Here’s a fun little throwback for us all.
That’s actually the oldest birthday post I have on my Instagram account. It’s from my 27th birthday—in 2018. I’ll let you do that math.
It’s a little odd to realize that I’ve now celebrated seven birthdays here on the Girly Geek Blog. And what’s even odder has been watching the way the whole gaming world has changed in that time—both generally and in my own experiences.
So today, I’m going to go a little off-script from what I typically do for these posts. Let’s talk about some of the things that I’ve learned happen when you get older in the gaming world—and see if you’ve noticed them, too.
1. There will be things that invariably make you feel old.
It might be the throwback feeling you get from seeing the surge in retro-styled games. It could be learning new control systems for your latest game library addition.
Or, you could be like me, and it’s the epic frustration you invariably feel every time you try to open up Twitch and do something as simple as mod your husband’s stream chat.
I swear, it just goes right over my head, no matter how many times I look something up, and then I feel old and dumb for not knowing.
2. People will call you old, too.
I don’t know who decided that 27 is the global cutoff for not being “old” in gaming, but someone obviously did, because any time a fellow player in your lobby finds out you’re over that age, you will be called old.
Or a boomer.
Or a relic.
Or questioned how you’re even playing.
So don’t tell them, okay?
3. Your reaction times will fall off.
A bigger side effect of getting older, and usually a cause for the name-calling in my previous point.
Studies have shown that your reaction time generally starts degrading between the ages of 25 and 30, and you’ll likely notice it most either in time-sensitive tasks like FFXIV bosses or highly competitive games.
4. There will be things you don’t understand.
We were once the generation that invented words—flex, ghosting, low-key, sus. Now, though, it’s the younger gamers bringing in new turns of phrase, and many of them—words and acronyms alike—will go right over your head.
Worse, there will be ones that you think you know, but definitely do not, and it will not go well when that little secret comes out.
5. The days of marathons will be behind you.
A couple of months ago, I tried to pull a gaming all-nighter marathon with Sekan, who usually runs the night shift with his stream. I made it until maybe three in the morning before basically falling asleep in my chair, and my sleep schedule was off for a good month afterward.
The higher you get in years, the fewer and farther between your marathons and all-nighters will be.
6. It gets a lot harder to justify game prices.
This one happens for a few reasons, I think.
- You’ve got bills to worry about now, you know!
- You’ve watched prices climb from when you bought your Harvest Moon game for $20 at launch
- You don’t even get a hard copy to show off to your friends later
So it gets a lot more difficult to want to afford new games, and you’ll spend a lot more time trying to find ways to get them for cheap (or free).
7. You’ll find you’ve got a type.
Another thing I learned recently is that studies have shown that as gamers get older, they tend to settle in with a favourite type of game—whether that’s highly competitive, farming sims, RPGs, you name it.
We know what we like and we’re good with that, thank you very much.
8. You’ll start seeing tropes everywhere.
Just last week, we were watching a video on YouTube covering some of the details of the new viper class coming to FFXIV with next summer’s expansion.
I spent most of the video following every statement with “like ninja?”, and at the end of it, Sekan immediately pulled up an image of Zidane from FFIX carrying the same sort of weapon.
Because by now you’ve seen plenty of concepts in gaming, you’ll start noticing where they repeat themselves!
