eww, I put about a hundred hours into Final Fantasy 10 too, until I realized I was loosing my mind… :wally Then I found Grand Theft Auto(beat it)… Socom(beat it, online became horrible due to cheaters), Spiderman(beat it), Enter the Matrix(just beat it) , Grand Theft Auto Vice City (awesome sound track-beat it), Spiderman II(really fun, beat it), Now I am on SOCOM 2 USNavy Seals. Beat the single player, and play online about 20 hours a week with other 33 year olds.
:eek:
It’s better than many other activities I could be doing!
Maggie, every time I see you post I think you’re Maggie the Jackcat, the Goddess of all information concerning Asheron’s Call. Then it sinks in that you’re named after a cat on a hot tin roof. 
**DeVena ** - 36 years old
126 level War Mage
LeafCull - Asheron’s Call
Married to **Zah Kree ** (RL and InGame), 126 level Axer, 46 years old
I’m 35, and two nights ago I got a good start on beating Midnight Club 2, the best racing game EVAR, for the fourth time since I bought it a couple-few months back.
Matter of fact, I just turned 35 six days ago, and my wife’s gift to me was a Logitech Cordless Wingman Rumblepad. Top-rated on ePinions, and quite deservedly. Perfect in the hand, and the action is smooooooooooooooth.
So yeah. Normal as hell. 
I’m 35 and I play computer games. My son (18) also plays computer games, as does my mother (59). We all have different tastes in games, but I think that’s more a result of our different personalities than our ages. My mom prefers card games and MahJong, while my son prefers shooting and racing games. I’m more in the middle, but there is some overlap between all three of us. My son and I both like Age of Empires, my mother and I both like Poppit.
Not exactly. I’m one of “those people” (at least, I lean more that way than the other), and I was exposed to them as a kid - at least, I was part of the first generation of video gaming - Pong, Space Invaders, Pac-Man, etc. I just never got the attraction. I don’t at all feel deprived or in any other way like a “poor soul” - there are lots of more interesting things in the world to see, do, and learn about than to sit in front of a video game for hours.
It’s also laughable to compare (as someone did) video games to Scrabble, etc., because those games are at least as much about socializing with other people as about the skills needed to win. I play some games, as a context in which to socialize with others. If I were to play them all by myself, it would be an utter bore.
The thing I believe about 30+ people playing video games is that it is evidence that American society is (1) prolonging adolescence and (2) turning more inward.
Playing video games is actually just another way some people socialize.
The funnest I’ve ever had playing a game was when we hooked up the 4 controller port to the ol’ PS2 and played Gauntlet with about 6 people (4 can play so we rotated out).
Believe me when I say it can be very social. 
My husband and I usually play together (generally compatible as opposed to vs.) or take turns, watching and giving help to the player.
At least it doesn’t have a tendency break down into an argument about the rules and which dictionary is correct.
And nothing dies in Scrabble. Where’s the fun in that? 
You’ve clearly never played Scrabble at my house.
Actually I spend more time playing games with friends than I do alone. Depends on the game. In a story-driven game like the upcoming “Half Life 2” I’ll be happy to go it alone. But most of the games I enjoy are the ones where friends can grab a keyboard/controller and join in the fray. Sometimes it’s for puzzle solving, sometimes it’s just a contest of reflexes, but it’s way more fun with friends, and the more the merrier. (A round of four-way, networked, cooperative Serious Sam is some of the most fun you can have playing a game, computer or otherwise.)
[JOHN BENDER] Demented and sad, but social. [/JOHN BENDER]
I’m actually less social when playing Scrabble. It’s pretty rude to chat when someone’s trying to figure out where they’re gonna play their “Q”…
EZ
Tell that to the half dozen plus people coming over to my house this weekend for a LAN party.
I’m 48. Mrs. Plant and I played DoomII by dial up 1,500 miles away while we were courting. Now we’re in the same house and networked.
I try to stand directly behind her…she holds down the trigger and then aims.
Oh, and she won’t play without M16.WAD.
27 Male, avid video game player.
I have standing Wednesday night XBox Live Rainbow 6 game with a couple good buddies, my boss and some of his friends. We range in age from me to upper 30s, some of us with kids, most of us with good jobs and mortgages, etc…
My father is 53 and he got me hooked on PC games back in the day. I believe he just finished the new Doom. Funny thing, though, he refuses to touch an XBOX. He thinks they are too childish and are for children.