Be Excellent To Each Other

This is a question for the old school gamers on here (i.e. - people in their late twenties/early thirties). Basically, do you think you'll continue to game for the rest of your natural life, or is it something we'll all eventually 'grow out' of?

Or to put it another way, is there a fixed lifespan attached to our gaming habits, or is it something we'll continue to enjoy no matter how old we get, like music and movies? The evidence seems to suggest the former.

Think about it. Back in the 1970s, people went completely ape shit for video games. Space Invaders was bigger than Jesus, the Atari 2600 was selling by the million and arcade parlors were incredibly popular. ...So where have all these middle-aged gamers gone? It would seem that the first generation of gamers, with very few exceptions, have lost interest in the hobby and moved on. Is the same thing going to happen to us too?

Increasingly, I find myself fed up with the same tired old game mechanics and samey sequels. Even interesting stuff like Fallout 3 doesn't seem worth the endless hours of time it takes to complete. I still enjoy gaming, but will I be lining up to buy the next batch of consoles? I'm not so sure... I think I may be about to reach my use-by date - and I think a lot of similar-aged gamers are reaching theirs too.

So what do you reckon? Am I talking bollocks or making sense?

I dunno, my mum and dad (late 40's early 50's) still play games, with my dad having just bought CoD:WaW and my mum getting Tomb Raider Underworld. They had a Pong machine before I was born (1984).

While I go through periods sometimes of not playing very much, I always come back.

I think I'll probably always play something, of some description until I physically can't for whatever reason.

Well, there are obviously exceptions to the rule, but I'd hazard a guess that most middle aged mums aren't getting the new Tomb Raider game. (And yet, a hell of a lot of 'em would have been casual gamers back in their youth.)

But ask yourself this - do YOU think you'll be playing the latest Tomb Raider when you're her age? As much as I like gaming, I just can't picture myself fiddling with a gamepad (or possibly a nifty motion-sensing helmet) when I'm fifty. And I think most gamers my age will be in the same non-gaming boat.

Assuming games still exist in a recognisable form, yes, I probably will. I've already been playing game ever since I can remember. I suppose if Game Plus has to be controlled via the mind while dancing about like a demented Tazmanian Devil then I might reconsider, but I'll probably always at the very least play games from the past.

By 'games from the past', do you mean games that are already old, our current-gen stuff? Because that's another issue I have with most of today's games - they offer almost no replay value at all. I can't imagine anyone playing Gears of War 2 or Halo 3 thirty years from now, for example. (Although the thought of geriatrics tea-bagging each other in a nursing home is pretty amusing).

Both. While I'll probably always enjoy a go on the retro classics of today (BombJack, Bubble Bobble, through to Sega Rally, Daytona, and the like...) I can see there would be a few current games that'd I'd replay as well, such as World of Goo, Puzzle Quest, most RTS you care to mention...

It's hard to see people get too nostalgic about the current games in the future because simply they're the second (sometimes third) run of games to do the same thing. There's no "Jump to 3D" that helps games such as Mario64 in the nostalgia stakes. This generation is the same as the last generation, just in a slightly higher definition for some of us.

When we're 50, we'll probably get all nostalgic about playing on flat screens, and holding physical pads to play the games with.

Old Man Afterthought went with me to th EvE awards couple of years back, and used to play it (he was, like Comical, a typical carebear, always worried about his ships and implants and only ventured into low sec when I paid him to,l or I happened to be there..) now, he'll most likely be found playing CoD2 on a Christian Sniper only server, dropping smoke grenades at the feet of the snipers on his team, before running about on a spree.

Me? I dunno, as my reactions and eyesight deteriorate, I'll end up playing turn absed games, like chess, against a hyper AI dressed as a pole dancer.
Whilst the nth generation Wii peripheral massage my genitals.

Boys will continue to play games until their wives tell them they can't.

As someone who's 40 in just over a month I can posit that gaming will become a smaller part of your life as you get older as it just becomes one of many hobbies/distractions. I do go through periods of ennui and play very little for months at a time but this no longer bothers me as some life altering switch taking place - there's always something not too far over the horizon that re-invigorates me.

I do, however, have a major problem with life swallowing games such as Fallout 3 and the like - it doesn't matter how good they are, they rarely get finished as I don't have the time so they need to be exceptional to even get purchased nowadays.

Hahaha, everytime I call mummy afterthought, she says "Old Man afterthought is on the computer, playing his stupid games, again".

I was going to say, 'fiancées don't become wives unless they let boys continue to play games', but I thought it might be mean.

