics, beautiful art, interesting ideas, great music. I game for shorter sessions. I don't care about "immersion" any longer. Wanting to be whisked away from the world does not appeal to me any longer - not in games, not in music, not in movies. I'm pretty grounded in reality compared to my youth. And I like it.

Quite a bit.

I don't play the 'epic' RPGs much these days since playtime can come in dribs and drabs - hard to pick up where you left off 6 weeks prior. "Uuuuh, what was I supposed to be doing?" That's why I haven't picked up Divinity: OS in many months. Got busy, didn't play for a good while, lost track of the story and what I was doing. Kills the immersion.

Used to play more simulator games but the joystick is shot and I haven't picked out a new one yet. That, and they're tough to play on the road since one needs to lug around said joystick and, preferably, headphones. And hotel desks are sometimes too small for the extra hardware.

I was all over RTS games for many years and haven't played one in probably 2-3 years now. Not sure why.

So now it's more of the action stuff though I don't really go for platformers, Terraria being the exception (if that game fits in the Platformer category). SPAZ, The Masterplan, Terraria, Alien Shooter, stuff like that.

Do need to play Stalker: Clear Sky (the other two are great), and maybe replay the first one now that I know what I'm doing. Would also like to try out the Metro games, if this laptop can run them. And go back to FarCry2, with mods to eliminate some annoyances. A few things in that game became tiresome after a bit so I set it aside.

I have totally changed genres.

First we had a NES, and I was horrible at platformers (still am), so I never really played, except for Bubble Bobble.

Then, we got our first computer, and my uncle gave us King's Quest and Myst. I got really into point and clicks after that. High school started, and I grew out of those and didn't play games until we got Doom and Diablo 1. Then I discovered the awesome of FPS and never looked back. I went to college and had stopped playing again, but then one break I came home and my brother was like, "you gotta check out the new Diablo!"

Finished college and stopped again, this time for a bit. Then a guy I was dating read a review about some silly game called Oblivion and thought it would be fun to try. Billions of hours later, I was hooked on open-worlds.

So yeah, now I can barely stand point and clicks, and I love my sandbox games and FPS.

Not as I aged but pretty much every ten minutes it changes 180 degrees.

My genre tastes haven't changed, but with less gaming time that I have available, I have to be pickier with the games I choose. Since I usually want to commit to a single game, it had better be a good one if I'm to spend 40-60 hours on it. So it's mostly highly acclaimed RPGs or adventures.

I mean, we can still play them even if we have less time to do it, it will only take longer to beat it... But the problem, at least for me, is the commitment, the idea that i'll have to lose a large amount of hours to learn the game and dedicate my time only for that title just makes me not even start the game, i bought Civ5 and bunch of expansions a few years ago and i never played it...
When i was younger, i would play those long titles, especially jrpgs because there was this "reward" by watching those cgi that for the time were amazing, so you were always wasting those hours just to get to the next "event" (and obviously the story was entertaining).

Nowadays it's just feels like you've seen and played everything, hell, it even feels like the games are going backwards, you keep imagining the games that you've played getting bigger and better and it's the opposite, they add dumb stuff and remove features (obviously that i know they will return in a later titles as a "new" feature).

To be honest, at least nowadays i'm more adventurous with what i play so that's actually good because i get to play new things in this stale industry...

Mine haven't changed much over the past +25 years.
I never liked strategy games that much, but this is slowly changing somewhat.

A rock.

I never have any specific genre I like, most are good for me. I did spend most of my years playing The Sims, but even if I have started explore other genres it does not mean I like The Sims less (or play it less). Although since I'm bad at most games I prefer slowpaced games, preferably where you cannot die easily or need to do any superhard things. I've discovered point and click games not long ago and I feel that's quite a nice genre for me, even if it can become quite hard sometimes.

If I am not mistaken, don't you speak about your nieces and nephews having no attention span? If so, your post seems to indicate that it runs in the family.

I kid, I kid! :P

The difference is everyone knows I'm a moron and a waste. :P Those two kids are the future of society. We need them!

Attitudes to game playing have changed over time, now we consume media rather than play games. I tend to play most things, though sports I don't get on with, drving and flight sims. Also sim life type things. Far prefer mindless violence or rpgs, that's never changed.

She is the Droog.

You will be assimilated. :P