How old are you? (take 2)

[Daddicus.6128]

Another thread (the-perils-of-being-an-older-gamer-silliness-alert) brought up the issue of age, and it got me curious as to how old we are as a community.

This is a re-do of my earlier question. I should have realized that age is a personal issue, and thus should not be disclosed inadvertently (i.e. by responding to a non-anonymous poll). Gaile quite correctly closed that thread. But, she also gave permission to do it again, but anonymously.

[Tasida.4085]

What does it matter in a game?

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

It doesn't 'matter,' but inquiring minds want to know!

[Westenev.5289]

yawns All you're sampling are people who are vocal on the forums and confident in giving their age. It's hardly a difinitive number.

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

I'm old enough to be a Ghostbusters fan (no, I was not born in 1984 or earlier. No I was not born in 2016, which I think are the only age group that would've liked the new movie.)

[Coulter.2315]

Interesting distribution.

[OriOri.8724]

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:I'm old enough to be a Ghostbusters fan (no, I was not born in 1984 or earlier. No I was not born in 2016, which I think are the only age group that would've liked the new movie.)

I loved the new one and loved the old one, and was born quite a bit before 2016. Just because you didn't like it doens't means that no one is allowed to like both.

[Pimsley.3681]

I’m not old enough to know but does age affect dexterity and reaction times? I’ve noticed most of the ESL pro gamers from other games are mostly in their 20s.

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

@OriOri.8724 said:

@"Ayumi Spender.1082" said:I'm old enough to be a Ghostbusters fan (no, I was not born in 1984 or earlier. No I was not born in 2016, which I think are the only age group that would've liked the new movie.)

I loved the new one and loved the old one, and was born quite a bit before 2016. Just because you didn't like it doens't means that no one is allowed to like both.

I will admit I like one part of the movie. And that's the part with Belushi before he stole the not-Ecto and "not Ray" the Taxi Driver.

[OriOri.8724]

@Pimsley.3681 said:I’m not old enough to know but does age affect dexterity and reaction times? I’ve noticed most of the ESL pro gamers from other games are mostly in their 20s.

It does. It happens earlier, and to different extents, in different people, but it does make a difference over time. Luckily, GW2 is very casual, so unless you want to be top of the leaderboards in PvP it won't really matter too much for most players

[Westenev.5289]

@Pimsley.3681 said:I’m not old enough to know but does age affect dexterity and reaction times? I’ve noticed most of the ESL pro gamers from other games are mostly in their 20s.

It stands to reason IRL fitness and diets can affect reaction times and decision making. As you get older, you slowly but steadily fall apart.

[IndigoSundown.5419]

As of this moment, 2 respondents 80+. Rock on, older folks!

[Daddicus.6128]

I understand, but really, she is correct. If we choose to openly state our age (as I have many times), that's OK. But, for the forum to let our age be known by a "back door" (if you will), isn't good for them or for us. I've worked security for longer than it's been a buzzword (32 years on the right side of the law, and maybe a couple ... more ... before that?)

An ex-girlfriend of mine was killed by an ex-lover because of ... an open file folder on a clerk's desk. I've modified the details of that for her family's privacy, but the story is true. A little bit of information can go a long way in a bad guy's hands.

Anyhow, I should have known better.

No, Gaile was absolutely correct.

[Pimsley.3681]

@OriOri.8724 said:

@Pimsley.3681 said:I’m not old enough to know but does age affect dexterity and reaction times? I’ve noticed most of the ESL pro gamers from other games are mostly in their 20s.

It does. It happens earlier, and to different extents, in different people, but it does make a difference over time. Luckily, GW2 is very casual, so unless you want to be top of the leaderboards in PvP it won't really matter too much for most players

Hi Ori, yes the casual nature of gw2 is why I keep coming back to it. I’m not a huge fan of the balance patches but the combat mechanics of this game is amazing. I guess I’ll try to stay younger as long as possible.

[Pimsley.3681]

@Westenev.5289 said:

@Pimsley.3681 said:I’m not old enough to know but does age affect dexterity and reaction times? I’ve noticed most of the ESL pro gamers from other games are mostly in their 20s.

It stands to reason IRL fitness and diets can affect reaction times and decision making. As you get older, you slowly but steadily fall apart.

Yeah I’m hoping that my diet and exercise would slow down the aging process. The idea of falling apart is frightening yet a sad reality.

[Ashen.2907]

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:I'm old enough to be a Ghostbusters fan (no, I was not born in 1984 or earlier. No I was not born in 2016, which I think are the only age group that would've liked the new movie.)

I so wanted to enjoy the new one...sigh.

