I mean I’m early 50s, so a bit below one of their thresholds, but still in the “older gamers, 40, 50, 60…” bracket used elsewhere in that article.
I’m not sure what’s underserved. There are shitloads of games out there that I’m happy to play. Sure, I’ll nostaglia myself into a coma playing Infocom games in bed on my laptop. But I’ll also sink hours into a good story or walking sim, the single-player campaigns of an FPS, a puzzle game or hell, I’ll keep the kids off my lawn in Fortnite and have fun making them cry. How am I underserved?
there aremore than enough games in circulation to keep retired people entertained forever
Perhaps unusually, I plan to take up gaming when I’m older, having never seriously tried it. I’m 48. I work in IT and I’m a nerd for retro computing, but beyond 16-bit platform shooters and Lemmings, I have barely dipped my toe into gaming culture. At work, I feel like an Irishman who’s never tried Guinness.
I’ve avoided it for two reasons. One is a mental block: a strange and unjustified prejudice against gaming culture. In 90s rural Scotland, where I was raised, you had to fight hard for your place in the social pecking order. I enjoyed football, but my friends were nerds, and I preferred their company to that of the jocks, so I chose my tribe early.
When puberty hit hard, I was already at a disadvantage by not being into sports. I loved my Atari ST, but I was socially aware enough to know that that definitely wasn’t going to attract girls. Fortunately, I also loved music. Nirvana was getting big, and I was hooked. Drinking, smoking, and playing in bands were my thing, and they held strong social currency for a self-conscious kid.
As a result, an almost pathological fear of being judged kept me from getting involved. I missed the whole GTA thing and, except for a bit of Portal, never bothered with it.
I also know that I’m quite prone to addiction, so if I were into gaming, it would eat my life.
So, when I do finally retire and find I’m unable to do much, that’s when I’ll jump on. I’ll be the oldest noob in town and I’m kind of looking forward to it.
Games are overwhelmingly made by and marketed to younger generations, argue analysts, while the older demographic is being ignored
They’re busy playing the stuff of their young days.
Any game that relies too much on quick reflexes will usually not be good for older people. Easier difficulties can mitigate that somewhat. Turn based games are perfect for all ages, you can take as long as you want to think your stuff through. You don’t need to make these games “for old people”. I also remember seeing a video that talked about a 70yo man who began playing Asheron’s Call (a 1999 MMORPG) with his grandson and really enjoyed the game, to the point he kept playing until it was shutdown for good.[1]
The industry has spent 40 years chasing the same narrowly defined audience because it was the safest bet, until everyone was chasing it. Imagine if Hollywood only made movies for 18-year-old men. That’s roughly the bet games have been making.
True for big studios, false for indies, who, as always, prove time and time again that you can achieve success with “non standard” formulas, such as Balatro, Stardew Valley, Return of the Obra Dinn, Undertale (some survivorship bias is being applied here, lots of indies, even those that follow “standard formulas” more closely, fail to find success, even with good games)
There is a mismatch between the general investment in tutorials for the first few minutes, relative to where actually the player loss happens,
Make the fucking tutorial OPTIONAL and something you pick as an option in the fucking main menu. This isn’t rocket science.
But that brings you down to other categories that have been growing, like cosy[sic] games, casual games, and retro. And retro has an advantage in that audience in that you don’t need the latest [computer].
There is an important thing to keep in mind here: most casual games are predatory mobile shit. That market has been an absolute cesspool for something like 12 years now, which is almost as long as they existed. Yes, the games are “enjoyable”, because they’ve been finely tuned to be as addictive as possible.
“Give me those 60 year olds who watched Star Trek the original series,” he concludes. “Come on down, play Star Trek Online with me.”
STO? Pass. Unless we can kill this dude:
Found this massivelyop link, but the video is unavailable https://massivelyop.com/2017/01/11/check-out-one-of-the-oldest-asherons-call-players-in-all-senses-of-the-word/ ↩︎
Make the fucking tutorial OPTIONAL and something you pick as an option in the fucking main menu. This isn’t rocket science.
The article isn’t saying you lose players in the tutorial, you lose the much farther in when the level 9 boss too hard to beat for someone who stepped away from the game for 2 weeks.
A lot of people would probably like an optional tutorial, but it’s not the point they are trying to make.
