the real 'older gamers'

[Dixi_Lady]

Still in the game: People over 50 have become the fastest growing group of electronic game players

They blow up tanks, blast aliens, escape haunted mansions.
They play bridge online, swipe imaginary cars, and tackle Freecell when phone calls grow tedious.
They're electronic gamers. And, increasingly, they answer to names like Grandpa and Grandma.
Older gamers - defined as people 50 and up - are the new big thing in electronic games, the fastest growing group of gamers, according to a recent study. And, while it's no secret that gamers have been aging as electronic diversions have morphed from fad to mainstream to ubiquitous, the rise of the 50-and-up gamer crowd could change the way we think about everything from growing old to computers to the nature of play itself.
"Everybody talks about the 18- to 24-year-old male (playing games in which they're) blowing things up, but that's not the growth," explains Stephen Killeen, chief executive at WorldWinner.com

[Ned]

Meet the gaming grandma!
(right-click - save target as)
http://www.ned.theoldergamers.com/gaming_grandma.wmv - 5.6MB

[General_Misfit]

Its not really surprising, those 50+ gamers where around 25 when PC's came out - like me so I have been into computer games for many years - I've just gotten older.

[DaRippa]

You should have tried gaming on a Tandy TRS-80. I Dont miss those days.

[WeaselSuit]

Originally Posted by DaRippa

You should have tried gaming on a Tandy TRS-80. I Dont miss those days.

Man, those were the days! I had a TRS-80 Model 3. I pimped it out to 48K of memory and two single sided 5 1/4" floppy drives (each held 180K I think). Added a speaker that would spit out the saddest bloops and bleeps.

The good old days are sometimes not as good as we thought.

[DaRippa]

How true...

[General_Misfit]

My first was a TRS80 model III too - i believe it had 64K ram - cost me $3000 back in what was it '84 ?

I used to load games from a tape drive although it did come with 2 x 5 1/2" floppy drives. Gees I can't remember if they where 180k or 360k - I havn't had a floppy drive at all in my last 3 computers.

I remember a 20Mb hard disc was available for $800 +.

Man, those were the days!

LOL yeah right - you want my old model 3 ? I'll swap ya.

[WeaselSuit]

It did have a total of 64 but only 48 was available as usable ram the other 16 was ROM for Basic. Good times huh?

[DaRippa]

I got mine back in like 79 or 80. Had the tape drive, was in b & W as well. I remember I had this COUPLE pages of code for a bomb,and it took like an hour to type it all in, and in the end all it was was a big circle with a fuse coming out of it(it didnt burn down) and it had sparks coming off the fuse. Did it at least blow good? NO! All it did was spell out B O O M and the screen shook a little. Poor Weasle suit,,,I know how you miss those cutting edge graphics...

[General_Misfit]

We all miss the good ol days and we sometimes wonder about the benefits of "progress" - I for one do not bemoan the amazing changes we have seen in computing over the last 25 years.

Going fwd just a a year or two my 2nd computer was a 286 and my first game I played on it was sierra's Space Quest I - still my all time fav game series even though they are very much dated - but i found a web site where they have recoded them (partly) to play on todays pc's.