R: hello and welcome to the Fedcast our video games and Industry podcast by Gamefed
I'm Replenished and today I'm joined by Voicelessecho. V: hi how are you
R: So today's topic is aging gamers and what that means for the future of gaming
so we saw a recent ABC article that said the largest age bracket for online
gaming is over 55 and that got us thinking about how gamers are getting
older and what that's gonna mean for games it's interesting to think of ok so
we think of gaming as a young people's game we think of we think of gaming as
for the young people but that's not the case anymore like people who gamed when
they're little kids are now adults and they're continuing to game and they're
going to continue to game into their older years and obviously older people are
picking it up too like the you know people have a 55 are playing games
they're in there
V: hmm and I was actually like seen some
studies about how it's good to like to keep like with the gaming with the
controllers and things for the muscle memory as well so it could be a good
reason why as well that we're seeing over 55s
R: Yeah well I think health benefits wise I do see a lot of people talking about the mental
stimulation that it helps getting in there and doing different things and obviously physical
wise you know you're getting in there and you're you're still being active I
know people don't think of gaming as active but it is in a way
V:it is yeah even if
it's more mental and like I guess hands and things like that and you've got things like the wii that came out
R: Yeah the types of games that are coming out now I mean that yeah we all your um Oh
your um Kinect sort of games are that you know I wonder about things like your
just dances and and the singing games and that where you kind of gotta be up and
getting involved I wonder if they'd be popular with the older gamers
V: as long as they don't break their hips
I'd say it'd be alright
R: Yeah there is probably that risk with that's probably a risk with young people too
Just getting a little too keen breaking something
breaking themselves or something around them
V: it's less likely known for rage quits though
R: so the thing that I was thinking of with older gamers their probably gonna want a different kind of game to
what a young person wants what I mean by that is do you think that an old gamer
wants a game that is more story based
V: I think it would go off like I know myself
it's hard with work and getting into story based games I do love them more
than just the jump in jump out but it's the time factor like I guess with
something where you need that quick time action reflex obviously you're not gonna
be as good as some sixteen-year-old who's got the reflexes
R: true but I was thinking more
there's probably two sides of that I was thinking more in terms of
the games I played when I was a kid versus the games I play now have changed
a lot and I was you know I find myself more and more seeking out games that
have a bit more depth to them but then
by the same token you're right that you have less time you much more time money
rich and time poor like you've you've got the money now to play the games but you
don't have any time to play them because you've got a job and you've got to get
things done
V:yeah it's true so what type of games did you used to
play I guess like and then what do you play now?
R: I played whatever It was a different time when I was a kid just whatever you could get
like I played demos and and we had a PC we didn't have consoles until later I
had a PC and it was basically we played demos and just whatever I could get hold
of but I played I played things I still play now I played civilization I played
you know your sim kind of game which aren't deep in the story but
they take a long time *laugh*
V: yes yes that's very true
R: you know I could happily sink in 50 hours into a game but that's not so easy to do now
V: No I feel your pain it was about the same as whereas I had consoles as a kid but
still the demo discs because your parents weren't about to go out and buy an
eighty dollar game for you
R: Oh god no
V: so it was those wonderful demo discs and then
whatever you got for your birthday yeah Or Blockbuster *laughter* I mean you could actually rent Video Games
R: Yeah so mine were the big one with me was games that my brother played so he would get me and then I would kind of
get your hand me down PC games where I'd be like oh what's this I played
things like oh I used to watch him play Doom couldn't think I was old enough to
play it but he played kind of your point-and-click sort of games and then I
would play them like yeah umm I can't remember what it was called
there was a redo recently it was like a it was a point and click game
V: Monkey Island?
