Is playing computer games when an adult is not childish?

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I'm 47 and gaming is still one of my favourite hobbies. I started playing when games like Space Invaders and Asteroids came along and I've just carried on. I think that the stigma of gaming as a kids thing will slowly fall away as generations (like mine) grow up with games and stick with them. It's happened with pop music.

As a side issue, I don't feel that playing games itself is childish. What does sometimes make me feel that I'm doing something intended for adolescents is when I encounter hilariously awful scripts, dreadful cliched stories, ludicrously OTT violence and swearing, appallingly outdated treatment of women and so on. If we fix these things then gaming will "grow up".

I've been gaming before DOOM was invented. And still going.

In Everqeust, our guild had several adults 50+.
And over the years, I've met quite a few "oldies" in various MMOG's.

I don't, and never have seen anything unusual about it.

FFS they play card games, one-armed-bandit's. Is that not gaming?

My grandfather played games into his 60s. Not casual games either but action games. He particularly liked one called James Bond" The Dual.

It's not just old people who say games are childish. I've had 30 year olds tell me they're childish when they used to play games themselves and my other grandfather thinks any form of recreation at all is a waste of time for any age group.

I work with someone in his late 50s, and he used to play a few FPS and mmorpgs competitively.

It depends on which games you play.

I think that playing "Don't Sh*t your Pants" is a bit jeuvenile whatever your age.

Whereas playing games like Skyrim or Assassin's Creed haha, they're a bit different.

Most people who play video games are 30+

Under 18s only make up a tiny percentage.

26 and I live and breathe video games.

Im a 32 year old woman and I still play video games. In fact I can't help but to play them.

There was a survey in Aftenposten several years ago that claimed that either 24 or 26% of all players were 17 or younger, while the other number was 50+. 50% were 18-49 years. The same survey showed that ca 40% of the gamers are female.

So, no, it's not childish. Why would it be? People of all ages can enjoy board, word and card games. Why should video games be any different? It's only a matter of whether or not you like them.

For that matter, I don't see why playing video games should be more childish than enjoying other forms of fiction like watching TV or read books (both of which I also enjoy).

For the record I'm 36, female, and atm I'm playing Pokemon X and Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

My 64 year old father also likes video games (shooter games mostly).

Video games aren't for children. They're for adults.

Adults buying games for themselves spend far more on hardware and software than parents buying games for their children, so the entire industry is focused on producing and marketing games for adults, while games for children are an afterthought.

Would the gaming industry consistently make more money than film, and individual games make more money than films if it was selling just to children?

Would certain parts of the gaming industry be talking about introducing a new 21 year age certificate for some games if they were for children?



Quite simply, some people are either too old and/or too ignorant to pay any attention to their opinion on the matter.

I have a grandma who plays bejeweled and Alchemy, they aren't hardcore games or anything like that, but let me tell you, they are not easy games... So, even really old people play video games. Nothing wrong with that.