NPR chats up older gamers

by Kevin Kelly { Dec 8th 2006 at 10:55AM }

NPR's Alex Cohen spoke to some older gamers recently on Day to Day and she found out, courtesy of Nintendo's George Harrison, that seniors play games differently than the 18 to 34 year-old demographic. Well, duh. They cut his sound bite short however, because he starts going into his standard boilerplate speech about how games have gotten so complex with multiple joysticks and buttons, but they want to change all that with the Wii, etc etc. Cohen goes on to find out how arthritis keeps a 70 year old woman from playing Guitar Hero, but she manages to kick butt with her grandson in Final Fantasy XII. She has 13(!) grandkids and goes on to say that she thinks playing games keeps the mind active. Gamer grandma kicking your ass, FTW!

Here are some interesting facts from the piece:

25% of all gamers are over the age of 50
A third of all Baby Boomers polled want a next-gen system for Christmas
That hot buxom blonde you play with in Guild Wars might be older than your mom

You can listen to the show here. Of course, if you're over the age of 50 and reading our site, you probably heard this show on NPR already, right after catching Matlock. We keed! We keed! Everyone knows that Murder, She Wrote is far superior.

Tags: Alex Cohen, geezers, grandma, Guild Wars, Guitar Hero, Matlock, NPR, old, Older Gamers, radio, WoW

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

anonymous @ Dec 8th 2006 11:01AM

I'd love to have sex with the guy on the left

Unimental @ Dec 8th 2006 11:02AM

I personally find it hard to believe that 25% of the gaming demographic is over the age of 50. Excuse me for a moment whilst I perform some research...

HappyJack @ Dec 8th 2006 11:06AM

Being old is teh coolness!

CLShortFuse @ Dec 8th 2006 11:09AM

How do I unlock versus mode in FFXII? =Þ

Unimental @ Dec 8th 2006 11:12AM

OK, as of 2004... 19% of "gamers" were over 50. I put gamers in quotes since gaming can consist of consoles, PC, handhelds, and (what I think boosts the stats here) online quick-and-casual games like popcap et al. I would assume playing a round of solitaire at work would put you in this crowd as well.

Jonathan Tran @ Dec 8th 2006 11:28AM

hey not everyone who listens to NPR is old. We are however, total nerds (23 yrs old here)

Brogan @ Dec 8th 2006 11:26AM

Quincy M.E FTW

jayntampa @ Dec 8th 2006 11:34AM

Yeah, NPR rocks ... I'm 35, but I've been listening to things like All Things Considered and Morning Edition since college -- it's the best place for news.

Everyone should listen to Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me on the weekends. It's funny as hell! Go to the NPR site and listen to the episode where Tom Hanks was a contestant. Insanely funny stuff that isn't dumbed down.

spoot @ Dec 8th 2006 11:39AM

"kick butt with her grandson"

that makes it sound more like she watches him win and pretends it was her idea. i know the type (i am the type).

James @ Dec 8th 2006 11:44AM

39 here. Been gaming since 1976 when I got PONG for Christmas. And I'll continue gaming well into my golden years.

So there!

jabbertrack @ Dec 8th 2006 11:49AM

I'm with jayntampa

I'm 30 but my radio doesn't leave NPR.

Don't forget.... today is Science Friday!

Bradfo @ Dec 8th 2006 11:52AM

When I read that first comment I literally crapped my pants. Ha ha ha!

JournalFan @ Dec 8th 2006 11:53AM

So, I totally "get" why they have John Madden playing games on the left.

But how'd they manage to get Emperor Palpatine to pick up a PS2 controller?

Ben @ Dec 8th 2006 11:54AM

Wow, I didn't know George Seifert was a gamer.

JodyAnthony @ Dec 8th 2006 11:59AM

maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatlock!

but we all know macgyver > everything else. except maybe the a-team.

JodyAnthony @ Dec 8th 2006 11:59AM

also: nothing has ever made me laugh as hard as the first post in this thread.

crono141 @ Dec 8th 2006 12:08PM

"Emperor Palpatine"

I can't see the pic (blocked). Is it Joe Lieberman?

Cheezedog420 @ Dec 8th 2006 11:57AM

Im going on 30 and still gaming... thankfully no one in my Video game/animation program has asked me how old I really am... I serriously don't think they believe me if I said Im 30...

JimmyHACK @ Dec 8th 2006 12:21PM

25% of all gamers are over the age of 50

I CALL BULLSH*T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gamey McGee @ Dec 8th 2006 12:35PM

This makes perfect sense. Gaming caught on about 25 years ago, perhaps a little farther back. At the time, it was young people who saw the potential, but a lot of adults did, too.

