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The Aging Gamer
An anonymous reader writes "There is a short article at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle about the surprising statistic that a large potion of computer gamers are over 35. This actually makes sense, since many of them began gaming in the 70's. A short and semi-interesting read."
Please refrain from from posting semi-interesting comments lest this entire thread become only semi-interesting.
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---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
"A short and semi-interesting read."
That's good, because most of us gamers are also short and semi-interesting as well...
Another anonymous reader points out a not-so-suprising statistic: 92.4% of /. editors failed elemtary spelling exams.
I would be more interested in seeing how many of these people are unmarried ... or divorced as a direct result of gaming
If I were born earlier, but I'm just too young to qualify.
Large "POTION"? That's nasty. And a spell check wouldn't pick that up.
Sure it would:
It looks like you're trying to mix an invisibility potion, but you used three newt eyes instead of the correct number, four.
--
Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again
My son however is a better example of an avid gamer. He's been playing Starcraft solidly for the past 2 weeks (school hols) including several overniters.
Seems a bit excessive to me, but then, I'm not addicted
... to gaming that is... Beer on the other hand...
-----
For great justice!
perhaps if the average age of gamers keeps rising, there will eventually be a bigger gamer "death" rate than "birth" rate?
I'm scared to think of what would happen. heh.
I used to (somewhat apologetically) explain to people that I had spent last friday night playing GTA3 (I'm 28). I used to think I was a loser, but it's nice to know I'm part of a larger demographic! :)
Then again, this doesn't necessarily mean I'm not a loser, just not the only one!
With the technology available when these 35-year-olds are 70, they'll be able to have fully immersive games embedded in their walkers.
Now that I am over 35 (egad! Going to hit 28h soon!) I can actually afford the games. The ones I buy would have been a heck of a lot of allowance or lawns in my day. In fact, I think this age thing also has to do with the fact that games are much better than they used to be too - from a hardware and software point. When I first started out there wasn't much available for my $3500 Leading Edge...
"If you are on fire you can just stop, drop, and roll. If you fall into Lava you are just dead." - my 5yr old daughter
What popular games were out on the PC platform in the 70's? Perhaps they're talking about Super Mario or Pacman?
Does this same age group dominate the console market too? If so, then perhaps Nintendo and Playstation should change their target demographics. Stop selling games with "FREE Bike Decals!" and replace it with "FREE Car Insurance Estimate!"
I am sure everyone knows what "Nintendo Thumb" is. Playing so long that you form blisters on top of blisters.
What kind of health hazards do we need to watch out for in the future.
Chronic arthritis of the thumbs is one thing but what happens when we all start gaming in VR?
Unbelievable, they have been playing computer games for over 20 years and it hasn't killed them yet?
Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security. --Edmund Burke
men use bandaids and soldier onward princess zelda needs our attentions and school can only stay shut down from sheets of ice for so long..
that's when games focused on playability (read: FUN) rather than flashy (8 bits, mmm) graphics
I played pong when it was bleeding edge technology, why wouldn't I be excited about the great advances in games over the last several years or be looking forward to some of the new games coming out in 2003? I am part of a generation of kids who have had every system between the Atari 2600 and the Xbox, I would think that our consumer dollars would be very strong in this market. I just don't understand this being a surprise to anyone.
Ok I am 32 years old. Here is what I played. Wasn't no Sega or Nintendo in my day.
Pinball - Silverball Mania
Pong - Cocktal Version, lost many a quarter(but pops snuck me into bars, cause that is where pong lived.
Boot Hill - FPS? The Original death match.
What about those wierd baseball games where you hat to bat at the balls with the stick on a lever?
Shoot the bear with the 90 pound rifle?
Then came the 2600 for me. I can play Combat by myself for hours.
Breakout? You kicked its ass enough the bricks didnt come back.
AS for being in the thirties. I still latch on too the odd game(gotta keep the kiddies in check cause I can't impress em with my cool Galaga skills).
Now I am playing The Thing. Not so bad, the character barf and commit suicide.
