Growing Up In A Pc Game

digz · May 2004

I was just curious, considering the age differences in some people who play computer/console games...

I am going to be 21 this year... I have never been without some form of electronic gaming in my lifetime. From atari (yes, OLD tech) to the first Nintendo to sega.. gameboy to my first pc game (Sid Meiyers CivNet) and going into online gaming and finally x-box. Will I be gaming in my 30's? 40's? Will this replace t-ball and soccer for my kids to spend time with me? I myself was never really into sports, but I have allways been, well, a computer geek. I have grown up and find it perfectly exceptable to spend hours in front of this box. What about you guys? Are you an older person who just started to get into this whole computer gaming experience? When did you first start to play these types of games (arcade games don't count :-p ). Was anyone here prior console & pc, but fell into it as it started up? What was it like before this kind of entertainment? There is a rather large forum base here along with one of the older communities(half-life), so I figured this was the best site to ask these questions. Considering it took x amount of years to get HL2 out.. and with all the advances I have seen from a 2d mario to the new Unreal Engine on the Nvidia 6800(?) what can we predict to be playing 5 years down the line? 10 years? What kind of changes will we see in gaming experiences? Any predictions?

Ok, done rambling on for now <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /> I am very interested in everyone's response.

Zig · May 2004

well it might become a little more acceptable to do a lot of gaming...

but i'll still value my kids' health, and that requires exercise and other stimulation besides VGs.

twoflow · May 2004

Been playing consoles since childhood, and dip in and out of the PC (currently out). No plans on quitting yet. Having said that, I always find the thirty-something Xbox Live players a little conspicuous..

Cyndane · May 2004

I find that anyone who is willing to stick with it reguardless of stereo-types is worth having some of the RL fun with. I know that is just my take on it.

(Nem, come to US and take me out)

AllUrHiveRblong2us · May 2004

I see what you mean, old dudes playing Mario can be a bit sketchy, but as time goes on things will even out and tech will increase so much that it will be impossible to avoid tech, so it would be silly not to game at any age.

Burr · May 2004

First console: Atari 2600 that I still have at my parents house.

I am 22 years old, and I have been playing since I could understand how to play. Video Games (computer and console) are more than just entertainment for me, they are a passion. I love my videogames...maybe thats why I am quite addicted to them....

Oh well, I will play them until my dying day. I don't care what other people think about it, playing video games in my opinion is not childish, and since it actually is another form of entertainment (but still a passion for me), then that would be saying that going to a movie or watching TV is childish also.

DOOManiac · May 2004

WTH Burr stole my childhood story :O

include · May 2004

Games played a big role in a lot of people's lives growing up. Sometimes it's great to go back and play them. I still remember Wizball

camO_o · May 2004

i spend a lot of time on the comp (eh... almost always my entire day ^^; ) but i honestly don't find any problem with it. some people see it as geeky or something-or-other, but games are a part of my life just as sports or collecting stamps may be for other people (don't ask about the latter <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />). as long as you don't end up killing yourself because you got pwned in counterstrike, it's cool.

digz · May 2004

I completely agree that pc/console games are just another form of entertainment to either watching tv or going to the movies. Someone once asked me how I could sit and play around, with say NS, for maybe 2 hours straight... I asked them how they could sit in front of the tv for 4 hours straight watching friends/american idol (CRAP)/ etc...

On a side note, I did not intend to imply that, (god willing), I have children who will be unfit or spend all their time playing pc games, but instead of going with them to see, say, harry potter XXII, they should play the story themselves on the pc.

I really do wonder how much farther everything will advance. I remember our old 386 with an upgraded 8 mb of ram and real 5" floppy disks and my parents thinking "oh my god, what ever will we do with <i>so much memory</i>?"

MrGardenHoseMan · May 2004

Heh, i'm 19 and still remember the days when i actually went outside to play with neighbors' kids. I'd be out all day runing around getting bruised, etc... But then...my parents decided to get me a screaming AMD K6 233mhz machine with 32megs of ram and 4 humongous gigs of hd space. And well that's was it for me then. First game i've ever played was Doom2. And God willing i'll be playing them on my deathbed. Nothing wrong with a 40 year old man playing some mario either. Like it's been mentioned before, vid games are just another form of entertainment, only a helluva lot more involved.

Legionnaired · May 2004

My first console was an old NES, followed by an SNES, then an old IBM Aptiva PC, running at a whopping 75 mhz, that I played an old TBS called Conquest on.

(Gotta love acronyms.)

Since then I've grown accustomed to gaming as a past-time, but never interfereing with real life. I'll quickly drop out of comming to a win to play disc golf with some friends, as some of you may have noticed as I suddenly dropped from the commchair (sorry).

I imagine as I get more into adult things, gaming will slowly dwindle into something that I do here and there.

Marine0I · May 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Legionnaired @ May 20 2004, 04:08 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> I imagine as I get more into adult things, gaming will slowly dwindle into something that I do here and there.  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
That pretty much sums up simultaneously my greatest hope and fear.

Caboose · May 2004

I started PC gaming before console <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' />

I was playing text games at 4 and got a SNES a few years later.

littlewild · May 2004

For the consoles, I started from 8-bit Nintendo/Familycom to 16-bit Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo. Then the Sega-CD, Saturn and finally PS2.

On the PC side, I think I started with the 286 computers...I still remember how I deleted my friend's MS-DOS directory in order to make space to install Dune2 and how I used double space and mem maker to squeeze out the last 10k of memory/hard disk space.

