Am I Too Old To Be A Console Gamer?

MasonicGamer.com: At the ripe old age of 37 I have seen many consoles and games come and go. I started gaming at a very early age and remember my first console the Atari 2600 and my first game keystone cops fondly. I was one the guys at school that would sit playing Gameboy at break time in the days when being a gamer just was not cool. I was one of the teens that would wait eagerly for the next months gaming magazine to hit the stores so I could get the lastest gossip on Codemasters next title or get part two of a tutorial so I could get past a section which I was stuck on. I was one of the young adults who stood in line to spend £299.99 on a ps1 on launch day. So why now do I feel I am losing my love for a hobby I have dedicated so much time to and have so many fond memories of?

Over the years as I have started to mature, as a person and as a gamer, I have enjoyed my gaming experiences less than I used to and have found myself searching for my next fix just as a drug user would...

[Axonometri]

GASP! Actually, I feel you in a way. I get those feelings and thoughts from time to time. I do have other things in my life that I also don't really have time for either... but when it comes down to it, I love games and the industry. I am actually older than you and I can say with confidence that I am proud to still be a gamer. Although, I play a lot less ( 3 boys ) I will enjoy the industry as long as I am able. I have been involved with gaming since pong hit Atari, why leave now? It's just starting to get to the future I imagined as a kid. Not to mention my boys would hurt me.

[ApolloTheBoss]

Whether you are or not, you're right.

[Heisenburger]

That didn't make sense. :P

Whether you THINK you are or aren't......

[Omar91]

I'm only 21 turning 22 in June. Still have many years to go before I retire gaming. Been playing ever since my dad bought me a sega genesis. :)

[BitbyDeath]

Better go turn that controller in for a cane old man.

[ape007]

Booooo, bad one

[BitbyDeath]

Was only kidding :-s

[M-M]

For some reason I thought the dude in the thumbnail was Adam Orth lol.

[CommonSenseGamer]

I'm 41 and been gaming since I got my hands on a ZX Spectrum. I don't consider myself too old for gaming it just gaming has become less fun and original over the years. Fanboyism has certainly got worse.

[MikeyDucati1]

I am an older gamer myself who had the pleasure of getting an Atari 2600 for Christmas. My passion only grew as tech and concepts began breaking ground with its advancements.

Now we are here at the present. The gaming industry, of course, has grown. With it, a new generation of gamers has come to play. And with them, their ideals. I say that to say this, it's not that the gaming world has changed. More so that the current generation of gamers has changed it. I remember a time where games were hard. Getting help wasn't as easy as going to a computer to find information on the internet then. We had no internet! There were tip lines that would cost you 5 bucks a minute. You were grateful that a magazine took time out of their day to show you walkthroughs. We had a different mindset because we didn't have much to fall back on.

Now the games are easier. A blog can destroy a developer's creditability or help it. The slightest bit of hiccup in the program will cause many gamers to lash out in uproar. With these many changes, devs adjusted. Instead of trying the new concept, they stuck with tried and true. Why? Well gamers will moan and complain when it isn't going their way. Our mindsets were so different then. If we lost at a game, we rethought a strategy. We aimed to beat the developer at his own game, literally. We didn't lash out at the developer and force them to dial it down because we chose not to change our strategy. In my time, us gamers couldn't wait to see what the developer was envisioning. We appreciated the work they produced. This generation of gamers want to change what the developer was envisioning due to their own personal tastes (I'm thinking Mass Effect ending here), in which it suffocates the developers creative zone. Because in the end, the publishers want to make money so they could care less about what the developer is trying to produce. Game A sold X amount of units and they want to beat that. So just give em what they want. Follow the unspoken guidelines. Don't think outside the box.

So you're not too old to be a gamer, its just that the world of gaming has changed dramatically. It caters to a new breed of gamers whom really would loathe what us old gamers dealt with in the times of Atari.

[Bigpappy]

Man, I agree with every single word. Thanks for your insightful reflection. I don't know what system you prefer or do I care. From what I just read, you are the real deal (a gamer). I am also from the commodore and Atari era. I also prefer developer not listen to the noisy minority. If I don't like their work, I just move on and come back to them when the have something that peaks my interest. I am sorry Bioware caved. I set a bad precedent.

[MikeyDucati1]

Well I have a PS3, a broken 360 (I still need to get it fixed) and a Wii. Commodore! Aw man, I had Atomic Mission on Commodore 64. I remember the cassette player too.

Thanks for your reply. It's always cool when someone understands where you coming from.

[Bathyj]

That bloody cassette player. It would fail more than it work. I swear to god, if you left the room it would load better as if it knew you were watching it.

