what does this mean for an average Joe such as myself? does this improve anything? change anything? what's the deal?
Should improve performance in certain situations since the game is able to use more ram than it could before.
If you use a Mac, the game will work on the next upcoming release of Mac OS
The game will no longer run on computers with 32-bit Operating Systems (which are pretty rare now, so this mostly affects really old computers).
If you are concerned about that last point and are on Windows, you can check with the following steps, depending on your version of Windows:
Windows Vista, 7 - Click Start, Right-click Computer, Click Properties
Windows 8, 8.1 - Right-click Start, click System
Windows 10 - Click Start, click Settings (gear icon on the left), click System, click About
Look for a line that says "System Type." If this mentions 64-bit, you're good.