The perils of being an older gamer (silliness alert!)

[LadyRhonwyn.2501]

> @"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

> (Laughing at Larry Niven's Ringworld, where in the year 2850, the main character is looking for CARBON PAPER for his TYPEWRITER. Or the movie Soylent Green where the rich tycoon gives his mistress an expensive state of the art video game, and it's an old arcade game of Asteroids on a silver-coated pedestal.)

Hmm, I really must be getting old, I read that book a dozen time, but can't remember that!

 

I'm from the 20th century, so somewhere between 17 and 117 years old. I forget at times...

 

(oh, that snowflake floating? don't know when I first saw it, but it was some time ago...)

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

> @"LadyRhonwyn.2501" said:

> > @"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

> > (Laughing at Larry Niven's Ringworld, where in the year 2850, the main character is looking for CARBON PAPER for his TYPEWRITER. Or the movie Soylent Green where the rich tycoon gives his mistress an expensive state of the art video game, and it's an old arcade game of Asteroids on a silver-coated pedestal.)

> Hmm, I really must be getting old, I read that book a dozen time, but can't remember that!

>

> I'm from the 20th century, so somewhere between 17 and 117 years old. I forget at times...

>

 

As far as I recall, it was in the first chapter...there is always the possibility I am confusing it with another book, but I was pretty sure it was that one.

[LadyRhonwyn.2501]

> @"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

> > @"LadyRhonwyn.2501" said:

> > > @"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

> > > (Laughing at Larry Niven's Ringworld, where in the year 2850, the main character is looking for CARBON PAPER for his TYPEWRITER. Or the movie Soylent Green where the rich tycoon gives his mistress an expensive state of the art video game, and it's an old arcade game of Asteroids on a silver-coated pedestal.)

> > Hmm, I really must be getting old, I read that book a dozen time, but can't remember that!

> >

> > I'm from the 20th century, so somewhere between 17 and 117 years old. I forget at times...

> >

>

> As far as I recall, it was in the first chapter...there is always the possibility I am confusing it with another book, but I was pretty sure it was that one.

 

The only typewriter reference I can find (yeay, for the modern day and age and ebooks :p)

 

"mixed with these were the taste of Louies first tobacco cigarette, the feel of typewriter keys under clumsy, untrained fingers, lists of Interworld vocabulary to be memorized, the sound and taste of English, the uncertainties and embarrassments of extreme youth."

 

But then Louis Wu was old!

[lynspottery.6529]

> @"Ramoth.5162" said:

> 2 40+ humans in my house. :) We both play. I am a keyboard turner and he is a mouse driver. We will toddle into senility playing games.

 

I love the name "Ramoth." I read the book series of Dragonriders of Pern. Loved that series so much that I named one of my GW2 characters that. :p

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

> @"LadyRhonwyn.2501" said:

> > @"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

> > > @"LadyRhonwyn.2501" said:

> > > > @"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

> > > > (Laughing at Larry Niven's Ringworld, where in the year 2850, the main character is looking for CARBON PAPER for his TYPEWRITER. Or the movie Soylent Green where the rich tycoon gives his mistress an expensive state of the art video game, and it's an old arcade game of Asteroids on a silver-coated pedestal.)

> > > Hmm, I really must be getting old, I read that book a dozen time, but can't remember that!

> > >

> > > I'm from the 20th century, so somewhere between 17 and 117 years old. I forget at times...

> > >

> >

> > As far as I recall, it was in the first chapter...there is always the possibility I am confusing it with another book, but I was pretty sure it was that one.

>

> The only typewriter reference I can find (yeay, for the modern day and age and ebooks :p)

>

> "mixed with these were the taste of Louies first tobacco cigarette, the feel of typewriter keys under clumsy, untrained fingers, lists of Interworld vocabulary to be memorized, the sound and taste of English, the uncertainties and embarrassments of extreme youth."

>

> But then Louis Wu was old!

