Introducing: The Aging Gamer

There’s a thing that happens to us all over time regardless of what we do or what we’re into – we get older.

It brings a shift in priorities and a shift in what causes excitement for us all. It used to be that the majority of my then meager income went to games and consoles and all things associated with custom computer builds and gaming. These days I’m more excited to submit my mortgage payments than I am settling in with a beer and snacks for a long MMO style raid or extended boss fights.

These days I’m less Tidus and more Auron. Less Soki and more Samanosuke. Less Nero and More Dante. And there’s nothing wrong with that. It happens.

So what am I interested in now? Not just the game, but what the game represents. How does it affect industry? Is it political? What kind of revenue streams are we looking at? And more than any of that, it’s getting over the Roger Murtaugh feeling of “I’m too old for this shit.” The irony of that is I’m sure a lot of the younger people reading this don’t know who Roger Murtaugh is. Do yourself a favor and go watch the Lethal Weapon series of movies. Trust me kid, listen to your elders. You’ll be a better person afterwards.

So what made me finally feel this way? It’s the way things are done these days and the way the industry’s going. I write about games and tech, so I’m always getting pitches and steam codes for writing reviews. So one day not to long ago I have a game pitch me to write a review touting its virtues as “having been streamed by top Twitch personalities like GassyMexican.”

Hold up, there’s someone who is famous for streaming games under the name GassyMexican? Not even going to put a space between the two words? This is what passes for fame these days? Why am i getting ads for fantasy e-sports at the same time?

This new world of gaming makes little sense to me sometimes, and I can feel the transition from gamer to elder statesman starting to happen. And I’m going to bring you along for the ride. With the new series the Aging Gamer, we’ll go over the way things used to be, what’s messed up to the folks my age, all before I make my final descent into telling pesky kids to get off my lawn.