Y'know, I'd be interested to see how the "gamer age" of people who enjoy lower magic versus the "gamer age" of the higher magic crowd would break down:
I guess you could say I cusp on (but don't quite qualify for) old fart status - began playing in '81 - and have found that I miss "name level." In 1e and (to a lesser extent) 2e, I always found that by the time we hit levels 9 to 11, we were just about at character retirement. The world had been saved, the PCs had land and vassals to deal with, what have you - time to break out new characters (maybe even followers of the old ones, or possibly younger relatives).
Anyway, when we made the switch to 3e (which we did because we felt that the basic mechanics were simply superior), I found myself in sort of unfamiliar territory - by default level advancement was at lightspeed in comparison to what I was used to, and characters just didn't feel "finished" at 10 level, and the default for the seemed to assume that a PC wasn't ready for retirement into NPC-dom until 20th (or, when the ELH came out, beyond). So, instead of seeing teleportation and raising the dead as the signposts for the end of the game, those spells served as signs that the characters were finally getting ready to come into their own. As an example - our current campaign is following a metastory arc that will likely end up with the PCs at about 18th level by the time we're said and done(we're currently an average of 10th/11). When we ran a 2e campaign that was similar in scope to this one, we ended up wrapping the whole thing up as 9th level characters (who qualified for 10th after the session).
Basically, what was once a campaign pinnacle has just become another mile marker. And I believe that as a result, we've become desensatized to magic - its no longer wondrous for us, and simply becomes another tool (and an ubiquitous one at that, considering the slew of magic that high level adventurers are expected to have). So when I say that I like lower magic campaigns, for me its simply an attempt recapture that wonder.
I guess you could say I cusp on (but don't quite qualify for) old fart status - began playing in '81 - and have found that I miss "name level." In 1e and (to a lesser extent) 2e, I always found that by the time we hit levels 9 to 11, we were just about at character retirement. The world had been saved, the PCs had land and vassals to deal with, what have you - time to break out new characters (maybe even followers of the old ones, or possibly younger relatives).
Anyway, when we made the switch to 3e (which we did because we felt that the basic mechanics were simply superior), I found myself in sort of unfamiliar territory - by default level advancement was at lightspeed in comparison to what I was used to, and characters just didn't feel "finished" at 10 level, and the default for the seemed to assume that a PC wasn't ready for retirement into NPC-dom until 20th (or, when the ELH came out, beyond). So, instead of seeing teleportation and raising the dead as the signposts for the end of the game, those spells served as signs that the characters were finally getting ready to come into their own. As an example - our current campaign is following a metastory arc that will likely end up with the PCs at about 18th level by the time we're said and done(we're currently an average of 10th/11). When we ran a 2e campaign that was similar in scope to this one, we ended up wrapping the whole thing up as 9th level characters (who qualified for 10th after the session).
Basically, what was once a campaign pinnacle has just become another mile marker. And I believe that as a result, we've become desensatized to magic - its no longer wondrous for us, and simply becomes another tool (and an ubiquitous one at that, considering the slew of magic that high level adventurers are expected to have). So when I say that I like lower magic campaigns, for me its simply an attempt recapture that wonder.