Shaking my head at the new gaming generations :(

[SoraSmiles]

Where did they get that information?

Heres some good statistics, G4 is a gaming channel I don't think they'd lie but I'm not 100% sure

http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/726494/the-average-age-of-a-gamer-is-30-says-esa/

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I have absolutely never had anybody say this to me, or even seen anybody say this to somebody else. I have to wonder how common this actually is.

I haven't heard it really in the Nintendo world Most people are pretty lovely especially on these forums. Though it's quite a common occurrence with Xbox and Playstation. I just was looking for other peoples points of view on the topic.

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I'm 11 and my brother is too, we both play New Leaf (I forgot to mention I played HM games as well.) And no, we don't just care about the graphics o.o Or do you mean something different? If it was a joke I didn't get it, sorry.

I think it's true that if gamers don't complain about a game and like it, they create more and more so the next generation can grow up and do the same thing. Thanks for the maturity OP, I thought this was going to be like a full complaint lol!

And I definitely like that Animal crossing has already spanned through a generation I hope my son will like it when he gets a little bigger and that they will come out with new ones (hopefully)

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I'm 11 and my brother is too, we both play New Leaf (I forgot to mention I played HM games as well.) And no, we don't just care about the graphics o.o Or do you mean something different? If it was a joke I didn't get it, sorry.

I think it's true that if gamers don't complain about a game and like it, they create more and more so the next generation can grow up and do the same thing. Thanks for the maturity OP, I thought this was going to be like a full complaint lol!

And I definitely like that Animal crossing has already spanned through a generation I hope my son will like it when he gets a little bigger and that they will come out with new ones (hopefully)

 

[Hirisa]

Where did they get that information?

The ESA has booth presence at most gaming conventions (and they are the owners of E3 Expo). They also work with retailers to acquire marketing data. You can easily read about their methods at their website.

 

[BellGreen]

And I definitely like that Animal crossing has already spanned through a generation I hope my son will like it when he gets a little bigger and that they will come out with new ones (hopefully)

At the Train Station
Rover: Haven't done this much travelling by train since 2002 or so... Man, that's weird.

AC HAS spanned through many generations. I think it will live up to the expectations to even some of the pickiest youth gamers.

 

[CHR:)S]

The ESA has booth presence at most gaming conventions (and they are the owners of E3 Expo). They also work with retailers to acquire marketing data. You can easily read about their methods at their website.

I see. I don't doubt that it's not true, but it is kind of passive. The 30 year olds probably buy a game here and there, and play from time to time, whereas teenagers are playing them constantly. If they were to calculate hours clocked in playing, 30+ year olds would not win that statistic. And plus, I only know a few 30+ year olds who would have played a video game in the past month... Whereas 99% of guys at my school have played a video game in the past week...

 

[SliceAndDice]

I was volunteering at a daycare for special needs children last summer and remember talking about games with them. They thought it was pretty awesome that I'm a Gamer Girl, even though they were pretty young.
My friends, boyfriend and family all accept it even though the minority of them is into Games.
I really don't know where you heard something like that, but am glad that I never experienced it. Gaming is, like a lot of other activities, for every age. Don't let your kids play games for age 16 and up though, but I guess that's a bit too offtopic.

 

[Neu]

I'm 11 and my brother is too, we both play New Leaf (I forgot to mention I played HM games as well.) And no, we don't just care about the graphics o.o Or do you mean something different? If it was a joke I didn't get it, sorry.

You replied to my post too fast. Or i was too late to change it. Yea, it was an old 'gamer' joke from a certain site. I just remembered and used it here. Don't mind about it.

 

[BellGreen]

You replied to my post too fast. Or i was too late to change it. Yea, it was an old 'gamer' joke from a certain site. I just remembered it and used it here. Don't mind about it.

Oh, OK lol. No hard feelings.

My cousins live at my house and I think my youngest cousin (6 years old) likes to play wrestling video games and watches it as well (also with my 8-year-old cousin I think) so they like to fake wrestle a lot. I'm like "x_X At least quiet your screaming."