 

Dang, there goes my memory again. Now which vintage sci-fi book was that carbon paper in?

[Ardid.7203]

> @"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

> > @"LadyRhonwyn.2501" said:

> > > @"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

> > > > @"LadyRhonwyn.2501" said:

> > > > > @"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

> > > > > (Laughing at Larry Niven's Ringworld, where in the year 2850, the main character is looking for CARBON PAPER for his TYPEWRITER. Or the movie Soylent Green where the rich tycoon gives his mistress an expensive state of the art video game, and it's an old arcade game of Asteroids on a silver-coated pedestal.)

> > > > Hmm, I really must be getting old, I read that book a dozen time, but can't remember that!

> > > >

> > > > I'm from the 20th century, so somewhere between 17 and 117 years old. I forget at times...

> > > >

> > >

> > > As far as I recall, it was in the first chapter...there is always the possibility I am confusing it with another book, but I was pretty sure it was that one.

> >

> > The only typewriter reference I can find (yeay, for the modern day and age and ebooks :p)

> >

> > "mixed with these were the taste of Louies first tobacco cigarette, the feel of typewriter keys under clumsy, untrained fingers, lists of Interworld vocabulary to be memorized, the sound and taste of English, the uncertainties and embarrassments of extreme youth."

> >

> > But then Louis Wu was old!

>

> Dang, there goes my memory again. Now which vintage sci-fi book was that carbon paper in?

 

Luis Wu?

Ring World is one of the few high octane amazing action weird but intelligent science saga that still don't get its own movie... I just love it.

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

Biological age: 41

'felt' age: over 9000!

 

I just want Dolyaks as playable race. Then I could be as slow and lumbering as I want...

[Ampa.2749]

I am 68 years old.

 

One of my daughters talked me into playing GW2 while she was an undergraduate so we could hang out online. She is working now and can't play as much, so I've recruited my 5 year old granddaughter to play. I sit behind her and we navigate together - I do the mouse and she says "Go there. No the other way." She uses the keys to fly the griffon and now just recently she's actually engaging in combat. "Let's kill the shark."

 

After about 5,400 hours of game play, I seem to have broken my circadian clock. Stay up too late and sleep too late. Being retired, I can usually get away with it.

[Donari.5237]

> @"Ardid.7203" said:

> Luis Wu?

> Ring World is one of the few high octane amazing action weird but intelligent science saga that still don't get its own movie... I just love it.

Soon! (Well, as a series). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3341646/

I do hope GW2 and/or its successors will be with us for, oh, three more decades. Make it four, women in my family do tend to live to their 90's. I've been playing MMOs since well before WoW came out (started with DAoC, then Horizons, then WoW, then GW2 stole my heart). While keenly aware of my own mortality and probable failings of the too too mortal flesh, far more than I was just a decade ago, I still want to be able to engage in social imagination until the very last minute.

 

 

[MrForz.1953]

I don't know why, it sort of warms my heart to see that many older gamers around.

[MadFable.1978]

> @"Menadena.7482" said:

> > @"Wizler.8192" said:

> > > @"daynay.1089" said:

> > > I am 53 and need a guild...

> >

> > My guild is coincidentally named

> > https://theoldergamers.com/

> > :-)

> >

> > Folks in TOG play many games, not just GW2. There's people all across the US and Canada, in Australia and NZ, and other parts of the world as well so there's always somebody online.

> >

> > The GW2 guild is Tyrian Old Guard (TOG).

>

> Is the guild active? I joined the website but the link I found for the Tyrian Old Guard is not working.

>

> edit: Never mind, found a signup thread even though the subforum seems to have went poof.

 

Where did you find it? I went to the Tog site and couldn't find anything about gw2?

[Menadena.7482]

> @"MadFable.1978" said:

> > @"Menadena.7482" said:

> > > @"Wizler.8192" said:

> > > > @"daynay.1089" said:

> > > > I am 53 and need a guild...

