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As we get older, it seems that there is a stigma attached to playing games in our spare time.
A lot of young people now play games as a hobby, some of them playing on their machines for hours on end. But as people find jobs and grow up, get married and have other things to do, is it right that games will be left gathering dust in the cupboard and games magazines hidden at work for fear of not being taken too seriously?
People usually have some spare time, even if it is only a litte, so why shouldn't games be a viable hobby. Before Sony introduced the 'cool' aspect of playing games, consoles were only seen as toys and therefore it was mostly children and teenagers that played them. Computer users, of course, have always had a good excuse to play games as their machines could do a lot more and games were only a sideline. With Windows, games like Solitaire and Mine Sweeper were introduced, and this seemed fine as they were not noisy, fast paced titles and suited office types. But surely games players of the past that have had a chance to grow up and become more 'adult' have been able to take the idea of recreational games to a new audience. Will there come a day when it is seen as perfectly normal to come back from the office/factory and plug in a console? Is this, in fact, what is happening now?
A lot of young people now play games as a hobby, some of them playing on their machines for hours on end. But as people find jobs and grow up, get married and have other things to do, is it right that games will be left gathering dust in the cupboard and games magazines hidden at work for fear of not being taken too seriously?
People usually have some spare time, even if it is only a litte, so why shouldn't games be a viable hobby. Before Sony introduced the 'cool' aspect of playing games, consoles were only seen as toys and therefore it was mostly children and teenagers that played them. Computer users, of course, have always had a good excuse to play games as their machines could do a lot more and games were only a sideline. With Windows, games like Solitaire and Mine Sweeper were introduced, and this seemed fine as they were not noisy, fast paced titles and suited office types. But surely games players of the past that have had a chance to grow up and become more 'adult' have been able to take the idea of recreational games to a new audience. Will there come a day when it is seen as perfectly normal to come back from the office/factory and plug in a console? Is this, in fact, what is happening now?
As we get older, it seems that there is a stigma attached to playing games in our spare time.
A lot of young people now play games as a hobby, some of them playing on their machines for hours on end. But as people find jobs and grow up, get married and have other things to do, is it right that games will be left gathering dust in the cupboard and games magazines hidden at work for fear of not being taken too seriously?
People usually have some spare time, even if it is only a litte, so why shouldn't games be a viable hobby. Before Sony introduced the 'cool' aspect of playing games, consoles were only seen as toys and therefore it was mostly children and teenagers that played them. Computer users, of course, have always had a good excuse to play games as their machines could do a lot more and games were only a sideline. With Windows, games like Solitaire and Mine Sweeper were introduced, and this seemed fine as they were not noisy, fast paced titles and suited office types. But surely games players of the past that have had a chance to grow up and become more 'adult' have been able to take the idea of recreational games to a new audience. Will there come a day when it is seen as perfectly normal to come back from the office/factory and plug in a console? Is this, in fact, what is happening now?
A lot of young people now play games as a hobby, some of them playing on their machines for hours on end. But as people find jobs and grow up, get married and have other things to do, is it right that games will be left gathering dust in the cupboard and games magazines hidden at work for fear of not being taken too seriously?
People usually have some spare time, even if it is only a litte, so why shouldn't games be a viable hobby. Before Sony introduced the 'cool' aspect of playing games, consoles were only seen as toys and therefore it was mostly children and teenagers that played them. Computer users, of course, have always had a good excuse to play games as their machines could do a lot more and games were only a sideline. With Windows, games like Solitaire and Mine Sweeper were introduced, and this seemed fine as they were not noisy, fast paced titles and suited office types. But surely games players of the past that have had a chance to grow up and become more 'adult' have been able to take the idea of recreational games to a new audience. Will there come a day when it is seen as perfectly normal to come back from the office/factory and plug in a console? Is this, in fact, what is happening now?
I'm 23, married, with a daughter. I play games in my spare time. Not that I have much of that! You try playing on a PC when a little 1 year old wants to crawl into the computer cabinet and put the wires, and touch everything! My games playing time is reserved strictly to once young Malibu is in bed, bless her.
Thank God for free internet access at work then!
Thank God for free internet access at work then!
For "put" read "pull" as I guess most of you don't understand the special code I was using ;)
Well, many of my friends call me strange, but it has nothing to do with games!
29 years young, I love playing games, and I don't care what anyone thinks about it! I started at 8 years old with a Commodore VIC-20, then a Commodore 64, then TWO Amiga's. Also had a Gameboy and Game Gear. Now I have a PC, PlayStation, and will have a PS2.
There's nothing wrong with playing games, whatever your age. They keep your mind alert and your reflexes sharp. I cycle to and from work, and have avoided a few nasty accidents over the last few years, thanks to quick reactions - which I always attribute to my games-playing.
29 years young, I love playing games, and I don't care what anyone thinks about it! I started at 8 years old with a Commodore VIC-20, then a Commodore 64, then TWO Amiga's. Also had a Gameboy and Game Gear. Now I have a PC, PlayStation, and will have a PS2.
There's nothing wrong with playing games, whatever your age. They keep your mind alert and your reflexes sharp. I cycle to and from work, and have avoided a few nasty accidents over the last few years, thanks to quick reactions - which I always attribute to my games-playing.
I had a lot of trouble playing Downhill Mountain Biker, which I attribute to my cycling. I personally think that games could be a lot more educational than they are now. Instead of RPG's being set in fantasy scenarios why not have them in Olde England or Civil War USA or feudal Japan, with real datelines and locations and geography and so on. The memory is available, it just seems that developers are concentrating more on profits than educational content. Some PC games do this, and Carmina Burana (did I spell that right?) on ye olde Megadrive made a brave attempt at historical accuracy, but I feel that so much more could be done *sigh*.
I dont feel ashamed to admit that I am an avid gamer. It has been my hobby since I was about six years old, and I have no intention to stop just because people think that I am strange. I have been refered to as strange on a few occasions because I seem to live in my own virtual world, away from reality, with good reason mind. Unfortunatley I am unable to work so I devote all my spare time to video gaming. I find that it is a good way to get the mind working.
I have in the past owned and still own an Amstrad CPC 464, Amiga 500+, Master System, SNES, Game Boy, Game Gear and I now spend most the time on my P.C, N64, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, shared Playstation and soon Playstation 2.
As far as I am concerned people can call me strange, wierd, sad, every name under the sun if they like, but it wont ever put me off what I enjoy doing the most.
Really I dont think there is anything strange about it at all, being an older gamer. It is after all just a hobby.
I have in the past owned and still own an Amstrad CPC 464, Amiga 500+, Master System, SNES, Game Boy, Game Gear and I now spend most the time on my P.C, N64, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, shared Playstation and soon Playstation 2.
As far as I am concerned people can call me strange, wierd, sad, every name under the sun if they like, but it wont ever put me off what I enjoy doing the most.
Really I dont think there is anything strange about it at all, being an older gamer. It is after all just a hobby.
I don't think there's anything strange about playing games either, but some people have commented that I play too many or for too long. I do have a social life as well (and a working life unfortunately!) - I'm 28 by the way - but I love to play games, don't ask me why. I have friends who play games and are around the same age as me or older. Sometimes I think other people see it as something akin to collecting Sci-Fi or whatever, but for the most part I think most people have changed their opinion in the last five years.