Growing Old as a Gamer

[LordCarlisle]

Now, don't let the title mislead you; I'm only sixteen years of age myself. But every now and then I'll realize that I'm far too passionate towards video games to realistically see myself quitting them altogether. It's just hard to imagine. Of course, there's a fair share of middle-aged gamers out there who date back to the 80s and 90s, but I have to wonder... as time progresses, will we start to see a significant community of gamers in their fifties and sixties? That seems a bit hard to swallow. Would there be a certain point in which one would drop video games altogether?

One would think that this point would be once one gets married and has kids, yet I'm sure there are people here who are fathers, husbands, and avid gamers who find the time to game despite being far busier than those of us in adolescence. Do you guys plan to keep gaming until the day you die?

 

[Cthulhu_MD]

This is purely anecdotal, but from most of my time on Reddit like /r/gaming and various others, I've come across several people that are in their 40s and above that play games avidly. They attempt to find the time to play and while they're not as "up to speed" with some upcoming games and whatnot, they still love playing whatever they have on their computer or console.

As for me, I doubt I'll stop playing for good. I may have to stop to bring in the income necessary for my family, but I'll always play games even around 50 and older. I'll keep playing until my body just doesn't have the muscle or bone power to move anymore.

 

[SilentBob]

My one of my ex-girlfriends dad is in his forties and he's a pretty hardcore gamer. There's no age requirement to be a gamer.

Why can't you see anyone being in their forties or fifties and still be into gaming? Sure most of them right now aren't but that's only because most of them have played maybe 1 or 2 games in their entire life. Gaming is not of their generation. While our main form of entertainment is gaming, theirs is watching TV. Our parents keep telling us to grow up and stop playing video games, theirs told them to grow up and stop watching TV, before TV it was the radio and before that it was books. Also lets be fair, our parents love gaming too. While it might not be video games, they still enjoy board games and card games. In the end it's just the format that has changed but it's all about having fun.

Now will I continue gaming until the day I die? Well considering that I work in the gaming industry and assuming that I stay in the industry then yes I'll have to play them until I retire. As for enjoying them in my personal life then that will depend on how gaming will evolve in the years to come. Personally, I have a hard time enjoying it nowadays because I hate the majority of AAA games people praise so much and yes that includes The Last of Us. I hate how the majority of these games put so much focus on story that the gameplay just feels like boring filler in between cutscenes. If you don't know what I mean then try playing The Last of Us and skip all of the cutscenes. In the end it just feels like I'm watching a $60 movie.

Not only that but games these days are horribly designed. By that I mean that a game should teach you how to play it through level design and not through hand holding tutorials. If your game still has to show me tutorials half way through the game, then that game designer did a horrible job. Which is why I think Dark Souls is the best designed game in the last 10 years. Its first stage teaches you everything you need to know about the game as long as you think about it for a minute and question your own mistakes. The game also managed to create an incredibly dense lore and story simply by integrating it into optional NPC dialogs, item descriptions and world design. So if you don't care about story you can still go through it without reading a single thing, which gives a Metroid feeling to it, but everything is still there for you to understand the world you're in if you look for it.

I firmly believe that everyone should watch this video if they're seriously interested in getting into game design.

Anyway I kind of went a bit off topic there but it still explains why I may or may not continue gaming in the future.

 

[Narpas_sword]

I used to play COD2 with an 80year old. (and i mean 2, nor MW2, so that was...ages ago)

Am currently 28, and see no reason to stop.
I'm sure once i have kids old enough to play, ill get them into it (if they want) too.

 

[Zink Imp]

I've just reached 20. I am stepping away from video games more and more. I don't see myself buying any new games in the foreseeable future. The only reason I still come to this site is because I have been playing the new Smash a lot. But once I've had my filling, I don't think I'm going to return to games as much. Not only because I'm "too old," but because the "gamer culture" is absurd, immature and down right atrocious. It's one of the reasons I stopped going to Smash fests. The average gamer is someone I never want to encounter again. Labeling is a real thing in the world, and I sure as hell don't want to be labeled as a gamer. That being said, I won't down right stop playing video games, nor will I get rid of my games. But I'll step away from them and put other things as priority/

 

[finalark]

I firmly believe that everyone should watch this video if they're seriously interested in getting into game design.

Just quoting this to say that everything in Egoraptor's sequalitis series should be taken with a grain of salt. Sure, he points out some good things when it comes to game design but almost every single one of those videos are complete one-sided. IMO they all completely fail as comparison videos. If you're really interesting in getting into game design I would recommend checking out Extra Credits over Egoraptor, since most of his video on game design are just praising one game to high heaven while completely trashing the other.

On topic, yes, this is a generational thing. I know folks who were teenagers during the SNES/Genesis years who still play new entries in the favorite franchises from back in the day and even dabble in some newer stuff. Frankly, I have no plans to stop playing game franchises that I love. I think most people would agree.

Unless, of course, your beloved franchise ends up going downhill.

 

[Heroine of Winds]

I highly doubt I'll be gaming for a long time, though. I hate what the gaming industry has become now & most of my favorite gaming franchises are dead or about to die. I even hate how aggressive some gamers are now & they take gaming way too seriously anymore. It's becoming too dangerous for their health.

The more older I get, the more I realize that gaming is a huge waste of time for me. I may end up quitting gaming before I hit a much older age.

 

[Zavanthar The Brave]

Hmmm... well right now I'm 17, and I don't really know if I'm gonna keep playing in the far future. It's true that I have been playing games since I was a child, so in a way it's hard to stop playing at all. In any case, I'm certain that if I stop playing drastically I'm going to stick just to games I already have and like a lot, and forget a bit about what's new.

