What happens to older gamers?
 

I am a gamer and basicallly always will be. I noticed today though how old habbits will always stay with me. I work as a teaching assistant for a special ed class. Being a special ed class we have toys that help children to learn simple tasks, one of which is for the alphabet. As I am helping one of my students get through it I start gettin more and more interested in the alphabet quiz and eventually try to do the whole thing at one time to see if I can unlock anything. :$

We start making our own games, silly! ;)

At least, that's my plan.

They download emmulators and roms and play the old games!

Eventually they get sick of living in their mom's basement and have to move out. :lol:

I'm 36....my first console was pong....then atari, intellivision, omnivision...NES, Genesis etc.I still game, not too much online because I cand stand the morons...you know the ones who are always saying stupid shit like OMG WTF...U R 5uch a f46 I 4m a 1337 hax0rz lolololol!!!!!!!!!111111111! When I do play online it's usually somethin like DFLW....but I find myself playing single player much more.

Old gamers never die. They just lose their twitch.

Kids and marriage can do a surprising amount of damage to your game time. That's why I am putting them off for as long as I can.

Eventually your reflexes would start to get worse and then I think you would have to quit when your 50 or so. I will probably have to quit before I get that old, real life crap and what not. Lets hope we can all live to be gamers for life. :)

I started at about 5 and am now 24. I feel I am definitely getting better although when 40 comes I know I will be so crap.

I think a game like Rainbow Island will be a good measure

Nothin wrong with being a lifer! I've thought about this before, and I don't know when I'm going to quit! I'm sure (as Coppertop said) that once you get the whole house/wife/2.2 kids/dog/etc. that'll cut into your gaming time, so we'll see how it goes. But, I figure, I'll just have to play games with my kids when I have them! hahaha

Less time to play (atleast if you are holding down some sort of full time job). You just start playing in bursts (weekday evenings) or binges (all day Sat. or Sunday).

Uh... I've had a full time job at my company for 10 years now this November. Obviously that is 40 hours a week I cannot game (you shush Kestrel) but it has not slowed me down much. That's what weeknights and weekends are for. My live-in girlfriend has issue with the amount of gaming I do (she just got used to it (I hope)) - but she hasn't curbed it too much. Now if I had children, that'd be another story.

Yep, child certainly curtail it. I tend to game single player in the small windows of opportunity I have...

Yeah, definitely. Ever since I started working, my gaming time was cut in half and went down even more through time. These days, I'm lucky if I can play one game over the weekend. College break is coming up though. :)

i like old games, basically on arcades.

i like roms too :)

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showpos...&postcount=638 :lol:
I would hope to meet a girl that actually games. Failing that, I'll cry myself to sleep silently.

Exactly. I used to play CS regularly with a guy who was around 65 (evidently at that age he would have had to start when he was older too, but same rule applies). I also play DoD with a father of a girl with a full time job, and a working mother of two (all children below the age of 6). No matter what you do, there is always a little time for some gaming (or a lot ;) ).

They're out there man, my last three girlfriends were all pretty hard on games, I'd post pics to prove how hot they all are but I think that's a little weird "Hey geeks, check out my girlfriend *snort*"

There's definately nothing more sexier than a girl who plays World of Warcraft religiously. :icare:

When I have kids, I'm am going to stomp their little gamer asses and their friends. You'll never beat dad, and if you do, the system is going into my room with limited access for you.
About five years ago I played Tekken 3 regularly with my stepfather. Just recently I got him into Call of Duty, followed by Medal of Honor, Far Cry and Halflife and halflife 2. He is now 58 and has been known to play until 3 or 4 in the morning. He now has a radeon 9800 pro card (better then mine).

There's one thing that's sexier: a girl who plays Final Fantasy XI religiously. :D
But I digress.

I don't think i'll ever stop playing video games. Either console, computer or whatever. I have less time to play now but I always find time here and there. Those were the good days when you were little and could play games all day and it wouldn't matter.

Well, after gaming through my teen years, I got a job and a beautiful wife and daughter. I have a nice car and a nice home. I study philosophy and science and history and music. I go to concerts and movies and museums and art galleries. I have tons of friends. I take martial arts and exercise regularly. I've saved a life and changed a few others. Somehow Mario just can't compete with reality. I still play games every once in a while, but somehow they don't interest me as much anymore.

Don't take this as my putting down gamers, as one of my best friends is a serious gamer. So long as you are able to balance gaming with the other facets of life - school/work, social life, family, friends - it seems like a good way to live.

Yeah, reality handles anti-aliasing really well without any slowdown.

Sorry, geek humor. :lol:

or they don't :thumbsup:

The good thing about being older is that you are in a better position to plop down cash (or credit) for the real kickass PC/ video card. And, if you play online, you don't take the games too seriously - you can just have fun.