Hmm perhaps I should have posted my previous comment on 1st August 2009, or even at 2:05pm on 31s July

I think in my case, it'll be playing games until my hands stop working properly. Hopefully there'll be decent thought-controlled consoles along by then.

The ESA says...


Actually it's an interesting survey because it also has this to say about ages which was very useful in the "Games are for kids" argument over Manhunt.



And more relevent to the topic itself...

I can't see what about me will change between now (35) and age 50 or 60 that will remove any interest whatsoever that I have in games though I appreciate I might be in a minority. But if we're not talking about exceptional cases here then contrary to what you say isn't this just the same with films and music? Cinema audiences and music buyers are mostly young or middle-aged people.

The Atari 2600 sold 30 million units, in 13 years.

The Wii has sold 38 million in just over 2 years, and that's with powerful competition in the home which the 2600 didn't really have. The DS in its 3 years has sold EIGHTY EIGHT million, the PS2 is sitting on a total of 110 million.

A full fifth of all over 50s (and thus a much larger number of the 50-65 group who'd be 18-33 in 1976) play games, I don't think they've gone anywhere, I think a very reasonable proportion of games players then do now. In fact probably more of them play games now than actually did in 1980 or so.

I'm outside of that age group :-(

However I have played games from a very young age (pong onwards) and have no plans on stopping.

I love playing games, always have done-although my mum and my father don't play them. My sister used to, but doesn't anymore. I am classed as the 'geek' in the family

My mum used to get cross with me when I was playing on my old nintendos and such like because she said: 'Why don't you go out and explore your world instead of being cooped up in this one, eh? You won't do any good in life if a pc is your only friend,' I corrected her of course-it's a console

But in some respects shes right-why whittle away time on a game? Because it's fun-thats why. I'll still be doing this when I'm 80 or so (providing I live that long ) and if I adopt then I will let the kids play on whatever consoles are around in that time

Mum has semi-come round to games now (at the proud age of 60!) because a couple of years ago we got her into Crash Bandicoot hehehe. We also have the occasional game on Time Splitters as she loves that too-bless her

My father used to play Mario Kart with me and Rae on the very very odd occasion we saw him when we were younger

I might not be playing the same games, but I'll be playing games.

Misty-eyed nostalgia aside, innovative masterpieces were just as rare in The Good Old Days as they are now, so there's absolutely no reason to expect that there'll be less stuff I want to play 20 years from now than there is now. The amount of time I spend playing games waxes and wanes but, like Sheepeh, I always end up coming back to it.

Besides, I'm a fat bloke with a goatee. Once I've finished reading my comics, what else have I got to do except play games?

It's funny that we'd probably all see 60 year olds who still switch the Eggbox on as being pretty cool, but pensioners who still watch porn are a seen as a bit creepy.

Double standards or what?

To be fair I can't say that I've ever viewed a self-confessed porn-addict as being the very benchmark of cool.

Who mentioned addiction?

"You will take my game pad from my cold dead fingers."

I can't see me ever stopping gaming, sure there are peaks and troughs but never nothing at all.

Fair enough, I just find people who enthuse a lot about porn a bit weird whatever their age to be honest. No more or less so if they're 26 or 60.

He's calling you weird, Meaty.

Why weird, exactly? It's been part of human culture for a very long time indeed. Just look at the walls in Pompeii. Interest in sex strikes me as fairly normal and healthy, to be honest.

Porn is one of those strange things. Lots of people look at it, very few ever admit to it. I don't see the problem personally, I would've thought having no interest in sex would be the truly weird thing.

As for gaming, I can't see myself ever totally growing out of it. Certainly recent happenings in my life have convinced me that there are more important things to worry about, but there'll always be games for me. I think sometimes a bit of escapism is a good thing, life can be pretty shit sometimes.

Of course it is. I don't know why, but I just don't ever particularly feel the need to know what my male friends have been wanking themselves off to lately.

I heartily agree with that.

Also - I do not want to know what people have been doing in bed with their wives/girlfriends/dogs, thanks.

(please forgive stilted style, still not 100% healthy, grammar is the first thing to go) The early home video games boom was a 'something new' type of situation, simple machines everyone could comprehend. The NES generation of consoles seemed to focus on younger gamers, possibly alienating the older fans of pong and its ilk. Computers of the time were complex and impenetrable for a lot of people looking for a casual gaming experience, meaning a lot of interest was lost. The wii is the closest thing to an old pong machine that's appeared for a long time, literally point and click, a system that even the oldest gamer can understand, meaning participation is going back up (33 million, really? Wow)

I can see a schism happening. The wii-route will take the mainstream, casual, bejewelled type gamers away and the sony/xbox crowd will become marginalised, but still significant. some of the control paradigms from the wii will be 'borrowed' by the hardcore gaming systems to keep a certain % of casual types. Many gamers of my generation (late 20's-early 30's) will morph from the hardcore type to the casual type as they age and their children will pick up the run-and-gun mantle. I can feel myself heading towards the dip-in for 10 minutes type of game already. Is there no hope for this former Amiga head?

