So, hear me out.

I’m a 47 year old guy and I’m not ashamed to say that I enjoy video games. I always have, from playing Head over Heels on a Speccy +2 to ESO and Valorant on my self built PC.

Due to various life circumstances, I’m also on the dating scene and to most women I meet, around my age, video games are anathema. When I say that I like them it’s usually meet with an “oh dear” or a “my son would probably love to talk to you about them, I find them really boring”

I have two boys, both teenagers, both play all the time and sometimes we all play together (although they are better as they have more time to apply to games). Their friends are amazed that I will talk about games with them, that I know someone about games and that I play games. None of their parents want to talk with them about what is effectively their main hobby that they do all the time (big sad).

So the question, there must be some sort of cut off age at which video games are no longer an acceptable pastime. Is it absolute age based (nothing after 35) or is it something to do with the progression of games into popular culture and people born after, say, 1986 will not see it as unacceptable?

I don’t have an answer, I just think it’s an interesting question. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think!

Edit to add: I’m not planning on stopping through peer pressure, just wondering about the phenomenon!

  • Saintzillla@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    33M with a daughter that will be learning Rocket League as soon as she shows any interest. 😂

    It’s definitely skewed by generation, but it’s just an ignorance thing.

    My dad quit videogames when I chopped him down with a 180 in 1080 Snowboarding on the N64 right before the finish line.

    He loves watching Star Trek.

    I game about how much he watches TV. One is passive. One is engaged. Both are fine.

    He has spent most of my life thinking they’re dumb, but has kind of chilled out over time. Just wish he would check out Starfield or whatever when it comes out.

    That said, gaming is polarizing. You either come from a place where it’s misunderstood to celebrated or you come from a place where it’s vilified.

    I have an uncle who put down video games my whole life like I was wasting it.

    I’m happily married with a house and a kid and my life is totally kickass.

    He’s got a (thus far) bad investment in a sim space these days. His sons company. He insists it isn’t video games.

    You know… It’s literally the highest end of gaming… Like, wut.