Puto
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
We are the only ones that can afford state of the art computers, graphics cards, monitors, and cdroms.. :)
While my kids interest grew to every platform in the catalog, I gradually got away from games altogether, except to check in on what I determined was the bleeding edge....I would try my hand once or twice a year just to see how the graphics, as an example, were advancing.
Later, I decided that editing tech docs for a living was limiting my scope. I felt I was locked into one way of using a computer (or console) and that could not be good. I bought my own PS1 and several car racing titles just to do something different with a processor and display and how my mind was relating. I figure as long as this is how I earn my living, it doesn't hurt to exercise hand-to-eye coordination in the interest of keeping things (mentally) limber.
Yes, I remember spending hours playing PONG and Parsec. Things have come a long way, and my kids are much more into it than I am, but I still find GT3 a great way to waste an afternoon.
Semi-News for Nerds. Stuff that semi-Matters.
...the surprising statistic that a large potion of computer gamers...
LAN Party in a bottle?
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
This actually makes sense, since many of them began gaming in the 70's.
Right, this makes sense. If you are 35 and you are gaming, you must have been doing so your entire lifetime.
How about this instead: Someone who is 35 now was in their mid teens when arcade games were really big in the mid eighties. They started playing the games non-stop. Most of them did not play on computers at home, they went out to an arcade.
Fast forward ten to fifteen years. Home game consoles are so cheap and so powerful that they're better than going to the arcade. The same people who went to the arcade started buying the game consoles.
Which brings us to today. Believe it or not folks, I actually know some people who are over 35 years old, and they might actually fool you into thinking they weren't wearing Depends. Most of them still like doing the things they did when they were in their late teens and early twenties, which includes gaming.
Now, if the study had claimed that the average gaming age was 40 or 45, that would have been a little harder to swallow.
Karma: Chevy Kavalierma.
> That is quite scary, considering that gaming is at an all time high right now...so, if in 20 years
> 90+% of gamers are over 35, i wouldn't be shocked....
Ummmm. That really doesn't make any sense. The birth rate isn't plummetting catastrophically. I teach high school - and I assure you that a large fraction of the 14-year-olds on down are quite hooked. They'll be 34 in 20 years, and I don't see any likely reason that gaming would stop gaining recruits. 10 or so to 35 is an awfully big fraction of the population, much more than 10% - even if they WERE underrepresented in the gaming group, they'd claim more than 10% of it. And I see such an underrepresentation as unlikely. A higher fraction of today's youth are gamers, for instance, than were gamers in the 70s.
"REAL geeks think that Y2K happens in the year 2048."
Don't you mean 2038? Assuming of course, that you are referring to the problems that may occur in 2038 when the number of seconds since the beginning of the UNIX epoch will overflow 32 bit integers.
~Phillip
(from dictionary.com)
irony Pronunciation Key (r-n, r-)
n. pl. ironies
1.
1. The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
2. An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
3. A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit1.
2.
1. Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: "Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated" (Richard Kain).
2. An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic.
3. Dramatic irony.
4. Socratic irony.
Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!
When potion is consumed, 12 hit-dice of computer gamers are summoned in the area surrounding the consumer. Half of the summoned computer gamers will attack the enemies of the party of the consumer, half will form an opposing team and attack the other half (and the party itself). They will remain for 6 turns, until unsummoned, or until the supply of Mountain Dew runs out, whichever occurs first.
Maybe the age thing has to do with the fact that Nintendo used to be the most popular game system on the planet, when we were younger Mario was great, now that most have grown up, maybe they're into the more advanced type of games, or atleast the more mature games and that's why the PS2 is selling like crazy. Then again, Nintendo is selling the gamecube like hot cakes as well. I just can't get enough mario myself, as childish as it may seem, it's always a joy to play a new mario game, they're always insightful and intriguing on a more technical angle, especially the switch to 3d, that was amazing. and the newest is nothign short of amazing as well.
Logik
Kyle
http://www.unlogikal.net/
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Fast forward to 2002. I'm now 32, still playing games, and now I can afford the hardware needed for most current games. GTA3 is my current obsession (and I know I'm not the only one).
