45% Of Americans Above Age 50 Play Video Games, And Feel Neglected By Industry

submitted by Drewski from (zerohedge.com)

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[–]jerkwad152 4 insightful - 3 fun4 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Not surprised.

[–][deleted]  (2 children)

[deleted]

    [–]Drewski[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

    Zerohedge is an aggregator, and anyone can make a mistake. Media Bias Fact Check lists CNN, Buzzfeed News, The New York Times, and Vox as highly credible so I'm not giving their rating much consideration.

    [–]BISH 4 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 2 fun -  (6 children)

    45% Of Americans Above Age 50 Play Video Games, And Feel Neglected By Industry

    Mkay.

    Of the 45% above 50 who say they game, 45% of that group says they game daily - with women leading men by 52% vs. 37%.

    They claim 52% of women over 50 play "video games"?

    GTFO. Are they including games on cell phones like angry birds, or similar?

    They included a photo of some older folks playing a console game.... The older woman in the photo doesn't even know how to hold a controller like a normal person!!!

    This has to be a propaganda piece to influence public perception.

    It's an interesting article, but I don't believe it.

    [–][deleted] 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    Those people in the picture ... are models.....

    I don't see what's so surprising. Isn't that what you'd do all day if you retired comfortably?

    [–]Alienhunter 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    I always find the advertising funny.

    Like there was that first switch advertisement where he sees his friends on a roof nearby having a party and he's like "this party needs video games".

    When in real life of course whatever kind of guy is gonna whip out a switch at a party to play single player games is gonna be a social pariah.

    Funny to watch in movies too when someone plays a game. Looks like the guys spaz out with the controller, it's like Hollywood hacking, guy typing at an incredible speed that would make Mavis Beacon blush but if it was accurate you'd see some guy staring a the screen clicking things sometimes, sometimes pushing enter. Sometimes drinking a coffee. For a few hours, or days.

    [–]Mcheetah 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

    It 100% is. Even of the people 35 and under who play non-mobile games (console and PC; you know, ACTUAL video games), only 10-15% of them are female. They've been trying to push this bullshit that there are more female and older gamers for YEARS now, so they can make demands and crap, in the name of "representation." It's always been a giant con.

    [–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

    You're not wrong, but it's clearly caused by societal pressures. It doesn't hold true for children, it's only when they get older and fitting in becomes their chief concern that this happens. And female cliques especially tend to horrifically bully those who don't fit in.

    [–]Mcheetah 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    it's clearly caused by societal pressures.

    That's complete bullshit, as playing games doesn't have to be a public spectacle by anyone. It also doesn't make sense that so much Twitch whores exist if "45% of gamers are female" like Liberal news outlets like to lie about. Twitch whores would have no value if almost half of all gamers were women. It's BECAUSE they're so rare, do gamers simp and thirst over female gamers. I've been playing video games since the early 90s and literally no women ever played or mentioned games in my life until the Xbox 360 era. And that's only because they didn't WANT to play games until then; not even Pokemon or The Sims.

    The nerdy gamers back then would've LOVED more female gamers, but like most things in society, women don't latch onto shit until it becomes mainstream. They then ruin it with whining, complaining, and entitled bullshit as if it was supposed to specifically be catered only for them. The same way outside of cosplayers, no women were into Marvel or superheroes until after The Avengers movie came out and the shit became mainstream.

    Only Zoomers claim that "equality" bullshit because they're too young to know any better, but gaming was largely seen as an "incel/virgin/loser" hobby BY most girls and women, until like 2007. ALL of nerd culture got shit on like that until around 2007-2012. And funny enough, things were BETTER that way, because the mainstream assholes tend to ruin things once they start becoming a part of it; just like modern gaming and just like Marvel movies.

    It was never "There were no safe spaces for women in video games" because most women saw video games as "childish loser shit" until Call of Duty got big. I hate when people lie about shit and try to rewrite history of things I personally lived through for YEARS.

    [–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    It's because of social pressure. Adolescent girls will completely remodel themselves to fit in, as The GirlsTM are very intolerant of any deviation from the norm, and those who won't fit in and be exactly like the rest of them are excluded and bullied to the point of suicide. Even authority figures get in on punishing behavior that isn't socially acceptable. Introverts, the socially awkward, and children do not display such a jarring gender difference. But of course they're also ones you won't notice unless you look. And you can see the sudden change in personality in most adolescents, girls in particular.

    It might be even more important that most games played by older kids and adults have to do with sports or war, interests which are encouraged for guys but discouraged for girls. And I can see a possible biological pattern there, but I'm skeptical.

    It may be true that "incels" do gaming more. They don't have much else to do, and very few women are incels. The rest are too busy having sex and then a family.

    [–][deleted] 3 insightful - 3 fun3 insightful - 2 fun4 insightful - 3 fun -  (3 children)

    Still waiting for HL3

    [–]Airbus320 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

    Gaymer

    [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 3 fun1 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

    Well...

    [–]JewsAreOfColor 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    Says the man who lost his virginity to his mother.

    [–]Musky 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

    Even my parents play video games sometimes and they're 70ish.

    [–]1Icemonkey 1 insightful - 2 fun1 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 2 fun -  (2 children)

    I would say kys, but I think you should do them first🤣

    [–]Musky 5 insightful - 2 fun5 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

    That's a fucked up thing to write.

