How old is too old to be a gamer?

[Mutant1988]

Realistically? About the time arthritis sets in.

I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis since birth and it hasn't impacted how I play games.

Do you have medication for it that helps or does it mostly just effect your joints(/limbs)? I'm just curious, because to me anything that impedes how I play games would be terrible.

But I don't really buy that arthritis alone is enough reason to stop gaming. It's not like all games require massive muscle movements.

To me, the only reliable metric of when it is appropriate or necessary to quit gaming is when you're stone cold dead and not a moment before that. If I'm able to play video games on my death bed, then I would do that.

 

[Akjosch]

I just set up a laptop for an old friend of the family, so she could play Bridge online against other people all around the globe.

The lady is 92.

Age matters not.

 

[Bat Vader]

Realistically? About the time arthritis sets in.

I have had Rheumatoid Arthritis since birth and it hasn't impacted how I play games.

Do you have medication for it that helps or does it mostly just effect your joints(/limbs)? I'm just curious, because to me anything that impedes how I play games would be terrible.

But I don't really buy that arthritis alone is enough reason to stop gaming. It's not like all games require massive muscle movements.

To me, the only reliable metric of when it is appropriate or necessary to quit gaming is when you're stone cold dead and not a moment before that. If I'm able to play video games on my death bed, then I would do that.

I take my medicine when I actually remember to take it. Once a month I also get an infusion to help with it too. The times I forget it doesn't really hinder me either. I now have Osteoarthritis as well that developed about two years ago. My knees, feet, ankles, elbows, jaw, back, and a couple of fingers on each hand are effected. My left eye is a lazy eye too.

None of that has ever had a negative effect on how I play games.

 

[Mutant1988]

None of that has ever had a negative effect on how I play games.

Glad to hear it. It always makes me sad if someone suffers something that prevents them from doing what they enjoy. So yeah, I'm glad you can play games just fine.

 

[Bat Vader]

None of that has ever had a negative effect on how I play games.

Glad to hear it. It always makes me sad if someone suffers something that prevents them from doing what they enjoy. So yeah, I'm glad you can play games just fine.

Thanks. Honestly though being in and out of hospitals my entire life really put into perspective how small my problems actually are compared to others. I have seen people way worse off than myself and I feel ashamed whenever I complain about the amount of pain I am in. It's like what right do I have to talk when someone else is going through something much worse.

 

[TheMann]

My chemistry professor was 65 years old and he would come to class looking exhausted because he would stay up till 5 am playing Age of Empires. So really, I think as old as you want.

 

[waj9876]

"But since you probably won't be able to still play games when you're 60-"

Why not? What's stopping them?

People can still play video games up until they physically can't input anything to the game.

 

[Ugicywapih]

I'd say the important thing about gaming is, that you derive enjoyment from, y'know, games. So long as one can do that, I see no reason why they wouldn't be considered a gamer.

Now, a *competitive* gamer might be rendered inadequate in some tournaments at a certain age, but the effect their age has on their performance would most likely vary greatly from person to person, also depending on the game in question (IE I imagine strongly twitch-based games like Street Fighter would be more affected than strictly cerebral exercises like Civilisation).

Overall, I guess, you can be a gamer until you die.

Unless we're considering necromancy.

Edit: Also, back in the first Guild Wars, my guild was for a time included in a certain alliance led by a very charming 60+ couple. The man actually died not long before we split off and the alliance held a tasteful service for him. Sad stuff, but very touching at the same time.

 

[Vausch]

I dunno. How old is too old to watch films, read books, or listen to music?

Sure, some may chastise you for watching cartoons, reading comics, or listening to things like Starbomb and Ninja Sex Party when you're in your 30s, but who cares? There's no difference between them and gaming, it's just a method of entertainment and people who say there's an arbitrary age limit on enjoying something need to get in touch with their inner child and stop abusing them before I call detective Olivia Benson.

 

[Mezahmay]

You become too old to play games when you die, because any younger than when you died you are capable of playing video games provided you are still physically able to move.

 

[Zen Bard]

But since you probably won't be able to still play games when you're 60...

Oh? Who says? I've been playing video games since my dad and I built our first Apple IIe clone in our basement. And I'm 45 now with no plans to stop.

GAMER 4 LIFE BIYOTCH!