 

[Cease]

I see. I don't doubt that it's not true, but it is kind of passive. The 30 year olds probably buy a game here and there, and play from time to time, whereas teenagers are playing them constantly. If they were to calculate hours clocked in playing, 30+ year olds would not win that statistic. And plus, I only know a few 30+ year olds who would have played a video game in the past month... Whereas 99% of guys at my school have played a video game in the past week...

It might just be averaged, with outliars.

It depends on how the research and survey was done, but for hours played you'd have to take into consideration that younger people in High School would have more time then say a 30 year old starting a family.

It's also hard to measure the amount of "gamer" someone is based on time played

 

[Carole]

I am 65 years old, and have been playing computer games for nearly 40 years, even before I got my TRS-80 Model 1 back in 1979. Some of my favorites over the decades were Hellfire Warriors, Phantasy Star, Ultima 7, Baldur's Gate, all the AD&D games like Pool of Radiance, and now the various Animal Crossings. There were so many that fired up my imagination and took me to other lands and experiences and those were just the first few that came to mind.

I don't really give a hoot what younger people think or say about that because frankly, I feel sorry for them that they missed those times and those games. It was a wonderful time when the demarcation between computer games and real life was much less distinct, IMO, and when the game stories were often amazingly intricate and elaborate and much more fleshed out in the story-telling sense, even though the graphics were not what they are today. I am having a wonderful time with ACNL, and I hope that during their lives they find many, many games that they enjoy, too, and can tell their grandchildren about when they grow old.

 

[Hirisa]

I see. I don't doubt that it's not true, but it is kind of passive. The 30 year olds probably buy a game here and there, and play from time to time, whereas teenagers are playing them constantly. If they were to calculate hours clocked in playing, 30+ year olds would not win that statistic. And plus, I only know a few 30+ year olds who would have played a video game in the past month... Whereas 99% of guys at my school have played a video game in the past week...

Sorry, but I don't think your informal, personal, anecdotal evidence is more valid than hundreds of hours of marketing research. Especially when that research corroborates with my own informal, personal, anecdotal evidence that comes from years of being a moderator on a video game forum that has tens of thousands of members over the age of 30. *shrug*

Also, what matters to market research, first and foremost, is how much money gamers are spending, not how much time gamers spend playing. More and more games are being marketed and developed with adult players in mind because of this, because generally, older gamers have more money to spend, and are willing to spend it.

 

[SoraSmiles]

I see. I don't doubt that it's not true, but it is kind of passive. The 30 year olds probably buy a game here and there, and play from time to time, whereas teenagers are playing them constantly. If they were to calculate hours clocked in playing, 30+ year olds would not win that statistic. And plus, I only know a few 30+ year olds who would have played a video game in the past month... Whereas 99% of guys at my school have played a video game in the past week...

From my own point of view too. As I stated, my husband is 34 and i'm 23 and we play quite alot. So does alot of his friends, though most girls in their 30's that i've met don't play video games. lol you actually have more time to play games being an adult working than you do as a kid in school. We come home and theres no work to do, Kids have homework. We buy alooot of video games and have pretty much every system over the years from the NES all the way to we're buying a Wii U next week lol

We play video games everyday, call us addicts but we manage to fit it in to our daily lives. Heck I lost my wario ware inc for GBA lastnight cause my hub loved it rofl

 

[Puuhi]

I think you shouldn't get so worked up over this. When I was younger ( < 16) I used to think adults only lived for their jobs and spent their days doing boring stuff. I'm 25 now and I know life doesn't end when you get older and you can still enjoy any hobbies you might have had when you were a kid. The kids you're talking about will realise this too sooner or later, they just have no idea yet.

 

[CHR:)S]

It might just be averaged, with outliars.

It depends on how the research and survey was done, but for hours played you'd have to take into consideration that younger people in High School would have more time then say a 30 year old starting a family.

It's also hard to measure the amount of "gamer" someone is based on time played

Yes, that is why 30 year olds wouldn't clock in as many hours as teenagers would. For teenagers, gaming is basically all there is to do at home. Whereas 30 year olds have a lot of things to be handling, they wouldn't be able to play as much.

 

[Officer Berri]

I have literally never come across anyone who acts like this, online or offline. All the younger people I know in real life who play games are impressed or amazed I'm 'cool enough' to know what they're talking about. And everyone I meet online is smart enough to know that gaming was around before they were around so gamers will be older than them.

