Actually, I disagree.

They're better.

Think about it. On a typical evening most "normal" people will be in front of the TV (a.k.a. idiot box, a.k.a. boob tube those nicknames tell you something). Anyway they'll be watching some stupid formulaic TV show. Just watching. No interaction. No thought on their part.

Talk about brain rot.

At least when playing a game we're ENGAGED. We're THINKING and INTERACTING.

I think that's a whole lot healthier then sitting in front of a stupid idiot box and being force fed whatever tripe they care to serve up.
So yea, vidio games aren't the same; they're healthier. it's those people who can't live without their TV fix who need to change.

Also 67 ... and trying my best to make it to TES VI :nod:

58 here pushing 59. I've been playing Adventure games since the original "Adventure" was released on mainframes (ask your Dad what they were!!) sometime in the mid 70s.

Then moved onto the Zork series & I well remember when the first adventure was released for the C64 which contained pictures to illustrate some of the locations - a major step forward after text only adventures!!

Skyrim is my first TES experience - & I am massively impressed. Sure it's got it's problems - but show me a piece of code this complex that hasn't. The sense of immersion is huge - I really feel as if I am in the role, & there haven't been many pieces of software that have been able to make me say that!

And yes, I have a wife, job, friends & other hobbies!!!

Now when you mention Charlie Sheen, there are so many good jokes about that fella :shifty:

Many would be surprised to hear of the number of "grown-up" people playing games. Also some of the day jobs you wouldn't expect e.g. doctors, politicians, vicars etc who spend all their free time playing skyrim, starcraft etc after a day at work.

36 with a wife, daughter, full time job and working on my doctorate.

Nice to see the older folk still playing games in our spare time!

now the curious question is who has played wow and moved on. I definitely have and will never go back to that game. Thank the gods. :flamethrower:

Im still a young'un 19 so you got me beat.

I've played it! I spent half an hour there, and then I discovered... there were other people. I ran away screaming and never went back.

sorry this topic about wow must be a dead topic so I will refrain from speaking it again. Forgive me so may wow rest in the peace its in. :violin:

It's nice to be retired and have lots of time to play.

[edit] The mods are going to retire this thread in a moment or two.....

47 and I have been gaming as a means to waste my spare time since building a zx80 from a kit back in my teens, I too find watching television mind numbing for the most part.

Without us "older gamers", I doubt gaming would have taken off as well as it did, had we not been fanatical about gaming as a viable past time back when geek was a dirty word. Even now, I meet a lot of people who associate the word "game" with childhood pastimes and deal with raised eyebrows when I explain its my hobby, or have to explain to the spotty juvenile behind the counter that the copy of BF 3 really is for me and that I will kick his [censored] every which way from Sunday on any platform he cares to choose.

I'm 24 but I have a lot of respect for you auld yin's! Hope I'm still gaming strong at your age!

for some reason i imagine an old dude drooling in his wheel chair with his pajamas on playing Skyrim.

31 here

My breath sometimes resembles this. Not to mention my attitude.

Not all older people are so unfortunate to be in that situation, thankfully....
Drooling, but not what you think !

I was smarter than you. I never got it in the first place.

I'm 36.

I know that the first time I played a game was either Pac Man or Space Invaders on a cousin's Atari, but I don't know what my first console was. It was given to me for Christmas when I was about 9 and my Dad got mighty pissed that I didn't play it immediately and all day long. I suspect that it cost a fortune. It was a grey box with a "keyboard" on the front covered in icons with each representing a different game (from what I recall most were sports games). Anyway, that console was returned to the store a few days later, Dad was that pissed. I later got an Intellivision and a Vic20 made a lot of use of those. I got my first computer, an Apple ][c for Christmas 86 and it had a colour monitor. While I had better games, my favourite was "Odyssey: The Complete Apventure" (yes, aPventure) and I played that game to death for years... but only finished it about 5 times. The ][c lasted me until '92. Then it was a SNES for a few years, then Playstation followed by a hiatus until I got an iMac in 2001 and started playing Diablo II. Haven't looked back since.

This is actually a fascinating subject for me since history and sociology are my primary interests. People seem to forget that Pong was released 40 years ago and that the people that were the primary drivers of the computer revolution were playing games back than and are now nearing retirement age. It's ignorance that drives people to complain about games being too advlt-oriented for children when the vast majority of gamers actually have children of their own. The latest statistics released in Australia show that the average gamers' age has risen to 35 (up from 32 a couple of years ago).

I think one of the reasons they are so popular among older age groups is that we have all watched movies and TV shows, some of which were absolutely superb, but none of them were long enough (of course some of them also went about 87 minutes longer than they had any right to). The stories were just too short. Games offer a story-telling medium that is incomparable is scope and depth as well as being interactive. As someone that has worked in TV production, I believe that once the technology catches up games will take a larger and larger slice of the entertainment pie.

It's also worth noting that games have been shown to have therepeutic value in dementia patients and that the Wii is now used in some nursing homes to help keep patients active and engaged.

Like others here, I can't wait to see the kinds of games I will be playing in the nursing home 40-50 years from now.

I'm 43 actually, even though my username says 33. Recently divorced, unemployed. At least I have plenty of time for Skyrim.

Haha! That bit with the saber cats near damn knocked me out of my chair. Sure wish I personally knew some older Elder Scrolls fans.

Same here with me...... I will be 45 in January, but my wife says I am just an overaged dorky kid............:wacko:

The oldest player I've ever heard of was about 3-4 years ago in WoW. 89-year old gentleman, his main was a prot paladin tank.

Word was that he was the best tank most players would ever see.

I wish Dreadful_Mcdude would chime in, but he hasn't been on for more than a year, and I'm kinda worried by that. :unsure: He's 84 years old and loves TES games.

Thinking of you Dreadful, wherever you are.

Closed by one of the old (but lovely) gits.