# I am a gamer...and apparently older than dirt. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 19, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285 "2003-10-19T01:31:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/1 "2003-10-19T01:31:59Z")
I found this link on my EverQuest guild’s message boards. Seems Electronic Gaming Monthly took a group of 10-13 year old kids and gave them a bunch of console games from the days of yore to play. Space Invaders, Pong, Super Mario Brothers, etc. Hilarity ensues. However, I’m only 31, and that article made me feel older than dirt. _cries_ [http://www.egmmag.com/article2/0,4364,1338730,00.asp](http://www.egmmag.com/article2/0,4364,1338730,00.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/2 "2003-10-19T01:37:19Z")
I’m a 41 year old gamer, imagine how I feel! ---
**Author:** ![Herge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Herge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Herge)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/3 "2003-10-19T01:52:04Z")
I’m 31 too. There’s a lot of people of our generation bought up on videogames, who still play them a lot today - its not just for those pesky kids! ---
**Author:** ![scotcho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@scotcho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotcho)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/4 "2003-10-19T02:02:49Z")
I’m a 18 year old gamer, and it makes me feel old! i grew up with Atari and mario. Stupid kids sayin’ it’s not worth playing… _mumbles incoherently_ Scotcho ---
**Author:** ![SkyBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@SkyBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkyBum)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/5 "2003-10-19T02:08:35Z")
Hello, my name is Mike. I’m 38 and addicted to video games, but I could stop if I really wanted to… ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/6 "2003-10-19T02:20:35Z")
They made the little blighters play _E.T._ for the Atari 2600? That’s just mean. Even _Smurf Rescue_ and _Cabbage Patch Kids’ Adventure in the Park_ were cooler than that – never mind all the games that didn’t suck. I still dust off _Zaxxon_ once in a while – or _Gyruss_. I smell a whiff of “back in my day, we had to walk barefoot over 20 miles to school…” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/7 "2003-10-19T02:33:07Z")
From the article; “Kirk: I’m sure everyone who made this game is dead by now.” ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/8 "2003-10-19T03:53:21Z")
**whuckfistle** That was by far, the best quote in the article. Excuse me, I’m going to take my 31 year old decrepit gamer arse to the scrap heap now. _chuckles_ ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/9 "2003-10-19T03:58:46Z")
No…I take it back…the best responses were for the LED Hand-held Football game by Mattel: > [@](#): > > Handheld Football > Mattel • 1977 > Everyone who grew up in the '70s owned one of these portable two-player pigskin sims, which used red LED lights to represent players. > > Brian: What’s this supposed to be? > > EGM: Football. It’s one of the first great portable games. > > Brian: I thought it was Run Away From the Dots. > > John: I don’t see how this has anything remotely to do with football. > > EGM: Which team are you playing? > > Kirk: The red lines. > > Tim: They could’ve just as easily called this game anything—Baseball, Bowling, Escape From the Monsters. > > EGM: Did you score? > > Kirk: I bumped into a dot. ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/10 "2003-10-19T04:14:38Z")
I thought this was rather telling… > [@](#): > > **EGM** : Would you rather play this or play outside? > > **Andrew** : Outside. Is it ironic that I spend most of my gaming time playing “ancient” arcade, 8-bit and 16-bit games on an emulator on my PC, years after the fact? [sub]Worse yet, I’d probably still be playing all the 16-bit stuff on my original Genesis, if the poor CD-drive hadn’t packed in a couple years ago.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/11 "2003-10-19T04:17:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scotcho \* > \*\*I’m a 18 year old gamer, and it makes me feel old! i grew up with Atari and mario. Stupid kids sayin’ it’s not worth playing… _mumbles incoherently_ > > Scotcho \*\* Yeah, I remember playing _Pong_ tournaments at home. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/12 "2003-10-19T04:32:14Z")
Lishen up you whippersnappers! When I was your age, we didn’t have no holographic displays, or VR headsets with cortical interfaces. We had a thing called pong. It was a square, a line, and two rectangles. And we thought it was pretty dang neat. I know that one day I’ll be saying those words. On the upside, the marvellous advance in technology mean that I now have an Atari 2600 emulator and all 240 or so games ever released on my hard drive. That and the anniversary joystick that was released recently. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/13 "2003-10-19T04:41:26Z")
My partner and I were playing bridge against a couple of LOLs (Little Old Ladies–and really good, they were). We finished the round early (duplicate bridge, you see) and were chatting. The one lady says the kids across the street came over and asked her “is it true you’re older than dirt?” She found it amusing. Oh… **VIDEO** games. never mind ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/14 "2003-10-19T05:09:51Z")
Hey, I’m 23 and I used to play that electric football game. And it was damn fun… ---
**Author:** ![ResIpsaLoquitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b3f665/32.png) [@ResIpsaLoquitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ResIpsaLoquitor)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/15 "2003-10-19T05:17:08Z")
I’m 25. I own a GameCube and decidedly love _Super Mario Sunshine_ and _Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II_ and, hell, even _Tony Hawk_. And I can eventually finish 9 out of 10 games that I play. I decided I hit old age when my fiancee and I hit the boardwalk this summer and discovered these kids playing those Dance Mix Revolution games. You know…the computer plays NightClub music, while the player has to dance on a four-or-five button pad to specific steps on the screen. She and I tried it, failed after 10 moves. Teenagers on the boardwalk were doing it perfectly. In synch. _Backwards_, without looking at the screen. I quit. I year for the days when it was a feat to make it to Triple Key in _Pac-Man_. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/16 "2003-10-19T06:20:09Z")
In other breaking older-than-dirt-gamer news, I now know why I enjoy crafting and tradeskills in MMORPGs (multi-player online role-playing games such as EverQuest and Dark Age of Camelot). I am apparently the virtual granny, knitting up chainmail back at home in my rocking chair, while “the boys go off to storm the castle”. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/17 "2003-10-19T07:19:58Z")
I wasn’t particularly amused by the article. The whole thing reeked of “fake.” The kids knew they were being recorded and went out of their way to make fun of the games. I wonder how much idiotic, typical 13-year-old crap they had to dig through to get this stuff (which would’ve been funnier if not for the forced quality I think it had). Who can’t enjoy the original Mario!? Ungrateful punks. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/18 "2003-10-19T08:20:54Z")
I’m not sure they even had 13-year-old kids when they wrote this thing. It reads like it was written by a bunch of 30-something editors that wanted to sound like incredibly witty 13-year-olds. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/19 "2003-10-19T11:13:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Michael Ellis \* > \*\*Yeah, I remember playing _Pong_ tournaments at home. \*\* I was an ADULT WHO HAD MOVED OUT OF MY PARENTS’ HOME when Pong came out in a home console. Excuse me, but I feel the need to go cuddle my PS2 and assure it that I love it dearly. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285/20 "2003-10-19T11:35:13Z")
I’m not a gamer but my favorite line from the article is the kid who mentions he’s never been inside a Sears. Talk about a culture gap. My younger brothers played that electronic football game incessantly back in the day. I never touched it once. Bright LEDs vs. darker LEDs, or something? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-am-a-gamer-and-apparently-older-than-dirt/208285.md?page=2)