Something I think about from time to time.

I've noticed many here mentioning over the years that the only "game" on thier systems is flightsim, while others will (very-occasionally) mention games they play.

My own (living) family members are very into gaming, probably helped by my lifelong habit of giving away computers, gaming systems, vr headsets etc......

Yet as we all grow older, questions arise more and more about whether "gaming" is still appropriate, or whether people should "Act thier age" and whether people like Skyrim Grandma are role-models or head shaking anamolies.

Hmmmmm..... Guess I'm on my way to becoming a head-shaking anomaly.....

Edited July 24Jul 24 by HiFlyer

12 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Yet as we all grow older, questions arise more and more about whether "gaming" is still appropriate, or whether people should "Act thier age"

You bet its still appropriate! Says the man who just got off his PC playing BF6. Age is nothing to do with it, doesn't matter if you are 18 or 99, or 105. If it entertains you... do it! In fact, its just what we need as we get older, to keep the reflexes sharp and brain firing on all cylinders.

I couldn't care less what other people think. I enjoy flight simulation, and I would dearly love to have another immersive "first person adventure" game in my life. I am really hoping that "The Lost Wild" will be that game.

I grew up with gaming and I don't mind watching games. I still actively play WoW and I love 4x games (gee your mind out of the gutter!).

On Steam, I recently purchased SkyChart Airline Executive. If you remember Aerobiz, it's a more complex version of that game. I think many on this site would actually love this game. (You create an airline and manager several variables not the last of which are airplanes, routes hubs, etc..) Then you have historical events like WW2 and such all the way into the future.

I plan on buying Tokon (A Marvel fighting game) as soon as its available. If you like Marvel characters, give it a look. I play Street Fighter 6. One of these days I'll finish Tyranny and move on to Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity Original Sin (the last few games are Computer Role Playing Games. (CRPGs) and are full of story and action.

My truth about gaming as I age: Do what you want!

At 71 1/2, flight sim is still and will always be my #1 "hobby". I also have American Truck Simulator that I often use. Those are just for my desktop pc. I also have a PS5 that I play PGA Tour 2k25 & MLB The Show almost daily. It doesn't matter what others think or say. By the way, my oncologist agrees that detailed sims & games that make you think and help with reflexes are a definite advantage and is happy to see me so involved.

Hey, like Christopher, I couldn't give a flying monkey what others think. I always remember listening to a guy years ago, forget who he was, and he said don't be afraid of being childlike, not childish, but childlike. I thought that was very profound. I'm 73 and a bloody big kid at heart. In addition to simming, which I've done for 17 years, since lockdown I've become a dedicated online gamer! Well, only one game really, Sniper Elite 5 and Sniper Elite Resistance, they're great fun. Funnily enough, virtually all the guys I play with online are adults, by that I mean in their 30s and 40s with a few in their 60s, although I did hear a gasp not so long ago when I revealed my age! BTW, who remembers Duke Nukem? I think I'm right when I say that was the first of the 3D games that was released.I remember the excitement and disbelief when I first played it, absolutely amazing.

Edited July 24Jul 24 by Rocky_53

As someone in their 50s/GenX, the Atari 2600 came out when I was a little kid. Before that, there were coin op arcade games in the bowling alley. Even folks a little more my senior have had video games in most of their lives.

I couldn't imagine not having gaming in my life. I'm a flight simmer, but I'm also a video gamer.

I still play online FPS games and take pride that I can still "hang" with the kids.

I would say video games have been a key to my mental health all my life. There's no better stress relief than shooting alients in Doom or any other similar things. There's no better way to escape reality for a bit.

I know it keeps my mind sharp as well as my reactions.

Even when I get too old for the FPS and other reaction type games, I'll be flight simming and games like turn based strategy games.

There's nothing childish about it, there are games built for all ages.

My 81 year old father still plays Counter Strike. Trying to get him into flight sim actually, but he's always been a train guy (Train sim on the other hand, maybe something there lol)

I'll always game. I understood at a young age that video games (we're talking DOS and Atari and NES) weren't the enemy the general public made them out to be - I'm an avid reader and RPGs tell some of the most incredible stories I've ever read. Some games are truly art. I've laughed, I've cried - in MMORPGs I've had moments where my friends and I fought other players or a raid boss and won and rejoiced. Its a real feeling. Its a very valid hobby. There are no age restrictions on joy in my opinion.

