Young modern Gamers

[Valkyrie-Favor]

What are your perceptions of young gamers nowadays? It's hard to look around without seeing some kid with his nose buried in a DS (Kudos if he's playing Radiant Historia). I don't see them as much different than when I was a kid - they play what their moms buy them! My little brother plays a lot of Madden (and only Madden), and my 7-year-old sister likes Mario Party and Just Dance. Not exactly hardcore - I don't think they could have handled the arcade games and flightsims I grew up with. They also don't read books too often...I think the reason I'm so into hardcore games is that I read books. Heh. Also, flightsims. My dad had no idea what modern games were like in the 90s so he bought me Janes F-15 and Microsoft Flight Simulator and I freaking played them at age 10. It's what I had. Funny thing is he didn't even try to raise me on old games - he just bought whatever he knew (80s) or whatever was cheap (outdated flightsims).

At the same time, a lot of gamers my age will play only FPS or say, "I don't like racing games...or puzzle games...Don't really like fighters either...wait, a 2D shooter? How is that even possible?" while others crowd around the CRT and play Bushido Blade.

I know I'm pretty young, but my first games were Golden Age arcade games and I've experienced every era since then, so I suppose I've got a lot more of the history with most gamers my age. I feel like as gaming gets more popular, the less refined it gets for the sake of appealing to more people. As a result, my little bro is unwilling to try Mario World because it's too hard and I was playing Microsoft Flight Simulator at his age. if/when I have kids, I'm starting them with arcade stuff, and that's one of the reasons.

What have you seen in other, non-retro-raised kids? It's like asking a 10-year-old to describe a movie, but once in a while you come across a kid who really gets it. The kind of nine year old who can defeat me at Tekken again and again and again. Ever have that kind of luck?

[CFFJR]

Without getting too cranky about it, all I'll say is that it breaks my heart when I'm at a game store and a group of teenagers walks in, takes a look at the glass cases at the counter holding all of the classic games, and one of them pipes up in the snottiest voice he can muster: "People still play these games?".

Yes, my ignorant friend, people still play these games. And you really should too. You'd find a lot to love.

Edit:

Not that its any different from years past though now that I think of it.

When I was in my teens, I knew plenty of other kids my age who would never dirty their hands with a Genesis or Super Nintendo because they had a Playstation. Hell, later on they'd shit on the PS1 in favor of its own successor.

[BoringSupreez]

When I was in my teens, I knew plenty of other kids my age who would never dirty their hands with a Genesis or Super Nintendo because they had a Playstation. Hell, later on they'd shit on the PS1 in favor of its own successor.

I can remember the day I discovered not many people consider old games to be as cool as I do. I had just gotten my first retro system, my N64. I told my friend about it next time I saw him, expecting that he'd think it was cool and want to play it. Instead, he said it was "old" and he didn't want to touch it. He'd even had one when he was younger so he knew full well what he was dismissing, but heck, who'd ever want to play "old" games?

Also didn't help that he'd become a total Sony fanboy. I haven't seen him in years, but I assume he's a brogamer now.

[Erik_Twice]

I feel like as gaming gets more popular, the less refined it gets for the sake of appealing to more people. As a result, my little bro is unwilling to try Mario World because it's too hard and I was playing Microsoft Flight Simulator at his age. if/when I have kids, I'm starting them with arcade stuff, and that's one of the reasons.

I was having this conversation with ZeroAX the other day and I'm beginning to think that it's not even about difficulty or simplicity, it's about unwillingness to get involved. I began to notice this way of thinking after getting into boardgames. Often you see gamers complain about people refusing to learn even the simplest of rulesets of go to the trouble of getting the hang of a game before writting it off.

It's not exclusive to games either. Try to recommend films and you will find your films being handwaved away before they are given any kind of chance.


I think it simply depends on availability. You see, a once girlfriend of mine took me to the Gothic Week of Madrid where they had some interesting talks about literature and arts and we ended up attending one where some guys from the indie side of the musical industry described the problems with the scene.

You see, back in the orators' days it was very hard to get a lot of albums so people treasured them and the community was kept alive by the sheer need of information that couldn't be obtained any other way. The orators lamented that with the advent of the internet now everything is so accesible that you get a lot of people who have two hundred albums but don't really get into the culture or provide much to it, leading to the community being shallower even tough there's more people in it now.

Or to say it other way: The easier it's to get in, the less involved people will be with it. Since getting into gaming is now very easy, people aren't involved and that's pretty bad.


I think the way of thinking we have now is completely opposed to the culture of arcades. In an arcade the ideas was that if you proved you were good, you will play and have fun, be rewarded for your effort. Now it seems that games must bow down before you to even have a chance.

[BoneSnapDeez]

I'm surrounded by children all day so I guess I have some insight... These are my general observations about things today (and how different they were from when I was a kid):

- Adults (parents) play video games too. This has effectively killed the “console wars” (or at least lessened them, to some extent). See, today's adults will buy several consoles so they can play games themselves and/or with their kids. It's not uncommon for my students to have a PS3, Wii, and 360 in their household. Contrast this to my childhood where kids had to beg their folks for either a Nintendo or Sega system and then swear allegiance to whatever they got. It always blows my mind to hear kids talk about their parents' gaming habits too. Just the other day I had a student say something like, “I couldn't play Mario last night because my dad was playing Fallout 3 until bed time.” I can't even imagine my father playing anything during the 1990s, that was nerdy kid stuff.

