1 of 49

Write now Article Tools

Page 2 of 3

processor, colour VGA monitor, 1 whole MB of RAM and a whopping 20MB hard drive! The hard drive was quickly filled up with the likes of 'The Secret of Monkey Island', 'Leisure Suit Larry', 'Catacomb Abyss', a couple of 'Commander Keen' games, a few RPGs and anything else I could find in my local computer shop and also AFFORD, as games were relatively much more expensive then than they are now.

As the 1990s moved along, so did my kit and my game collection. I learned to build my own PCs and knocked together a progression of ever more powerful 386s, 486s and early Pentiums, and in 1996 I acquired my first Mac, a IIsi that my employers were going to throw away. I was now able to add a load of Mac games to my ridiculously large collection. So as well as 'Doom', 'Heretic' and 'Duke Nukem', I also had 'Marathon', 'Weekend Warrior', and 'Blood Bath'.

I had also acquired a hubby who was/is not a gamer and thought I was/am childish and wasting my time on these silly games, and I had to try to educate him on the facts of gaming life: that video games are not, as he had always believed, just a kids' thing. He was notably sceptical about this, but I think it finally sunk in at least a little by the end of the 1990s when first person shooters started to incorporate dialogue and, sitting in our study, he overheard me playing mature-rated games such as 'Kingpin', and 'SiN', and in 2000, 'Deus Ex' and 'The Longest Journey', all of which contain a fair smattering of strong language. And now at the end of the 2000s, I'm still playing, and he's still having to put up or shut up!

And so this brings me to my arguments as to why there is no shame in continuing to play video games as we get older:

1. There are many video games aimed at a mature audience nowadays. Of course, some are rated 'Mature' simply because of strong language but are rather 'juvenile', but there are many that are aimed at a more mature audience and are more of a 'thinker's' game. As I look around at my shelves containing my collection, I see good examples from the past decade such as 'Deus Ex' (rated 15+), 'The Longest Journey' (17+) and its sequel 'Dreamfall' (16+), 'Max Payne 2' (15), 'Clive Barker's Undying' (18+), 'Bioshock' (18), just to name a few. All of these can appeal to the older gamer looking for a deeper and more immersive experience.

2. But, even if we want to play kids' games, so what? I'm not ashamed to admit that I enjoy an occasional play of something totally silly such as 'Crazy Taxi'!

• << previous page
• 1
• 2
• 3
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Growing older and still playing video games?
We want to hear your view. Write now!