Comments on: Big Survey Thing: “50% of Adults Play Games”

By: Kadayi

Kadayi — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 08:27:54 +0000

I think we require some penis reduction around here by the looks of things….

By: Moonracer

Moonracer — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:11:07 +0000

I’m still waiting for the point when nursing homes start advertising themselves as nonstop lan parties.

“frag till you die!” could be a great retirement home slogan.

By: Nitre

Nitre — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:53:22 +0000

As Poisoned Sponge said, i think that the number of adults playing games is going to increase quite a lot in the next 20 or 30 years. Since most young people these days play some form of games, and were brought up with them, they’ll be much more willing continue playing when they get older, and will also introduce their children to games. The reason, i think, that only 50% of adults these days play games is because they were born too early to appreciate games when they came out.

I’d say if people were over the age of 30 or so when the first games were being developed and released they wouldn’t have been interested.

By: Mr.President

Mr.President — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:43:50 +0000

Every single person over 50 in my office plays Solitaire when there’s no work to do. Mainly because they don’t know shit about computers and have no other ways to derive entertainment from a work PC.

By: Anthony Damiani

Anthony Damiani — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 06:27:27 +0000

Sure, 50% PLAY games…. but surely 90% pirate them!

By: Kommissar Nicko

Kommissar Nicko — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 02:24:50 +0000

I’d agree with Erlam on this. I think the general appeal of the games for consoles steers more of our elders toward the PC (I know that’s how it is with me at least). PC games occupy a wide breadth of stuff, and most of it is a little more sedate. My father got me into PC gaming with Civilization and wargaming, but the last wargame that he bought for PC was Norm Koger’s The Art of War, which was a long time ago. He’s kind of excited about Total War: Empires, but not too enthused about the real-time battles. It’s really about the level of input. Most people over forty aren’t prepared to be l33t-sk33t h4><0r snipers, or do a lot of rapid clicking/thinking that’s rooted essentially in muscle memory (this includes RTS). This is a generation that grew up on board games.

By: qrter

qrter — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 21:57:04 +0000

It doesn’t say anything about people playing games in public spaces, phil, you fantastically big man baby.

By: phil

phil — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 19:11:30 +0000

This is excellent news, I’ll feel marginally less like a gigantic man child using my DS on the tube.

By: CG

CG — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:46:34 +0000

I’m 26, and I think I’m too old for consoles. Why? I’ve been a PC gamer since I was 8 years old (the only console I owned was the NES), and I am just too used to the mouse and keyboard, and too scared of the console controller. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it — the few times I’ve tried console shooters it has been a disaster… It’s taken me years to get a certain amount of FPS mouse-and-keyboard skills, and I don’t want to learn that all over again.

Getting a console might be a good idea, financially, since the biggest drawback to PC gaming is upgrading every couple years… and I like the looks of a lot of the recent console games… but I feel like a foreigner in the console world.

There are a lot of people like me. This is why PC gaming is on solid ground.

By: Erlam

Erlam — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:09:48 +0000

Keep in mind too that the genre’s overwhelmingly present on consoles are less attractive to older audiences. Would your dad/mum rather play as a half-clad bouncy vapid girl, or the stoic leader of a vast army?

You’ll find that fighting games and RPG’s are much less popular amongst ‘older’ gamers due to their difficulty of entry if you haven’t played the genre in the past.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 17:23:41 +0000

My granny, who is nearly eighty, asked me to help her buy one of the brain training things. Turns out she meant a DS, which she now plays on every day. She wanted a black one as it looked better.

By: Pidesco

Pidesco — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:32:01 +0000

And people say I’m childish. this is just another way in which I’m getting older. First goes the hair, then comes the back hair and the PC games.