Games are, to my mind, no different at all to watching a film, in terms of what you're using them for. They're both escapism and entertainment. You can't go "hahaha, you play video games, aren't you a child! HAHAHAH" and then go and watch some film with Ann Hathaway about her being a princess.

38 million, not 33.

For what it's worth at the same age the PS2 had sold about 25 million and the DS about 33.

I enjoyed games from an early age when I went to my friends' houses and played on their Speccies, etc. When my dad brough home an A500 in about 88 or 89, I was hooked from there.

I'm on a high peak at the moment with a lot of my spare time taken up playing games, but I have had quite massive troughs, particularly after the Amiga died and I didn't want to dirty myself with becoming a PC gamer.

Another angle is to ask if we'll be playing the same games in twenty years' time. There are piles of Amiga games in my parents' basement but other than 'Syndicate', which I was far too young for back then, I'm not in any mood to fire up the old beast and see what I've been missing.*


* At some point I will return 'Lemmings 2' to our neighbour. I think a delay of 15 years might be conisdered to be taking the piss somewhat

Just wait till we're all meeting up in the holo-deck lobby of Xbox 3600000!

Set thrill glands to ZOMG!

I still have a copy of Treasure Island Dizzy and Fast Food for the CPC at my mother's house. They belong to someone who lent me then in return for lending him Fantasy World Dizzy. 18 years ago.

If you're named Darren and lived in or around West Bromwich around 1990, please contact me as I still feel guilty about getting the better end of the deal. Although I still haven't finished Treasure Island Dizzy so can you give me a couple of weeks.

Thank you.

(Sorry, I was feeling really ill last night, and the euphoria of feeling better today has put me in a silly mood that is likely to get me banned.)

My brother lent my copy of Amiga Power Issue 26 (with the International Rugby Challenge review) to his fat mate Patto without asking me. The fat fuck 'lost' it and I never got it back. Later, I bought a copy on ebay. The pain still burns

Craster "lost" my copy of Dungeon Keeper about 12 years ago. I'm still pissed off about it.

Craster: buy Chris another copy of DK so we don't have to listen to you bicker about everything for the next 50 years.

He maintains he returned it to me and has point blank refused to buy me a new copy.

I'm not 100% certain this is the cause of our bickering but I'm sure it's a contributing factor. That and his big fat stupid head.

The fact you emphasise his weight problem twice in only four sentences shows how deeply this scarred you. However, you did not take the opportunity to call him Fatto, so it seems you're ready to start the long road to recovery.

I can see that as real life takes more of my time, such as potential babies in the future, my free time will go down and so will my game playing as a natural result.

However, I play game to relax, and escape, and the community side of things these days means that it way easier than ever before to carry on.

In 20 years time I may not be playing the latest in 'twitch' gaming via whatever crazy interface we use (this all assumes the world doesn't go tits up by then, of course), but I'd be surprised if I wasn't playing something.

To be fair, the bastard wasn't fat, just a thick-necked neanderthal type. Fat fucker.

Sentence to fat ratio = 1:1

I think you may be having a relapse.

you may be right. I'll exorcise my demons

Patto = Fatto

Let that be an end to it

Fat fuck

Well, this is it, isn't it. I suspect that if I'm still alive in 20 years time I'll be looking back on evenings spent playing amazing computer games against mates from across the globe over the internet, without anything else to really worry about, with a certain degree of nostalgia.

That and scratching a living maintaining decrepit machinery for the last few mechanised harvests.

According to that statistic, the average gamer didn't start playing games until he/she was 21. I'm calling shenanigans there. Every gamer I've ever met has been playing games since they were 15 at the very least, and usually a lot younger. Did anyone on this board 'discover' games outside of their teens?

Also, feeding your game habits is going to be a bit pricey when you're all on a pension (unless you're a filthy pirate).

Way before for me. As for Gamings New Blood, my 5 year old nephew has his DS glued into his hands.

Gaming is going mainstream dude.

been gaming in some form since I was a wee nipper of 5 years old.

That's not actually what it means at all I'm afraid.

What a load of rubbish.

I started when I was about 12 or 13