by Esmeralda Draic

Created on: May 24, 2009

I think the notion of there even being any question as to whether one should still play video games as one grows older, can only come from those who have never played video games themselves. For those of us who are gamers, age just isn't an issue. Enjoying being a gamer is a state of mind, not an indication of one's chronological age.

As someone with the double whammy of being not only middle-aged but female as well, I certainly don't fall into the stereotyped popular concept of computer gamer as young dude. But, having been a science geek throughout childhood and then having worked in I.T. for the past twenty years plus also having computers as my main hobby as well, I'm a lifelong techie. I've enjoyed computer games since they first became a popular pastime in the 1980s, and have not only 'grown up' with them but also 'matured' (*cough* *cough*) with them.

So why would I want to change the habits of two decades now, simply because some misguided people think video games are only for young whippersnappers?

I started out on the coin-operated arcade versions of Space Invaders, Galaxians, Mooncresta, Asteroids, and all those other great space shoot-em-ups of the early 1980s. Having a home computer was only a dream for most people back then, with high prices excluding most of us.

But then Sinclair came out with their cheapo ZX80 and ZX81 range, which connected to your TV. I saved up my pennies and dashed out and bought a ZX81 (Timex Sinclair 1000 in the USA), with its whole 1K of RAM, and spent hours every evening playing with it and trying to write simple programs for it. Finally having saved up enough for the 16K RAM expansion pack, a whole new world opened up: the ZX81 could now play games! I eagerly bought '3D Monster Maze', the first 3D game I'd ever experienced, along with a Star Trek game, a Pong game and several others, and was over the Moon! I could actually play games AT HOME! I was the envy of my friends, who all came over wanting to have a go.

Next, the first just about affordable home computers and games consoles started to appear: one friend bought an Apple II, another a Commodore, another an Atari, and little by little a fascinating variety of different types of kit appeared among my friends and an equally fascinating variety of games to play on them, and we were all making the rounds visiting each other to try out each other's setups.

When the 1990s dawned I bought my first PC, a cheap bottom of the range second-hand IBM PS2 with an 8086

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