Poll: Giving up gaming because you're old

[Dr. Doomsduck]

I don't know, I'm 23 now and while I can still definitely enjoy a good game and even get completely sucked in by one, the quantity of games that I actually enjoy have gotten less.

Right now, I only enjoy Skyrim, Mass Effect, Fallout 3/vegas, pokémon heartgold(I know, I know) and Amnesia for a bit. There's a pattern, obviously, the first four allow you to have a lot of variety when it comes to building your character and have, to a more or lesser extent freedom to where you want to go.

Maybe I've just gotten more picky over time...

 

[Icehearted]

I recently had an argument with a friend where I completely disagreed with his opinion. He was convinced that after a certain point you have to give up video games, as he put it "When you get old a switch goes off in your head and you just change, you want to do gardening and lawn bowls and things like that. Trust me, you won't want it to happen but it will happen". Apart from thinking he was an idiot, my counter argument was as follows. There was no magic switch that went off in their heads

Your reply was sufficient. Doctors, psychiatrists, engineers, wives, fathers, grandparents, video games have something to offer everyone. My mother, opposed to games for most of my life, now in her 60s, is loving the hell out of them (one of her favorites is The Longest Journey). There is not more a switch for this than there is a switch to tell us it's labor day.

Your friend sounds immature, no offense.

 

[Gennadios]

I'm already on my way out, but it has more to do with my tastes changing over the years while game writing and concepts have kind of stagnated, to put it pleaseantly since the 2000's. Most of my gaming nowadays is indie sandbox/procedurally generated style games. Just can't stand the infantile writing and devs calling their games "mature" just because there are titties and f-bombs floating around everywhere.

 

[JohnnyDelRay]

Real life does get a bit heavy at times, and though I find myself giving less and less time for gaming, it's still a priority among fitness, reading, mountain biking, music, and other hobbies that I have accumulated or dabbled in (climbing, drawing, modifying cars, martial arts etc). Life is too short to really "give up" anything unless you have had your fill and are ready to move on.

Going to turn 30 in 2 months, so the responsibilities are piling up and it gets hard, but you're never too old to game. Might eventually get too old to ride bobsleds, or do gymnastics, or step into a boxing ring, but for gaming? Nah...might have a bit of trouble with the reflexes but that's about it.

For the people complaining of time, you just have to organize it well and prioritize. I work 13 hours a day, commuting for almost 2 hours, sleep 7 hours, and workout almost every day, yet still finish on average a game every week and a half. Yes, I am married, and yes I do spend quality time with my wife. Once you have kids though, I can imagine that can throw that balance our of whack a bit, and that may well be a bit of a magic switch not just for games, but a lot of things in life. At least for a while.

 

[DudeistBelieve]

I can't imagine a world where I don't play video games.

I certainly feel that interest in something can wain over time. There was a time in my life I wanted to play everything, now at 23 thats kinda reeled in. Only like one or two releases a year really peak my interest.

But so long as they keep making games I'm interested in I'm going to keep playing them.

Fuck, I don't care what it looks like to be a stickler and correct you on this, but the word is PIQUE, PIQUE MY INTEREST. Don't say shit you don't understand. You're 23; you really should know this. I could've corrected you here when I was 14.

>.> How do I know I don't understand it if no one has corrected me on it.

 

[Snotnarok]

My father is roughly 60 and he plays Call of Duty 2, Max Payne 1 & 2and the like, he played Doom 3. He's not huge into games, however he does like playing the odd game to relieve stress. And having a disabled wife is certainly stressful.

My grandmother is 88 years old and she goes to Vegas and Atlantic city and plays the hell out of a lot of slots which she tells me are basically video games and her shining quote?
"Oh I just love the graphics they're awesome!"

So, no there's no magic switch, your friend just has an odd perception of the mind. You may not be able to play games that require you to sit and play for hours on end all the time but that's probably because of life.
I stay at home pretty much 24/7 because I work from home and take care of my as mentioned disabled mother, and I don't get much time to play many big games...I'm looking at you Skyrim.

 

[Olas]

I'll give up video games when I'm dead.

In other words, I'm NEVER giving up video games.

 

[Brotha Desmond]

As a sullen hate-filled misanthrope I don't need to worry about a social life. When I'm not at work chances are I'm gaming.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

i cant imagine what games will look like when im 50.

I was going to say the same thing. For me that means in 23 years. I wish I could live to see some form of a holodeck, but I still think that is too far off.

 

[JagermanXcell]

I'm 17 years old. I'll still play games for all of college. I'll still play games when I find my soul mate, hell I might even get her into gaming. I'll still play games even with my child. If all games in the future become digital only, screw that, i'll just play my hard copies. If all games in the future cost 100$ for only 3 hours of gameplay (the rest you have to pay for DLC wise), i'll pull out the NES, PS2, N64 ect. like a smart consumer. And of course I'll play games to the grave. As for the afterlife... the obvious answer...

