Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I turned 30 today and some one asked THE question... you know the one.... "Aren't you too old for video games yet?" Many ideologies in the modern world label gamers as losers and misfits. I have to disagree.

Edit ok it works now.

The answer however is "No, you're not too old for videoqames."

Most gaming YouTubers I give a damn about are well into their 30's; think of it more as having the most experience out of everyone

I think Dara O Briain put it right as a gamer himself - "video games are now one of the biggest forms of media in the world, and yet we're told we can't enjoy it. It makes no sense". He's 44 now

So no, you're not too old to play videogames, and never will be. Rock on mate, and Happy Birthday!

G.A

video games are none a matter of age but a matter of moderation. Never too old, but one has too make sure he doesn't sink his all life in it. Like lots of other things in fact.

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
video games are none a matter of age but a matter of moderation. Never too old, but one has too make sure he doesn't sink his all life in it. Like lots of other things in fact.

Why? It's my hobby, I can sink as much into it as I want.

 Soladrin wrote:

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
video games are none a matter of age but a matter of moderation. Never too old, but one has too make sure he doesn't sink his all life in it. Like lots of other things in fact.

Why? It's my hobby, I can sink as much into it as I want.

Pretty sure he meant like alcohol or anything else. Sure it's good, but don't go ODing on it.

The best thing about being an adult is I can do whatever I damn well please with my free time.

So this is an extension of the old Victorian trope about games being for children, right?

The fact that many gamers are losers and misfits is more a function of how ubiquitous gaming is. It's one of those false correlations that drive me nuts and show a profound lack of critical thinking. Most losers and misfits also breathe oxygen and consume food. Also 100% of all fatalities occur in those who consume dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO).

Also, people who worry about whether other people consider their hobbies as childish need to grow up. I proudly paint and play with my tiny toy soldiers in pretend land, thank you very much!

I'm 32, and still play video games (and 40k), and I enjoy it, and I don't feel bad about it, or feel like I'm 'too old'. Furthermore, I believe I have had a successful life so far - I graduated top of my class with an engineering degree, and have a had a good career thus far, bought a home, adult stuff like that.

That being said, you have to admit, like he touched on in the video, that there is a pretty massive cultural stigma levied towards 'adult' gamers.

For example, if I got asked at work, "what do you do for fun", I would probably not answer 'video and board games'. But maybe because that's because my workgroup is usually about 50 or older.

Maybe that'll change one day, and people will talk about their games the same way people at the office talk about sports. But.....I think it's fair to say that time has not yet come.

Interestingly - do you feel differently? If you are a 30+ professional worker, do you discuss video games with co-workers during downtime?

 Kap'n Krump wrote:
I'm 32, and still play video games (and 40k), and I enjoy it, and I don't feel bad about it, or feel like I'm 'too old'. Furthermore, I believe I have had a successful life so far - I graduated top of my class with an engineering degree, and have a had a good career thus far, bought a home, adult stuff like that.

That being said, you have to admit, like he touched on in the video, that there is a pretty massive cultural stigma levied towards 'adult' gamers.

For example, if I got asked at work, "what do you do for fun", I would probably not answer 'video and board games'. But maybe because that's because my workgroup is usually about 50 or older.

Maybe that'll change one day, and people will talk about their games the same way people at the office talk about sports. But.....I think it's fair to say that time has not yet come.

Interestingly - do you feel differently? If you are a 30+ professional worker, do you discuss video games with co-workers during downtime?

Krump, i have to agree. As an almost 30 year old in a professional environment, most of my coworkers are 48+. Yeah we joke about football, guns, hunting, and politics, but that's about it. No one knows I play videogames, D&D, etc. Not so much out of my embarassment, but more they'd just stare blankly at me, then carry on about their day.

I've got one guy at the office I talk gaming with, but we're both under 30. Generally I talk about my dogs with the people over 30. I find the "too old to game" concept to be inane though. Like, what's gonna happen, I'm gonna hit 30 and just not enjoy it anymore? I'm not supposed to at that point? Something like "Oh well this has been an incredible pastime for me and given me countless hours of enjoyment, but it's just time to give it up so people think I'm like them because I'm supposed to be." Give me a break haha.

lmfao

30?



Ahh you youngin's nowadays

TBH as you get older, this becomes a non-issue. I'm 41, I'll do what I like thanks very much.

