As an adult player, why did you not "grow out of gaming"?

[isiolia]

Hey, what part of Virginia are you in, Isiola? Somewhere near central VA maybe?

I work for Virginia Tech, so I live in that vicinity. Generally speaking, probably more southwest Virginia, but not that far from central.

[samsonlonghair]

Hey, what part of Virginia are you in, Isiola? Somewhere near central VA maybe?

I work for Virginia Tech, so I live in that vicinity. Generally speaking, probably more southwest Virginia, but not that far from central.

Gotcha. I'm familiar with the Christiansburg / Blacksburg metro area. That's actually closer to my old stomping grounds in southern WV than my new home in Richmond.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Phew, I was going to reply to the responses on my my last post in here, but being as I never got to it, I don't really feel like digging those posts up. Just wanted to say that, carry on.

[Kaneda]

Regretfully you could say I did grow out of video games in '95 and sold my SNES collection for a stupid sum. It only lasted A few years then the newer games drew me back, only recently though the itch has been from the 8 bit and 16 bit systems- Expensive hobby.
Basically I beleive people never grow out of gaming because it's a universal pastime.

[Key-Glyph]

I just finished reading Chasing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System by Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost, and they had a section that jumped out at me about the persistant association of video gaming and children's toys:

• At this time [the early 1980s], it still wasn't clear what home video games exactly were as products. Atari had an official opinion, which was expressed in a 1982 advertisement entitled "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Atari Games, Etc, Etc.": "The ATARI Video Computer System™ Game is not a toy, to be put in the closet and forgotten. It's a permanent part of a home entertainment center." But Atari VCS games, like dedicated home systems before them, were shown at the International Toy Fair, sold at toy stores, and generally considered to be toys by the industry. The toy company Mattel even developed its own rival to the VCS -- the Intellivision. So although the Atari VCS was often played by adults, and although the videogame industry was certainly recognized as a new force, it was still sensible for many reasons to consider the Atari VCS and cartridges for that system as toys. Parker Brothers certainly thought of VCS cartridges this way. The company claimed, based on this idea, that it had the exclusive right to develop Star Wars cartridges for the system (199-20, emphasis mine).

I thought that bit about the International Toy Fair was particularly interesting.

[Crynox]

When I was growing up up my parents bought me a Sinclair Spectrum 48k with the thinking that it would be educational, (probably my Dads idea). After spending some time copying out programs from books & magazines, (that most of the time didnt work, probably my mistake somewhere), the programming bug didnt infect me, what did though was the games, which took a a long time to buy due to limited funds etc.

Looking back the fact that I was playing games rather than making/creating/learning something for myself really annoyed my Dad who stubbornly stopped me having a TV or computer in my room until I was 16 !

Im 41 now and have always loved playing video games. Like others I have also watched my childhood friends grow out of games, (whilst wondering what the problem was), I myself have had & felt the guilty thoughts of Im wasting my time, although that is primarily due to peer & wife pressure.

Ive tried a couple of times to stop gaming, it doesnt last long though, without it I feel stressed out & miserable.

I do think that any hobby is fine in moderation, looking back there have been times when I did nothing else but play games & I recognise that it wasnt healthy for me.

Ive come to accept that games will always be a part of me, its not the only thing I do, (I also like motorsport & I cycle a lot too), I could care less that some people think its strange that a grown man is so passionate about gaming, as long as my family is Ok Im happy.

[Exhuminator]

I myself have had & felt the guilty thoughts of Im wasting my time

Sometimes I get hit with that one, but then there's...

I do think that any hobby is fine in moderation

And that's really the crux. If it's a hobby that makes you happy, but doesn't interfere with your ability to be a responsible adult, nor consumes all your free time to the detriment of your family, is it really so bad? I think not. And gaming is a more cerebrally rewarding hobby than many other typical ones.

[Tanooki]

Agreed, I don't get crap for it, really never have at home here. I just don't go off the deepend. If I do then I'll throw it back at her for going into her room on the computer to dick around with facebook and her spinning/knitting group videos and other crap or watching those wretched bitched on those 'housewives' and teen mom shows that are awful. Can't have it both ways. I never got a lick of questioning or abuse for rolling the pinball or arcade machine into this room. Mostly when I do bother anymore its in the evenings or if the kid is at school or occupied with something else and mostly on a handheld device of some sort. I can't recall the last time I actually played a PS4 game, used the system sure, for movies, but a game? They lost my interest, not on the laptop just playing on the TV due to time constraints more than anything and the fact this generation is pretty rotten being minor last gen upgrades with nothing new to show for it.

Perhaps gaming isn't us outgrowing it, but them outgrowing their usefulness to those who are on a 2nd or so on system because they don't try much anymore.

[Crynox]

I myself have had & felt the guilty thoughts of Im wasting my time

Sometimes I get hit with that one, but then there's...

I do think that any hobby is fine in moderation

And that's really the crux. If it's a hobby that makes you happy, but doesn't interfere with your ability to be a responsible adult, nor consumes all your free time to the detriment of your family, is it really so bad? I think not. And gaming is a more cerebrally rewarding hobby than many other typical ones.

Yes exactly. How does watching TV for hours at a time challenge you ? It doesnt. And another thing people seem to do a lot of the time is spend hours upon hours glued to there smart phones normally on facebook. Boring imo.

Also how to define waste of time ? You could say that any hobby is a waste of time.

As long as we all game in moderation, we will be fine

[Gunstar Green]

Balancing hedonistic impulses against responsibility is the affliction at the root of all of our problems as a species. It's the human condition.

As for why I didn't grow out of gaming, there's a response on the first page that I think covered it well, that gaming grew up with me.

Today it's as viable an entertainment medium as anything else. It's already immense and it's only going to get bigger when there's no longer a generation that knew a world without video games.