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Just recently however my Mum asked me "Are you going to still be playing games when you’re 25?" To which I replied "Probably". This short and sweet conversation got me thinking though. Are you ever too old to play and enjoy games?
I know there are numerous ‘Older gamers’ on this site (I’m looking at you Goatboy and Meka) but they still seem to get enjoyment out of their games. So will this ever change? Well, no I don’t think it will. As long as YOU personally still have fun playing games then you’re never going to be too old. Mario and his ilk can still appeal to you when you’re 30 or over. In fact, Goatboy and Meka seemed to have proved my point for me.
Take Clive Sinclair for example. He was 43 when the ZX81 was released. HE obviously wasn’t too old. Shigeru Miyamoto’s another. He’s well over 40 and he still creates superb games... like Zelda! The developers themselves are never too old. They can’t be. If they were then I’d have a top job with Nintendo! With Grix and co doing all the technical stuff...
But CAN you be too old? Well, I think that depends on whether you are still interested in gaming when you reach a more mature age. If you’re not interested in the gaming world then you’re never going to get the same enjoyment factor out of playing games. But as well as staying interested you’ve also got to keep up with what’s happening. You can’t stay stuck forever on one console, because, eventually, it will splutter and die. No more games will be made for it and you will be left with a gameless console. You CAN’T be a throwback in the gaming world. The constant technological advancements make sure of that, so this forces you to buy a new console, which will eventually die... and this goes on.
However, if you don’t buy a new console when your old one gives up the ghost then you’re going to start to lose contact with the gaming world. This contact will then get less and less, and then one day you realise that you haven’t bought a games magazine or looked at a gaming website for over a month. But by then you can’t be bothered and you just don’t care. So you give up all together. And that’s when you’re fun-filled fling (:-)) with the gaming world peters out and is left as a thing of the past. Something for you to look back on and say "Those were the days" :-)
Then I thought of another question. If you’ve never played before can you start when you’re older?
Well, yeah you can. But you would have had to have had something to do with that gaming world before that. For example. You can’t easily get your grandparents to play a games console, can you? Why’s that? Well it’s all foreign to them. They were around when you got caned at school and there was only black and white tele. So forcing them into the future can’t be done. They either won’t except it or won’t understand it. You’ve GOT to be up to date with modern technology to be able to play games if you’re from an older generation. Otherwise it will all seem complicated and strange.
So, you see, you’re never too old to play games and enjoy them, but if you don’t enter into the spirit of gaming fully, then you’ll eventually be left behind as the world advances, changes and evolves around you as it no doubt will.
RBS
Just recently however my Mum asked me "Are you going to still be playing games when you’re 25?" To which I replied "Probably". This short and sweet conversation got me thinking though. Are you ever too old to play and enjoy games?
I know there are numerous ‘Older gamers’ on this site (I’m looking at you Goatboy and Meka) but they still seem to get enjoyment out of their games. So will this ever change? Well, no I don’t think it will. As long as YOU personally still have fun playing games then you’re never going to be too old. Mario and his ilk can still appeal to you when you’re 30 or over. In fact, Goatboy and Meka seemed to have proved my point for me.
Take Clive Sinclair for example. He was 43 when the ZX81 was released. HE obviously wasn’t too old. Shigeru Miyamoto’s another. He’s well over 40 and he still creates superb games... like Zelda! The developers themselves are never too old. They can’t be. If they were then I’d have a top job with Nintendo! With Grix and co doing all the technical stuff...
But CAN you be too old? Well, I think that depends on whether you are still interested in gaming when you reach a more mature age. If you’re not interested in the gaming world then you’re never going to get the same enjoyment factor out of playing games. But as well as staying interested you’ve also got to keep up with what’s happening. You can’t stay stuck forever on one console, because, eventually, it will splutter and die. No more games will be made for it and you will be left with a gameless console. You CAN’T be a throwback in the gaming world. The constant technological advancements make sure of that, so this forces you to buy a new console, which will eventually die... and this goes on.
However, if you don’t buy a new console when your old one gives up the ghost then you’re going to start to lose contact with the gaming world. This contact will then get less and less, and then one day you realise that you haven’t bought a games magazine or looked at a gaming website for over a month. But by then you can’t be bothered and you just don’t care. So you give up all together. And that’s when you’re fun-filled fling (:-)) with the gaming world peters out and is left as a thing of the past. Something for you to look back on and say "Those were the days" :-)
Then I thought of another question. If you’ve never played before can you start when you’re older?
Well, yeah you can. But you would have had to have had something to do with that gaming world before that. For example. You can’t easily get your grandparents to play a games console, can you? Why’s that? Well it’s all foreign to them. They were around when you got caned at school and there was only black and white tele. So forcing them into the future can’t be done. They either won’t except it or won’t understand it. You’ve GOT to be up to date with modern technology to be able to play games if you’re from an older generation. Otherwise it will all seem complicated and strange.
So, you see, you’re never too old to play games and enjoy them, but if you don’t enter into the spirit of gaming fully, then you’ll eventually be left behind as the world advances, changes and evolves around you as it no doubt will.
RBS