Too Old for Games - Time to Walk Away?

masterpinky2000 - 51 days 2 hours ago

Hey, I take your point seriously, I definitely haven't experienced many of the true worries of adult life yet. I didn't intend for the blog I wrote to be a whine session, it was more of a collection of thoughts that came from different sources.

One of them was that society at large still perceives gaming as a "childish" medium. Another was the fact that many of my friends have largely given up gaming, particularly after we all went to college. Combining those with my increasing awareness that I'm about to enter a pretty weak job market, it made me think about the place that gaming has in my life.

Like many of you, and as I say in the article, I ultimately concluded that there isn't really such a thing as "too old" for gaming. But habits do change, and as an adult the norm is no longer picking up a game and playing it passionately for eight hours a day. It's more of a hobby where you put in an hour or two when you have free time, and relish it for what it is.

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Henry Cain - 51 days 2 hours ago

Never to old to play games. I guess all the basketball, football, baseball, soccer, tennis, and golf players need to hang it up. Grown men and women make games. Grown men and women play games.

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psycho360 - 51 days 2 hours ago

Pretty decent thread so far great job to the contributor and the article. Now we have established that most of us are responsible adults we should be like that in all news section at least in gamer zone ;)

On topic i'm enjoying 30+ years of gaming started way back like most of you in 70s on atari2600, pacman standalone unit etc.. C64 was the next step then amiga500 - 386 - 486 - pentium 90 .... ps1/ps2/360

Three cheers for gaming industry and the devs who are giving us hours of enjoyment in our lives and keeping us in young spirit.

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Tex117 - 50 days 23 hours ago

I guess Im the only other lawyer on this thread.
HAHAHA Good luck, sir, it is brutal out there for lawyers. Just brutal.

As for games, Im an interesting case. I played my NES, SNES, and Ps1 all quite a bit. My fav. was probably SNES because of the mastery of Squaresoft at that time, but I digress.

I actually skipped the Ps2, XBox generation. Borrowed my buds to play the Final Fantasies.

I then moved to a city I didn't know anyone with alot of free time on my hands. After discovering I really don't like drinking alone, I decided I wanted a ps3...ya know...for the bluray.

What I have discovered is that games are great when you have nothing else going on. With all the time in the world they are wonderful ways to spend a nasty day. That said, I know that once I get real busy again, I just wont be able to play as often, even though they are still alot of fun.

I could write a whole article on the jump from the ps1 to ps3...It seems it was that middle generation that really brought gaming into the limelight.

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creeping judas - 50 days 21 hours ago

39 years old
2 kids
Started off with Atari Pong in 1978. The only console I have not owned is the PS2.
Married to University sweet heart
Career in banking
A gamer at night after the kids have gone to sleep. Well sometimes before they goto sleep if it's a highly anticipated game.
It's hard to balance all these things, but you do it if you love it.
I am over weight, but I swear it's glanular, I SWEAR IT!!!!!

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Darkfiber - 50 days 20 hours ago

I don't think you're ever too old. My girlfriend's dad is in his 50s and he has a PS3, 360 and a nice gaming PC, and probably plays more than most people in their teens and 20s. He's playing Demon's Souls, Uncharted 2 and Borderlands right now, and plays online a lot with his friends who are also in their 40s and 50s.

As for me, I might slow down a bit but I don't see myself not playing anymore. I grew up playing games, and if I keep playing them I don't ever see myself being too "old" to understand games or anything like that, and use it as my main form of entertainment. Lots of people in their 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, etc still watch tv and movies, so there's no reason people will stop playing games when they get older. I personally hate the fact that they are still called "games" simply because a lot of people think they are silly and look down on them because of that.

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Kakihara - 50 days 20 hours ago

I'm 26 and feel like I'm too old to be a full on gamer. Just about everyone I know has a console but they never keep track of upcoming releases or they don't know who Hideo Kojima and Tim Schafer are etc. It really made me self conscious for a while and like some kind of stereotype gamer nerd but one thing getting to this age has taught me is that doing the things you enjoy is always cooler than trying to be seen as cool by others. I never regret the days I spent playing Resident evil but I cringe with embarrassment every time I remember hanging out with the goth kids doing drugs and trying to look cool.

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stvw74 - 50 days 20 hours ago

and still gaming everyday ..

I remember sitting in front of a ZXSpectrum typing in lines of code ..
I remember going to my best friends house to play Hunchback on his dad's BBC Micro ..
I remember getting a Commodore64 for Xmas & playing Ghostbusters, Manic Miner & Forbidden Forest ..
I remember buying with my own spending money the 512K behemoth that was the Amiga500 ..

Kids these days don't realise how good they've got it compared to when we were growing up because they are unaware of the legacy ..
as if we'd ever give up gaming for good unless we absolutely have to ..
Boys will always have their toys ..

Gamer for Life

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Kakihara - 50 days 17 hours ago

Ghosts 'n Goblins = The Demon's souls of it's day.

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kraze07 - 50 days 4 hours ago

I'll walk away from games when I walk away from life. "From the womb to the tomb" as I once heard some guy say. Sometimes I wish I could just quit my job and play my video games for the rest of my life.

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