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.

Great quote.

[moonboy]

"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."

I love it. That's sure to get him a few dates at least ;-)

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.

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.