20 Things Only 30-Something Gamers Will Understand

20. Multi-Player Meant Having Real Friends

Today's world of faceless online play will never be able to match that happy, warm-inside feeling that comes with seeing a friend left utterly destroyed at the controls. 

Meeting mates at the arcade for an epic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or NBA Jam session while hogging the machine until the money runs out was pure class. During the school holidays strangers became friends on the final bend of Daytona USA and rivalries were forged thanks to a dead-end in Bomberman.

Even when arcades had died off and every home had a Nintendo or SEGA brothers battled brothers and class-mates would come round after school for their tea and a quick thrashing on Street Fighter 2.

These days headsets don't quite cut it and direct messaging "banter" is for kids. Truly the virtual gaming lobbies of the PS4 and Xbox One and the whole online experience don't even come close to the glory days of the 80s and 90s. 

True multi-player battles will always take place together in the same room, at the same time, with snacks.