I know it may be difficult for younger readers to understand this without a life of experience under their belt-- but if you like games now you will probably like games the day you die. It's not like playing with toys as a child. Video game content grows with maturity. The more and more people are shown what a game can do for them mentally and physically, the more they take notice-- it's fun and it's replacing shuffle board, boccie ball, and bridge all around the world.

Case in point-- my father is in his upper 50's and has a PS2. Granted, he's not always playing it, but we always play games when I'm home. (We play the PS1 classic, Worms: Armageddon.) He loves to play games when he has the time.

My mother, in he mid 50's, plays Yo Ho Ho Puzzle Pirates and is not only good at it-- she's one of the best in the entire game. She has an entire online social network of friends and, as a family, we've even met them in the real world at a Renaissance fair.

My grandmother is in her upper 70's and plays an hour or two every night of simple casual games. Many of them require hand-eye coordination.

The bottom line is that they are fun and people of all ages like to have fun.

hoozyerdadE @ Dec 8th 2006 12:30PM

I'll be 48 in March, and I still finish at or near the top when playing BFMC or COD3, and many of my co-workers come over for Halo LAN parties. We are dedicated gamers and I still have an old Magnavox at home, a Atari 2600 (with Starpath Supercharger +games), 5200, Colecovision, Amiga, PS1, PS2, XBOX, GC, and my 360. I will never stop gaming.

gabur @ Dec 8th 2006 12:36PM

Another bullshit research such as some Nielsen recent ones: they mix "gamers" of traditionnal PC/consoles games and "casual gamers" of free online games.
But it is trendy those days to say crap like "there is more women 18 to 35 playing than boys 12 to 18..." and so on.

JournalFan @ Dec 8th 2006 12:43PM

"I can't see the pic (blocked). Is it Joe Lieberman?"

No clue, crono... but when I see the pic, the guy looks like Emperor Palpatine. In fact, I feel the sudden urge to kick Samuel L Jackson out a window just from looking at him.

For what it's worth, I hope I die with a Video Game Controller in my hands. If I gotta go, I want to go doing something I love. So it's either video games, sex, or skydiving. And video games will probably still be the cheapest of the three by the time I die.

matthew @ Dec 8th 2006 12:53PM

I'm 28 and I plan on gaming til the day I die. What I'm really excited about is the fact that I'm engaged and one day will have kids. The reason this excites me is that I've been on board since the NES and have never sold any game once purchased (although I have lost a title or ten to people who never return things) so once my kid(s) is old enough to play Super Mario I will start them there and move on up through my library. We're gonna have a blast I tells ya! NES, SNES, PSOne, N64, PS2, GBA, XBOX, DS, XBOX 360, Wii! My kids are gonna be the youngest old school games on the block! As long as they like games. Otherwise my wife and I will have to wait til the kids go to bed to fire up Splinter Cell: Geriatric Showdown or something of the like...

matthew @ Dec 8th 2006 1:03PM

Also, My dad is 58 and playing KOTOR and FFXII currently. I'm thinking of getting him and my mom a 360 for Xmas (they got a Wii already) so he can play and my mom can hear and SEE me when we talk over Xbox Live.

matthew @ Dec 8th 2006 12:53PM

I should have gone with God of War: Bed Pan Prophecies. That's better than Splinter Cell: Geriatric Showdown.

Samuel McConnell @ Dec 8th 2006 1:47PM

I'm 20, and I've been listening to NPR for years. Kicks ass for news, and discussion shows like Talk of the Nation.

James @ Dec 8th 2006 2:23PM

God, I hate all you people. My entire family except my brother actively dislikes the very idea of video games -- I would *kill* to get my mom or dad involved, but they act like it's fucking heroin. At least my wife was surprised by how much fun she had with Wii Bowling...

Chyld989 @ Dec 8th 2006 2:41PM

"She has 13(!) grandkids"

Thirteen grandkids isn't really that many...my grandma has almost 40....

Shagi @ Dec 8th 2006 3:46PM

"Stop teabagging me Gandalf!"

"Shut your pie-hole Madden!"

Pimliconite @ Dec 8th 2006 3:41PM

"9. Everyone should listen to Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me on the weekends. Insanely funny stuff that isn't dumbed down."

You may be picking the wrong place to inform folks of wry humor.

"1. I'd love to have sex with the guy on the left"
"13. When I read that first comment I literally crapped my pants. Ha ha ha!"
"18. also: nothing has ever made me laugh as hard as the first post in this thread."

seanachai @ Jan 3rd 2007 10:53AM

"that makes it sound more like she watches him win and pretends it was her idea. i know the type (i am the type)."

Well, no, she's not that type, actually. You can read about her here: http://oghc.blogspot.com -- and I bet she could probably wipe the floor with all of you at most any game you can imagine. Morons.