I actually had a kid working at Best Buy ask me if I was buying a game for their kid when I was perusing the game aisle. I've been gaming since he was still a dribble in his mom.
Can't wait till my kids are old enough to play the hardcore stuff. Until then, it's GT3 on the PS2.
No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. - Cmdr. Susan Ivanova
Some of them are still playing the same Nethack game they started in 79!
The rest are probably wandering through the Zork anthology over and over and over..... hell, I've been lost in the Zork II maze since 1989.
1. One moment mom, I just have to save my game!
2. I'll be there soon honey, I'm almost done
3. Damnit Martha where are my spectacles? I can't see the crosshairs and I'm 4 frags behind.
If I can find a game that's not a repeat-concept when I'm 40 I'll be very happy - phorm
I belong to a gaming clan. We just play for fun because most of us are older and don't have the time it takes to develope the skills.
Our tag is =VIO= which stands for Victory Is Ours.
The running joke for people who ask is that it stands for Viagra Is on Sale.
You can visit us on: irc.Renegade-IRC.Net #vio
I know what the Internet is, what the hell is this Interweb business?!
Have all those 35+ gamers start playing on the pain station, Im sure they'll quit gaming real fast, and the younger demographic will take over again :)
In college, really poor, need a flatscreen.
People won't be complaining about the food, they'll be saying "This internet connection isn't any good"
I remember when Quake 3 was all the rage.
in our old folks homes get a loada the way we can press that call button!
Cake or Death? Cake Please!
I started playing games on a model 33 Teletype. Then we got an OSI 540 board going and I played Tiger Tank 'til the wee hours. And Wumpus and all matter of things, before discovering $DUNGEO (many refer to this as Zork) and $ADVENT (Colossal Cave), both brought back on a tape from a DECUS. Then there were many others written by students, before the first Apple Lab opened on campus and color was introduced. Eventually arcades sprung up at the mall, where Mario lept over barrels to rescue a princess.
Aging gamers? Well, there's aging games, too, which many call AbandonWare (and many a site dedicated to the nobel cause of keeping these things alive, while EA keeps recreating the same themes over and over...)
It's really a question of what a generation does with its leisure time. Mine spent it gaming. The current one does, too. It's rather hard to imagine future generations not doing it (unless everyone suddenly falls for some absurd cult.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
a surprising number of drivers can be found in all age ranges. not surprising since cars have been around for almost a hundred years.
-
I wonder if there have been any studies into the age of gamers (console and PC and any difference there may be). I also wonder if it is a bell curve-shaped age distribution -- meaning, if the average gamer is over 35, does that mean there are just as many gamers older than 35 than younger than 35? Or does it mean that the mean is somewhere between 25-30 and where is the mode(s)? I mean, it could be inverted, with emphasis on the 10-14 yr. olds, and another emphasis on 30-35 yr. olds. Anyways, just doing my statistics hw and trying to find some usefulness for it...
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
the surprising statistic that a large potion of computer gamers are over 35.
Interesstingly, a large portion of humans are over 35.
Here is a previous study that is much more interesting and factual, Alice in the Matrix. It's an interesting read with 330 responses that seems to affirm what the article had to say.
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
Could there be a correlation between high average gaming age and the Generation X financial problems refered to in an earlier topic today????
.com jobs so I could support my addiction to gaming well into my 50s!
There is for me. I got a bunch of
Vectrex, 1982. Do the math. Sigh.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
Gee, who woulda thunk that *old* people might like playing games? It's unseemly I tell you. Next thing you know 35 year olds will expect to be *real* racing drivers, mercenaries, adventurers, golfers, fighter pilots and, ummmm. . . Tertroids.
We have to put a stop to this. Kill 'em. Kill 'em at 30. Kill 'em all!
Here's another hot newsflash from the blindingly obvious findings desk, your parents still " do it." Not only that, they "do it" more often, and *better,* than you do.