 

[CHR:)S]

Sorry, but I don't think your informal, personal, anecdotal evidence is more valid than hundreds of hours of marketing research. Especially when that research corroborates with my own informal, personal, anecdotal evidence that comes from years of being a moderator on a video game forum that has tens of thousands of members over the age of 30. *shrug*

Also, what matters to market research, first and foremost, is how much money gamers are spending, not how much time gamers spend playing. More and more games are being marketed and developed with adult players in mind because of this, because generally, older gamers have more money to spend, and are willing to spend it.

A video game forum with tens of thousands of members over the age of 30 really isn't much to be honest.

And by the way, is this 30+ year old people buying the games for their children to play? LOL.

Also, realize that more than half of the population is under the age of 30. And for teenagers, gaming is pretty much all there is to do with their time.

Also, IDK why you're getting so defensive. o_o

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I have literally never come across anyone who acts like this, online or offline. All the younger people I know in real life who play games are impressed or amazed I'm 'cool enough' to know what they're talking about. And everyone I meet online is smart enough to know that gaming was around before they were around so gamers will be older than them.

^This. I think it's cool when an adult plays video games, even more so games I play.

 

[Jaymes Keller]

I think the reason why games get such a bad rap these days seem to be the end result of coming into contact with what I would like to call "The COD Generation". The reason why casual games are, according to the ESA, are taking a majority of the market share, and smartphone games are in the majority, is because they wish to reject the COD/MMS world. It's a bit sad that "broad strokes gets the fence done quicker" seems to be applied here is because of those kind of people.

You're well within your right to spew bile at the COD fanboys out there, but not all current generation gamers are like that. The majority are not like that, it's just the aforementioned fanbase that are loud enough to catch people's attention.

 

[Hirisa]

I don't think I was getting defensive, and was only offering my perspective. But I do think a large gaming forum is a more relevant source of anecdotal data than your circle of buddies.

 

[beffa]

;_; I'm 14 and I respect older gamers. I lend games, newer ones, to my nan and she gives me older ones. It's awesome!

 

[Hirisa]

;_; I'm 14 and I respect older gamers. I lend games, newer ones, to my nan and she gives me older ones. It's awesome!

You're lucky. I'm in my 40s and I wish that my mother played games, because honestly, I think it would do her a lot of good. There are a lot of studies that show how gaming is actually really good for you, particularly in enhancing cognitive functions, sometimes even reversing cognitive degeneration. ^ ^

 

[Dizzi Paradise]

I am 43, and have been playing video games since 1982 (31 years). In the late 70s I got my first handheld "games console" (doesn't count as a video game cos it didn't have a screen). So I've been playing for around 35 years I suppose. Hubby got his first console at about 10. My mother, who is nearly 68, plays too - mostly hidden object and word games. My dad is 73 and loves puzzle games. Son is 16 and doesn't just play games, he writes his own as well. He mostly likes FPS games and platformers, flight sims, racing games etc. Daughter is nearly 4 and addicted to Cooking Mama.

I've never been told I am too old to play video games. And if I did, it wouldn't bother me. Video games aren't "owned" by the young (or the old, or the middle aged, or indeed any one group of people). I consider myself extremely lucky that I grew up along with the games industry and got to play some amazing games that younger people may not get to play now. There is such a huge catalogue of wonderful games now, with more being released all the time. I may not be a fan of CoD and FPS games generally but I don't think those who are are any more or less a gamer than I am. I was more of an adventure/puzzle/RPG gamer (Atic Atac, Zork, Lemmings, Maniac Mansion, Simon the Sorceror, Beneath a Steel Sky, Zelda, Pokemon). Hubby's more into shooters, GTA, Castlevania, racing. Both of us are currently addicted to AC. I have clocked over 400 hours on my town so far. I can't wait for Pokemon X & Y in October. And I really couldn't give a stuff what other people think.

There's no such thing as an "average" gamer, no one game is going to suit everybody, and it doesn't matter how many hours you play or what you play, so long as you're enjoying it. So what does it matter if one kid thinks anyone over 21 is "too old"? And what does it matter if some people think only CoD players are "real gamers"? That's like saying anyone over 21 is too old to read Harry Potter, or only people who read Dostoevsky are "real readers".