Did anyone here get into videogaming as an adult?

It's something you can see across just about every forum dedicated to videogaming; a large (almost total) majority of the userbase grew up with the medium. I was wondering if there was anyone here who never really played games as a kid, only to then get into them later on?

What got me thinking about this was that I've recently been trying to explain games to a flatmate of the same age who never played them, along with friends and family who never got into them. I recall a Charlie Brooker piece a few years back that equated playing games to learning a language, and because a lot of us got into gaming when young I believe it stands to reason that this inbuilt knowledge of how they generally function is what allows us to enjoy the complexities of modern gaming. My flatmate looked utterly baffled by the Wii U Gamepad recently yet I was able to pick it up and start half-competently playing The Wonderful 101 almost immediately.

If you did get into games as an adult, was there a learning curve? I've seen that even the seemingly basic function of controlling two sticks simultaneously for both character and camera control can be disorienting for a non-player.

Can anyone here really be classed as an 'adult'?

[iup=3553758]Lagamorph[/iup] wrote:Can anyone here really be classed as an 'adult'?

Yes?

[iup=3553758]Lagamorph[/iup] wrote:Can anyone here really be classed as an 'adult'?

We are all man childs.

[iup=3553790]Floex[/iup] wrote:
[iup=3553758]Lagamorph[/iup] wrote:Can anyone here really be classed as an 'adult'?

Yes?

Yes isn't a question.

[iup=3553792]SquintyMcSquint[/iup] wrote:
[iup=3553758]Lagamorph[/iup] wrote:Can anyone here really be classed as an 'adult'?

We are all man childs.

Even the girls?

I think Cal got into gaming quite late.

[iup=3553794]Ad7[/iup] wrote:
[iup=3553790]Floex[/iup] wrote:
[iup=3553758]Lagamorph[/iup] wrote:Can anyone here really be classed as an 'adult'?

Yes?

Yes isn't a question.

No?

There's lots of aspects to gaming that are universally understood by 'gamers' yet nonsensical to those not familiar with the medium. The idea of games being platform-specific, for example - you buy a DVD and it works on your DVD player, but if you buy a videogame it will only work on your PlayStation if it's a PlayStation game. Dual controls you've already mentioned. New developments within gaming are only ever slight modifications of a template that we already know by rote, whereas for a newcomer they'd have to grasp everything, all at once.

[iup=3553812]Lagamorph[/iup] wrote:
[iup=3553792]SquintyMcSquint[/iup] wrote:
[iup=3553758]Lagamorph[/iup] wrote:Can anyone here really be classed as an 'adult'?

We are all man childs.

Even the girls?

What girls? :lol:

[iup=3554092]Fade[/iup] wrote:
[iup=3553812]Lagamorph[/iup] wrote:
[iup=3553792]SquintyMcSquint[/iup] wrote:
[iup=3553758]Lagamorph[/iup] wrote:Can anyone here really be classed as an 'adult'?

We are all man childs.

Even the girls?

What girls?

The ones wearing USB gloves.

Did anyone here get into videogaming as an adult?

Who is online

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