Is Growing Old Something Gamers Should Worry About?

Click the link here and watch the video IGN posted last month about what it's like growing up with games and suddenly realising you may be too old for them. It's presented in a comedic and relatable way and ends by inviting viewers to discuss in the comments the moment they felt they were growing perhaps too old for games.

Inevitably every gamer reaches this epoch where brief retrospection and nostalgic memories reveal an existential revelation that gaming is no longer the child-like, carefree experience it once was. I've fallen prey to such thoughts in the past, particularly when I realise that playing video games is often something I do when I should be doing other things.

joystiq.com

Desire pulls me in but guilt makes me log back out again. Every minute spent slaying dragons, running from bad guys and erecting giant forms of compensation is time not spent doing things I know would be more productive. I have work I need to be looking for, projects I could be getting on with and even house chores that are being neglected.

For me, being an older gamer means feeling a small sense of shame for not using my time more productively.

You could argue what it means to be "productive" and get into all sorts of heated debates about the necessity of unwinding by engaging in entertainment. I'm not here to call attention to such details, because I'm not worried about growing into an old gamer. And you shouldn't be either.

Here's why:

Embracing Your Inner Geriatric

Most people who reveal themselves to be old in terms of video game fandom tend to do so by comparing their life today with the life they had ten, fifteen or more years ago. Being a child of previous generations meant playing games like Sonic The Hedgehog, Mario, Zelda and a veritable smorgasbord of other bright and cartoon-y products. This is because in their infancy, video games were either marketed to children or families.

Such games still exist and are readily available in a variety of updated versions of these beloved titles. But the reality of the situation is, the industry has matured and grown in the same way its audience has. As a result, there are more games than in previous generations that cater to a more adult demographic.

The Mario and Sonic titles will always be amongst some of the more popular games because they appeal to children and the grown ups who remember playing previous iterations of them. But for every one of these universal games, there's a Bioshock, or Grand Theft Auto and let's not forget the very mature The Last Of Us.

ign.com

This is proof that gaming isn't something that's exclusively reserved for a younger version of ourselves. Of course children still play them, but that's not the issue here. See, the beauty of being an older gamer means that not only are developers taking our interests into consideration, we also have the power to determine market trends, simply because we have the finances to put money into the industry.

Growing up, your video game collection was dictated by your parents who bought them. Now, as adults, we have control over what we purchase and from any age bracket of our choosing. 

Despite having financial responsibilities, there is literally no one in this world who can stop me from spending every penny I have in my bank account on Steam products. But I don't, because I know there are other things I need to keep that meagre amount of money for.

To me that's what being an older gamer is all about: having the financial freedom to purchase and play games, but being selective of when and how often I do this. Gaming is a big part of my life, but being an adult means slotting it into my life with other things I have going on, not making it my sole defining characteristic.

It's important to be able to distinguish between being older and being too old for something. So let's not be afraid of growing too old for games. Without us, who's going to keep the industry afloat with ad-hoc purchases? Not punk-ass kids, that's for sure!