KFG
With apologies to Alfred E. Newman...
What, me old?
By the way, I have a copy of Crowther and Woods' original Adventure on paper tape for the PDP-11/55, and I have got the Zork Trilogy on my Linux box.
Hunting is good. It'll help his CounterStrike game. I can see it now: father and son bunny-hopping through the woods with AWPs.
An open letter to the editors of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle:
Your articles are only quasi-interesting. Semi-interesting. You're the margarine of interesting. You're the Slashdot of interesting -- only one calorie, not interesting enough!
Thank you.
I remember My first computer Apple II in 1980. There weren't ANY games you could buy. But, however, there were BOOKS with games and programs with the code printed in BASIC. You had to copy the program out of the book and then save it to a crappy radioshack tape player.. Remember listening to the start of a program...BRAAAA....BRAAAABOOOSCCRRRR!
I also remember some of the code used "A" in IF THEN statements and the computers generating errors from that ERROR line 10 IF AT HEN goto line 100
But I could write my own "game" in an afternoon.
..........FULL STOP.
I started playing computer games at age 14 in 1980, on a TRS-80, then an Apple II. I started playing a fair bit (growing up in a town of 350 folks there isn't a lot to do, anyway), when my science teacher noticed something in me. He said, "You know, I'm not going to let you play on that thing anymore unless you learn to program it!" I asked, how am I going to do that? He responded by throwing the programming manual in my lap and said, "Here. Ask if you have any questions."
That got me started down the path to my current career! I played a lot of games in HS, but I also wrote my own text based adventure game on an Apple II, and I even wrote a little "Star Wars" game on a Vic 20 that I borrowed from a neighbor kid over Christmas Break!
I'm now a Software Engineer for a Government Contractor firm, working in some cool technologies. I still play games today (having moved up from Apple Panic and Castle Wolfenstein 1 to Serious Sam II), but I don't play as much as I used to, having a wife and two kids. I do let my kids play a little more than I probably should, but I'm hoping that the love of computers might get them interested in programming, too! Since we homeschool, I personally think they'd have a GREAT computer programming teacher!
P.S. Thanks, Mr. B! (science teacher) Without you, I might still be a gamer, but I probably never would have become a programmer!
"I thought this was a discussion board. Hmm. I guess discussion is ONLY valid if you all agree?"
Understanding is a requirment for discussion. He did not say 'everybody has to agree', he said 'contribute'. That means "say something meaningful", not "express your opinion that everything you don't like sucks."
I can only speak from anecdotal evidence, but if you drop the number down a few years (say 30 or so) then this is completely in line with my experience.
;)
I'm 32. I played my first video game when I was around 5 (Pong) and have been a hard core gamer since 1979 when I got my Atari 2600. My enthusiasm for video games (both old and new) hasn't wavered a bit since then. With the possible exception of sex, video games are my absolute favorite activity. (From a romantic relationship standpoint this isn't really a problem, since it's balanced out by my total lack of interest in sports, but I digress.)
Most of my peer group (friends and coworkers) is the same way, and we all game regularly, both alone (on PCs and consoles) and networked (LAN parties and over the `Net). I don't think I know a single person who ever "grew out of" video games.
I think that the difference in our perception is based on how we game. When we (my friends and I) deathmatch it's usually on a private server that one of us has set up. Rarely do we play on public servers, as the performance tends to be poorer and the players tend to be more obnoxious (not all of them, obviously, but the dickhead ratio is definitely higher on open games).
It could simply be that younger gamers are less likely to have access to a restricted dedicated server, and hence more likely to play together on open servers. Older gamers tend to have more disposable income and are less likely to have to justify the cost of a dedicated server to someone, as well as more opportunity to lug their machines over to a LAN party.
Just my $.02
-Cybrex
P.S.- My Titanium PowerBook is not just a handy tool; it's also loaded with every Atari 2600 game ever made and 4.5 GB of MAME ROMs.
Boundless Expansion, Self-Transformation, Dynamic Optimism, Intelligent Technology, Spontaneous Order- BEST DO IT SO!