Doom Shareware was the first "classic" first person shooter game that I played. That was late 1993. That was followed by Quake, Terminator Future Shock (very atmospheric, and the first game ever to include MouseLook), Quake 2, UnReal, and then the original Half Life. However, my favourite first person game of all time was the original Deus Ex. Absolutely massive game with so much depth, and loads of options. I loved being able to play with stealth, rather than having to shoot everything in sight.

Another point about "gaming" (and this includes flight simulation) as I get older is that I am getting more and more fussy. I stopped playing most first person shooters because that is effectively all that they are. Shooters. I got bored of having to shoot everything in sight years ago. That is why Deus Ex is my favourite game of all time. It is also why those "blurred areas" of scenery in the Bing maps (or the mismatch of adjacent tiles when two different photo sets are being used) annoy the hell out of me.

As an example of the latter, I was thinking about purchasing LFRK Caen Carpiquet on ORBx Central. Both options (Supersonic and France VFR) are relatively inexpensive (around £8). However, I decided to check out the area first......and what did I find? Mismatched base images right in front of the runway 31 approach. In fact, there seems to be a different set of base images for the city of Caen itself when compared to the surrounding countryside, which makes it stand out like a sore thumb to me. Why can't they keep images consistent in a given area? There are even more of these "small mismatched areas" just to the north of the airport (along the coast). Massive immersion breakers in a flight simulator. The same is true just west of EGSU Duxford (which also has an even worse area at the edge of the mismatched base images), and north of EGSS Stansted.

Incredibly frustrating, and something that Jorg mentioned AGES ago. Nothing seems to have been done about them, and I am not optimistic that anything ever will be done.

Edited July 24Jul 24 by Christopher Low

4 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

I couldn't care less what other people think. I enjoy flight simulation, and I would dearly love to have another immersive "first person adventure" game in my life. I am really hoping that "The Lost Wild" will be that game.

There’s a couple of non-combat Arma 3 campaigns you should check out: Laws of War and Reactionary Forces.

1 hour ago, Rocky_53 said:

Hey, like Christopher, I couldn't give a flying monkey what others think. I always remember listening to a guy years ago, forget who he was, and he said don't be afraid of being childlike, not childish, but childlike. I thought that was very profound. I'm 73 and a bloody big kid at heart. In addition to simming, which I've done for 17 years, since lockdown I've become a dedicated online gamer! Well, only one game really, Sniper Elite 5 and Sniper Elite Resistance, they're great fun. Funnily enough, virtually all the guys I play with online are adults, by that I mean in their 30s and 40s with a few in their 60s, although I did hear a gasp not so long ago when I revealed my age! BTW, who remembers Duke Nukem? I think I'm right when I say that was the first of the 3D games that was released.I remember the excitement and disbelief when I first played it, absolutely amazing.

Before my dad died we were chatting about how I still feel 20 years old in a middle-aged body. He looked at me deadly serious and said "good, don't let the old man in". I think about that quite often - he's right. It's easy to complain about stuff that simply doesn't matter - I'd rather have a laugh about it.

No problem with gamers or gaming in general.

Totally agree with the idea that ANY interactive activity (especially if it’s online multiplayer) is cognitively superior to spending time on conventional passive entertainment.

My particular preferences always trend towards simulation & realism.

Other than various civilian and combat flight sims, I spend time in Arma 3 and Arma ReForGer.

Like flight sim, they’re open world sandboxes focused on realistic interactions - so you get to make your own fun.

They’re GREAT complements to combat flight sim, and even if you don’t like pulling triggers yourself, you can still run logistics missions and have a material effect in favor of your team.

And some of the MilSim groups run incredibly realistic missions, even so far as medical first responder, CasEvac, C/SAR, etc.

Arma 3 also has fairly well fleshed out flight simulation(ish) addons and free mods. Their focus is far less on “study level” systems and far more on meeting operational tasks and supporting the ground forces with air mobile ops. Obviously heavily biased towards rotary wing and drone ops, but there’s plenty of fixed wing action available, too

Now, if we can just get a really good marine/ship/boat simulator…!

(Funny side note: it’s strangely satisfying when I see my kids come online in Steam. We don’t play the same games, but still 😉👍)

2 hours ago, Christopher Low said:

my favourite first person game of all time was the original Deus Ex. Absolutely massive game with so much depth, and loads of options. I loved being able to play with stealth, rather than having to shoot everything in sight.

I agree Christopher, although I enjoy multiplayer sniping games, I remember with great fondness the game Metal Gear Solid. The original was awesome, all about stealth, sneaking around, trying not to be seen. Great fun.

I dread to think how many hours I spent playing Quake 3 Arena back in the day 😅