So last night I was playing Everquest. I have been playing that game now for 5 years, on and off, and have thoughly enjoyed the escapism, the people I have met, etc… But last night I was grouped with 5 others and the subject of age came up, im 33, no one else was above 24. So of course the “old man” jokes started, and I took them for what they were…jokes.
But it got me thinking, when WILL I be to old for games?? I have all 3 game consoles (xbox, ps2, gamecube) and I play them all. Not everyday of course, but I do enjoy playing. I dont do much computer gaming except for EQ, but will there come a time when I will just be to old for them?? Is this something that ya outgrow?? Does this make me some imature adult who wont grow up? Or can I be both a grown up and a game player?? FTR, I am married, but have no kids. My wife knows im a geek, but she loves me anyway
Never ever ever. Until arthritis keeps you from holding a controller, or until your eyesight goes completely, you’re allowed to play to your heart’s content.
The only reason you don’t see as many people in their 40’s+ playing video games is because they didn’t grow up with them. From here on out, it’s an ageless hobby.
As a corollary to your Everquest story, dob – I was playing some Jedi Knight II online last year. On one server, I got the “old man” treatment when the other players found I was 35. Nothing like give a server full of teens a major lightsaber smackdown to give you that good “experience over youth” feeling.
“When 35 years old you reach, have as 'leet skillz you will not, hmm?”
In fact I was watching something on TechTV the other day about E3, and the president of the company that heads it up said that games are becoming geared towards the older audiences. Video games are really only a generation or two old; given enough time, I think it will be fairly common for people into their 50’s and up to play video games. Though I’d hate to see the advertising for games marketed at senior citizens.
Well, I’m 30 and I don’t think that I’m going to stop anytime soon. If you think that you’re rare as an aging gamer, you should try being an aging female gamer.
Not only do I love video games of all stripes, but I pen & paper role-play every Sunday.
I remember reading recently that the age of the average video gamer has risen to 27, so we’re not as alone as you might think.
Yep, 31 years old and still playing. I did go on hiatus from 1990 - 1998 (college and grad school), but now I’m back in the game.
Not sure if I believe that the average age is really 27 - go to the video game message boards at GameFaqs, and you’ll find that most of the posts are illiterate if not incomprehensible.
Good to se us “old folks” are kicking it around still I dont feel old playing games, hell I have been playing video games since Atari 2600!! I just think it funny that 20somethings have a hard time imaging a 30something playing video games still…makes one reflect!
Well now this is just crazy, your way to OLD for pen and paper! geezee!!
If you think about it video games were kind of invented for our generation so it’s only natural that the average age of gamers is getting older. It’s a relatively new medium so it’ll take time to become fully integrated.
Once our generations kids grow up I believe that everyone will play games.
From 8 months to 80+
It’s a brave new world.
Not that my dad believes it, he still thinks games are for kids.
I’m a few years older than the OP and I still play many video games including Everquest and now City of Heroes. The Everquest guild that my main characters are in has a lot of members over 30. One of the most elite characters on my server is played by a 50 some year old guy. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.
I’m 38 and still playing. My dad is 68 and still playing – mostly flight sims, but still playing. There is no such thing as “too old for video games.”
And kids will cramp your style a bit – no kid-inappropriate stuff when they are up, for one thing, and not as much time to play, for another – but they’ll also add to the fun, as they start to want to play games with you.
You think you get “old man” jokes for being 33? Try it at 45! My PS2 is connected to the TV and I play both City of Heros and Star Wars: Galaxies (Yeah, yeah… I know) at the moment.
Hal Briston and RogueRacer have it right; the main reason you see fewer “older” gamers is that the computer/video gaming industry dates back at best no more than 30 years. (When did Computer Space hit the arcades? 1972?) The personal computer boom really didn’t hit until the mid-1980s. So, most people beyond their early to mid-30s really didn’t encounter them until well into adulthood when their hobbies and interests were pretty much established. For most people my age, their typical evening pastime is watching television.
I got exposed to them early on, myself. When I started college (in 1976; gad I feel old!) I discovered the games on our campus mainframe within a week (us engineering majors had a lot of access to the computer). I had my first home computer in 1980. So, computers and gaming were established as my evening pastime long ago.
I think, going forward, we are going to see people playing computer/video games throughout their entire life.
The only problem I can see us older gamers have is that our reflexes aren’t what they used to be, which makes deathmatches a bit problematical. (Or is that just me?)
39, playing away quite happily on virtualhorseranch. someone PM’d me on there the other night and asked if I’d be her friend, so I said OK, turns out she was 10 and nearly had a seizure when I told her how old I am ("your’e a lier!!![sic])
Oh and slightly OT, I got a text message on my mobile (cell) phone one evening - it was one of them “joke” ones, I replied to it and got involved in a 2 hour long “conversation” with what turned out to be a teenager who’d punched in the wrong number, she was quite appalled that someone as old as me has a mobile phone, and stunned that I knew how to use it to text …
The only generation gap I’ve run into in gaming is the types of games that are most popular. The coin-op video machines in the few remaining arcades hold little interest for me. It seems like almost all of them are some form of martial arts, hand-to-hand game, which I’ve never liked but the young people love. I used to play a lot of airplane/spaceship type games, and all of those seem to be the ancient machines the arcade tries to sell off.
Computer games seem more balanced in appeal, though.
You won’t be. Keep in mind, your generation is the first one to even be exposed to them and mine (23, born in 1980) is the first for which it’s a hobby/pastime, not just a curiosity.
And honestly, there’s a lot more older gamers than you think. We’re the ones keeping quiet and muttering about morons while the, well, morons as shrieking in TowN Center.
Lemme put it this way…this crazy industry has ripped me off 15 ways from Tuesday, continuously yanked my chain (The Super NES is the wave of the future! Oops, maybe not!), driven me to insanity, and even picked up some terrible habits from computer gaming (“The problem is that you have the old version.”)…and there’s still nothing else on the planet that provides as much fun for the buck.
And guess what? My tastes haven’t changed at all. I have no interest in insanely complicated first person shooters or soul-crushing simulations. I loathe at least 95% of the driving games out there. I see most RPGs as a colossal waste of time, and puzzle games a slightly less massive waste of time. Didn’t stop me from buying my own PS2 and putting a modchip in it, and this after our other modded PS2 fried out. Oh yeah, I’m also one of the 8 people in the country who owns a modded Dreamcast and will soon get a converter so I can use my better-built PS2 controllers on it.
It’s fun, it’s thrilling, it’s exciting, and occasionally, it’s even good for my health (Pump It Up!). Why should I give it up?
Well, sure, but I know that I don’t consult the messageboards. FAQs, sure, if I’m stuck, but I avoid the boards because (like most boards, it seems) most of the members appear to be monkeys that randomly hit keys.