I'm 43 and will never stop. At 83 I expect carpal tunnel to be so bad that video game consoles will have to plug into our brains.. and my 40k minis will be able to march across the table on their own so it won't suck having to move 100 gaunts anymore.

And we better have flying cars and cleaning robots by then, stupid Jetsons and their empty promisees :(

At 35 I'm a contributing, tax paying member of society that enjoys video games. Obviously they turned me into a worthless man-child with my steady job and two college degrees. If I played fantasy football I'm sure I would have been a CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Alas, alcoholism and rampant addiction to sportsball never set in. It's all my parents' fault for buying me a Nintendo.

I am under the devilish influence of games, i am trying to get rid of these crutches but the flesh is weak, If i hadn't become a victim of gaming i could have been an outstanding citizen like Al Bundy

A friend of mine has a saying "you don't stop playing games because you get old, you get old because you stop playing games"

I rented a video game (spaceship fighter to fighter game) when I was 35. I played it for less than 10 minutes. I got slaughtered after about 30 seconds. Stopped to check settings so I wasn't on insane level difficulty---I wasn't. Relaunched and was killed in about the same time.

I ejected the disc, returned it to its case and took it back to the rental place in less than an hour from renting it.

I was never great at video games in the 70s/80s but I was pretty decent at most stuff. That last rental convinced me I was done. .

I still love playing the retro arcade games (many stores have old retro cabinets that contain several or even dozens of the 80s video games). But as far as consoles go, I'm done.

LoL.

I've got a pile of those "retro" arcade games for my PS2 (still love Robotron, smash-tv and defender and games of that vintage. Still haul that console out now and then, too). I'm 47.

Pretty much no interest in current gen games, though. Nor of the upgrade or be left behind mindset needed to keep up with it.

You're too old to compete with those sugar addled 13 year olds, but not too old to game. Just gotta live with life on ez mode.

You're 30, you should know your own mind by now.

Hand your man card back in until your mum says you can handle making your own decisions.

Seriously I was never a compulsive game but the only thing that has limited me playing games is kids (who hogg the damn console!).

 jreilly89 wrote:

 Soladrin wrote:

 Maréchal des Logis Walter wrote:
video games are none a matter of age but a matter of moderation. Never too old, but one has too make sure he doesn't sink his all life in it. Like lots of other things in fact.

Why? It's my hobby, I can sink as much into it as I want.

Pretty sure he meant like alcohol or anything else. Sure it's good, but don't go ODing on it.

you did get it right

I'm a casual gamer of 39 and my dad is a hard core gamer of 72... When I say hard core, I mean He played 26 hours strait once. He live on a diet of coffee, cigarette and video game... a bit intense...

This should be in video games.

The video games section is about discussing and playing specific video games. This thread is about age and gaming. Seems fine where it is.

I have a buddy who just turned 29, he got married last year. Before they got married he told her that he was a big gamer. It is his hobby. She was fine with it. Now that they are married she hates it. I think she was expecting him to stop or "mature" when they got married. It has sadly but a lot of stress on the relationship and it is less than 6 months in to the marriage.

It seems that there are people that will always expect you to give up something you love for their own silly views. Even those closest to you.

I personally feel a bit too old to game but it's not because I am too old, it is because I have played so many generations of games that there is very little new and interesting to play.

For example, Candy Crush Saga is basically a mash-up of Puzzle Bobble and similar titles over 20 years old. In many genres, a new console generation enables better graphics but doesn't change game play to a significant degree. I played Tomb Raider original on PSone in 1996 and it was brilliant, a real change of playing by use of 3D. (Though at the time of course people compared it with the older title Prince of Persia.)

The modern Uncharted games on PS3 and 4 just seem to me to be jazzed up versions of the Tomb Raider idea with more fighting and cinematic cut scenes.

It will be interesting to see if today's 30 year olds are still fascinated by video games in another 20+ years. Maybe virtual reality will create the same kind of leap forwards as 3D games did in the 1990s on PSone and Sega Saturn.

I think the main reason people stop playing games is due to life.

Work 8+ hours
Sleep 8+ hours
Kids wife ect lawn care 7+ hours

Then on the weekend you play catch up. Or go to the zoo or something. Kids need you for 18 years and in that time you need to treat them like gold.

Think that is why most gamers get labeled as losers there is only so much time in a day, so in order for one thing to get more one needs to get less.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
........ because I have played so many generations of games that there is very little new and interesting to play.

