Gaming When We're 64

Via Kotaku, a post on the Aeropause site about gaming as we get older. Richard has a great 'get off my lawn you damn kids' rant, and some insightful commentary on the problems we'll face as we get up there. From the article: "The other issue older gamers will face is the ever increasing difficulty of games. Games have come a long way since the simplicity of the A and B buttons. Today's controllers are becoming more and more complicated and require greater dexterity to master. While this is no problem for gamers right now, as we get older and lose some of our dexterity we will need to come up with ways to simplify the gameplay or the controller."

Comments

what are they talking about

[nocomment]

By the time we're 64 we'll be able to control the games just by shitting in our pants.

Who says older folks don't play games?

[lkypnk]

Since when don't older people play video games?
I may be a young whippersnapper and know nothing about being "old", but my parents and grandmother play computer games. My mother loves Simcity. Do the big console companies not realize that the over-30 market is...well, huge? Back in the NES days, adults would actually play the console games. Maybe its just my experience, but that doesn't seem to be the case any more.
I don't know why that is, but I have a feeling the complexity of modern games and the reliance of so many games on reflexes (read first person shooters) puts a lot of would be casual gamers; I believe most people over thirty could be classified as the casual gamer type. Whatever happened to the trivia, puzzle and strategy games adults seem to love?
Maybe Nintendo's Wii will work its way into this market.

Re:Who says older folks don't play games?

[kfg]

What's more, who says older people lose dexterity?

I play with musicians in their sixties on a regular basis and sometimes with musicians in their seventies and eighties. I wish some of them would lose some damned dexterity so I could bloody well keep up. I've also noted that a piano accordian is more complicated and has more damned buttons on it than any game controller I've ever seen (although the controller sounds better); and if you want a complicated "controller" just have a look at an Irish pipe player, pumping the bellows with one arm, squeezing the bag with the other, fingering the pipe itself, hitting regulator keys, stopping the end of the pipe against his knee while the other leg stomps time.

Don't you know how the old saying goes?

Use it or lose it.

You don't lose dexterity when you get old, you lose it when you quit.

"Doctor, doctor, I lose dexterity when I don't go like this!" Figure out the rest on your own.

KFG

Slower Reflexes, Slower Games

[dorath]

My dad just retired, and he's been playing and loving Diablo-style games since, well, Diablo. He has played any number of knockoffs, and seems to have found a new one every time I visit. In addition to those, he spends a fair amount of time playing RPGs and adventure games. He saves early, and saves often.

He also really takes his time. It's no race for him, and he doesn't have a problem returning to old saves. He's played Guid Wars with my brother and I, but he doesn't chat because he can't type that fast (I haven't got him set up on Ventrilo yet, bad son). He tried DAoC and EQ2, but he just doesn't like grouping with people because he'd rather take his time.

I'm guessing that as I/we get older, we'll look for games where we can take our time too.

Answered his own question..

[jacks smirking reven]

From TFA:

Obviously the Wii is something that could be improved upon over the years, and just might become the senior's console of choice.

As Nintendo has already stated older gamers is one of their targeted demographics with the Wii, I believe we'll see less dependence on buttons and a stronger focus on immersion in games as motion control and "VR" type systems get better and cheaper. The gaming system in 20-40 years may have no buttons whatsoever.

Trying to predict anything about life in 20 years, much less technology, is a total crapshoot.

Assumptions

[Abcd1234]

Today's controllers are becoming more and more complicated and require greater dexterity to master.

I see one right there. The Wii is clearly an example of a controller that's actually become *less* complex compared to it's contemporaries. Frankly, I think we've seen the peak of controller complexity.

The Beatles

[Tackhead]

When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now.
Will we still be playing Castle Wolfenstein?
On emulators ported to WINE?
If there's a walkthrough on quarter to three, with some ancient lore?
Will ya still RUN me,
Load-eight-comma-one me,
My C-64?

I could be handy, slip you a disk, when your drive has gone.
You can bunny-hop with the rocket tube, then go back to Quake and some DOOM.
Slower reflexes, arthritic grips, who could ask for more?
Will you still need me,
Duke Nukem 3D?,
AMD-six-four?

Send me an Inter-net through the tubes, stating point of view.
The night of the LAN party we'll take Geritol,
By Sunday morning, we'll pwn 'em all!
Well past my half-life, emulate STEAM, Duke Forever IV.
Will ya still phone me,
Will ya still pwn me,
When I'm 64?

Electricity? Bah you kids had it easy!

[_Hellfire_]

When I was a lad, all our games ran on Steam!

Increasing difficulty?

[uucp2]

Yeah, right. Kids today have it easy. When I was young, there were no such things as save or pause button. When your friend called you, too bad, can't come to phone right now mom.

wrong!

[John Nowak]

You can't even read the statistics you're citing properly. That link says 25% of gamers are 50+, not that 25% of those 50+ play games. That's a huge difference, and indicates that 50+ gamers make up a large percentage of the market.

Why do I even bother with Games postings...