Relaxing games versus competitive games: which do you actually reach for, and has it changed?

[Zoe90]

A thread about what we want from games now. Broadly there are games we play to unwind, the calm, the cosy, the no fail pottering, and games we play to compete, the ranked, the tense, the win or lose, and most people have drifted strongly toward one over the years, so which are you now and were you always?

The interesting part is the drift, because a lot of people who spent their youth in the competitive trenches, chasing ranks and rages, find themselves gravitating to the calm end as life gets busier and more stressful, wanting their leisure to lower their heart rate rather than raise it, while a few go the other way entirely

There is a real question underneath about what games are for at different life stages, whether the competitive fire is a young person's game that stress and responsibility slowly extinguish, or whether some people simply need the win and others simply need the calm, wiring rather than age

So declare your current lean, relaxing or competitive, tell us whether it has shifted over the years and what shifted it, and the honest bonus, whether you miss the version of you that could rage at a ranked ladder for hours, or whether you are relieved to have left them behind for a quiet farm and a cup of tea

[StayReadyKev91]

Spent my twenties in the ranked trenches and now I exclusively potter on cosy no fail games, the drift was total and stress driven, my leisure cannot also be a source of blood pressure anymore

[Zoe90]

The leisure cannot also be stress point is the whole shift for a lot of us, when life got demanding I needed games to be the calm not another arena, the competitive fire went out on its own

[Phil95]

Went the other way, was a cosy gamer as a kid and now I love the competitive tension, turns out I bottle up all week and a ranked ladder is where it comes out safely, wiring not age for me

[HitmanMarcus94]

That is the interesting counter, it is not universally a drift toward calm, some people find the competitive outlet more necessary as adult life gives them nowhere else to channel it

[Natalie61]

I miss the version of me who could care that much honestly, the rage was awful but the investment was real, cosy games are lovely but nothing has ever gripped me like chasing a rank at nineteen

[Isaac80]

The nostalgia for caring that much is real and bittersweet, the competitive years were stressful and also the most alive gaming ever felt, calm is better for me now but it is quieter in every sense

[Kieron83]

Do both depending on mood and I think that is the healthiest place, a competitive session when I have energy to burn and a cosy one when I am fried, matching the game to the tank rather than the identity

[Mike]

Matching the game to the tank rather than the identity is smart, the mistake is forcing yourself into competitive when you are depleted, that is where the rage and the misery live

[Inland Aidan]

Parent now and cosy games won by default, they pause instantly and demand nothing, competitive games need a block of uninterrupted focus that my life simply does not contain anymore, logistics decided it