Good Point.


If you started out decades ago....maybe there isn't so much "new" to be found and your interest fades or changes.

I know people who just play old games, things of their past, but won't keep up with the hardware race to play the most recent games.
Video games had a few years to establish now and i think the common take on them will be different once almost everyone has grown up with some sort of "electronic" based gaming.

To borrow the words of the most honorable MC Hammer, are you too old to game, or too legit to quit?

sirlotsofpain wrote:
I turned 30 today and some one asked THE question... you know the one.... "Aren't you too old for video games yet?" Many ideologies in the modern world label gamers as losers and misfits. I have to disagree.

Thanks for the video and happy birthday.

Ok, to start. The Stanford Prison Experiment was awesome, a legend in the field of psychology. Second Philip Zimbardo has a point. The fact that you have a full life and play video games is not indicative sorry. Some people can become cocaine users and never lose any control over themselves, this doesnt mean drug addiction is not a risk.

Zimbardo is making points that a lot of people dont want to hear, computer games are easy a no-brainer option for ones entertainment. So for the youth of today especially those who are up with computer games there is a risk, not a certainty, but as risk that this could stunt their development. Zimbardo also mentions porn in the same risk category, and there is reason to see this also.
Now perhaps some are getting defensive over this because they live full lives enjoy games and dont see a problem, others might get guilty over the amount of time they have spent playing games at the expensive of living thier lives, others might think - what about girls too, all these points are valid and nobody is telling you or anyone else to stop gaming.
But it can be too much of a good thing.

Computer games link closely to another observed phenomena, the decline of Roman men due to the ever expansionn of the Ludi Magni. Rome was addicted to its snuff-theatre productions in the gladiatorial arena, we have accounts of how impressive they are. The Ludi Magni eventually bankrupted Rome, but long before it did Roman sholars lamented what it did to the citizens. When the games began in the 1st century BC they were fairly modest, by the time of the early Imperial era they are expanded consdierably. Each game had to outdo the last, more animals, more gladiators, better sets. A lot of the poorer citizenry would life for the games. Why get a job, just live on the corn dole, and queue to get into the free seats of the circus or Colloseum, because in Rome they didnt even try to match box office takings with costs. It was impossible, most of the spectacles were free, with a small fee for the better seats.

We havent had our games for the time the Romans had heirs but Rome quicly cottoned on that giving the populace premkium entertainment and a welfare state meant that the Roman citizenry that were relied upon to fill the legions were not getting the recruits in like they were. Now evidently this was not universal by any stretch, Romans still kicked arse for centuries after but acording to their own philsopohers and journalists something had changed in the Roman man.

I can see the parallels clearly with computer games. Being player of computer games myself I can see the addictive nature. I like to vary my entertainments as a result. But then I have an addictive personality and this is why I never dared smoke. A good friend of mine lives rent free for nine months and was advised to use the money get got working at a burger bar to get some credentials. But life was gak for him and he bought a nice gaming rig instead. I facepalmed, as did other friends of his, and he is quickly ballooning in weight and no longer going after girls. I understand him though. Flipping burgers with a crap boss is bad, being Dovahkin or running your own space empire is awesome. He now works at KFC.

There are upsides, my best friend has MS, a formally very athletic army officer with an impressive combat record. Most impressive person I have ever known, on so many different ways. Now he is a cripple in permanent pain, I built him a gaming rig as a gift and introduced him to Skyrim. Before he had only played strategy games and the odd but of Quake. Now he plays Skyrim all day, and he sees the addiction. Now this fellow has an excuse to jump in with both feet, and doesnt stop his kids from playing games, but does moderate their use.

I am seeing it time and again. Philip Zimbardo has a point, but it isn't a universal truth (I have no evidence he claims it is either). There is ac case to answer, but that doesnt mean there should be movements against the spread of gaming, or an overzealous defence of the industry against 'slander'. just a call for moderation. I have no reason to think the pastor who mentioned is wrong wither. If he sees the young men in his congregation play to many computer games and not take any interest in th young ladies in the community, yeah he is wise to point that out. It doesnt sound like he is a zealot trying to convince people its all Satanic.

Moderation is key and warning for moderation are reasonalbe and respectable. Be healthy, play the game but when the game is playing you, stop and do something else for a while before you return to it.