Observations from an older gamer.

I'm 16 and reading this makes me feel like a old man... I personally love typing in full sentences, and I can't understand almost half of the references people make either (but that's probably because I don't even remember Dragon Ball Z much...). Leet speak isn't too bad, since most of it is either phonetic ("m8" sounds like "m-eight") or uses numbers that look like letters. And I'm a complete gaming neophyte (this is actually my first FPS ), so my gaming experience is small. Before this game and some MMOs, I just played random Flash games and the Wii.

I'm 31. Same server as OP. 50% of the chat slips off my understanding. I only play Planetside 2 now, but gaming keeps me younger, too. Plus it satisfies my daily needs of killing people.

You're welcome to join me in a chess game at the park any time.

TIL I'm surrounded surrounded by geriatrics.

In case it hasn't been said. Ginyu is an Outfit.

and I thought the shaky hands was just recoil. no wonder I can't hit anything.
55 here, I'm saving up certs and SC for my retirement.

Actually, there is such an NC outfit on Emerald. It is called "The Over the Hill Gang", with the tag [OLD1]. Unfortunately, their recruiting thread indicates they emphasize solo play (Um, then why have an outfit?) and there are only two members.

55 here, soon to be 56. My first computer game was "Trek" in 1974, played on a monochrome ADM-3A terminal connected to the local junior college via a 300-Baud acoustic coupler modem.

That is the conventional wisdom but there are exceptions.
I played MW2 , CODBO and Ghosts when it was free weekend.

I love them

1. The guns are awesome. camos, tags, etc. options options options.

2. The system in which you acquired the weapons, accessories and perks are engaging.

3. Terrain is great, environment and maps are fun and great to look at as well as fight in. Being able to take cover nearby or use it to advance a flank etc. Looking for the slightest movement from your proned enemy was quite rewarding when you got them.

4.Game Modes - I typically played Hardcore Domination, CTF, HQ etc. but I was not a fan of TDM or the ole CS:S format. (Search and destroy was it called?)

PS2 has some of that with its own take and I respect that.
The main draw for me and for most is the large scale battles.

This is me. Well, I'm only 33, but my palsied hands still spazz out and spray bullets everywhere.

And my aim isn't all that great in Planetside either heyoooooooo

Gaming really took off in the 80s... prior to that it was mainly niche and relegated to arcades. With consoles becoming popular in the early 80s a whole new generation of gamers cropped up. Those kids are nearing their 40's about now. They'll probably be the ones that break the older folks don't play games stereotype. I foresee myself continuing to game for decades to come... and since I've never stopped playing, my twitch skills, although not as good as they once were, will stay pretty sharp due to continual practice.

That's the key thing. The generation that grew up playing these types of games will have the skills and the practice to stay good and be interested in playing well into old age.

If you don't remember stabbing dogs and voiding your bowels in the presence of mutliple-minigun-toting Hitler, then you're not an old FPS player.

(Actually, you might be. Or might not be. I just want to enjoy a moment of nostalgia.


....mm..

..aaah..






...yeah..

...there we go. All done here.)

Well emphasis on solo play with a 2 man outfit is prolly best! lol

I play solo but it's mainly because I am not aware of any who are like-minded with me.

I see the holes in NC gameplay, of course there are several reasons to factor in.
The persistent battlefield is alive and ever changing.
I seek to exist in it and move accordingly

I played mainly as an engineer at the start because I enjoy the versatility it has and the premise of the Sunderer is awesome to me.
But after awhile I likened it to a Victoria's Secret bra on an old pair of saggy mammary glands.
Useless.
I can be quite cynical. lol

That video goes in to my signature. Thanks.

Lol, Wolfenstein right?
I never played that one.
I started on Duke3D, when all you could do was dial-up modem to one person and play some maps! lol
I made tons of maps and got hooked on mapmaking.

I'd hate to say this but, expansion packs existed back then too, however unlike the way that DLC and microtransactions are today they went a different path then what expansion packs were, it went from expanding on the game to more of a "cut content from the game and charge people for it" and calling it DLC. And then you got microtransactions in which F2P is very familiar with.

Doesn't understand using numbers as letters yet first exciting thing done on a calculator was finding out how to display BOOB.

50 years old here. Pong was my first console. Doom 2 was my first online FPS played over a 14.4 dialup. Have lived through the leet speak and the bunny hopping. Nothing suprises me anymore..................

I think it's a meta-humor thing, Ginyu force and whatnot. My outfit does a ton of that kind of stuff.

I've never really dwelled on it, or it's source to be honest. A lot of -our- stuff came from our older members, who are like me in their mid to late 20s. I always kind of considered it to be like, getting some kind of culture or mascot behind the group. It has a purpose, in that it tends to mean that if you get people into the community culture, and they identify as members of that culture... they stay around. I likewise find that it isn't "Young" people (I count that to mean pre-21) as much as it is the late 80s to early 90s people who come up with most of it, the millenials and late 90s people find it just as perplexing as the older players tend to.

Going Deeper:
I, in what I admit is a biased point of view, figured it was because there was a much stronger childhood experience for people my age. There was things that we became nostalgic over. Kids in the late 90s and after have seen a lot of the errosion of what were kid staples from people my age: Star wars prequels, Star Trek Reboots, cash-in movies for Transformers and GI Joe, etc. What you see from the mid 90s on, is a much more cynical treatment of traditionally kid/nerd culture. So when someone uses something from like, DBZ's early 90s stuff, it's somewhat an expression of the anger to the kind of treatment those things Got in the late 90s, early 2000s (DBZ movie, anyone?), and a parody of what those kind of things have become. Embracing those things in gaming cultures, is a means of identifying with your roots. Also, see all that stuff in the paragraph above this, about creating a culture for your gaming group.


I will say there is one thing that pisses me right off though about some younger gamers. It actually was something I heard someone say once a long time ago, that older gamers have no business gaming. I think a direct quote was: "...30 somethings have no business playing games, they should be out having families..." and going on to mention that only lonely basement dwelling losers would be gaming at 30. This was all directed at a guy that had joined a platoon I was in, who was 3 years removed from me, in age). That was, and remains the stupidest thing I've heard in my life (And I live in the SE US).

SO THAT EXPLAINS WHY WE VS WEAR SPANDEX. By God, this video is sick.

Just because you don't understand the marvelous vocabulary and grammar of today's gaming generation does not, and never has, meant that you are out of touch with things in the community. It rather means that you maintain a healthy language, and also means that you simply do not care about these matters. Whenever someone types "Ginyu Force", which are the two words I hate seeing in life, try to go with the flow ONLY when the situation allows you to do so. Of course, you have some (Actually, VERY FEW) young players who actually try to make the atmosphere around them much better. Otherwise, 36 isn't old at all, it's,actually your mid-30s where people usually become more lively.

Place your blame not on the children, but what they are being taught and how they are being treated. Because let's face it: What is better, an annoying 8 year-old who's played only Minecraft for all his life, or a raging, unskilled, IDIOTIC 11 year-old who's life revolves on Call of Dummies? As I am 16 and easily aggravated (Although I express my aggravation by typing kind wordsXD), I hate how children and/or parents ignore the T or M+17 ratings on most games. It shows a glimpse of a failing social society, and the only people who can prevent it are those wearing spandex and praising a very g*y a*s anime show:/