Media/older generation's perception that games are for kids and how this can be changed

NickSCFC · Last edited by NickSCFC on Wed Oct 10, 2018 2:45 pm, edited 7 times in total.

And, more to the point, is the idea of "outgrowing" videogames even a thing now?

Being 34 I feel I'm probably part of a generation where gaming continued to mature as I got older. People in their 40s transitioned to adulthood at a time where Mario and Sonic were at there peak and 18 rated games were unheard of.

I don't know anyone older than myself that plays games outside of Tetris-clones, but a great proportion of my peers seem to be gaming as much as ever including close personal friends, colleagues and people I kept in touch with after school/college/uni.

I am still 37 and I game lots. My Fiancee is 46 and she adores her 3DS. Heck my mum was 60 when she passed away and I remember her playing Space Invaders extreme just before she went in to the hospital (before she died).... My daughter and her friends always found it so cool that my mum played video games and stuff thats what I want to be like , I never ever plan to stop gaming, mostly because it greatly helps my mental health and because I love it.

If you want to know what I mean by helps my mental health I can share links where I talk about it on youtube.

I'm 48 and been gaming since 1983. No chance of me giving up anytime soon

NickSCFC

My girlfriend and I share many hobbies but gaming isn't one of them, she was quite surprised that I "still play videogames" and her last console was a Wii :roll:

We do, however, love to binge on boxsets, particularly American dramas including Hannibal, Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, so I showed her some scenes from Death Stranding Quantum Break featuring Mads Mickelson, Norman Reedus and Aiden Gillan respectively.

Her opinions appears to have changed now

Last edited by Preezy on Tue Oct 09, 2018 12:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'll never outgrow it, it's a hobby that I've had for the last 25 years, I ain't changing now mayne.

It's an interesting question. I'm 47 and still enjoy videogames. I feel fortunate to have experienced the rise of gaming, particularly when the generational changes of machines offered huge advances over the previous ones. When I started gaming regularly in the early 80s it really was perceived as a "geek" pastime and that only really started to change, in my view, with the arrival of the PlayStation in 1995. The gaming market has expanded massively, bringing many advantages but also a few drawbacks.

Oddly enough I was thinking earlier about whether I'm still into gaming as much as I was. I *think* I am... albeit - particularly during this past year - I'm finding that fewer games now appeal to me. I guess it's good to take a little break from the gaming scene now and again, regardless of your age.

PS KingK you old git ;-) .

Will you ever outgrow watching films? Listening to music? People don't outgrow these things, but they sometimes forget how great they are, when they let the tedious aspects of adulthood consume too much of their time.

36 and still playing. Probably annoys the gooseberry fool out of the missus cause she just doesn't get it. Don't smoke, drink or watch footie so gaming is my only vice.

FROM MY COLD, DEAD VIRGIN BASEMENT

Edit: comma placement is important here

Nah 40 now and still going strong

NickSCFC

jawafour wrote:When I started gaming regularly in the early 80s it really was perceived as a "geek" pastime and that only really started to change, in my view, with the arrival of the PlayStation in 1995.

I think that's a key moment there and it seems to be a threshold.

Where as Nintendo and Sega were targeting 12 years olds, Sony specifically wanted to focus on 19 year olds with titles like WipEout and Gran Turismo.

If you "grew out" of gaming before the PlayStation arrived then you'd most likely never return (people now 40 and over), if you didn't, then games like WipEout, Gran Turismo, Grand Theft Auto, Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid were there to keep you interested into your 20s and beyond

NickSCFC

rinks wrote:Will you ever outgrow watching films? Listening to music?

That question has entirely different meanings depending on which side of 40 the subject is.

No, it doesn't.

NickSCFC wrote:
jawafour wrote:When I started gaming regularly in the early 80s it really was perceived as a "geek" pastime and that only really started to change, in my view, with the arrival of the PlayStation in 1995.

I think that's a key moment there and it seems to be a threshold.

Where as Nintendo and Sega were targeting 12 years olds, Sony specifically wanted to focus on 19 year olds with titles like WipEout and Gran Turismo.

If you "grew out" of gaming before the PlayStation arrived then you'd most likely never return (people now 40 and over), if you didn't, then games like WipEout, Gran Turismo, Grand Theft Auto, Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid were there to keep you interested into your 20s and beyond

I tend to agree about that first PlayStation, Nick. Sony really did open up gaming to young adults, probably beyond what other manufacturers had achieved at that point. We shouldn't forget, though, that some games in the 80s were popular with older gamers (text / graphic adventures, flight sims, war sims and strategy titles) and that Nintendo took things further from 2005 through 2011 with their DS and Wii systems, which drew in a massive, wide-ranging audience. It has been great to see the market open up in terms of the range of people playing and the variety of games available.

Last edited by Ironhide on Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

NEVER.

Of course, being pretty much unable to do anything else is a major factor in this, I can't work and will probably remain single for the rest of my life so I have plenty of free time on my hands and gaming, watching films and listening to music are essential coping mechanisms for an otherwise mentally/emotionally challenging life.

Nope. To me it's as silly a question as "will you ever tire of reading?".

People who do look down on me for playing games can go strawberry float themselves. Do those same people look down on people for going to watch football as people go and watch that as a child so surely they should grow out of it and leave such childish pursuits behind.

I very much doubt I'll ever give up gaming as it's my go to form of entertainment, obviously I still watch some TV programmes and some films but nowhere near as much as I game. I always find it slightly odd when people I know happily spend a lot of their free time watching TV but think it's odd when I do the same with a game I'm enjoying.

I don't think I will outgrow gaming, but I do think that my time is more likely to be taken up with other forms of entertainment such as TV or films. I've been gaming a very long time with my first proper gaming system being the Atari VCS (aka 2600).

At the start games were all about the challenge of getting the best score but as technology changed, so did the games to something much more story driven and games based around scores are far less common.

The appeal of most games for me is to see the story through but now the internet has opened up a much wider assortment of TV and films to me there has been a shift in the balance between gaming and watching TV in the favour of TV.

I think that I will move further into the side of TV and whilst I wouldn't say I will grow out of games, I can see them becoming something I rarely do.

35 here and I have, and am growing out of them. Or maybe it’s just the habits changing? Key issue is not age, but arrival of my son.

I played a lot back in the day and now I don’t get time. I read here still, and get maybe an hour a week.

With the little time I get, I demand quality. I can’t do grind fests any more, or open world games. I’ve been playing battlefront 2 but it’s terribly basic. Last game I enjoyed was Wolfenstein 2 (Brilliant) and reminded me of my love of games.

Looking at RDR2 or Spider-Man as my next ‘project’ but with kids and DIY I just don’t think it’s viable.

Maybe when he is older, I’ll get back.

It's the same as all media, trends might not align with your tastes but you'll probably always find something you like.

You can always just play old games you do like if there's nothing from the new stream that's interesting you. These days I tend to prefer either playing on my old consoles or playing indy titles.

Media/older generation's perception that games are for kids and how this can be changed

Will youever "outgrow" videogames?

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