I told you once
No you didn't
Yes I did
When
Just now
No you didn't.
Look if I argure, I must take up a contrary positionI
yes but that isn't just saying "no it isn't"
yes it is
no it isn't
-----
For great justice!
I'm not really surprised by this, given that gamers get older like everyone else but gaming doesn't get much less addictive (you just have less time for it). But it's important that the fact of there being a significant demographic of older gamers is acknowledged, especially by game developers. Older gamers tend to have different tastes, and the more developers realize what their audience is like the greater the chance they'll make games we'll enjoy even more.
My deviantArt site
Back in my day gamers were all young and we had to use our imaginations! Screens only had four pixels and the only colour we had was black. Then some upstart invented amber and it's been all downhill since then...
Raiford -- Hacking Linux since 1993
"player 4 hit player 1 with 0 stroms"
My god! They started playing in the 70's and are still going strong? Makes that Korean chap seem a tad weak that he can't even handle a full week of gaming doesn't it.
In democracy your vote counts. In feudalism your count votes.
Myself and my roommate spend a significant amount of time playing Operation Flashpoint online and I gotta say : Me at 30 and my roommate at 27 are sometimes the youngsters.
Also, more often than not, the older gamers are much more fun simply due to maturity. It's always more enjoyable to play with someone who understands concepts like: strategy, tactics, and TEAMWORK.
Work is punishment for failing to procrastinate effectively.
...just for the older gamer, like me.
I'm 38, and I still enjoy most kinds of games. Least amused by D&D style games like Neverwinter Nights (great title, though). I still rock with FPS and easily kick the ass of most people my age. Been playing a long time, since the 70's and Mattel's handheld football, the Ataris, and even DEC terminals with Camel and Trek.
Passing time with Diablo II still, getting into some Sims, been really fragging the shit out of some young-ums in Quake 3, and looking forward to showing young meat how to catch a lightsaber when Jedi Knight II comes out for Mac OS X in a couple of weeks.
Yep, card carrying, Excellent Fragging Member of The Old Gamers Club: Where you are never too young to get your ass kicked.
I sincerely plan to be old but still able to hang and beat my grandchildren at whatever marvels show up in the future. I was around during the dawn of the electronic gaming age, and my "Tron finger" is as snappy as ever.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
It isn't any great mystery -- it's simple economics, plus demographics.
Kids (say, up through early college) would like to play games, but don't have the disposable income.
Younger adults (say, late college through late 20s) have disposable income, but they are spending their money on social pursuits, vacations, cars, gadgets, clothing, etc.
But when they finally marry and start families, the center for entertainment switches to the home...and those $50 games are somewhat more affordable once you hold down a real job.
"she says i'm lousy conversation. as if that's supposed to help."
The oldest gamer I know of is about 53, member of the clan Quake 4 Oldies. One of the requirements to join the clan is that you are at least 30 years old. They even have a skin with wheelchairs :)
Repeat after me: We are all individuals
Does that mean we can finally sue the videogaming industry for stress related injuries such as carpal tunnel, nerve damage, and of course epileptic seizures?
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
I don't think the percentage of gamers over 35 is probably rising all that much, because damn near every 10-year-old is a gamer, girls and boys. But the total number of over-35 gamers is certainly rising.
... Heck, my mother used to play Atari with me back then, and she plays Shanghai and Bejeweled now like a crack fiend, and she's 66 ... is she one of these over-35 "gamers"?
I'm not 35, but I am 30, and I don't consider myself among the vanguard of gaming in the 1970s, though I did have an Atari before they started calling it the 2600
Hey, Im one of those thar age'n gammers. Im a grandpa at 47. I can still be found frag'n my way around CounterStrike. Always hav'n games around the house resulted in my too oldest kids to become computer science grads. One is launching his own game company soon. Any way its freak'n halarious when you take out these young'ns on CS and then taunt the sh*t out of'm.
Heck, I'll be 37 in December but I don't consider myself "aging".