Right now I'm not playing as much games as I used to, maybe that will continue like that, time will tell. I just know that these days where I live games are RIDICULOUSLY expensive, and that is one huge factor that has me with a forced indiference towards actual games, so if things keep this way (mixed with other reasons) I may forget completely about many games for a while.

Oh yeah, I forgot. Regarding adults still playing games, I think that's fine. I know a lot of adults that play games regularly or ocasionally, I see it as something normal nowadays. Not as frequent as younger people of course.

 

[Himynameisisaac]

I really like this question.. I myself am 20. I am engaged. I have a 3-month old daughter and I feel like I will never get tired of gaming.
I know it's still pretty early in my life to make that assumption but it's just how I feel.

I actually asked my fiancee the other day if she would think it's weird that when my daughter is my age(20) and I'm still playing video games. She said no but this question does run through my mind quite a bit.

Again, one can never be too sure because who knows what the quality of games will be in the future and that plays a huge factor as well. So all in all I don't think I'll ever stop gaming. Maybe I'll play less frequently but never stop entirely.

 

[LordCarlisle]

I really like this question.. I myself am 20. I am engaged. I have a 3-month old daughter and I feel like I will never get tired of gaming.
I know it's still pretty early in my life to make that assumption but it's just how I feel.

I actually asked my fiancee the other day if she would think it's weird that when my daughter is my age(20) and I'm still playing video games. She said no but this question does run through my mind quite a bit.

Again, one can never be too sure because who knows what the quality of games will be in the future and that plays a huge factor as well. So all in all I don't think I'll ever stop gaming. Maybe I'll play less frequently but never stop entirely.

And it's great that your fiancee has no problem with it. But I find myself thinking of getting into a situation in which I'm already tied down to a woman, either by marriage or child, and that I'd get into a situation in which she thinks I should have outgrown video games and insists that I drop them.

 

[Lythium]

Well, the great thing about being an adult is that you're not really obliged to do anything you don't want to. Not without consequences necessarily, but you always have a choice. It's an important distinction. Also, ultimatums suck for the most part.

Anyway, I'm 27 now. I don't play nearly as many games as I used to because I just don't have enough time for them. I still enjoy them, but your priorities tend to shift as you age, and I just have to make time for other things now. But I still enjoy gaming, and probably always will.

 

[Killtrox]

Now, don't let the title mislead you; I'm only sixteen years of age myself. But every now and then I'll realize that I'm far too passionate towards video games to realistically see myself quitting them altogether. It's just hard to imagine. Of course, there's a fair share of middle-aged gamers out there who date back to the 80s and 90s, but I have to wonder... as time progresses, will we start to see a significant community of gamers in their fifties and sixties? That seems a bit hard to swallow. Would there be a certain point in which one would drop video games altogether?

One would think that this point would be once one gets married and has kids, yet I'm sure there are people here who are fathers, husbands, and avid gamers who find the time to game despite being far busier than those of us in adolescence. Do you guys plan to keep gaming until the day you die?

... and mothers, and wives...

At 24, I still spend a lot of time playing games, but with maturity comes the realization that you have other things to take care of. I know people twice my age who have kids and spend more time gaming than they should, while I'll spend time developing other talents.

I decided that I don't want to grow older and be a teacher/professor who plays video games really well as a hobby. Instead, I've decided to round myself out. I'm better than my friends at video games, better than most at writing, better than most at playing guitar/bass/drums, and also more educated. This is the type of question that is only really answerable on a personal level.

Even recently I've found myself playing numerous games, where before I was into hardcore World of Warcraft raiding. Now, I'd rather play a bunch of great games than devote too much time (to me) to just one.

 

[Himynameisisaac]

And it's great that your fiancee has no problem with it. But I find myself thinking of getting into a situation in which I'm already tied down to a woman, either by marriage or child, and that I'd get into a situation in which she thinks I should have outgrown video games and insists that I drop them.

in that case, I would honestly say not to be with someone like that. IF gaming is a passion to you why give it up for someone that doesn't agree with it? I understand as you get older your partner may think that you would have to play less frequently but not stop entirely. I, personally, would not give up gaming completely for anyone but my daughter. But, of course, that's just me.

 

[deadPhoenix]

I'm 21, and I firmly believe that I'll never stop gaming, because gaming is a part of me. I started at age two, and haven't stopped since then. My dream is to become a professional gamer. I can't really let it go. I've tried, but like I said, it's a part of me. I identify with it. It's a part of my dreams and ambitions in life. It's who I am.

 

[Himynameisisaac]

I'm 21, and I firmly believe that I'll never stop gaming, because gaming is a part of me. I started at age two, and haven't stopped since then. My dream is to become a professional gamer. I can't really let it go. I've tried, but like I said, it's a part of me. I identify with it. It's a part of my dreams and ambitions in life. It's who I am.

Yeah man, same here. It's literally a HUGE part of my life. It's obviously not something i do as much as I want to what with me working 5 days a week from 10-7 and then taking care of my daughter when i get home. But I still do get alot of gaming time thrown in so it's enough to me. And honestly when I game.. Lately, I tend to only play Smash, LoZ games or Sonic games. (Or anything I have purchased on the Wii-U) but that's mainly because nothing lately has attracted my attention.

 

[Himynameisisaac]

Sorry for digressing at the end there.

 

[LivewiresXe]

It's a weird topic. Like, I'm 27, but I still make sure to find a little bit of time for gaming every day I can, even if it's just 1 or 2 hours. It's sorta something I've grown up with as a kid since I got a SNES, so it's probably something I'll stick with. I just think as I get more stuff on my plate, it might go more from "playing when I feel like it" towards "this is the time today I'll have to play if I want to".