‘Video games are for kids.’ ‘Aren’t you too old to be playing video games?’ ‘You’ll grow out of that hobby one day.’
There’s a stigma around video games. There always has been. Anyone who’s into games will have dealt with it at one point or another. The judgement of having your favourite arcade games in your own home, the fears of satanic worship woven into Dungeons & Dragons, or the still ongoing gatekeeping from oh-so-reasonable white men, both at a consumer and corporate level.
I’ve dealt with the basics myself. Parents wanting me to talk about anything else, grandparents asking, ‘Are you still into those games?’ every time I see them, or the strange feeling of describing my job in this industry to adults who stopped playing games when Halo was still cool.
Games are good. You and I know that. It’s clear this industry is here for a reason, and so many of us who grew up during pivotal periods of technological advancement have seen the strides in development. As time goes on, the earlier generations of gamers are getting older. Sure, there are certainly plenty of older people who find enjoyment in games, but as the hobby becomes a normal part of people’s lives later in life, it begs the question: How old is too old for video games?
I Mean, The Answer Is You’re Never Too Old, Obviously
It’d be pretty ridiculous for me to build up a career in video games for the better part of a decade only to come out and say to you, on TheGamer, that “we’re too old for games”. The last thing I’m going to be is another white dude showing you a new gate I built with sticks and duct tape.
That said, the relationship we have with video games does change as we get older. Alone, this is probably a moot point – almost any relationship changes with time. But what I mean is that as games evolve, as we grow up, and as the generations who experienced those earlier advancements are dealing with a lot more than we were way back when, the way we experience games evolves too.
I Still Love Video Games, But It Feels Different Now
When I was younger, I loved the freedom I found in gaming. I remember having open-ended (at least for the time) levels on a Tweety Bird Game Boy Advance game and being astounded at the ability to fly around.
As time went on, I became obsessed with open worlds. Assassin’s Creed was revolutionary to me (especially 3 and Unity, ha), and I wished every game could be as expansive and open.
Kids really have a lot more time on their hands, huh?
But now, I struggle. I feel overwhelmed and want to instead find those meaningful experiences, or those games that are just straight-up video games. I love them all the same, and I’ll always get the same feeling when an exciting new game is unveiled and shown off for the first time, but I’m not chomping at the bit to get my hands on them all anymore, at least not right away.
Outside of overwhelming worlds and too much to do, I think what I want out of games has changed. I’m not averse to spending hundreds of hours in a single game if it warrants it, but my criteria for that feels more difficult to meet as time goes on. Maybe that’s me, maybe that’s the games. But I don’t need a game to warrant hundreds of hours – I just want something worthwhile.
I’ll Play Games Until I Die, Just Maybe Fewer
I have no doubt I’ll be playing games for the rest of my life. It’s my career, it’s my biggest passion, and there’s a lot more I’d like to accomplish in the industry surrounding them. But I think as time goes on, as life gets more… ‘lifey’, and as my professional ambitions around games and the industry grow, my desire to play every game wanes. My passion remains, and my enjoyment is all the same, but I think I’ll become a lot more focused on the specifics, rather than trying to enjoy the big picture in its entirety.
Just watch me go full circle and sing the praises of open worlds again this time next year.