R: No not Monkey Island but it was like you're
on a bike you were a bikie and you were going around the place and it was
point and click I can't remember what it was called but yeah I played that was one of those ones
that we got like a demo and then we played it through and I and then I
played weird things like MUDs I don't know if you remember MUDs like the text based
V: no
R: online games so pre graphics you know a time before graphics could really
be on your dial-up internet you had MUD games so text-based adventure games and
I played some of them as well so they were very exciting to me because
of this big world but it was just words on the screen that you could read and
interact with other people
V: yeah it is hard with not having the time so I guess
that's why mobile games are really picking up as well
R: yeah absolutely
V: and those indie games that only take like yeah okay it only takes six hours but
it's not gonna be $80
R:even more such as those kind of indie
games they're like one-hour games where you just play it once through it's kind of a
beautiful experience and you're done with it
I think that young people wouldn't like that but an older crowd would be you
know enjoying that I've done that now I suppose the difference is because
there's a two-fold we're talking about like adult gamers but I'm like this our
game is like who are in the workforce but there's also older gamers as is
as in retirees because then you start going around the other way again when you've
got time again so you can start getting back into the game to take a long time
V: yes like you see that grandma who plays Skyrim yeah I guess
R: I think I would be the same I would just go and find myself some like amazing world game where you can
just sink a couple of hundred hours and I think I start taking up like The
Witcher and all those sort of games when there's just side quest upon side quest
when you can just have the time
V: yeah and you just don't you've just got the time to
do it like you know like okay I've only got much time I don't care about your
side quest what you want me to collect I need to finish the story
R: yeah I gotta get to the story but otherwise
yeah you were
talking before about the physicality you were saying about reflexes and yes that
that is very true about you know twitch based games that happens really
really early on as well like once you get into your 30s you don't have the
reflexes anymore so um and then obviously the older you get it surely it
gets worse so I feel like your your shooting games
wouldn't necessarily be that popular in an older crowd cuz that's just it's just
impossible as you get older
V: yeah you wouldn't be able to keep up
with them and the twitch reflexes
R:you know you can't play against a 15 year old who's just like zooming around you
and you're like just wait a second I've just got to remember which button to click
V: yes I mean I have that problem now so I can't keep up
Re: I have always had that problem I was never someone
who was any good at twitch gaming I think I've actually gotten slightly better
than when I was younger weirdly enough which is I don't
think very common um I think it's cuz games are a little bit easier than they
used to be which is great for me
V: yeah I must admit and when I panic in any sort
of twitch based game I just end up like waving the gun wildly around so I would
never shoot anything
R: yeah my my technique was to run into a wall and
then look up the ceiling and not know what I was looking at and get really
lost that was my technique back in the day I've got to shoot something oh no
where am I where's the ground where's where's the ceiling I don't know I'm
lost that was my style *laugh*
I think I'm a little better
if you watch me play any of the PUBG like I don't panic the same way anymore
so I don't know maybe experience does you know play into that a little bit of
just being a little bit more just a little bit more relaxed about it
V: a little bit more relaxed yeah
R: with that do you think that okay contentious point
difficulty levels so but we're talking about this and I'm talking about the
fact that you know I was never any good at games so for me I love when games
have different difficulty levels I love when there's an easy mode and then
sometimes with some games I wish that there was also a story only mode because
I'm not that interested in the gameplay but I'm really interested in the story
and I feel like older gamers would be the same as me in that sense of
sometimes you don't want to just die every two seconds you want to be able to
just enjoy the game and just you know go along and get into it
V: mmm I would have to agree with you I because of time poorness I don't want to
die every 20 seconds so I do tend to lean towards either normal or even easy
depending on if I have heard that this game is ridiculously hard if it's got an
easy setting then I'm gonna definitely smash it on the easy setting
R: yeah and is does depend on the game but I tend to pick easy
V: and the story mode if you could just pick story mode like let's say um like you
said The Witcher 3 it was something like Fallout if I could just pick the story
mode and you didn't have to make me go do all these side quests just
write those out and just let me do the story as it's meant to be
R: yeah for me
there's one game in particular that I am really interested in the story but not
in the gameplay and that's the Last of Us
V: aaah yeah
R: I'm really intrigued by that story I know some of
it from you know seeing people playing bits and pieces but I really want to be able to go through and play
the game in inverted commas without having to do the fighting in that cuz