Coincidentally enough, I met the CEO of a start up called Grownup Games, who's sole aim is to make high quality games that don't have as much a time investement as most games so that people can learn and play them in the midst of their busy lives.

Been gaming for around ermm 9 years or so now, infact maybe more if you count the oldies like Spectrum and Amiga.

Dont intend to ever stop when i get older (well 27 now) but I think the miss's would like me to, lol.

Can't say I agree - my gf hogs the computer so I can't play!! And she ignores me while she does it :(

Who do you think buys all those high-end gaming PCs? It's not just filthy-rich kids.

Good thing about growing up with video games is that a vast majority of females out there love 'em because they too grew up with them.

There's a few I've met that are heavy into games... especially RPGs. I'm gonna try to get em hooked on World of Warcraft ;)

Um, but yeah... games are a part of my life. If I ever find that I don't have time, I make time. I don't think it's possible for "real life" stuff to be so hectic that you seriously can't even find an hour or two a day to play... even with kids. Maybe if you were working full time AND going to college full time but... yeah, I won't be doing that.

Tonight I'm gonna play some Resident Evil 4 and WoW ;)

Wow man, you talk about yourself a lot...

lol at Carn.

Who said Mario was supposed to compete with reality? I don't think that's ever been the point of casual, or serious gamers.

I just realized that we are the first generation of gamers. In our life times we've seen the technology get better and better, so everytime we grow out of it, they have something more powerful to pull us back in.

Still, it's going to be interesting to see where this goes, seeing as though gaming is here to stay forever. I'm glad I was around to see its start.

This did reek of arrogance. You imply that an adult gamer doesn't achieve a productive life (despite your blurb at the end).

Let's compare notes.
For the record I'm an active gamer. I got my degree in Physics from UC Berkeley and worked in research for the US DOE at Lawrence Berkeley Labs. Later I went to medical school and obtained my MD. I had my Internal Medicine residency at Brown University and was Chief Resident during my last year. I, too, have saved lives and changed them. I have written and published research papers in Physics AND Medicine.

I also studied martial arts (Shin Moo Hapkido, TKD, Choi Le Fut Kung Fu) heavily when I was younger, but it doesn't hold any more interest for me. For the past few years I've studied modern handgun and carbine tactics at a school in Nevada alongside SWAT friends and other LEOs.

I also happen to be a mural artist and have displayed some of my works in NY and Europe. I've travelled the world and speak 3 languages. I have friends in the UK, Spain, Belgium, Romania, Lithuania, Japan, latin America and all over the US.

I'm not married, but I was engaged last year to a lovely woman (and a lovlier person) - a flight attendant currently living in Connecticut. (Our separation was mutual but we remain good friends.)

I haven't "outgrown" gaming and neither have many friends of mine. Video games don't compete with reality any more than television does.

You'd be suprized :) Kids (when they are young, say 5 and 3, my kids ages) goto bed early. After that it's game time. It works out cause the wifey plays the same game as me (used to be FFXI, currently WoW).

And as Stompy pointed out, our generation of women are more accepting, if not participating in gaming because they grew up with it the same as we did.

they get married and play together...

skogafoss and I played Diablo together... and now World of Warcraft.

I coded my own games on my Apple ][+ and she played Bard's Tale on her Apple GS.

slacker...

I have been married for 10 years and have a daughter that is almost 2 years old. I also hold a senior position at a major investment bank in NYC. That doesn't leave a lot of time for gaming, but life's about choices and I choose gaming (among other things) over proficiency at playing the guitar or excelling at basketball or golf.

The only difference from when I was young is that there is no such thing as the "marathon session" anymore. If I ever locked myself in the office for more than three hours (not to mention 16-24 hours) without poking my head out to engage with the family, there probably would be a family with which to engage. Besides, I'd miss them after a while anyway. They're fun to be around.

Therefore, in order to play with any regularity, I tend to do it when the rest of the household is asleep. I have to wake up early for the long commute into NYC, so I often wake up an hour or so earlier every day in order to get in some game time. Of course that means I go to bed early, but when you're the father of a toddler what ever happens after 9:30 anyway?

So, does that mean I can get my Undead Cleric and my Tauren Warrior to 60th level as fast as the kid on his Summer break? Nope. But I get my enjoyment from playing the game, not from leveling faster than anyone else on the planet.

Holy crap, you wake up early to play games?!

Dedication!!

I dig it.

I can't get up that early for games... well I guess on the weekends, but on the weekdays, I stay up ridiculously late 3 nights a week.

I just wonder if, 30 years from now, I'll still strafe jump when shooting a sniper.... Damn awp....