When I have the inkling to buy SimAdultDiapers or SimLawnBowling at the software storethen I'll consider myself "aging".
Until then, I'll still stomp your arse in UT 2003, lad!
Harumph!
Trolling is a art,
It was a rather short article but it is still satisfying to see it in print. It also matches other statistics that I have seen published elsewhere, in both gaming magazines and at online sites.
Makes much sense too. For example, I grew up playing pinball with my father, graduated to the first video games (pong, breakout, etc.), moved on to C64, Apple II and Atari games as they became available and now PC games with a big emphasis on the online worlds (that 1942 is not too shabby). I currently see myself playing games until I am too decrepit to move the controller (but hope by then the neural interface will be common place).
The key point of surveys like this is that it shows the average gamer is not a pimple faced adolescent that is cutting school, sitting at home with no social life, spending all of (usually) his life lost in games. It is the middle class, working, husbands and wives looking for a little relaxation and escapism from their day. The sooner that the game industry (with their associated marketing departments) and the bulk of game magazines accept this idea and redirect their marketing to this group, the better. Most of the non-gaming public accepts the adolescent gamer myth because that is what they see from how games are marketed both directly and via the industry magazines. Hollywood plays a part in this too. I guess it is just too easy for the industry to throw more T&A into the marketing plan then to take the time to understand the market and sell accordingly.
I have to use this cause I can't afford a real sig...
I wonder if, when we're all senior citizens and fragging away on each other with Quake XXXVI, and taunting each other with broadband audio and vidio feeds, if the kids will pass us by and scoff. Maybe they would says things like "What's wrong with those old farts?! Why do they play that crap when they could just talk to each other?"
Perhaps there *is* hope for our species after all.
Please mod this post only if you think others should/n't read this. I have enough ego^H^H^Hkarma. Thanks!
The Scheme programming language has a built-in rationalize function to solve just this type of problem:
(rationalize 924/1000 1/2000)
Yields 61/66.
Of course, 74.9% of all statistics are just made up on the spot anyhow.
BTW: ToysRUs has a mouse for little kids. It's has yellow plastic ball on it about the size of a grapefruit and one button on the front. I used it to introduce my kids to games back when they were 4-5 years old. Worked great. Now my 11-year-old son wants me to install a house network. I am stalling on that (until wifi is safe) but I don't really relish the idea of getting my butt handed to me by my son. He's too good for me, already. Have fun with the kids.
I'm 24, my dad's 51. He's a *much* bigger game addict than I ever will be.
:)
..... That's one of the few things I miss now that I live on my own... my girlfriend's wonderful and super and fantastic, but she's just not a gamer. :)
The poor guy spent SO much time playing Rush 2049 on his (yes, HIS, not mine) Dreamcast, he's found just about every single secret passageway through it ever.
I grew up with pong & Intellivision in the house. We had the best tournaments... INTV Bowling, INTV baseball.... TO THIS DAY, whenever my Dad plays the baseball game, he has this little leg-kick thing every time it's a close play... almost like he's sliding into the base from the couch. Very funny stuff.
What a blast we've had through the years
Which, on the whole, isn't a bad thing. Gives me an excuse to Have a Life (tm).
(Why, then, am I reading Slashdot on a Friday night? Oh, that's right. She's home, sick.)
--NBVB
Do not, whatever you do, read the phrase "Hunt the Wumpus" while dead tired... I got a bad picture of "Hump the Wumpus" in my head for a moment...
... I don't know which would be funnier... the ancientness of their systems, or playing "Hump the Wumpus"...
Oh, for the days of typing in BASIC games. I remember in Freshman year High School ('93), going to the school library, pulling a BASIC book off the shelf, then sitting at the never used C-64 and typing in a whole game over a week or two, then playing it. People would walk by and say "Cool, where'd you buy that game?" They could only play "Carmen Sandiego" on the 486/50's running Novell Netware.
Then, 2 years later, I finally got my own computer, and realized just how pathetically behind the school's computer system was. I don't even want to go there now and see what they've got, for fear I'd end up laughing myself to death.