When Are People Expected To Grow Out Of Games??

A quote to live by

It's not okay in Game, I swear these people are killing my IQ...

gaming rocks! it'll be a sad day if i get bored of it but I doubt that will happen!

I think the deal with people considering gaming to be for children is all in the name. Kids play games. The stuff gamers play however are nothing of the sort they require interaction and a brain. When people start to realise that they are different and that they are in no way childish they will realise gaming is just another hobby like any other and not limited to a certain age group.

I recently set up a PC for a doctor (in his 50s). This man has every combat game (Medal of Honor, Special Ops, etc.) than I could imagine. His wife tells me that if she wakes up at 4 AM, she could swear she hears the phrase, "Advance in 2 by 2 standard formation" coming from his PC".

Grow out of games? It all depends on the person; some will, some won't.

I will be 60 in October and my wife asks the same question -- when am I going to grow out of computer games?

Here's my guess, we don't necessarily grow out of computer games. Instead, we change interests from time-to-time. That can happen at 12 or 62.

In my long life I've had times when all I wanted to do was play golf, or fish, or mess with my ham radio, or play games. It seems to go in cycles. But the core interests - and with me that includes gaming - tend to stick around, they get neglected at times, but the stuff that really makes us happy seems to survive these dormant periods and reappears later.

Truth FTW!!! T.V. just puts me to sleep if I sit down to watch it.


I am 26 years old and married. My wife is also 26 and we both play Guild Wars usually 5 nights a week. We have a 2 year old son that we both adore. I also work full time. In my mind work is just a way to get enough money to live nicely.

I do not ever plan to stop playing games. I did have to play a little less after I got married, and then even less once my son came into this world. I also know that as he gets older I may have less time to play, however, I do plan to involve him in some gaming a few years down the line. I am still able to get in 15-20 hours of Guild Wars a week, I am involved in 4 multiplayer text sim football leagues, and I am a clan leader in a game called Kingdom of Loathing.

People that think you should out grow games are the ones that don't understand them. Most of those same people probably watch hours of T.V. every night instead. Many of them think that us gamers are odd maybe even dangerous people. They are told this by the popular media. For some reason it is deemed ok to watch murders, rape, and death on T.V. or in movies, but it is not ok to play games with bloodless fighting.

Anyways, that is my 2 cents. Don't let people try to tell you that you are less of a person for finding your relaxation and entertainment from video/computer games.

Ha! You don't need large amounts of money to attract a woman. I'm 31, was a dirt poor graduate student that liked to play games (20 years and counting) and was able to get married (to a NON-gamer) and still enjoy playing. Of course as more things in RL happen, the less time there is to devote to gaming, but that's no different than any other hobby. As for living vicariously throguh your kids, not there yet, but I imagine sharing your hobby with your kids must be awesome. If they don't happen to be into it, well now there's no one to hog your gaming machine

I've always wondered if the reason I find TV so dreadfully boring is because I play so many games? With TV you're not part of the action, only watching, and with few exceptions I find that dreadfully dull.

True. That said, I think one must also face the fact that being a grown-up gamer really is quite geeky. It's like being an avid golfer, or stamp collector, or model railway enthusiast - geeky, but fundamentally harmless unless it becomes an obsession.

11 years and counting! I don't think i'll ever grow out of gaming.

Gaming is entertainment, and can continue to be entertainment no matter the age. Just like bingo, gambling, card playing, movies, tv, wrestling, NASCAR, so on and so forth.

Any of the above can lead to dangerous habits and addiction, just as gaming can. It's important with any hobby to seperate yourself and take a step back every once in a while. Gaming is increasing in popularity because the gaming population has aged and more and more younger people are joining in.

For MMOG's, only 25% of gamers are teenagers. 50% work full-time, 36% are married, and 22% have children. MMOG players spend an average of 22 hours a week in the gaming environment and it's not indicative of age. In other words, older players spend the same amount of time playing these games as younger players.

Another caricature of video gamers is that they are solitary hermits, but the data on MMOG players show that 80% of MMOG players play with someone they know in RL (a romantic partner, family member, or friend)on a regular basis. MMOG's are in fact highly social environments where new relationships are forged and existing relationships are reinforced.

All the above data is from the Daedalus Project, but it's clear that gaming still has it's stereotypes. That gaming is something to "grow out of" and that all gamers are teenagers.

I dont really see why people "grow out of it".

This is under the fallacy that Games are for kids.

Thats utter nonesense.

Adults play the hardest games of all. Life, love, relationships, family.

