Older gamers

[Gemina]

A lot of gamers are comprised of Gen X. This is the generation that grew up playing video games, and their parents only did "adult" activities. They were kids back when arcades were filled with games like Pac-man, Ms. Pac-man, Galaga, Q-bert, Dig Dug, and Donkey Kong. They were also kids/teenagers as games evolved into what they are today. Computer games back then on the good 'ol greenscreen were inferior, but they will tell you that Snakebite, Ping Pong, and Oregon Trail were some of the most fun games they've played.

They were still very young as generation after generation of consoles were released; from Atari, to sega/Nintendo, to super Nintendo/sega genesis. They played the first black n white handhelds, got yelled at from their parents for running up the phone bill calling hotlines, and dumped a small fortune into arcade games like Afterburner, Street Fighter II, TMNT, X-Men, Tekken, NARC, Double Dragon, Golden Axe, Ghouls and Ghosts. We saw the birth of Fatalities and "C-C-C-C-Combo Breakerrrrrr!" They know of the secret code to life aka (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start). They will tell you that Ninja Gaiden was the most stupidly ridiculous challenging game to ever exist.

Have I milked any nostalgic tears yet? Allow me to continue...

Loitering at theatres and 7-11's was a thing, and they saw Sony come in and schite on both Nintendo and Sega as they revolutionized the gaming industry with the OG PS1 and games like Metal Gear Solid, FFVII, and Castlevania - Symphony of the Night. Consoles like the Nintendo 64 and Neo Geo tried and failed to compete. Sega, blasted right out of the competition and becoming just a software developer. Arcade games and businesses started to become increasingly redundant as consoles became so powerful. This was ALL prior to the age of the internet and the next revolution of gaming which we know of today as online gaming. The PS2, the last great pre-internet gaming console developed some attachable hardware so they too could get in on the action, and were able to get in on our lovely and memorable FFXI. Console gamers were online for the first time, and green as green can be. And gen x was STILL in their 20's. Still kids learning the ways of the world.

This is why my money is on the majority of the playerbase being in their late 30's and 40's, which if you couldn't tell already, is the range I am in. Being this age today is not the same as it was 30-40 years ago. We still love to play games, because people tend to like to do things that make them feel young, and allow their inner child to come out. We have adult responsibilities now, and many of us have children of our own, and some of you youngins reading this now have a Gen X parent who I am guessing loves to play video games during their pastime.

I took about seven years off from gaming, and when I came back I felt like a vampire in slumber for centuries. The release of PS3/PS4, Game Cube/Wii, and both Xbox systems passing me by. Everything had changed during that time. FFXIV was the game I came into and I was just like, "whoaaaa!" I'm still like that. A lot of what you guys see as standard, I am still learning. Savage Raids?? You mean there's content more difficult than the NM stuff I get my ass handed to me in? That's me. If you don't recognize some of the stuff I mentioned earlier, you're a young buck.

Pssst! Ninja Gaiden is still the toughest effin game ever!