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!
From my parents, my wife, and her parents I definitely got a, “Oh you still play games, like you’re a kid. That’s cute.” vibe. But they we’re pretty accepting once they realized it wasn’t some hold over phase from being a teenager and a legitimate hobby with a community that increases technical knowledge, too.
That being said I still feel like a kid in one respect. You know that meme, where you’re playing an online game and your mom comes in and says “Pause it and come to dinner.” I get similar comments from my wife. And she’ll get annoyed sometimes. Like, “I needed you help on something but I guess your game is more important.” But I just sunk 45 mins of effort into a match of CS:GO, my rank is on the line which I’ve spent a lot more time on, it’s actually pretty rude to ask me to drop that because you want the trash out. Not to mention I’m tanking my teammates ranks. Like if my hobby was soccer, you wouldn’t walk out onto the pitch during a game holding everyone up and expect me to have a conversation about repainting the bathroom. But because they can’t see the game, they don’t get it.
So in that respect it can be difficult as an adult. You do have more responsibilities and relationships you need to maintain. So you need to be clear about setting aside time for your hobby. Communicate well with those in your life about it and what you need from them.
I love the soccer pitch analogy! So true and the disadvantage of a home based hobby!