> > >

> > > My guild is coincidentally named

> > > https://theoldergamers.com/

> > > :-)

> > >

> > > Folks in TOG play many games, not just GW2. There's people all across the US and Canada, in Australia and NZ, and other parts of the world as well so there's always somebody online.

> > >

> > > The GW2 guild is Tyrian Old Guard (TOG).

> >

> > Is the guild active? I joined the website but the link I found for the Tyrian Old Guard is not working.

> >

> > edit: Never mind, found a signup thread even though the subforum seems to have went poof.

>

> Where did you find it? I went to the Tog site and couldn't find anything about gw2?

 

After signing up for the site follow the directions in the OP at https://www.theoldergamers.com/threads/sign-up-thread.515207/ .

[Robj.6815]

You're not an older gamer until you take a waypoint and want to holler, "Get offa my lawn, ya whippersnappers!" at other characters who are covering you.

 

#GimmieAWerthers

[costepj.5120]

For gamers of a certain age, if you haven't already, make a point of reading Ernest Cline's "Ready Player One" over the holidays!

[Wizler.8192]

> @"Robj.6815" said:

> You're not an older gamer until you take a waypoint and want to holler, "Get offa my lawn, ya whippersnappers!" at other characters who are covering you.

>

 

Haha sometimes if another toon is standing right on top of me I'll move over because they're "in my space" and it feels weird.

 

 

[Witch of Doom.5739]

> @"MrForz.1953" said:

> I don't know why, it sort of warms my heart to see that many older gamers around.

 

Me too. Then I realize I'm just having a hot flash. (jk, I'm one of the "oldies" !)

[Wizler.8192]

I'm 46 so I'll bet some of you can recall farther back but these are some games I played as a kid. How about you? Both of my uncles were into computers so we had one at home long before they were popular.

 

Jungle Hunt on Atari

Donkey Kong on Colecovision

Track and Field on Apple II

Wizardry on a Franklin (Apple compatible)

Ultima 2 (my uncle got me into this and Lord of the Rings books)

Ceiling Zero

Mr. Robot

Miner 2049er

Lode Runner (loved how I could make my own levels)

Eamon (text adventure)

Zork

Ghostbusters for Apple II (

)

Raster Blaster pinball

Karateka

 

[Anchoku.8142]

At least threads about older gamers, by older gamers, are not as "jumping the shark" as new threads about mystic coins and game economy are.

 

Who else saw that Happy Days special?

[Donari.5237]

> @"Wizler.8192" said:

> I'm 46 so I'll bet some of you can recall farther back but these are some games I played as a kid. How about you? Both of my uncles were into computers so we had one at home long before they were popular.

 

As a kid I played ... Monopoly, Scrabble, Othello ... and then we had an "electronic Christmas" when I was in 8th grade or so. I got a handheld football game with LED dashes representing players. My sister got Pong! Which was the new thing that year. We also around then got an Atari 800, on which I played Star Raiders and Asteroids, and I know we had some computer with a floppy drive on which I played things like Centipede and used for homework programming in BASIC. In my junior year of college the Mac 128K came out and had some basic black and white games.

 

I played Zork text games (and the full graphic one, which just wasn't the same -- I missed "you are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike"). MYST and Riven, too, though I believe those came out after I finished law school, so I wasn't exactly a kid any more. Ditto 7th Guest and its sequel. Also tabletops starting with D&D from when it was 3 pamphlets in a box with some low-impact dice (still have those, poor worn out things), Traveler, Top Secret, homebrew games, Flashing Blades, RuneQuest 3, etc. Steve Jackson micro games like Car Wars offered a lot of fun in college. I started LARPing just before law school, too.

 

There's a reason MMO RP is what keeps me playing MMOs :) GW2 has given me a lot of chances to immerse in the world of Tyria and draw in my own storylines against the backdrop the game provides.