that's doesn't interest me basically but that story sounds so interesting that I
want kind of what almost watch it like a little movie like a like you know I
enjoyed
V: Quicktime events
R: yeah I enjoy the Telltale games with these QuickTime events
where you just you know keeping the pace along but it's not um you know about
being skillful *laugh*
V: and I guess the other thing would be are older gamers looking for
like the QuickTime games like I was just talking to my sister the other day who's
a couple years younger than me and she was saying how she really hated
QuickTime games and I was like well I actually quite enjoy them because I
don't have to worry too much about the gameplay itself like you know it's
taking me through I just have to press a button or make a decision every now and then
R: Yeah I like the decision aspect more than the
V:not so much the button pressing because that's just kinda like I'm still here
R: yeah it gets a bit annoying
V: but where it's like oh such-and-such says this to you do you choose to be arrogant or
respectful blah blah blah and I'm actually finding I'm enjoying them a lot
more than the running around and killing stuff sort of games
R: so I
honestly think that we will see those games kind of have a bit of a
renaissance in the coming decades I think that they will become much more of
a thing because there's gonna be much more a market for them and I'm very
popular now but I think even more so as as the years go on and older gamers are out
there playing they're gonna want those games where you can just enjoy the
experience
V: mmm it's a bit of a hard one though
R: yeah I mean I think that for me what it is is it's not that the other
kind of games aren't gonna be around anymore you're always gonna have your
twitch based games always gonna have your shooters there's always gonna be a
big market for them but I just think it's gonna be more spread out I think
that um there's gonna be like shooting games and like violent games dominate
gaming at the moment very much so like most games are some kind of shooting
game in some way or other
V: If I read one more article about how people are addicted to Fortnight I may just smack someone
*laugh*
V: gaming addiction be afraid be very afraid
R: that's the older people that definately don't play games
and they're scared of games because they don't understand games
V: but I wonder how many of those people like they're saying that there's game
addiction I wonder how many of them have got something like Candy Crush or
something or their phones
R: Absolutely
V: that they log into like you know once a week
R: once a day most of those games have daily rewards and that
V:but I wonder how many of them don't consider it gaming
R: yeah but you're be on
there every day playing it for a chunk of time
V: its's exactly the same
R: yeah yeah I think um but yeah that
older crowd that doesn't play games but yeah I'm really curious to see like like now gamers
are parents so they're gonna raise their kids in a totally different way
with attitudes to
V: than what we were raised
R: yeah like I never saw my parents
play any games I had no concept of games they just like that's the children's
thing that just goes over there and we had nothing to do with it but now
people are gonna play together like you see all the stuff with um you know kids
playing with their parents and in coop and things that that's gonna be you
know so kids growing up yeah it must be really awesome to grow up with parents who game
V: I mean my dad played a couple of games
but like it was things like Age of Empires and things like that so not
really shoot em ups or anything but he didn't
play them regularly and yeah okay they were there so we played them but now he
doesn't it's like he doesn't understand like when they come and visit they're like why do you spend so much time
playing video games
R: he didn't keep up with it then?
V: yeah did not keep up with it no
R: my parents no idea we
had the PC and that and I think my brother was a driving force for
games in our house him being interested in it and playing games so they kind of were he was a smart kid so
they encouraged it I think but no idea what it was about but yeah I think the because
also the other thing is back in the day games were for kids they were aimed at
kids but now you've got games that are for adults that no doubt about it
this game is aimed an adult so I think that that kind of games aimed different
age brackets would be more of a thing too like soon there's at some point there's going
to be games that are just for people over 60 like this this is who we're
targeting this is this is the the advertising's all gonna be aimed at people
over 60 that's it like other people may play it but that's not who it's aimed at
I think that's gonna happen as well like you know
V: I would say it will especially
like you said like all the people who have grown up with video games are aging and soon
like you know they're gonna have to keep bringing out games and eventually we're
gonna hit a certain age bracket like and be over 55 and yeah I reckon they will yeah
R: people are already playing games now but the amount that's gonna play
is going so much more
V: hmm it's gonna be like all the way through
like you know play it from on
R: and from the game makers perspective that's a
untapped market of money and that's what it's all about you get into that other
market I think people I think they should seriously already be
considering that now of looking at the next 5-10 years and
games that they can market towards
V: that can bring out for the older generation