I understand that, but a lot of gamers can figure some games out without a forced tutorial. WASD movement, jump with space, crouch with control, sprint with shift, move camera with mouse, shoot/attack with left click, etc. A lot of designers/developers became so desperate with the possibility that their game might be “someone’s first game of that type” that they choose to force everyone to play the tutorial right at the start, even players that finished the game and decided to start again, and leave it at that.
The tutorial as a main menu option fixes both problems.
i mean they are mostly played by younger people. old people dont seem to interested in playing games.
They do play when given the opportunity, but they have different tastes and interests from the rest of the market.
The argument is they are played by younger people because they are designed for younger people. Older people, the ones coming into retirement age, grew up playing video games. They enjoy and value video games, but have slower reflexes and less time. Retirement solves the latter issue. From the article (emphasis mine):
“Developers have been ignoring older gamers for the same reason it took them decades to discover women,” he says. "The industry has spent 40 years chasing the same narrowly defined audience because it was the safest bet, until everyone was chasing it. Imagine if Hollywood only made movies for 18-year-old men. That’s roughly the bet games have been making.
"The opportunity is substantial. The 40+ segment in the US is on track to grow from $19 billion in 2022 to $43 billion by 2030, a 132% expansion at a moment when the rest of the industry is shrinking. These are players with the most disposable income, the longest gaming literacy, and the highest brand loyalty. They are also the least visible in the industry’s dashboards because the metrics were built around younger players who compete frequently. Older lifelong gamers don’t, but they keep playing, and they keep spending.
“What needs to change is the industry’s mindset. An entire generation has now grown up playing video games and is ageing into a life stage where they have time, money, and the desire to keep playing. The first publishers to actually see this player will capture a structural advantage. The rest will arrive 10 years late, exactly like they did with women.”
Bullshit. Plenty of games oldnpeople can enjoy.
Balatro
Stardew Valley
Peglin
New heroes of might and magic
XCOM
Civilization
Flight Simulator (plus a ton of all the other sim games on the market).
Man I’ve seen my fair share of old people rocking it to Best Saber and and Synth Riders. Just play on the right difficulty…
My grandpa played Flight Simulator every day until he passed away at 100. He loved that game.
(40m) It’s funny, I haven’t touched any of the versions since 5.0.
It looks so complicated nowadays.
I played version 10 (FSX) back in the days and it had an excellent progressive tutorial. You can also set the realism level and you can select simpler propeller airplanes.
They are making games for retirees
AARP.com has a long list of games, and all the leaderboards resets everyday at midnight.
My grandma, who has dementia, and severe arthritis, has an alarm to get up at midnight to go play the games so she can be #1. Every night. She loves being #1.
She’s 82 years old. Just broke her hip for the 3rd time, and she asked if we can bring her laptop so she can play her games.
I’m gonna pwn your grandma no cap
Bet
They can always go play LoL
Haven’t they suffered through life enough?
Can they, though? According to the article their dumb boomer brains can’t remember how to play between gaming sessions. Does LoL give them a play tutorial every 15 minutes so they can enjoy gaming?
I’m not sure having games made for you would be better than having games you can play. There’s plenty of shit out there that’s not marketed towards me anymore, but I still enjoy it. And yes, it’s rarely AAA games. Even more enjoyable AND cheaper.
If i could introduce europa universalis to some old people who like history, it would probably ruin their lives…
Did not read the article just saw the headline and thought that’s gotta be the dumbest thing ever that’s all.
Uh, every sandbox vehicle construction game?
Every factory optimization game?
I had to quit playing most of them because they each one could count as a second job.
Minecraft, Factorio, Satisfactory, Space Engineers, E.V.E, Terraria, Stardew Valley, Kerb Space Program, Don’t Starve (Together), Dragon Quest Builders 1/2, No Man’s Sky, Fallout 3/NV/4, Borderlands 3/4, Slay the Spite 1/2.
There are tons to games to last (the remaining) lifetime. Hell I would have enough with solely Factorio
don’t forget my summer car
Pretty sure my dad just wants to play Skyrim forever.
EVE Online exists? (sorry! couln’t resist, don’t pod me!)
also World of Warcraft: Retired housewives
Call of Duty: Almost retired Mall Ninja Dads
Candy Crush: Actual Grandmas
conspiracy Youtube: Grandpas
Is there a WoW - retired housewife connection I’m not aware of?
anecdotal evidence only :D
Kinda figured we’d just make games for eachother