 

All you youngers reading this, though? Sure, you don't get to say you remember seeing the original Star Wars opening weekend in theaters in the late 70's. But there's plenty happening now that in 40 years you'll be the ones flaunting *I was there* at the new kids. And you'll get to see even more amazing things come out. I still don't take cell phones, electric cars, or the Internet for granted, and I continue to boggle at how millions of people around the world can share simultaneously in real-time-response games like GW2. I wonder what games will be like when you're my age or older?

[Nep Leet.5491]

Over 50 here and I am **very** immature for my age! _beams a proud smile_ =)

 

I recall back in 1999, playing Everquest, and thinking at the time, _"Imagine retirement homes in the future, a sign on the bulletin board outside the gaming room: RAID NIGHT TONIGHT!"_ Something to look forward to, yah? ;)

[Cragga the Eighty Third.60]

> @"Wizler.8192" said:

> I'm 46 so I'll bet some of you can recall farther back but these are some games I played as a kid. How about you? Both of my uncles were into computers so we had one at home long before they were popular.

>

> Jungle Hunt on Atari

> Donkey Kong on Colecovision

> Track and Field on Apple II

> Wizardry on a Franklin (Apple compatible)

> Ultima 2 (my uncle got me into this and Lord of the Rings books)

> Ceiling Zero

> Mr. Robot

> Miner 2049er

> Lode Runner (loved how I could make my own levels)

> Eamon (text adventure)

> Zork

> Ghostbusters for Apple II

> Raster Blaster pinball

> Karateka

>

 

We didn't get an Atari, just a knock-off PONG set.

 

When the TI/99 4a was being clearanced out for $50, we got bait-and-switched into buying a Tomy Tutor, which had no peripherals or anything to make it useful. I was stoked to see it memorialized in the Excel Saga manga many years later, proving it was not a figment of my imagination. (Excel finds one in a garbage dump and asks, "Is this really a computer?")

 

When I was college age I got a Commodore 64 and played M.U.L.E., Lords of Conquest, Maniac Mansion, Mission Impossible, Pirates! Miss Pac Man, D&D Pools of Radiance, BC's Quest for Tires, Wiz Ball, and other classics, some of which I still play on emulators. Those were the days when you bought magazines with game programs that you could type into the computer and play, too. :D

[Anela.3867]

I will stop gaming when they pry the keyboard from my cold, dead, arthritic hands! Grandpa and I play with our oldest son and college-age grandson. Our grandson thinks we are the coolest grandparents ever.

[Oenanthe.6549]

My first computer gaming experience has to be back on the old BBC computers at school. There was a copy of the game Repton there and during lunch breaks some of us were allowed to play it. However one day, I think i was in 6th form and possibly doing mock A levels or something, several of us went into the computer room during a free period as it wasn't in use, to relax a bit. The teacher was easy going and as it wasn't meant to be a lesson even though it was during lesson times he let us play the game. There were 9 computers there (a lot at the time) and there were 8 of us, so the teacher claimed the last computer and joined in. Then the headmistress came in showing parent around. The teacher came up with a quick story explaining how computer programs had to be debugged, and the only way to find any errors was to run the program, neatly explaining why all us 6th formers were sat playing computer games in school.

 

As far as table top games go, I'm just starting to run a new 13th Age campaign (similar to D&D) and using the GW world as a setting. There are 4 of us around the table all well into our 40s or even 50s. Pencil, paper, dice, and reading glasses are becoming the normal equipment needed now.

[Dmitri Fatkin.8162]

Your story resembles me of what we were doing for at least one third of the time allocated for computer classes, since adventuring in the labyrinths or shaking the trees with fruit-like characters seemed a little bit more captivating for 11 years old kids than composing properly-structured Basic code. The early 90's were definitely enthralling and interesting-to-recall anew times! Doing so spontaneously led me into browsing the timeline presented [here](http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/1990/ "here"). :)

[Lord Kreegan.8123]

> @"Wizler.8192" said:

>

<--SNIP-->

You have been eaten by a grue..."