I hope this outpouring has answered the OP’s question:) The appealing aspects of gaming are in no way “childish”, that’s just more or less where it was marketed in the industry’s infancy…and now those children have grown up.
I don’t know about the average age of gamers being 27, i read somewhere it was 18 which seems closer. This also has to do with the fact that (some) games are reaching levels of complication that they require at least a teenager to play to their full potential. Online games can be quite time-sapping…and who would have that many hours with an internet connection and game subscription that can be quite expensive? Adults paying for their own connections and rich kids. I don’t think the average gaming age will increase since the teenager/young adult audience is so huge in the buinsness, but i really beleive that someday a man won’t have to ask if he’s too old to play at 35…because he will have just purchased a PC game for his father.
Heh. I’m 46 and female. The only reason I don’t play pen&paper games is because I don’t know from one day to the next whether or not I’ll be able to make a game, and P&P games demand that players show up most of the time. If I could make the games on a consistent basis, I’d probably be playing two or three games a week, face to face. As it is, I play in a sort of MUD every night, and my family KNOWS that I am Not To Be Disturbed from 10 PM until I emerge from my Lair. I have an NES, a SNES, and PS2 and a computer in my Lair, along with a number of gaming books and my regular books.
When I was playing D&D, I was almost always the oldest in the group. The DM was usually a bit taken aback, but after I played for a while the DM and the other players almost always enjoyed having me around. I’ve been a poor fit for a couple of groups, and I like to think that I have taken it gracefully.
As a child, I was fascinated by pinball, and when I was a teen and actually had some spending money I’d often play pinball or other coin operated amusement games, much to the despair of my parents. I remember back when pinball machines took dimes. When I was in college, the first video games started coming out. I was one of the people pumping quarters into Pong. When I first saw Pacman, I could NOT understand it, but after watching a few people play it, I got the idea.
I can’t play the “reflex” games very well anymore, but I still enjoy playing games, board, video/computer, RPGs, whatever. I suspect that I’ll be playing games when I’m in the nursing home. When I went into the hospital, I took an old laptop and a collection of games, and spent most of the week playing on it…otherwise I would have gone nuts.
If you remember riding your shwinn scrambler or huffy dirt bike to the bowling alley with your cousin to play asteroids and space invaders - you’ll never get too old for video games
If you remember dad bringing home an Atari 2600 - you’ll never get too old for video games
If you remember seeing your friend get an Intellivision and thinking “god, that is the second coming” - you’ll never get too old for video games
If you remember going to Showbiz Pizza for the first time and thinking “This is truely heaven on earth” - you’ll never get too old for video games
If you remember saving your paper route money for Colecovision to become the coolest kid on your block - you’ll never get too old for video games
If one of your frequent destinations when you first learned to drive was Alladin’s Castle - you’ll never get too old for video games
If you sat for hours playing Ultima on your Commodore 64 - you’ll never get too old for video games
I’m playing a massive on-line diplomatic game, and some days ago, while chatting with another player, I learnt that she was selling her house and moving, because she was retiring (and given her age, she didn’t even have been brought up with computer games). So, it’s safe to assume that there’s no age limit for computer games.
The main issue olders gamers have is finding time to play in their generally quite busy schedule.
Now, I’m going to leave, I’ve this Master of Orion game left unfinished.
Good gawd… my memory lane runs parallel to Hampshire’s. I guess I’ll have to be cremated with a controller in my hand.
Check. In my case, it would be a skating rink when they got Tron and Star Wars, but those are details.
I was beginning third grade. My mom never did quite approve.
I think the old Atari 2600 still works, even though the rubber sleeves have parted company from the joysticks long ago. Really, has anybody made a better controller since?
It was kind of a sad day in 1988 when I got an NES. The NES doesn’t really work any more.
Right again. Intellivision really was better, even with their telephone-like controller. I’d go over to my friends house and we’d play that boxing game…
Yes indeed. Remember Dragon’s Lair, and a number of other bad ideas that seemed so cool at the time?
I’m 42 and games are big in my life. I’ve even changed careers to reflect this- I’m near getting my A+ computer certification. I play computer and tabletop games, and the rest of my family- my wife and both sons- are regular players.
It would be worth the trouble to get a group of posters from the SDMB together for a LANparty or a tabletop game. At least we have a chance at the Gettysburg fest next month. I would love to play in a game, or DM for, Lynn Bodoni, but time and distance have that one effectively out of the realm of possibility.
If I’m playing a multiplayer game and I can’t handle someone, I get one of my sons to take over.
This reminds me of my younger brother when he was 16 or so. He said “It’s going to suck growing old and not liking rock music anymore and liking country music”.
??
I asked him why that would happen. He thought about it and exclaimed “You mean when I’m 60 I’ll still like rock?”. He found that funny.
You’ll probably like video games till ya die.
I’m 40 now and I am now playing WWIIOnline (great game!) and City of Heroes. However, I didn’t play my first video game until I got a computer at age 26. I played arcade games as a kid but that’s about it.
I imagine there is quite a bit of attrition as people get older in that family pressures, career pressures and just the feeling that they should give up the ‘kid’ stuff will have it’s toll. However, besides those sticks in the mud, the rest of us will still keep doing it
By the way, WWIIOnline’s playerbase average age is 32. Makes for a different ‘feel’.
I walked to the neighborhood 7-11 for my Asteroids fix. What was really weird was that, for a while, the owner put all the arcade games in a broom closet, so you’d have a crowd of kids jammed in this dinky room to get their fix.
Yup. My brother and I even got to a point after a while where we’d pester him for a new game every week. We were so spoiled… :smack:
Nah, one look at that disc controller and I knew it’d bomb. Loved the tank game, though.
I’m 37, and I’m still not too old for video games.