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

@Ashen.2907 said:

@"Ayumi Spender.1082" said:I'm old enough to be a Ghostbusters fan (no, I was not born in 1984 or earlier. No I was not born in 2016, which I think are the only age group that would've liked the new movie.)

I so wanted to enjoy the new one...sigh.

Same. I didn't really go into it hating it. I didn't like the trailers as they looked really "corny" and cheesy, and then the whole "reboot" kind of idea was off-putting, but I thought "Can't be too bad if they got many of the original cast/people to work on it... even if it's partially like Reitman.Saw it... booooy was I glad my expectations were not high.

[Mrs Lana.2506]

@Westenev.5289 said:yawns All you're sampling are people who are vocal on the forums and confident in giving their age. It's hardly a difinitive number.

And since all Anet has released are account numbers and not active player numbers, then this really is just about who is active on the forums rather than the entire playerbase, I agree it's a bit of a farce (though I'll answer for curiosity's sake). I know people who have played since release who haven't set a foot in here, so to speak.

[Taygus.4571]

@Pimsley.3681 said:I’m not old enough to know but does age affect dexterity and reaction times? I’ve noticed most of the ESL pro gamers from other games are mostly in their 20s.

Not just age, general health, diet, fitness...and even being tired will affect dexterity/reaction.Being tired will actually affect it quite a bit, hence why it's actually considered unsafe to drive when exhausted.

[Abelisk.4527]

Similar results to many game-related forums I attend to rated T+ games.

[Danikat.8537]

@"Tasida.4085" said:What does it matter in a game?

It doesn't matter in the game but I often find polls like this helpful on forums as something to refer back to in future discussions. Some people tend to assume everyone else on the internet (especially on game forums) is a teenager, or at least considerably younger than they are. And it tends to be in the context of "X sucks because the majority of players are younger than me and kids today won't put up with whatever I think made games good" or "I'm older and so have more life experience and know better than you". So it helps to have something, even if it isn't a comprehensive survey, to show that not only is the person they're talking to likely to be 20 at the youngest but that the vast majority of the forum are adults.

I also find it interesting because back in the 80s people in their 20s were seen as the upper limit of the gamer demographic and even the people making games expected that to continue to be the case (which is odd when a lot of them were older than that, and many had gotten interested in games as an adult, if only because they didn't exist sooner). But it looks like people who got into gaming in the 70s and 80s did not "grow out of it" as expected and more adults have actually gotten into it as video games have become more mainstream.

I was working in a video game store when the Wii and PS3 were released and at least once a week we got a couple who had never played a video game before buying a Wii because they'd heard it was fun or tried it at a friends house, and someone who had bought a PS3 as a cheap blu-ray player and now decided they should try getting some games for it. And those were typically the people buying the super-casual games and wanting assurances it was easy to play. The kids usually wanted something very long and complicated with as much violence as they could convince their parents to allow. Or they'd buy The Sims and invent something even worse entirely out of their own imagination. (Seriously, if you haven't heard about the messed up things you can do in the Sims you should check it out. Some of these kids could go on to out-do that movie Se7en.)

[Furious.2867]

I like this poll.

However I think it represents the age groups of people that frequent the forum. In-game, it seems like the 10-19yr age range dominates

[Vayne.8563]

@Pimsley.3681 said:I’m not old enough to know but does age affect dexterity and reaction times? I’ve noticed most of the ESL pro gamers from other games are mostly in their 20s.

Age in most cases, but not all, does affect dexterity. But more than that, it affects stamina and focus, at least in my case. However, since most people don't raid or competitively PvP or WvW, what does it matter?

I'll be 56 soon and I'm part of the first generation that grew up on video games (admittedly a faint shadow of what they have become today). I'm not going to stop playing just because I'm not interested in killing myself raiding. There's plenty of stuff in this game for a guy like me to do.

The builds I tend to make aren't meta builds, but they're more fire and forget builds. Phantasm builds on a chronomancer, for example, rather than a shatter build. I still shatter when I can resummon 2 phantasms, but it's not nearly as active. Daredevil is a very very easy build, using staff and dual pistol, for people who want to take it easier and still clear content.

I tend to stay away from eles and engies, not that I never play them but I don't play them as much or as hard. My engie is using a flame thrower build that works quite nicely that I call fire and forget. lol

[Ayumi Spender.1082]

@Abelisk.4527 said:Similar results to many game-related forums I attend to rated T+ games.

Yeah, if it was a M+ game, it would've been 0-19 that would have the most votes.

[Rpgtabbycat.5869]

I'm honestly surprised there aren't more teenagers playing. I'm not a teen but I just find that statistic interesting. Also surprised by the number of pre-teens. I thought that count would be 0.