Oldest Active Gamers You Know in Real Life

[Nz17]

Who are the eldest gamers whom you know that still actively play computer/video games?

[Aussie2B]

In real life, I guess the oldest of those in my circle of friends, which would be like mid-40s. My parents and grandparents never touched games, and I don't know anyone else in real life from their generations who are gamers.

[lendelin]

I suspect that I am one of the older DP members, I'm 60. I have no friends around my age who play videogames, there is however a neighbour with whom I played Gran Turismo 4 and 5 and some tennis games. He is 58, has a PS3, but I wouldn't call him a true gamer, he plays very casually maybe once or twice a month. I got him interested in videogames because I praised Gran Turismo 4 back then so often.

I started seriously playing when I was already an adult (30) and had a real job already (teaching) doing my PHD, that was in 1988 when I bought a NES. NONE of my colleagues, friends or people I knew played videogames. My generation didn't play a lot of games. When I saw for the first time a Pong game on a home console, I was already 19.

Videogames were a kids business back then. 80% of the gamers were boys between 8 and 15. I had to listen to some jokes. One of my friends asked me if I play with the other kids in the neighborhood. I will always remember this snoddish woman at a party, it was around 1990. We talked about Thomas Mann and Surrealism in painting and I mentioned at some point that I play videogames, have a NES and that I'm LOVING it. Then she said surprised and arrogantly 'You are so well educated and you play VIDEOGAMES??' She said 'videogames' like it was a disease. I could have slapped her. She wasn't the smartest book in the library anyway.

A lot changed in the last 25 years. Nowadays I connect very well with my younger colleagues and friends who grew up with games and understand them without having stereotypes about our hobby. And the guys and girls my age had to develop more understanding about videogames as well.

[Greg2600]

Well that first Atari VCS generation would be plus 50 at this point. The founders of this site as well as AA and the NVGM for instance, are in that range, and still gaming!

[Exhuminator]

A few years ago, I knew some guys in their 40s who played religiously, but I don't hang out with those guys anymore. So presently speaking, I'm the oldest active gamer I personally know in real life (38).

[jb143]

The most hardcore PC gamer that I know is 40. My previous manager was 45/46 and was into all the newer consoles. Usually whatever the newest fps that just came out was.

A few years ago I had a craigslist post saying that I could help people with their Mame cabinets. Most of those that responded were in the 45-50 range.

[WelcomeToTheNextLevel]

My dad is 49 and still plays a lot of FPS games.

[Nz17]

A guy I know has a PS3 and plays a lot of hours of FPS's. He is in his mid-fifties. His wife plays too.

[AdamAnt316]

Sadly he is no longer with us, but up until he was at least 91 (when I got to visit him), we had the OG:


Yep, Ralph Baer, inventor of the Magnavox Odyssey and, by extension, home video gaming. He'd donated his original hardware and paperwork to the Smithsonian, but was still having replicas of his "Brown Box" prototype made for museums and such:


I got to play against him at the game he's most famous for, 'TV Tennis':


Needless to say, I got schooled by the master:


I was there along with members of the antique radio club I belong to, and wrote an article about it for the club newsletter. He talked with us for a long time, recalling his early days in the radio repair industry, his military career, getting involved with the defense electronics industry after the war, and how he came up with the concept of playing games on a television set. Truly a fascinating man. RIP, Ralph.
-Adam

[lendelin]

Great article and pictures, and such an honor to meet someone like Ralph Baer. There are not a lot of people who had such a longlasting impact on the entertainment industry.

I'm glad that I have Ralph Baer's book signed by him, his 'business memoirs', 'Videogames in the Beginning' (published by Rolentapress and Leonard Hermann). Without the research by Leonard Hermann and Baer's clearcut statements and clarifications in this book we would still believe the myth that Nolan Bushnell was the inventor of Pong and the 'father' of videogames. Before he died Ralph Baer got the credit he truly deserves.