Blog Post: Say hola to senior citizen gamers! Subscribe to this RSS feed
- Author: Matthew Keast
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A tidbit from Slate.com mentions new statistics that the latest batch of gamers isn't exactly composed of young whipper-snappers.
Slate's brief note makes some guesses as to why older people are joining the interactive entertainment fad sweeping the nation:
One company's data show nearly half its players are over 50; another company says people in this age group account for over 40 percent of the time on its gaming site. Retirement communities and cruise lines are installing gaming systems. Theories: 1) Old folks are getting over their fear of video games. 2) They're trying to sharpen their wits and stave off dementia. 3) They're using online games to socialize, like old-fashioned cards or dominoes. 4) They're becoming addicted, like kids. 5) They have too much free time on their hands, like kids. Supportive view: As your body deteriorates, it's easier to play video tennis than the real thing. Cynical view: As you play video tennis instead of the real thing, your body deteriorates.
Not wearing a wrist strap? You've gotten dangerous in your old age, grandma.
The last sentence touches on my own theory for why we're seeing older gamers. Think about the original videogame craze, when Pong hit, and then Pac-Man took over. Back then, it was cool to play games as an adult. Then it became uncool again, and at the same time games became more and more complicated. Now, games are cool for adults again, but more importantly, with the advent of the Wii, games are less complicated.
So you have the youngish adults who played Pac-Man, but lost interest eventually. Interest in general went in the gutter with the great videogame crash of the early eighties. Then along came Nintendo, and instead of a joystick with one or no buttons, you've got the cross-pad (huh? What's this new-fangled thing?), and FOUR whole buttons. This is not something easy to jump into if you haven't played games in a few years. Finally the Wii comes along and we're back to intuitive gameplay. Also, think of what using "regular" controllers does to arthritis. Motion sensing takes a good amount of stress off the fingers. Older folks could also benefit from the Brain Age games, although that does require the use of a rather dinky stylus...
Hey, thanks: Slate
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Comments [ 3 ] Post your comment subscribe to this rss feed
Posted at: 04/12/07 at 1:43 PM PST
If you do a search on Corbis for "video gamer", there are a surprising number of old folks playing video games. (They must have shot a lot after all the Wii articles.)
Posted at: 04/16/07 at 9:14 PM PST
Not that surprising if you think about it. Retired, nothing to do, video games are great time wasters. With the Wii and DS, it has really opened up a new age of gamers. I constantly see more people ranging in 30+ with a DS and playing Brain Age. Who knew learning could be fun? I swear Brain Age mocks me when Brain score shoots up.
Posted at: 04/18/07 at 11:21 AM PST
I visited my aging aunt and uncle over the weekend--and they mentioned that they had been playing tennis and bowling on the Wii. My uncle is 75 years old.....but he digs the Wii.
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