What's your age?

[Didz]

I hear World of Warcraft is the worst. Never played it though. I play games when I have spare time and nothing interesting to do. It's quite reasonable in my opinion.

World of Warcraft is a social life, I think thats the problem.

If you play World of Warcraft you rapidly develop an international circle of friends and given the risks of wandering around the streets a night its much safer to socialise online than in harms way. My eldest son is actually travelling to the Netherlands in a few weeks time to meet some of the Dutch members of our guild, but we also have Danish, German, Hungarian, Irish and Australian members.

Likewise a lot of people who complain about computer games being addictive, when questioned about what they do with all the time they are not wasting by playing them end up admitting to watching TV, drinking down the pub, or posing at the gym. All equally addictive and much less stimulating to the brain and far less useful career wise.

My eldest just got a job with a web development company based mainly on the managerial expereince he gained helping to run an international guild on WoW. Man management, team building, communication skills, project management, team co-ordination and resource management are all essential skills when running a Warcraft guild.

[Quillan]

Physically 41, emotionally quite a bit younger. Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

[atheotes]

I'm 27... love the maturity of discussions here...
My parents who are 57 and 52 like to play the TV connected arcade games... and we use to fight for gaming time when i was a kid... Having 2 brothers who also played games did not help

While we used to play all types of games... Mom only plays tetris and Mario now and then.

[TeutonicKnight]

Old enough to know better, still too young to care.

My wife says I haven't matured a day since we met at the university. I'm not sure how to take that though.

[Doug-Thompson]

Old enough to know better, still too young to care.

My wife says I haven't matured a day since we met at the university. I'm not sure how to take that though.

You're only young once, but you can stay immature forever. That's my goal.

[Lusted]

18, though i'll be 19 on the 28th of this month.

[King of Finland]

Almost 15.

[Husar]

21.

And yes, it is a problem, I should spend more time on useful things like university or getting a job, but I've been lazy almost my enitre life.

[El Diablo]

32 going on 6.

Although I may not be as skilled a player as some of the younger ones here, I can at least blame it on the half empty glass of wine (next to the completely empty bottle of wine) ha ha.

[Gaiseric]

I am 24 years young. I have been PC Gaming for the better half of my life and I don't intend to stop. Strategy Games have always been my main intrest. As long as "The Industry" keeps pumping out good Strategy Games, I think that I shall game till the day, and even on the day that I die.

[ASPER THE GREAT]

WOW! I guess I am the old man . I love to play all the strategy game that come out and I buy most of them. Don't care too much for the "FPS" but I give it a go once in a while. I love the HPsims games and Total war game's are the best . been playing EU3 right now what a great game combined EU3 & Total war that would be the best of both worlds. "HEY BY THE WAY WHY HAVE WE NOT DONE THAT "CA/SEGA".

[Lusted]

As long as "The Industry" keeps pumping out good Strategy Games, I think that I shall game till the day, and even on the day that I die.

Hehe. Last words:

"Just one more turn....."

[Rebellious Waffle]

I'm 20. I tend to game an hour or so every day (mostly stuff with rich storylines that take a lot of thinking -- Total War because of the world history, Planescape: Torment because it oozes awesomeness, etc.) Other than that, I study Stuff, make cheeky comments, and occasionally hang about with a gaggle of crazy authors.

[Forward Observer]

At 61 years (62 in November) I may be the oldest "old coot" here, and while I have been around PC's since they were introduced into the business place, I have only owned one since 1999---although the first thing I did was buy a couple of games for it and now that is probably 80% of what i do with my PC.

I do think that one may find that the average ages of gamers will vary according to the game genre.

Games like MMORP's may have a particualr average age while a strategy games like the Total war games may have another. I suspect the total war games will reveal an older age group as similar games requiring practice and in depth study.

On the other hand sports games, adventure games, strategy games, or auto racing games may all have their distinct fan bases and may simply reflect the ages of the people who follow such interests in real life.

It would really be interesting to see an in depth study of such stats, and I have to beleive that some of the main game publisher already have such info.

Cheers

[FactionHeir]

18, though i'll be 19 on the 28th of this month.

I was guessing you'd be around 26 - I was about to ask who you worked for before going to CA. Guess that question answered itself just now.

[trickydicky]

At 61 years (62 in November) I may be the oldest "old coot" here, and while I have been around PC's since they were introduced into the business place, I have only owned one since 1999---although the first thing I did was buy a couple of games for it and now that is probably 80% of what i do with my PC.

I do think that one may find that the average ages of gamers will vary according to the game genre.

Games like MMORP's may have a particualr average age while a strategy games like the Total war games may have another. I suspect the total war games will reveal an older age group as similar games requiring practice and in depth study.

On the other hand sports games, adventure games, strategy games, or auto racing games may all have their distinct fan bases and may simply reflect the ages of the people who follow such interests in real life.

It would really be interesting to see an in depth study of such stats, and I have to beleive that some of the main game publisher already have such info.

Cheers

Wow! I hope I'm still playing and enjoying games as much as you when I get to your age

I agree with you on the in depth study as well, it would be interesting to find out what sort of people (Internationally) like playing what games.

[Kobal2fr]

Man management, team building, communication skills, project management, team co-ordination and resource management are all essential skills when running a Warcraft guild.

