Aging

My mother always hoped I would grow up. Go to college and get a good job. Maybe settle down with a nice girl and start a family. Find the true meaning of life and leave silly childish things in the past. I did all of that but I never really left anything behind. I still have my video games even though I’m to the point where finding a place to store all this crap is becoming an issue. Today we fight to stay a resident of Neverland.

We can look at aging in a few ways. First the gamer is a lot older than before. Just like those who grew up on rock n roll music the new generation has kept ties with what we liked in our childhoods. The industry has grown as a whole as well. The subject matter in many games has changed to more complex experiences than shoot all the asteroids. No, “dark and gritty” doesn’t count.

For me it all started with a Nintendo Entertainment System I got for Christmas in the late Eighties. It changed my life. A Sega Genesis came later and introduced me to RPG’s and action games like I had never seen. Finally, Sony showed up and I finally had an income of my own to waste as I pleased. The Playstation 1 and 2 eras were magical, any game that I wanted I bought (especially since YouTube hadn’t exploded the market yet; but hey, we got exposure!) and I had the time to play them. I was either a college student or low ranking Airman doing 12-hour shift work with no responsibilities. Then the hours in a day started to get shorter. More time at work, the meetings, traveling for training, and being tired for what felt like the first time. I actually got more gaming done when I was deployed to the Middle East than when I was home. The family came after all of that. There are just some things that should never be missed, the games (typically) have a pause button. World weary and battle hardened I still love to pick up my controller. I may not be able to chunk through all those meaty RPG’s like I used to but I sure can try. The moral of the story is nothing has really changed, for many the greatest pastime is playing through a predetermined experience and I don’t intend to stop.

The games industry is an interesting beast when you look at it as a whole. The first commercially sold game was Computer Space in 1971. There are a ton of people that have been alive longer than gaming has been a thing, let alone a billion-dollar industry. Compare that to movies, music, or literature just to see how infantile it really is. Now there are separate groups that argue over whether the games media is ruining the hobby and others that defend it as a legitimate art form; often times trying to follow the conversation over the screaming is like trying to figure out what is actually going on inside the Capital Beltway. With updates about what is happening in gaming coming out every minute it is too easy to gloss over something that may interest you; years ago a magazine would come out and you would have all month to pour over every detail so you could discuss it at recess. Keeping up with all things gaming feels more like work than anything else, find a gaming site you like and follow them. The stakes these companies put into their products today is staggering, hundreds of millions of dollars with hundreds of people in the credits have replaced the shoestring budgets and small teams of the past. It’s no wonder we are constantly assaulted with commercials to preorder a game with season pass DLC and there is no way to tell if will be any good. We still play. The core of the industry is still the same, the gamers elect who wins and who loses. Your dollars are your votes and they decide what stays and what goes. Just like anything else, if it turns a profit there will be more. This is a business.

Gaming is a fun hobby. There is still some of the “that’s for kids” stigma surrounding it but don’t let that stop you from doing something you like, no matter how old you are. I’ll still be here. Writing articles about games that no one asked for.