Video Games Are Going To Change Retirement Forever

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I don't know about you but I plan on playing video games until I die. Even then, I want my gaming rig buried with me, just in case there are LAN parties in the afterlife.

The percentage of U.S. gamers who are over age 50 has increased rapidly, from just 9 percent in 1999 to 27 percent in 2015, according to the Entertainment Software Association’s annual reports. This is a global trend. In Europe, a 2012 study by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe found that 27 percent of people between 55 and 64 played video games; in Australia in 2015, 41 percent of people between 65 and 74 played video games.
 
One huge advantage is that by and large, gaming is actually one of the most affordable hobbies you can do. Golfing, boating, flying, traveling, and so forth all require a lot more resources. And unlike many other hobbies, for the most part your health doesn't even have to be all that great, so its something you can do in Depends.
 
As long as I can hold and controller or use a mouse I plan to keep gaming. If a day comes where I can't play them myself I'll make someone play them for me.
 
My parents are bored as hell in retirement. As long as I'm able to play video games, that's not going to happen to me.
 
Same here - I have a huge backlog of Steam games. Heck, just to play a few of the RPG series I have will take me 5+ years. Not too mention, I have never spent much time on any MMOs. If WoW is still around, maybe I'll try that :)
As others have pointed out, it's a relatively cheap hobby. I have the games (most bought at a reduced cost anyway) and the hardware isn't too bad. My current rig is about 5 years old - still chugging along just fine. If I get 8 years out of it, it will retire to my server closet and continue doing good work for years to come (assuming it doesn't give up the smoke).
 
Video games are my end-life plan. If I ever get get decrepit I can't leave my bed it will be all video games all the time.
 
You know what I love about these numbers? The increased likelihood of games with substance. If the market isn't dominated by the 16-25 bracket, the 1-inch thick veneer of novel innovation, surrounding the standard toolbox many games seem to employ, may get replaced with something truly surprising. And that would be a welcome surprise.
 
Quix said:
Video games are my end-life plan. If I ever get get decrepit I can't leave my bed it will be all video games all the time.
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BAD NEWS for you.
By the time you will be able to retire; you eye sight will be shot; you hearing won't be half what it was; you will likely have some source of constant pain that sitting for long periods will make worse. You will likely be on a cocktail of prescription meds that will make you feel sick most of the time.
Your best shot at life is to chuck it all and live like a wild man in the woods. When you are retirement age you will still be a wild man in the woods and you won't know any different.
 
I'm 47 and play on a rather regular basis and intend to until my veins give up the smoke and Jesus takes me home.
I will say that I do mute a lot more people than I used to and that I am not as quick as I was.
I am working on a map for my favorite game and will be buried in a secret location, easter egg bonus round.
 
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Amusingly, the author completely ignores games like Bridge, Chess, Scrabble, and Poker which can all be played online.
 
My retirement budget includes a lot of Gaming and used hardware, as most other activities will be too expensive as far as I can calculate.
 
The same could be said about watching TV/movies or reading books as a hobby after you retire.
Aside from the amount of mental focus and physical tolerance required to sit and do any of these activities at length, at that age- there is also the question of getting bored doing just one type of activity all the time.
It's like having pizza- I like it but if it came to just having that (with no matter how diverse the toppings), I will get bored with it and never want to eat it again. Its basically the principle of reduced return on investment in any activity, you no longer get as much pleasure if it is present in infinite quantities.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
BAD NEWS for you.
By the time you will be able to retire; you eye sight will be shot; you hearing won't be half what it was; you will likely have some source of constant pain that sitting for long periods will make worse. You will likely be on a cocktail of prescription meds that will make you feel sick most of the time.
Your best shot at life is to chuck it all and live like a wild man in the woods. When you are retirement age you will still be a wild man in the woods and you won't know any different.
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My Dad isn't having any of those issues, he's playing games just fine. Besides 32 years is a long time for them to improve mechnical eyes and ears, they're already pretty close ;). I'm thinking weed might be in there somewhere too I'm pretty convinced it will be totally legal by that point. Hell it might be legal next year (in Canada).
 
Makes sense. The baby buster generation which is now entering its 50s was the first to grow up at the beginning of the digital age. As latter generations age they will have spent their whole in the digital world and it'll simply be part of their lifestyle.
 
My Dad is 68, retired and he games pretty much every day on his PC. Thanks to me he has quite the Steam backlog but seems content to stick to his Fallout 4, Stalker trilogy and World of Warships weekly rotation. PC gaming pretty much replaced his previous hobby of building military models and dioramas about 20 years ago. If I make it to 68 and can game everyday I'll be pretty happy.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
BAD NEWS for you.
By the time you will be able to retire; you eye sight will be shot; you hearing won't be half what it was; you will likely have some source of constant pain that sitting for long periods will make worse. You will likely be on a cocktail of prescription meds that will make you feel sick most of the time.
Your best shot at life is to chuck it all and live like a wild man in the woods. When you are retirement age you will still be a wild man in the woods and you won't know any different.
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Nope. Retired 5 years ago. Eyesight still correctable to 20/12, hearing near norms except for the high end range. When I get sore buttitis from too many video games, I go weld something useful for the deer lease for those times when I want to go play wild man in the woods.
 