Except theres no reset or UAX >.>

I'm 30, I've been gaming since the atari/intellivision days. Have owned or been friends with someone who owned every major and semi-major console released in the U.S.; used to game on Commodore 64 and 128; used to own an original Pong tabletop arcade game. I highly doubt I will ever stop gaming. I still play D&D, although being married with a newborn baby has cut into my gaming time quite a bit.

From http://www.theesa.com/facts/top_10_facts.php

My googlefu is still in top form.

I total agree! There is so much crap on TV thats bad for children: rape, death, MTV beach party wet t-shirt contests ....etc, etc. I see parents that limit the amount of time their children are allowed to play computer games, yet they let them watch whatever they want to on TV

I'm 36 years old and have played games off and on since I was around 9 or 10 (Donkey Kong any one?). I naturally kinda stopped playing games around the age of 16 after I got a car and discovered how to get girls into my car
I had some hard partying years from age 18-24 that included non-stop drinking and other things I dare not mention I got that out of my system and got married at the age of 24 and we now have 2 children, so from age 24-30 what pretty much a growing up period for me on how to be a good father (Diaper changing FTW!) i started to get interested in video games again when Playstation and Nintendo game became more involved with better graphics, and played mostly console games until a friend of mine turned me on to Counterstrike. So I broke down and learned how to build computers to support my new hobby I've played tons of computer games since then, Counterstrike, Day of Defeat, Unreal Tournament, almost every good MOD created for Half life and Half life2, Diablo 2, and then now I almost exclusively play Guild Wars. So, here I am! I don't know where I'll be in another 10 or 20 years, but I hope that I'm happy and healthy.

My attitude towards life has changed over the past decade. When I was in my teens I thought I would live forever and never grow old, but in my mid 20's I started to experience deaths in my family for the first time and I started to become aware of my own mortality. 2 grandfathers, my uncle, my father, and now my grandmother just this year are now passed away

The only constant in life is change. Be happy and do what you enjoy, after all it is your own life and no one elses. As long as your not hurting yourself or others, then theres no harm in it.


It's just to bad for me that I can't identify the other adult gamers in real life that play Guild Wars (The only time I run into other gamers is at the local Gamestop), which are mostly kids and teens. Usually if you pass by another adult in the mall you would never guess that they play Guild Wars also.

Uhhh... you could join my guild and that would be cool, but theres four people in my guild and I am the only one who ever plays anymore, so we're not exactly "active." Im actually thinking of joining a new guild so I can gvg.

My guild used to have like 15 members and we used to gvg, but people stopped playing, and the few active members left for another guild.

And besides, its not like all games are designed for 9 year olds. Would you expect a toddler to appreciate the beauty of a game like XIII or Max Payne?

I am 38 years old and love PC gaming. I usually play at night because I'd rather be intrigued by a PC game, any game really, than sit and watch tv. Unless there is a sporting event on, I find sitting in front of the tv very boring. So after my daughter goes to sleep and after relaxing with my wife, off to my computer I go.

There is a reason tv is called the boob tube. PC games let you use your imagination. So if I'm not doing something with my family or friends, gaming is my choice.

Well, my introduction to computer gaming was in a "maze of twisty, little passages..." on a mainframe.

I'm now 62 and retired and having a blast finally playing games the way I want . I really believe that you've lost something when you no longer have the imagination and fantasy enjoyment to enjoy gaming on the computer.

Larry...with another 10-20 years of RPG's, shooters, and flight sims to go

21 years old here...(as of 06/26/06, yay me!)

First, I somehow get the feeling that the "obsession" the OP is talking about, and finds so funny, is when people get annoyed about immature behavior in games. If that is the case, tough, that's not obsession it's having standards. If that's not the intended meaning then nevermind.

Second, grow out of games? Never. I'm taking online courses to have a career in them. Yay Internet!

I don't think, society as a whole will ever really escape games because, in truth, most games help you do one thing that most people normally can't do in their real lives. Be a hero.

People are always looking for something to be good at. Some way to stand out. (in their own opinions)

Some find it in pure competition (PvP) seeking to litterally "outdo" other people. Others find it in accululation of "wealth" amassing large fortunes of the best items and lots of money. (PvE) And some find their place as a balence between the two. But ultimately the quiet underlying goal is generally the same, we want to be heros.

And truely, there's nothing wrong with that.

For me, I belive gaming will always be a part of my life. I am 28 now. Even though I don't play as much as I used to. However I don't think I could imagine not having a game around to play. It is like asking when we are supposed to outgrow movies....Never is my opinion.