- Nearly every teenage boy I know plays video games, and 99% of them play brogames exclusively. It's worth noting that the ESRB rating don't mean shit as they can easily get their folks to buy these games for them. I've tried to talk about other games with these dudes and get mostly blank stares. It seems like classic game franchises like Final Fantasy, Ninja Gaiden, Metroid, and others are now only enjoyed by “older” folks like me who grew up with these series.

- My younger students are mostly into platformers like Mario, Sonic, and Kirby. The funny thing is, since most of them were born after Sega tanked, they think Sonic is a Nintendo character! After all, he's on the Wii and is in a couple of Mario games.

- Seems like it's actually the younger kids who are more willing to try and appreciate retro gaming. They haven't developed that “too cool” attitude yet. I brought in a PC Engine, Neo Geo, and some Super Famicom games to the elementary school earlier this year and kids were fighting over the 16 bit systems! It was hilarious to see how intense 11 year old boys can get while playing a Sailor Moon puzzle game. In addition, I used to work with a challenging population of special ed/behavioral kids and I would occasionally use (semi-)educational games as a type of calming/therapeutic measure. A slew of them got absolutely hooked on DOS Lemmings. Contrast this to my high school kids who will trash their Xbox 360 as soon as the 720 (or whatever) is released.

So yeah, those are my thought and observations. Not trying to generalize here, this is just what I've observed personally.

[sabrage]

I played the games I did as a kid either a) they were popular (Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Mario, Spyro) or b) because my parents played them in the 80's. (Pac-Man, Xevious, Burgertime, Frogger) That's not any different than kids today. But let's face it, the 90's were a much better time to be a kid. The economy was great, everybody were happier, games were better, TV kicked ass, and people still wanted to interact face-to-face instead of through their phones and the internet. We're never going to have another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Pogs, and our children will suffer for it (by never being awesome. Poor things)

[BoringSupreez]

I played the games I did as a kid either a) they were popular (Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Mario, Spyro) or b) because my parents played them in the 80's. (Pac-Man, Xevious, Burgertime, Frogger) That's not any different than kids today. But let's face it, the 90's were a much better time to be a kid. The economy was great, everybody were happier, games were better, TV kicked ass, and people still wanted to interact face-to-face instead of through their phones and the internet. We're never going to have another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Pogs, and our children will suffer for it (by never being awesome. Poor things)

It was a better time to be a teen too, because of the economy. I rather wish I had been born about five years earlier so that I could have gotten a start before everything tanked.

More on topic, the types of games I play are entirely thanks to myself. My parents never bought me videogames; I had an allowance and I was expected to use it if I wanted something. I was one of those lucky kids whose parents didn't care about ESRB ratings, so even when I was 9 I could randomly buy some gory FPS game while my peers looked on in jealousy. My parents didn't play any videogames themselves, except that my dad played arcade games back in the 70s and 80s, so they had no suggestions to make beyond Pac-Man. I came across most of the genres I enjoy by selecting games based on how good they looked in the store. Not a very good method of shopping (I ended up with at least half of my collection totally sucking), but like I said, it introduced me to genres I most likely would never have tried otherwise. The only genre I purposefully sought out to try were RPGs.

I didn't have many friends (sometimes I had none) since I've spent most of my life in rural areas being homeschooled, so peers didn't influence my choice in games. Judging by what most of them play now (the guys mostly play COD, the girls all play Facebook games and Just Dance 3) it's a good thing I had to forge my own path. I don't even talk about games with people my own age anymore, because they're so closed to the idea of playing something that's not new and hot. Like BoneSnapDeez noted, kids seem to be more open to the idea of playing old games than teens. I had no trouble convincing my younger siblings to play Genesis, or a friend I had when I was 11 to play PS1 games, but talking to a teen about Half Life 1 is like squirting a cat with water.

[o.pwuaioc]

Just curious, how many of you were "young modern gamers"? I know I wasn't. Even after I got my N64 at 10, I still played the SNES and Genesis more. While in high school, when the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube were going at it, I spent countless hours on GoldenEye, and a fair amount on Dig-Dug, Galaga, and Pole Position, thanks to Namco's collection on the PS1. While everyone was getting a 360, I scoffed and stuck with my older systems - this was when I was barely in college. Not quite a decade later, I still play my SNES more than anything, although I do give fair love to all my retro systems (except Master System and GameCube, I need to spend more time with them...they miss me, I think).

I don't think I'm anomalous. My nephew has SMB3 for his GBA, which we played together last time I saw him, and he has a certain affection for 2D, even though he was born after the launch of the PS2. Young retro gamers can exist, they just need to have the proper soil for the budding of the best shoots.

[BoringSupreez]

Just curious, how many of you were "young modern gamers"? I know I wasn't.

I never was, thanks to my family not having enough money for that sort of thing. I was originally driven to retro PC gaming because I wasn't satisfied with what my allowance could get me at the store. I figured I'd bolster my collection with free old PC games, and it grew from there.

[MrPopo]

I started with an NES right before the SNES came out, and I've kept up to date with the new systems as they came out. But rather than abandon my old system when I get a new one, I just saw it as expanding the library.