 

[Jason Rayes]

Your friend sounds immature, no offense.

None taken, he is indeed. I vented my frustrations by starting a poll. Which has merely served to reaffirm that he is indeed completely wrong.

OT: I love that nearly 100 people picked the stupid responses to the poll. This restores my faith in the internet

 

[Mikejames]

Not if I can help it, though Lord knows what state the gaming industry will be in forty years.

 

[Shaved Apple]

No. But I probably won't have the time to play video games as much after I get my future all figured out.

 

[Evil Smurf]

gamer4lyf brosuf

seriously why would you want to stop having fun?

 

[ZPowers]

I would imagine few adults give up games BECAUSE they get old. They give up games because with age comes increased responsibility, and thus less free time to play games. In particular behemoth time investments like Skyrim.

That said, when one gets even older you get more free time again: kids move out, maybe reduced hours or retirement. The generation that was raised on games isn't that old yet. I could see a late-life renaissance among people who are now 30 something and play less than they used to.

 

[Zeren]

I am 24, and my problem isn't that I'm getting too old for games, it's that I'm picking up so many other hobbies that games aren't that high up on my to do list.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

There's no "switch". You don't wake up one morning and wonder "Egad, how did I ever waste so much time with these electronic shenanigans? I really should get to finding a more constructive hobby, like collecting stamps or helping my darling dear with her china collection!"

I'd like to say it's generational, but it also isn't. I know a lot of fogeys who get into Skyrim something fierce, for instance. Nowadays, retirement opens up a lot of opportunities for senior citizens - gaming being one of them. The more time will pass, the more you'll see gamers aged anywhere from thirty-five to sixty-five, still going strong.

What's likely to happen, though, is a shift in interests or in gaming styles. It's hard to maintain a steady MMO regimen when you've got a nine-to-five to take care of, kids, chores, housekeeping and your social life. Add potential overtime to that, and your nine-to-five might occasionally turn into a nine-to-seven or eight.

In response to that, you're likely to give up on those games that seem tailor-made to get you to sit down and play for hours and hours. You'll maybe focus more on casual gaming, or find a way to work through "core" titles in small one or two-hour sessions.

Honestly, I think this is going to be a good thing for all of us. Extremely competitive titles like the CoD franchise seem to depend on a bedrock of young and utterly committed gamers who grind the heck out of their episode of choice for Prestige ranks or perks or whatever. Getting older's going to make most attempts at binge gaming difficult, so we just might get to see a decrease in online hostility.

I'm pushing thirty and if everything goes according to plan, I'll remain a gamer for several decades more.

 

[NiPah]

If you give up gaming because you feel you've become an adult, well sad fact of the matter is you're still a kid. I would say the only switch that goes off in your head when you become an adult is you no longer give a crap about being an adult.
And for all the people who say you'll no longer have time for gaming, I dunno what kindof time management skills you have but if you don't take some time out of your work week to relax and enjoy life a bit you'll run into burnout and depression only to be helped by vast amounts of medications which cost all that income you've saved up to spend on yourself but never had the time too.

 

[Smeggs]

pokémon heartgold(I know, I know)

Don't be ashamed of your interests, bro. The Pogeymanz games have no age limit. I'm sure a vast number of people can back me up on this.

OT: I feel as though I should give a better answer than the first one I gave.

There is no mental "switch" that flips when you are older, as mny people have already said. I'm not sure where your friend got this hilarious notion; probably by looking at his own parents and making the odd assumption that all adults will eventually become like that.

No, that's not how it works.

My father grew up in a poor household, and one of the only entertaining things he could do was watch or play football.

I grew up in a financially better situation, and I played games growing up.

It has a lot to do with how one was raised, but also a lot to do with individual tastes. My dad doesn't wanna play games, I don't wanna watch football.

Giving up a hobbie that you truly love is something a person doesn't just do, because if you could give it up that easily then you obviously didn't much care for it in the first place. It is something one does if life dictates it must be done. Unless I am literally incapable of gaming, or there is something in my own life that demands I put all of my time and effort into it and give up gaming, I will not stop gaming. The same goes for watching television.

Giving up on playing video games because people say you're "old" is a chump move. Watching men tackle each other for a leather ball has no age limit, so neither shoul me carving an alien beast a new anus.

TL;DR

Fuck all the haterz, you won't give a shit what they say when you're pushing sixty anyway, so why let them dictate when you can or can't do something?

 

[gufftroad]

i was up untill the last year or so a hardcore computer gamer, Although lately i have been forced to almost quitting thanks to 2 jobs School and recently jury duty. I highly doubt i will ever stop gaming but like most people my tastes change i used to listen to a lot of metal and now i tend to listen to more acoustic music same with games i used to like to play games competitively and now i started competing in several shooting sports including archery, action pistol shooting, long range rifles, and historic arms. yet somehow i always find time for games its my quiet time i guess.