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Post by Sarge on Oct 26, 2018 10:56:07 GMT -5
I think a lot of folks left it behind simply because they perceived that games were for children. You could maybe even make that argument back then, given the way marketing went. You definitely can't say that now, but a lot of times, once you've left and filled that gap with something else, I can see where it might be hard to come back. Particularly when you think about how much gaming as a whole has changed over the years. The high-visibility games are more complex, 3D games, which don't evoke anything like the older games. And indies can often be invisible to the lapsed. Dunno, just speculation on my part. I'm glad I got past the stigma of "it's for kids" and just decided to do what I enjoy. No sense leaving behind all that awesomeness. I'm imagining myself at 80 still playing NES games.
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Post by Ex on Oct 26, 2018 11:27:01 GMT -5
Sarge, our generation (X) does suffer from that negative paradigm, no doubt. But I think the whole "video games are kids" stigma is deteriorating finally; thankfully. I believe most of generation Y, and certainly generation Z, will grow up to feel that video games are a respectable entertainment source for any age. In my brother's case, I don't think he sees video games as being for children, but rather that video games are less complex / cerebrally interesting as the books and TV shows he consumes. The caveat there being he was never into RPGs, strategy, or adventure games growing up. Rather my brother was all about platformers, FPS, and action-adventure games. Thus his frame of reference is a bit biased, and I'd say uninformed, concerning the true potential of video games being intellectually stimulating.
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Post by Sarge on Oct 26, 2018 15:12:35 GMT -5
Yeah, I can see that, too. Makes sense.
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Post by Xeogred on Oct 26, 2018 17:19:12 GMT -5
Who exactly is generation Y and Z?
I know I'm a little younger than both of you but not on the youngest end here (turned 31 this month). I can thankfully confirm, I certainly believe a group of friends of mine and I will be playing videogames until the day we die. Although yeah, as I've mentioned around the board I don't have friends locally that are that into retro gaming, but being at this age with planned events at friends that are nothing but a pure Tekken 7 fight night on the weekend is still a thing that happens and I love it. I think even Ex agreed with me recently but just getting together with friends to watch a movie is... awkward, even moreso if it's anime (I just really prefer watching subtitled things on my own). And is that really fun or engaging? It puts a crutch on talking and catching up with one another (then there might be that rare time someone aggressively insists to be quiet and pay attention), when that's not an issue with gaming at all. I'm sure back in the day people thought a group of people playing cards or whatever were probably juvenile or wasting their time too. But I say nobody wants to be that boring loser who's been sapped of all their hobbies and creativity. I will be playing videogames forever and definitely have some close friends who probably think the same.
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Post by toei on Oct 26, 2018 17:43:04 GMT -5
True, cards is a good comparison in terms of social activities, since it lets you catch up and joke around while still doing something. Adults have always had things like that; they went fishing or hunting, or they got together to watch football - all things that allow you to talk and chill, while providing a reason for the get-together. Guys who didn't have that went out drinking with their buddies. Obviously those are all still popular things, but for people who prefer to stay home, things like multiplayer video games and board games (which have also become more popular) fulfill the same function. With movies and TV shows, you either watch, in which case you don't want people talking, or you talk over it, in which case you're not really watching. It's not a good social activity (though some old-school movie buffs feel that the crowd reactions in a movie theater are a part of the experience).
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Post by Ex on Oct 26, 2018 17:58:25 GMT -5
Who exactly is generation Y and Z? The time periods vary from source to source, but most aggregate to this: I was born in 1979, and I can certainly relate to the stuff in the Generation X column. The newest generation is " Alpha" and is not on that chart. Generation Alpha is sectioned to 2010-2025. I do agree. I only like to watch a movie by myself, or with my wife. If I'm with other people, I'd rather do something that allows discussion while doing it. I actually find board and card games to work better for that than video games honestly.
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Post by toei on Oct 26, 2018 18:07:31 GMT -5
You can tell this is a UK chart because "Glastonbury" is listed as a formative experience for Generation Y, and I have no idea what that is other than it's British. Still, interesting to see it codified so precisely. Interesting that for Generation Y, the preference for final decisions is Face-to-Face.
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Post by anayo on Oct 26, 2018 18:15:41 GMT -5
1: I've never heard "Maturists". I've always heard them called "The Greatest Generation". Probably to lionize them for making it through the Great Depression and World War II. 2: The "generation X" column actually sheds a lot of light on why I identify so much with that generation and the decade they grew up in even though I was born in 1990. My education in high school emphasized the Cold War pretty heavily. I also heard a lot about it from my parents, who were both awfully fond of Reagan. And maybe having computers around the house had something to do with it too? Though maybe that's a stretch since they were all early 90's MS-DOS machines, not 8-bit.
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Post by Sarge on Oct 26, 2018 19:51:30 GMT -5
I think it was actually an advantage for those of us that were part of Generation X that we remember what it was like without the sweeping technological changes, yet were young enough to adapt. I think it helps us appreciate how far things have come a bit more. I'm sure other generations have their own devices that changed the world, but there aren't many that were as transformative as the transistor and computing.
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Post by Xeogred on Oct 26, 2018 20:27:43 GMT -5
I think it was actually an advantage for those of us that were part of Generation X that we remember what it was like without the sweeping technological changes, yet were young enough to adapt. I think it helps us appreciate how far things have come a bit more. I'm sure other generations have their own devices that changed the world, but there aren't many that were as transformative as the transistor and computing. Which makes Generation Y even weirder on that chart to me. Being at the edge of the "millennial", you can tell those trends are pouring in there a bit at the end. I guess I can remember Reality TV being a new thing when I was a kid but I never suckered into that crap.
Overall though yeah, easy to see why I befriend and relate to a lot of Gen X. And I know us and some of my friends who still use a desktop PC are a dying breed. "Digital Natives" is pretty funny. I'm just glad I lived a childhood before cell phones. I was playing on the NES when I was 3 years old, so the tech was definitely there when I was born and slid right into it. Growing up on VHS, cassette tapes, etc, I've been able to appreciate the growth in tech for sure. And now it scares me.
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