R: honestly think that that is an untapped market that they could get into
V: they just gonna realise it maybe we should write them a letter
R: yes right a proper handwritten letter so they know that we're old school
not an email a letter
V: and post stamps because you know
R: I'll have to buy some stamps they're so expensive now
*laughter*
R: that ties in with something else that I was thinking about I saw recently there
was I can't remember who it was
one of the companies did it did a new accessibility pad thing where
it's like instead of having a controller it's like a little pad thing with
different inputs and stuff I can't remeber who it was that did it
it's only happened recently so basically it's
for people with disabilities but that's also for older gamers if you've got
mobility issues you can't hold a controller but if you've got you know
these these new little gamepady things suddenly you can get involved like older
people have you know arthritis in their hands and that they come I've
already got like busted wrists and thumbs from playing games like I can't
imagine what its gonna be like when I'm old so holding a controller is just
urgh so um yeah I think that there will be more of those sort of like
functionality of the hardware around it as well that will change it's very
V: it's very true I've just actually tried to find what you were talking about but can't find it
R: I can't remember the company that did it its one of the big ones
V: I mean they are already like
companies making modifications
R: it was one of the big ones that did it and it's only recently
it's one of the big big ones like it's either Sony or Microsoft or
V: yeah you're got a very good point like yeah I mean after playing a couple of hours my thumb's really do
hurt and yes but I guess some Oh
carpal tunnel in my hands as well which is basically just arthritis
but from video gaming and I guess the profession I've chosen
R: absolutely and everyone's on computers a lot more as well
V: I think that's going to be a problem
R: it's gonna be start being an issue later on and so
then you're gonna have to change the way people can game so that physically why so not just um
with being able to play but also older gamers have other things as well like as you
get older you your eyesight you start to have trouble with your eyesight you have to
have trouble with your hearing so that's something that you've got to kind of
consider for your older gamers of how do you combat that in a game how do you
make that accessible so that obviously the main you think of people with
disabilities with accessibility but like older people is it's the same crowd in
a way like it's it's a more diverse group of people that who'll have access to
the games yeah I'd be curious to see how they kind of move into that over
you know in the next 10 20 years what they're gonna do in terms of
accessibility and I think yeah so that will help with people with disabilities
and then of course your older gamers older gamers might kind of
almost lead the push in that sense of all these older gamers are bringing in
the money so then they're helping with accessibility for people with
disabilities
V: yeah and I mean it is something that gets forgotten and it's
it is nice when companies go out of their way to make sure that people with
disabilities who want to play video games can get around it like anyways
here these beautiful stories about how someone played Zelda but just via sound
like it looks I think I might have found it
R: it's like a
little pad thing and you can kind of press and theres different sections
who's the company that did it?
nevermind anyway the point was that yeah you've got this
new hardware that is kind of gonna be helping for older gamers the reason I
say this has such a big thing is because I'm saying what I'm saying what we're
talking about is that aging gamers are a big market and so aging gamers are gonna
mean better accessibility and that means better accessibility for everyone
yes that's my point is that if the money is there the hardware and the
accessibility will follow
V: that's right and I mean if there is this someone does
make this Universal gaming pad I'd probably buy one too tell you the
truth so I don't have 20 million controllers lying around the house yeah
and hey my wrists and my hands are gonna go soon might as well get used to it now
R: all the people that spend all their time for fun and for work on the computer are
gonna need all this stuff in in the next you know unless we solve arthritis
then we're gonna need this stuff *laugh*
yes so I think it's gonna be really interesting in the next you know the
next decade the next 20 years I think it's gonna really be an interesting time
for everyone you know it's gonna it's gonna change things and I think for the
better in that regard unless they're stupid and don't tap that
market but I can't see them being that dumb and not realizing that there's
money there to be made
V: no I can't see that happening they basically get in every market they
possibly can so I would assume
R: And what we were talking about before about how games have changed to
be more mature that suggests that they understand that they're that gamers are
more mature sometimes *laugh* so they get it I think so as you know I would love I
can't wait to see the day when there's all these
these eighty-year-old gamers out there just doing their thing enjoying themselves
V: well that's true
I mean another thing could be that they are realizing that their market is aging
by all the remasters we're seeing recently
R: that's true cause that's playing to nostalgia
V: It is like you know you've got I guess Crash Bandicoot like and we've got Spiro