I am 23 now and I will probably continue to game in the forseeable future.

Thansal · May 2004

I have had atleast one computer in the house my entire life (as my father is a CS Prof)

and I have always used em for video games <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

My parents never let me have a console (I don't know why....) So instead I have ben an avid computer gamer for most of my life.

then once the internet became semi popular my dad got us an ISDN line.
Shortly after that I found out about share ware <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

My first real online game was an old MMO called the Realm, a few years after that I got HL, and the world has never ben the same <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

As for my future?
I am never gona stop spending a good portion of my time online (I have to many friends that I know only online), I will always game.

I will probably never have children, though I plan on spoiling all of my friends kids rotten.

Combine all of this with video games becoming VERY maint stream, I doubt that I will ever grow outa them.

Rion · May 2004

I'll never stop, I'm adicted, if one can be. I'm 21 in 3 days, and my age has no effect on my love for video games. Be it PC or console, I've always been one to play. My friends, however, have grown into this odd sort of gaming. If it doesn't interest them within the first five minutes, they consider it a bad game and not worth their time. So I'm the only one to play games like Voodoo Vince and then beat them down in Super Smash Brothers: Melee, or Halo.. they choose I slaughter.
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif' />

Shockeh · May 2004

Take littlewild's story, add more hax, +1 year and you've got my life.

Oh, the days of typing in BASIC programs... (goes back to heyhey16k)

Necrotic · May 2004

Been playing games since I was 12 and I guess I'm nearly 20 now and haven't stopped. Can't see me stopping anytime in the near future either, as has already been said PC/Console Gaming is a form of entertainment that in my opinion (and some scientific studies) is alot better for you than sitting in front of the telly all night.

BlueNovember · May 2004

And I thought *I* was too old for playing video games. Guess that cleared that up. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

I feel like there's something missing if I am no signed into Trillian somewhere. PCs are now a big part of my life; I need them to chat to friends in other countries and to arrange NS matches, swap coursework, and get details of where we're meeting on Friday night. <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

My first game was Super Mario 1 on the Gameboy. I never had a NES, but loved the Mario/Duckhunt dual catrdige game. Got up to level 22 on duckhunt then just got bored.

I now run a LAN of 5 pcs, and have a network cable running between my house and my neighbours. Bwhaha. Xover rocks.

I think I'll probably write some Vb program to bring up my children for me.

Crono5 · May 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (camO.o @ May 19 2004, 08:41 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Chick publications does it again:
<a href='http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_01.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_01.asp</a> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
!?

EDIT: Oh, I've been playing games since I could remember. But I do enjoy doing outdoor things (hiking, biking, sailing, etc.)

EvenFlow · May 2004

I've been gaming on and off since I was about 7 years old ( I'm 24 now ) since most of my brother's were really into PC's, but only started to really get into it about 4 years ago when I got a decent connection at home, for a while playing online games was the only thing I would do in my spare time.

As of late online gaming seems to have taken a back seat and I'm spending a lot more time with the girlfriend and socializing. I guess games will always be with me, it's a great way to get away from reality every now and again but one has to balance reality and virtual reality.

Bogglesteinsky · May 2004

I've always been around a computer, my dad worked as a computer programmer at British Aerpspace, and he had a clunkly amdstrad and used to write games and stuff for me to play (very simple ones) The first games I would play would be on my mums PC at work, running win 3.1. I think the first "real" game I played was Solitaire. I was about 8-9. Some of my friends had a computer, so I played Prince Of Persia, Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D. When I was about 10-11, another friend had a NES, played Mario and other classic games. Eventually my brother got his hands on a Lunchbox PC and I would play Chopper on that (a variation on moon lander, whnere you had to do missions and stuff). Another set of friends had a laptop and we would go round there playing on thier magic shoolbus game. Then we moved back to the UK in 97 and my parents got a P 166MHz with a 2GB drive (bottom of the range at the time) running win 95. Played very simple games on that such as Raptor and Bombs and Bugs. I got my own computer in 98, an old 386 running 3.11. Played SkiFree and other simple games. Got upgraded to a 486 and not looked back since. Now here I am, with a Cel 1.7 running win XP, with about £700 worth of games on my shelves. Not too bad for an 18yr old with no job.

digz · May 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Crono5788 @ May 19 2004, 07:22 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> </div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (camO.o @ May 19 2004, 08:41 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Chick publications does it again:
<a href='http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_01.asp' target='_blank'>http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0055/0055_01.asp</a> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'>
!?

EDIT: Oh, I've been playing games since I could remember. But I do enjoy doing outdoor things (hiking, biking, sailing, etc.)  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
<img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif' /><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif' /> wth

Thansal · May 2004

Crono:
Its Jack Chick.

He is an idiot.

IF you want a great read search on that site for Drak Dungeons <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

V_MAN · May 2004

Been playing video games since my brother had an Intellivision back in the 80s then I went to a master system, then mega drive, then PS, and finally PC and PS2. Don't play anywhere near as much as I used to tho all day sessions of Doom on the PS with me dad lol <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' />

Crono5 · May 2004

</div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Thansal @ May 20 2004, 02:00 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Crono:
Its Jack Chick.

He is an idiot.

IF you want a great read search on that site for Drak Dungeons <img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />  </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> 
Wait... Is digz* or Jack Chick and idiot?

Jack Chick seemed intelligible...

*Remeber, <b>Thansal</b> said it.

Growing Up In A Pc Game

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