You hear your child on Discord with a bunch of friends. They’re yelling, laughing, cheering, and having a blast. What you don’t know is that the team that just beat them may consist of older gamers. In fact, I and many others started playing video games in the 70’s and never stopped. We were the generation that first picked up that video controller and are still going strong. Pac Man anyone?
The Pong Generation
In 1972, Atari released Pong. The game was hardwired into a box and my parents purchased it for our house. Later consoles graduated to cartridges that could be inserted into the new Atari console. I remember the game Adventure and Space Invaders which my brother and I played over and over. This was how we learned about cheats and patterns, because in Space Invaders I would listen to the march across the screen; CH CH CH, which would speed up and also signal that I’d need to speed up on the controls. A generation was hooked, and today we apply it to video games that we couldn’t imagine back when we were kids.
Younger vs Older Gamers
My reflexes can’t keep up with teen or college gamers. Where I win however, is on strategy and impulse control. When they go running towards every battle, I’ll hang back and wait. If I see a good player in Overwatch, I’ll use a different hero to counter them, where others just insist on running into a wall over and over and over. At the same time, I’ll sacrifice my character so my team can get the point, that is, if they are even paying attention. It’s amazing how younger players will just team up and chase me and be so consumed with the chase that they’ll risk the game. It works every time. My husband just shakes his head as he sits down next to me and hears me cackle. Yup, older gamers may cackle.
If you haven’t played a video game in years and are curious, I’d start with Hogwarts Legacy. Now, that’s a beautiful and fun game!
Breaking Stereotypes
Older gamers are breaking stereotypes. There’s even a YouTube channel on us and the perspective is refreshing. He mentions the lighthearted jabs by those who are younger and when I read that, I laughed. One day I teamed up with another player and he asked me if I was a mom! “How did you know?” I said. “Well, you just sound like one.” That didn’t stop us from playing, and in the spirit of the game we teamed up and played game after game. He’s not even on my friends list any longer, simply because many younger gamers move on fairly quickly to the next big game whereas I’ve been hanging around with Blizzard’s Overwatch for a while. My kids tease me and say it’s a dying game. Oh well!
Addictive Gaming and Balance
Have I had any negative experiences with gaming? One of the most fun games was Blizzard’s World of Warcraft. My friends and I played together for the very first years of the game. We also all quit, simply as a result of the complete time domination the game required. It ceased being fun for players like us because of the need to “farm” for items in the game which could take hours of your time. If you didn’t keep up, you couldn’t compete and that became disheartening. Blizzard has since re-released older versions of the game but it wasn’t enough to make us all return. I often wonder why they don’t redo the game completely with today’s latest technology. I think people would eagerly play once again.
I’ve also been threatened online. This is the darker side of what’s going on within video games. Every parent should monitor their child’s use of not only games but their computer usage in general. We are still responsible for our kids, even online!
Reasons for Gaming
I know a lot of parents are concerned about the amount of time their child spends in their room, especially gaming online, but I’m not that parent. My sons are playing with their friends. No, they’re not outside, but times have changed, and they’re all speaking to each other, laughing and solidifying their relationships both online and in person. Unlike other older gamers, I am not playing for social interaction. I play for laughter and to pass the time. After dinner, I’m a wet stain. I don’t like watching TV, so I’ll turn on my Playstation and play until it’s lights out. I select games differently now, looking for games that can be stopped without penalty and still be fun. Games like Overwatch which have short matches or Hogwarts Legacy that is calming and exploratory are my current games.
Gaming has brought me closer to my children as well. They like that I get their terminology and listen to their latest experience. I am a part of their world.
Older Gamer? Yup that’s me! I think I’ll continue for a very long time, and if the pace gets too overwhelming then I’ll play Wordle!
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