 

[happyninja42]

This isn't a "yur a grown mahn, ye shu'd git a real jub" thing, but more of how physically old can you be to still be a gamer? For example, football (the REAL football). You can play football in your youth, and still follow teams and games and stuff even when you live in a retirement home. But since you probably won't be able to still play games when you're 60, do you think you could still be interested and keep up with gaming developments, and therefore still be kinda a gamer?

There are people living in retirment homes and assisted living facilities that frequently play video games. I remember hearing a story about the Wii, where they got one for a nursing home facility, and the residents played digital bowling leagues, tennis, all kinds of games for fun. And they even had more visits from their family, because the kids could have something to do that was actually fun, and not just sitting in a smelly facility with a lot of really old people. So yeah, I don't think there is any official age that you can't play games beyond. It's all based on your physical health. I mean if you can no longer use your hands effectively on a controller, or your eyes are so bad you can't see the monitor, then yeah you have some problems trying to be a gamer. But those two issues could happen to a young person too, given the right medical circumstances.

So yeah, faulty question really.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't think there is an age for that. I read in the Guinness Book of Video Game Records 2008 about a woman who loved to play Q*Bert at like 86 (or something like that.

 

[Schtoobs]

I think the only reason video games are considered a young persons pursuit is because video games are young, particularly in the mainstream. People who stop playing video games usually stop because other responsibilities or a change in priorities take them away from it; typically jobs and/or starting a family. Once the generation that grew up with video games hit retirement we'll see them come back to it. I can imagine a future where most gamers will be children, teens and the elderly. As people have said, we're already seeing older people who give gaming a go and find their niche, enjoying it just as much as youngsters. The more this happens (which it will) the more effort will be made to produce technology to help those with physical impairment to enjoy video games to their fullest.

I think video games are much like music. It's for all ages but depending on your age you are more likely to prefer different games.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

Short of blindness, complete body paralysis, or a severe breakdown of mental faculties, I can't imagine any disability that would completely stop you from being able to play games. Granted, it might limit the amount of games you can play (it'll be hard to play Mortal Kombat with arthritis) but you could easily play slow, turn-based games even if it did take you a while to click the mouse.

 

[Kmadden2004]

Let me just start by saying something similar to what I told my cousin's 14 year old daughter when she said she was too old for Lego;

There is no such thing as being too old to be a gamer

I know this kind of sounds a bit redundant, but the reason why you don't see many 60 year olds playing games these days is because they were all born in the 1950s. We, however, the 1980s/1990s generations, have grown up with gaming all through our lives, so when we're all in our care homes in the 2040s, it's probably more likely that'll we'll all be considering gaming just as "worthy" a pastime as reading, or knitting... or whatever it is elderly people do in their spare time.

You're never too old to watch movies, and follow latest movie news, just as you're never too old to follow the latest music, track down and read the latest books, or watch the current big hit on TV. As an adult, it is your god given right to go after the things that bring a little peace, joy and colour into your life (as long as you're not hurting others or yourself, of course), and if you find any of that in gaming, regardless of whether your 6, 16 or 60 years old, then more power to you.

 

[Prince of Ales]

There was this wonderful story from a year back about this old lady from the UK that plays video games.

This one I presume xD


Funny thing, the OP never specifies video games, just games in general. At my grandads retirement home, there's people in their 90s that still sit down and play Whist together. That's a game. The medium doesn't matter. Well I mean I'm sure there's all kinds of card simulators out there, but the game is the same no matter if it's in physical form or simulated. More people are "gamers" than you probably give credit for.

 

[Michel Henzel]

There is no age limit. I'm 32 years old, and I'm still a gamer, and that is unlikely to change any time soon. If people wish to judge me based on that fact then so be it, that is their problem.

Honestly, this type of question always reminds me of a quote by C. S. Lewis

?Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.?

 

[VoidOfOne]

OT: How old are you?

Add 2 years. Then you are too old to play games.

Then next year, add 2 more years. Then the next year, add 2 more years.

And so on...

(You're never too old. You can be too busy, or have interests change. But you're never too old.)

 

[Frankster]

I don't see why age would be a problem.

Dunno if this makes me sad or something but I can quite see myself later on as an old man in his 90s playing turn based gamesm rpgs, 4xs and what not (accepting that my twitch reflexes and hand eye coordination might not make me suited to playing fast paced games anymore).

Heck I'm even looking forward to failing at the equivalent of mobas or w/e kids play later on, and when younglings rage at me I'll be all like "silly youngsters! i was gaming before you were even born and in my day, we knew how to troll properly!"

Likely gamer tag: oldmangamer69