    [–]1Icemonkey 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

    I was kidding, but I know it didn’t come through that way

    [–]Drewski[S] 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

    archive.today mirror

    [–]jet199 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

    They likely feel neglected by society as a whole and will do for the rest of their lives.

    [–]Alphix 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

    It all caters to the ever-lowering IQ, attention span and general cognitive ability of the newer generations.

    [–]Alienhunter 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

    Like anything depends on the game. Games have long been trying to increase market share by making games "more accessible" (easier).

    That's good or bad depending on how it's implemented. Also depends on whether the game is actually trying to be "a game" with well thought out mechanics, concepts, or stories that makes the player think, or if it's a dopamine release mechanism designed to get the user hooked so they pay more money.

    Multiplayer games with friends are usually I think beneficial for all involved. Single player games can also be quite good if they are solidly designed around a core concept. But these days the lions share of games especially on smart phones seem to be essentially simulated gambling devices that suck money out of addicts.

    [–]Alphix 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

    On PC they are usually so dumbed down as to be boring, even with the amazing graphics, animations, sounds, and all that.

    [–]Alienhunter 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

    You are probably playing console ports adapted to PC then. If that's your complaint you are typically going to have better luck going for PC games designed exclusively for the platform. While the gap between the types of games possible isn't as big as it once was, the very nature of the input method means PC has more options for player input via mouse and keyboard rather than a controller. PC games designed to be ported to console often have to consider the input limitations of the machines they wish to port them to. Typical console controls only have 16 input buttons rather than 106 on a standard keyboard+mouse.

    [–]Alphix 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

    I have well over 1,000 cherry-picked games in all types and forms. My wife kinda likes the console ports because for her, games are just some quick fun like an action movie, you know?

    Anyway, so yeah I play all kinds of games, but I've steered away from buying the AAA mega productions, although I will surely play Rise of the Tomb raider eventually. But I couldn't get interested in Cyberpunk 2077 for example. Those kinds of games are all flash and no depth, they bore me. I have been playing Star Sector lately for example, an excellent (but 2D) game. I take my fun where I can find it!

    [–]Alienhunter 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

    I think Cyberpunk got most of its budget pushed into marketing. I was seeing loads of people gushing about it online before release and the chatter among friends was like "huh are you buying this? Maybe."

    Seemed like it wasn't very organic to me. Can't talk about the game haven't played it. Looked like it was basically just GTA with a Cyberpunk theme no?

    Open world games are kind of overdone these days I think. They're cool when the tech first got to the point they started to be huge and immersive but they all tend to end up pretty samely I think. Like I'll enjoy stuff like Skyrim but there's only so many ways you can make the "go to cave kill bandit get treasure" loop interesting. I think everyone was trying to copy off the success of stuff like Skyrim or Fallout 3 and it's all like "you can go everywhere and do everything!" And I'm like cool but I already have a bunch of games where I can do that, why should I buy yours. For Cyberpunk it just didn't sell it to me "you can go around and shoot people in a dystopian city?" Doesn't really sell it for me.

    Now if they did some utterly unique setting that might do it. I think Assassin's Creed already did the open world pirate game. There's a few open world space games but they tend to either be too limited in scope or too wide. (I've got one with a 1 to 1 recreation of the Milky Way with billions of stars to visit which is impressive but gets boring quick)

    I think you've got to go harder in on the definite win lose conditions for these sorts to games to work well. I think it's easier for them to sell games by pouring money into the graphics these days though. You're not going to get many people on the "manage your in game economy through the use of multiple spreadsheet windows, rivet at the excitement of basic good shortages and economic collapse during prolonged wars as you try to balance your economy" vs "booom explosions, visceral dismemberment!"

    Course kids these days whine about games being too hard as well if they ever see a game over screen.

    [–]Alphix 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    I totally agree. Still, there are plenty of great games, it's too bad you have to buy 3-4 highly rated games in order to maybe find a gem that's highly rated by people like yourself.

    [–]Alienhunter 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    I don't pay much attention to ratings really. They're going for a mass market appeal so they all tend to be samely.

    Now games with controversial user ratings, that's usually where you'll find some interesting stuff. Half the people loved it, half the people hated it? That's usually worth a look into why.

    Usually I find that the games that get the most publicity and hype tend to be more boring. Exceptions exist, especially for online games, there is something to be said of playing an online game that is brand new and learning the meta along with a bunch of friends. Good fun there, even if the game is kinda shit.

    [–]bife_de_lomo 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

    Yeah, I miss the glory days of RTS and Civ.

    But as a parent I also value bitesize gaming that I can put down and pick up again later. Online games don't suit the way I game now I'm no longer in my 20s (or my 30s...)

    [–]Alphix 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    I've recently been playing the rebuild of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind on OpenMW since I missed the original back in 2002. But since then I have played TES IV: Oblivion, which was pretty good, and TES V: Skyrim which I found to be a bland borefest.

    And now I can clearly see the decline and how much superior the older game is. The kicker is, they've rebooted Skyrim 3 times I think? And got massive sales each time. Sigh.

    I'm 55 BTW.

    [–]1Icemonkey 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    I haven’t played video games since Gauntlet was new in the arcade.

    [–]UncleWillard56 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    I'm 57 and I do. I don't know that I feel neglected, per se, but I do feel like it's rinse/repeat with a lot of the bigger companies. Definitely looking for some originality with regard to genres and gameplay.