Discussing Changes For Older Videogame Players?

Thanks to GameCritics for their feature discussing how a person's videogame experiences change as they get older. Talking with gamers as old as 30 (!), they ask if reflexes are dulled ("The only time I notice slowed reflexes is when I stop playing twitch games for while, which is pretty rare"), consider shifts in preferred genres ("Now that I'm older, I really don't have the time to play long, drawn-out games anymore"), and discuss how gaming affects their relationships ("I'm pretty single right now so I can't answer, but my email address is listed on the bio page. I just wanted people to know that.")

Comments

Old, I Dunno ...

[Mad_Fred]

Am I the only one who feels a bit weird when reading something like this and see 30-something being considered old? It can't be that hard to find some older gamers, and that would seem much more interesting to me. After all, people who already had children of their own before they even heard of computer games should have quite different insights into the topic.

I keep thinking of a friend's mom here. She's a retired mother of four, owns three generations of Nintendo consoles and has played through most adventure games (the Zelda and Myst kinds) she can get her hands on. There's an interesting interview subject, and a slightly more unique one too I'd think.

Re:Old, I Dunno ...

[gl4ss]

i wonder how much of it's just a social issue, they don't do it because they're not excepted to do it(or don't want to do it because it's a "young people thing"). however all this might change when the new generations reach those ages(of retirement), though maybe the old people now nowadays could learn to enjoy them for the sake of good stories as well.. i mean if they can watch bold & beautiful everyday they could pretty well play(and watch somebody play) some (even more) simplified sims type of game. at least i know what i'll do if i ever get stuck into a retirement home!

one friends mother was a _lot_ into tetris.

so many books, so litte time. so many movies, so little time. so many games, so little time. playing games can take a lot of time and some old people have a lot of it.

To be older than 30(!) is not that bad

[hbackert]

The article makes it sound like no one older than 30(!) can enjoy playing computer games...I'm even older...

Anyway, my experience is, as it's also written in the article, once you work, you have more money but less time. Once you have family and children, there's less money again, and even less time. But friends of mine used to do small LAN parties (50% of the time playing games, the rest was spent by BBQing, eating, drinking, talking) and they were older than 30(!). Some even had children. You don't do this every week, but once in 2 months is fine. And it was much fun.

Also once you get older, you don't play games to win or tell your friends you finished a game faster than they did. Playing for play's sake.

And yes, I play my GameboyAdvance in the subway when I have nothing else to do. And I am rarely the only one doing that. It's nice to live in Japan :-)

Re:To be older than 30(!) is not that bad

[Angry Toad]

I'm 39 and still play games whenever I have time - which is a lot less frequently now with parenting, work, and all. I don't anticipate ever stopping completely, simply because they're fun. Why should I stop just because I've hit a particular year?

I do notice that my reactions aren't quite as good as many clearly younger players - I'm pretty consistently in the middle of the pack in an Unreal Tournament game, for instance. There seems to be a level about which I'm unlikely to move now. On the other hand that means I'm consistenly whipping the ass of at least half the people younger than me as well :)

One type of game I've dropped entirely is long RPG-type games. I just plain don't have the time for them, and the work/reward ratio of spending five hours hack&slashing just to get my little blob of pixels to go up a level does not seem worth it to me. I'd rather play with my kids.

Priorities

[vigilology]

As you get older your priorities change. You start to see the world in a different light. At the moment I'm "between jobs". You'd think I'd have plenty of time to play the games that I want to. I have, but I don't. I don't because I feel it's more important to spend that precious time on gaining the skills needed to get another job. Only then will I have real time to play games. Oh, the ignorance of youth.

it's more casual after 30. Less gaming, more doing

[Selecter]

I'm 40, and still enjoy Battlefield 1942/Desert Combat. I really dont care to play anything else. When I was younger I played every single quality FPS I could get my hands on. Doom, Quake I, Some of the quality DOS based games like Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe, too. ( which was awesome for it's time )

As time goes by, gaming is less and less important to me, the same way that building my own machine and futzing around with op systems is. Been there, done that, over and over. Now I just want a machine that gets out of my way and makes it easy to do things. Had a Mac but sold it becuase it was DOG ASS slow compared to my Windows box. Now that the G5 is out I'm thinking about the Mac again. It was really easy to do quality digital photography on the Mac.

I'd rather have a computer that helps me in other area of life instead of just being a hobby into and of itself these days.

LSS

[6pak]

with people as old as 30 (!) still playing games, developers should probably start thinking about games that can run on a life-support-system platform... yeeez

I agree on the "old" thing...

[jermyjerm]

They ask a 23 year old about physical changes that might keep him from playing games... that's just absurd. I'm 22, and judging by the fact that I've witnessed people as old as 40 or 50 (so ancient!!) still able to use their hands like a regular young person, I don't see any major changes altering the way I play games in the near future. But seriously, judging by the title I was hoping they found gamers aged 60+ who might have to worry about joint problems and waning eye sight in their future. I've played games my whole life, and I don't see that stopping any time soon. I often wonder if I'll be held back by such issues, and I wonder if game companies will accomodate older gamers in the future with larger controllers (xbox 2,3,etc will already have this covered) and other devices to help them play comfortably.

It's called developing taste

[Kris_J]

As a kid you'll play every crappy game just like you'll watch every crappy sitcom. As your experience grows and you're exposed to more and more good stuff you start to reject the bottom of the barrel.

Also, you learn what the warning signs of crap are and you don't even give it a chance.