Sometimes you would peak your head in early and it would just crash and you'd say dammit, wait til you hear the menu music. The day I got my Floppy disk drive (check out the floppys in Farcry BD) was one of the happiest of my life.

Load"*",8,1

[MrKingofVideoGames]

my first console was an intellivision 2. got it for Christmas in 1982 and still get video games for Christmas... they just come from my wife now.

[Darth Gamer]

I am also an old timer as far as gaming goes. 40 in July and i had plenty of the old consols. I miss them too. Atari 2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, Sega genesis, Original NES, super NES, etc, etc.. I actually miss the old times of gaming and find it difficult to try to explain how it used to be to the younger generation. I get frustrated with my own children when they rush to the computer to figure out a puzzle or a task that has stumped them for more than 5 minutes. OH NO, THE HORROR!!! It would take us days to get by some parts of games. HAHAHA

[MysticStrummer]

44 and still gaming strong here. Hell my step father is still a console gamer in his 60s.

[HmongAmerican]

Just look at my avatar. Game till I go to the grave.

[nevin1]

Im pretty much in agreement with commonsensegamer. Im 29 and I always thought it was me getting older on why games arent as good as previous generation. But its not me.

I feel like game companies are either not putting effort into their games, or being held back by publishers/investors.

[dragonopt1]

I'm going to be 35 in December and I'm still gaming. My wife thinks I game too much but it's my passion. Was the first one of my friends with a Sega and Nintendo back in the day, still remember everyone coming over to play the new consoles lol. Think I'll be gaming for as long as my fingers can move :)

[KillrateOmega]

I plan on dying with a controller in my hands while complaining about noobs :)

I'll be that gaming grandpa who pisses off all his children and grandchildren because he always pwns them when he plays against them.

[mydyingparadiselost]

I agree with alot with the authors explaination of what has made gaming seem less appealing, and alot of those things were created by the business and not the gamers.

[jeeves86]

You're never too old to game. That's like asking if you're too old to watch movies or read a book.

[Bathyj]

I think the rise of the fanboy, the games media and a few deplorable practices that have just become the norm and acceptable this generation have killed a bit of the fun.

But I'm 39 on Tuesday and been gaming since about 6 years old and it looks like I'll be gaming for at least the next generation, so I dont know if I'll ever stop.

I'll only be too old to game when I cant move my thumbs under my own power, but hopefully by then we can just stick a metal spike through a bottle cap in the back of our heads and game that way.

GAMING, FOREVER MAY IT REIGN!!

[InUrFoxHole]

Good for u. I'll be 32 this year. I just can't see me giving up gaming any time soon. I think gaming tech is getting to the point we were hoping for as kids. Game on!

[optimus]

I'm also an older gamer from the atari era and feel the same way as the article. I do blame the internet for the lack of quality games. It irritates me to hear these young gamers would pass on a game if it has no multiplayer...

I remember a game like mega man 3 getting 9's and 10's in spite of the graphical slowdown and clipping, when today small issues like that would be cause to give a game a 4 or 5 along with heavy criticism...

I guess next generation if i don't see much of a difference between the games i will also give the indy games a try since they seem to be more creative.

[g-nome]

Going for 40 myself , while life is getting busy , and i'm getting more tired , gaming still keeps me entertained. Life is just too boring not too get lost in a crazy virtual world now and then.

[TheSaint]

They can have my pad when they pry it out of my cold dead hands.

[Ozmoses]

I'm almost 29 and I've gamed my whole life. I still sense reluctance in certain settings.

Like I've noticed at my community college talk about video games doesn't naturally come up. Like I will throw a quip like "oh yeah, I just get high and play video games" and that will start a little conversation or something.

It's the number 1 form of entertainment now. I look at it as interactive story telling. I mean like Dante's Inferno for example... What better way than school is there to learn about this famous historical document?? I mean play the game it takes you through the experience. Talk about engaging an audience! Movies use research for accuracy and it's growing in the usage of game development.

I was just playing the new MK with my friends kids earlier today. The gap in age is there one is in middle school and the other a 9th grader. It's cool to see their tastes in games and it's pretty cool when our tastes in a game collides.

Some people though still few video games as a waste of time and effort. The ones that make them and the ones that truly experience them however know that is not the case.

[Kran]

Once a gamer, always a gamer.

I'll be a gamer at 90... though that's still 70 years away yet ;)

Wait. Sorry. The question was about CONSOLE gaming, so let me rephrase:

"Once a console gamer, you might go on and off on consoles, but you'll still always be a console gamer"

[kingPoS]

Umm... No

Look no further than Gran Turismo 5 and other kinds of assorted game software.

Most of the time I jump into a GT5 lobby it's miraculously not full of preteen kids. lol