Britain's Septuagenarian Gamer

Logan Westbrook

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Feb 21, 2008
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Britain's Septuagenarian Gamer


Watch what you say the next time you're playing Call of Duty: World at War - you might just be playing against someone old enough to be your grandfather.

The elderly don't immediately spring to mind aren't when you think about online gaming, but 70 year old Stanley Thompson is defying all conventions and 'pwning' with the best of them.

In an interview with gamezine.co.uk [http://www.gamezine.co.uk/news/an-interview-with-70-year-old-fps-gamer-$1253909.htm], Stanley spoke about how he got his start playing online, as well as his favorite games.

"The first game I ever played online was Monster Truck Madness. I then played another driving game called Insane and that was my favorite. Indeed I would still play it now but it won't play with XP or Vista ... I play Joint Operations online in co-op mode and also COD WAW in co-op, but for single-player I play Battlefield 2, COD4, COD WAW, and Medal of Honour Airborne. MOH Airborne does not have a very good multiplayer side in my opinion."

Stanley says that his family are very supportive of his hobby, but he sometimes has to explain himself to others. "When I tell people that I play FPS games online, they say, 'what, at your age?', so I tell them it keeps my mind sharp and gives me something to do other than watching TV all day."

Personally, I find the idea of a 70 year old gamer rather comforting, not only is it awesome in its own right, it is another small step towards dispelling the myth that gaming is something that only kids do.



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Reaperman Wompa

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Aug 6, 2008
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Coolest Granddad ever...

This reminds me of when a friend of mine met an entire family who played Diablo. Oh well, we're always saying how mature gaming can be, now we have proof (other than this site etc.) it's not just for teens and idiots.
 

Aardvark

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Sep 9, 2008
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I reckon the better opening line would have been "Watch what you say the next time you're playing Call of Duty: World at War - you might just be playing against someone old enough to remember the war."

Cooler still would be an Octogenarian who was in the war.
 

xitel

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Aug 13, 2008
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silentsentinel said:
I want to know: is this guy a veteran? All he plays are war games...
I noticed that. Most of the time in the US when we hear about the elderly playing games it's stuff like Tetris or, recently, some Wii games. But the fact that this guy plays a bunch of FPSs is awesome.
 

PedroSteckecilo

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Feb 7, 2008
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This elderly chap is rockin' I hope he keeps at it. Besides, being passionate about something helps you live longer.
 

TsunamiWombat

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Sep 6, 2008
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He's 70, so he could've been in some war or another. Vietnam or Korea. Or Desert Storm. WW2 is a bit beyond his age though. I think?
 

Ralackk

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Aug 12, 2008
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It's possible I have played Delta Force 2 with this guy. I remember someone introducing their grandad online on one of the servers I used to frequent. Though it may just be more of the older generations playing games online then we think and it was actually someone else.
 

Novajam

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Apr 26, 2008
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That's really cool. I hope that I'll still be playing games when I'm his age.

silentsentinel said:
I want to know: is this guy a veteran? All he plays are war games...
He's 70 years old and it's 2008 now... so he would have been born in 1938. Too young to be a WWII or Korean War veteran, but in just the right time bracket to go to Vietnam.
 

BobisOnlyBob

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Nov 29, 2007
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'nam was more US than UK... if I recall correctly our government declined to send troops. And he's a little on the later side for the Falklands War (1982, he'd be 44...) He's possibly a veteran, but not of any specific conflict, serving tours of duty in various countries around the world.
 

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
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BobisOnlyBob said:
'nam was more US than UK... if I recall correctly our government declined to send troops. And he's a little on the later side for the Falklands War (1982, he'd be 44...) He's possibly a veteran, but not of any specific conflict, serving tours of duty in various countries around the world.
Actually, he was a truck driver.