[doubled112]

Speaking of games and cognitive load, am I getting old? Or is keeping track of the button scheme getting more complicated as time goes on?

Jump used to jump, and run used to run, and that was that.

Let's use the Batman Arkham series for example. Every button seems to do something else depending on context and I can't keep track anymore.

[Avshalom]

It really got started with prince of Persia sands of time. Ubisoft spent a lot of time going on about their context sensitive controls (which they actually credited to sports games at the time) then it spread from there.

[agumonkey]

I can't answer, it's been years since I played something more complex than CoD (and even then it's due to younger siblings insisting).

To me the most overloading part is the pacing and degrees of freedom. Everything is moving everywhere, yet somehow they manage to feel at home and instinctively act clean while I struggle to pursue the basics. I guess it's just young brains being too good at sipping whatever is required to play, while we're having to fit our legacy views and needs.

[mgkimsal]

not the parent, but... I had to give up past Pitfall, Asteroids, Donkey Kong and others. One stick... 1-2 buttons - that's ... all I can handle. The switch to Nintendo and the "A-BB-B-UP-UP-X-Y-AABBA" key codes people would memorize from magazines... I just couldn't keep up. And that was... 35 years ago...