Don't forget "dealing with all that drama "

Never played WoW on account of being an elitist bastard, but I've seen more DAoC and EQ2 guilds implode because of "what Jenny said to Joe about what Albert did that place that time" than I care to remember

Also, I can't believe Lusted is 19. World... preconceptions... shattering...

[Chaos Cornelius lucius]

34 here. Been playing computer games for the last 24yrs(oh god that long.....)
I've always enjoyed playing startegy games and the TW series marries the empire build of Civ with the fun of actually using the units you have built.Perfect
@Lusted
"just one more turn",
the phrase that makes my wife walk away laughing and shaking her head.
ps.Anyone remember the Lords of Midnight games back in the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 days?

[andrewt]

I'm 52, I think the last time this sort of poll was done the average age was around 35.

BTW: a poll on World of Warcraft came up with a surprising average age of 25/26.

I'm 23.

I play WoW as well and am not surprised at the average age. Once you hit the level cap (70 now), the game changes. You're either PvPing or raiding. Organized groups are needed and they attract a decidedly older crowd. My guild, I think, has nobody under 18. Most of us are in the 20-29 age group.

I also stopped playing console games as much when I hit 16. It was mostly PC after that. Right now, I barely play console games at all. I'm more into turn-based games now.

[Didz]

Don't forget "dealing with all that drama crap"

Never played WoW on account of being an elitist bastard, but I've seen more DAoC and EQ2 guilds implode because of "what Jenny said to Joe about what Albert did that place that time" than I care to remember

Also, I can't believe Lusted is 19. World... preconceptions... shattering...

Yep! I sort of put that under man-management skills. It happens in the work place too of course and so its all good training. The difference in WoW is that one is dealing with hybrid teams of people from several different cultures and age groups with very different skill sets. Getting them to work together towards a single objective and winning their trust and respect is very hard in World of Warcraft. Much harder in fact than in the workplace.

Old enough to know better, still too young to care.

My wife says I haven't matured a day since we met at the university. I'm not sure how to take that though.

One of the worse things I've discovered about getting older is that your body ages faster than your desires. I think thats what makes old people cranky. The realisation that they can now longer do what they want to do. Friday nights are the worse, watching all the young people piling into the nightclubs. At least in our virtual world we are still all equals, well as long as my eyesight holds out and the arthritus leaves my fingers alone anyway.

[Whacker]

At 61 years (62 in November) I may be the oldest "old coot" here, and while I have been around PC's since they were introduced into the business place, I have only owned one since 1999---although the first thing I did was buy a couple of games for it and now that is probably 80% of what i do with my PC.

Geez, I knew guys like you, Gawain, and Kukri were older, but not like dinosaur rider ancient! Seriously though that brings a big smile to my face, as I plan to be gaming at 61 just like you with my kids and grandkids, provided my wife doesn't kill me before then. Am 28 years young, and look forward to the not too distant days in the future when I can teach my own kids how to frag and then ground them when they beat me!

[sapi]

Some interesting results here, though I can't say I'm overly surprised about anything. There's more older members here than I suspected, and I tend to view Lusted's example as what I considered the norm to be, rather than a deviation from it.

You've got to wonder how many sub-15s just haven't answered the question, though

[Lusted]

I was guessing you'd be around 26 - I was about to ask who you worked for before going to CA. Guess that question answered itself just now.

Really? I thought everyone knew i was relatively young.

Also, I can't believe Lusted is 19. World... preconceptions... shattering...

Yeah i wonder how old everyone thinks i am.

[Nellup]

Really? I thought everyone knew i was relatively young.



Yeah i wonder how old everyone thinks i am.

I thought you were about 30, I'm not sure why though...


I'm 16 BTW, my GCSEs have just finished so I have 2 1/2 months of uninterrupted playing time

[Kobal2fr]

@Lusted : I had you pegged as 25something, +/- a couple or years. But 19 ?! Nobody should be able to FUNCTION at 19, much less be a calm and collected arbiter of debates and general modding patron saint

(EDIT : I meant no offense by that BTW. It's just that I remember how I was at 19. With my brain perma-sloshing in its own vat of hormones and pure ethanol, everybody just stood and stared in amazement when a single random neuron happened to fire up )

[sapi]

@Lusted : I had you pegged as 25something, +/- a couple or years. But 19 ?! Nobody should be able to FUNCTION at 19, much less be a calm and collected arbiter of debates and general modding patron saint

Careful where you're going with that comment

/considers removing age from profile

[Lusted]

@Lusted : I had you pegged as 25something, +/- a couple or years. But 19 ?! Nobody should be able to FUNCTION at 19, much less be a calm and collected arbiter of debates and general modding patron saint

Heh, yes im 18(almost 19, only 14 days til i am), the age where most of my generation in the UK will be spending their student loans on booze. But i've never really fitted into being a typcial person.

[Nellup]

Careful where you're going with that comment

/considers removing age from profile

Wow, you're only 15?

[Didz]

As a very rough calculation the average age seems to be settling at around 30, so far.

[PseRamesses]

As a very rough calculation the average age seems to be settling at around 30, so far.

Not anymore. I jacked it up with a solid 43, he he!