coming out Shadow of the Colossus like these are all games that came out
on like you know the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 and like first generation
or not first generation
R: and the point is they're bringing back games from 20 30 years ago now
coz games have been a thing for many decades now
V: and they're playing on nostalgia but also like
when you've got something which is a great story they're realising well hey
these adults now played it when they were kids they're probably gonna want to
play it again
R: yeah but the old stuff's terrible
V: you're gonna get into it yeah not all of it's terrible but yeah some of it's
pretty damn terrible
R: but I mean like you know graphically and you know
engine-wise it can be pretty terrible too just it's not playable for modern thing
V: yeah and I mean I guess well I mean I love the retro so I don't me looking at
something that's 8bit isn't really upsetting like you know I'm like oh yeah
I can see where they were going for with this I don't mind it but I can
understand like that a lot of the younger generation aren't going to want to
look at that yeah like oh it's so pixelated how could you play this and I
guess the expensiveness of retro gaming like you know is but so remaking things
R: surely retro games are largely played by people who played them when
they were kids and are now adults
V: that's exactly right
so that's another thing as well like yeah we've got the money but we're
buying nostalgia but then when they go and remaster it and bring it out it looks
beautiful you like well there's your money they're making
a lot more remasters now and to the point where like you know you're like oh
they're bringing out this new game mmm they should remaster the first one
R: quite often I don't realise things like I don't know the original
game and I'll be like oh game looks interesting oh it's a remaster
V: look at this new game oh no wait
R: it's like movies it's the same thing everything's a redo
V: it's getting that way or Disney owns it
R: that's true Disney owns all the things
Will Disney own all our games? *laugh*
V: they may if they throw enough money at something
yeah so what other things I can't really think about anything else about what
that older gamers will mean for games you know there's so many things that so
many things that it's gonna change
V: I think I think there's a lot um I guess
like you know the other thing is the twitch market
R: as in streaming?
V: streaming yes so things like that will I'm guessing it'll continue on because I
mean there's so many games pumping out we can't play them all and it might
be it's probably going to be something that lives on for a long time because we
people can't play every game that comes out but they're probably happily watch
someone else play
R: I've done it with quite a few games were I watch the entirety of the game but I
have never played myself I watched the entire newest Final Fantasy that way the whole
thing I watched the whole playthrough of it of like so many hours and it was great
V: yeah like YouTube as well like I I can't play horror games myself because I'm a sook
R: oh yeah
V: but I will watch them on YouTube because someone else playing the commentary and
they're like oh something's going to happen and it takes that edge off
R: yeah absolutely and
all those young people coming through now that have grown up on streaming too
- that's their main entertainment so I don't see it going
away because that's how they see games so
and we're probably going to see an aging demographic in the the twitch and
YouTube streaming
R: yeah the live streaming is skewed very young at the
moment but that's going to change obviously it'll shift as people get older
and continue to be involved and new people are coming in although unless young people move to
something else *laugh*
V: unless they find something else better which it quite possible but there's probably a high chance that that's
going to as well turn into an aging demographic
R: yeah people don't
necessarily think that this is a big deal but I think it's really
interesting to me of what this means so um yeah anyway we wrap this up?
V: I think we should but
just one more thing it's not the demographic that people think either like if you go
what demographic is the most popular gaming? people are always going to hit
like the 15 through to 21 year olds where they think they're children and
then studies like this come out it's actually like what the 55 pluses and
then below them was the 25 to 34 year olds
R: yeah the 25
to 35 kind of range is kind of one of your big ones for most
I think bigger for games than anything because they're the ones that grew up with games
V: yeah it's just sort of like but when you hear them going on it's such a
and again the people who don't really understand games they all think it's in that younger demographic
R: yeah they think it's just for young people but those surveys and studies are clearly showing
that that's not the case
that older people play games and like much older people play games
V: but yeah we should probably wrap this up
R:Yeah well anyway let's wrap things up
Thanks for joining us on this Fedcast I am Replenished this is Voicelessecho
R: say bye
V:bye *laugh*
R: thanks very much
if you've got any ideas for what we can be chatting about leave us a comment
follow us on Youtube at Gamefed follow us on Twitch at Gamefedofficial for
live streams if you follow us on Twitter and Facebook you can get updates on what
we're up to and news all kinds of things thanks very much for joining us
we'll see you next time bye
*music*
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