I'm closing in on the end of my professional working career........
I intend to work at something until I'm not physically able..........hopefully get paid a little while I'm at it.

That said, there will always be gaming going on at my house and I will never stop building big ass gaming PCs........now get off my lawn......
 
LOL really makes you wonder what LAN party at a retirement home will look like.
 
Steve said:
I don't know about you but I plan on playing video games until I die. Even then, I want my gaming rig buried with me, just in case there are LAN parties in the afterlife.

The percentage of U.S. gamers who are over age 50 has increased rapidly, from just 9 percent in 1999 to 27 percent in 2015, according to the Entertainment Software Association’s annual reports. This is a global trend. In Europe, a 2012 study by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe found that 27 percent of people between 55 and 64 played video games; in Australia in 2015, 41 percent of people between 65 and 74 played video games.
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Wait, gamers? Gamers or "people who happen to play video games"? A gamer usually refers to a person who makes video games a serious hobby: a gaming enthusiast. Candy crush an hour a week doesn't count at all.
 
Dr. Righteous said:
BAD NEWS for you.
By the time you will be able to retire; you eye sight will be shot; you hearing won't be half what it was; you will likely have some source of constant pain that sitting for long periods will make worse. You will likely be on a cocktail of prescription meds that will make you feel sick most of the time.
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And before that happens, you will start having vertigo and motion sickness problems when playing 3D games that will limit your game play.

There's always solitaire and candy crush, although you might need a 15 inch tablet so you can see it :)
 
Heh, I'm 63 and pretty much play every day. UT2K4, Grim Dawn, Path of Exile and a plethora of RPGs. My hearing is good and my eyesight is actually perfectly fine for gaming purposes (I can still read books without wearing cheaters). I'm going to game on until I get run over while riding my motorcycle!
 
wow a thread for me.. I have more resources to game now than ever been retired since 2009, will be 65 next month I believe gaming and building pc' s will keep my mind sharp.......
 
" I want my gaming rig buried with me, just in case there are LAN parties in the afterlife."

Pfft!

You won't need a PC anymore, that was called 'practice'
 
I wouldn't be so quick to count old people out of gaming because of hearing and eyesight. Unless they go completely blind, they can just use large format displays or game on a low-res television set.

As far as hearing, they can use headphones and turn up the volume as loud as they want.

Besides, being old isn't necessarily what gets your hearing and eyesight. It generally just exaggerates defects that were already present... things like diabetes, astigmatism, etc. If you don't have any other conditions going into old age, you might have decent hearing and eyesight until you die. On the other hand, you could develop some kind of eye issues or get an ear infection and lose things without getting any older.

The reason older people have more of these problems isn't due to aging by itself... it's just that as you live longer, you've had more time for various bad habits or defects in your bodily system to eat away at your health until the consequences can't be ignored.

There's a reason why some people need glasses in their teens, others can live to be 70 and still have near-perfect vision, and still others can have their vision restored with laser eye surgery.
 
When I see an article like this, I'm reminded of this satirical article from Cracked: 5 Ways to Tell You're Getting Too Old for Video Games.

At the risk of sound like one of those old "get off my lawn" geezers, I really do not like to play online multiplayer games. This is especially true of the online shooters. I really don't want to play against the kids who spend the entire day and night mastering Call Of Duty, yell obscenities over the mic, and berate you for screwing up their game. Have two or three encounters with those type of players, and you have second thoughts, especially after working the entire day with a customer who is screaming at you over phone over an issue. Sorry, my world doesn't revolve around gaming. My life, as a so-called 46 year old "adult", revolves around earning a paycheck, paying the mortgage/rent, taking care of expenses, and developing my skillset to keep myself employable. And, I just want the video games to be a pleasant diversion for a few hours and escape from reality.
 
ZLoth said:
At the risk of sound like one of those old "get off my lawn" geezers, I really do not like to play online multiplayer games. This is especially true of the online shooters. I really don't want to play against the kids who spend the entire day and night mastering Call Of Duty, yell obscenities over the mic, and berate you for screwing up their game. Have two or three encounters with those type of players, and you have second thoughts, especially after working the entire day with a customer who is screaming at you over phone over an issue. Sorry, my world doesn't revolve around gaming. My life, as a so-called 46 year old "adult", revolves around earning a paycheck, paying the mortgage/rent, taking care of expenses, and developing my skillset to keep myself employable. And, I just want the video games to be a pleasant diversion for a few hours and escape from reality.
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That's not necessarily because you're getting older. That's just because online gaming is a pretty unforgiving environment unless you play on a private server with just your friends. I play single-player games. Very rarely, I'll play an MMORPG with friends. But playing with random people on a public server? No way.

It's a very specific kind of person that takes an online competition that seriously and struggles futilely to be number one among thousands. Those types of people are disproportionately represented on public servers, because they're the only ones who can stand each other and tend to drive most other kinds of people off over time.
 
I'm oldish and play BF4 MP almost every day, I'm not the best but can hold my own against the young whipper snappers.
 
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