Old Lady Gamer

[Thomas Shey]

Woman gamer over 70? Your story makes me happy!

I had a quite close friend who'd be there if she hadn't left us a number of years ago.

 

[dbm]

It's a hobby where you engage with other people on a regular basis, giving you a reason to socialize.

On a somewhat serious note, social stimulation and mental stimulation are two of the best things for helping stave off Alzheimers (I have a family member recently diagnosed, so this has been something we have had to learn about quickly).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've been gaming for decades. I'm grey and semi-retired now and I've been noticing that when I pop into game stores or stop by vendor booths, things are changing. I'm receiving gentle advice, as if I've maybe wandered into the wrong store or need help, so I don't purchase the wrong thing for a grandchild. I start name dropping obscure game designers just to prove my cred.

One of these days, I'll be dragged out of a store screaming, "I've been playing rpgs before you were born, whelp!"

I'm exaggerating a little here, but still. Guess women grognards aren't really a thing. Is that better?

If what you’re saying is true, then you KNOW how overwhelmingly white & male the early days of the hobby were. I started in ‘77 and I’d been playing for a few years before I met another POC gamer…and it was about 20 more before I met a third. For comparison, I’d been playing for a decade before I met a female gamer.

And while things are much better these days, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

So I’m not surprised at the reception you’re getting.

 

[zakael19]

I've been gaming for decades. I'm grey and semi-retired now and I've been noticing that when I pop into game stores or stop by vendor booths, things are changing. I'm receiving gentle advice, as if I've maybe wandered into the wrong store or need help, so I don't purchase the wrong thing for a grandchild. I start name dropping obscure game designers just to prove my cred.

One of these days, I'll be dragged out of a store screaming, "I've been playing rpgs before you were born, whelp!"

I'm exaggerating a little here, but still. Guess women grognards aren't really a thing. Is that better?

I had a lady from Britain sign up for a Dolmenwood game I was running, she said as we were chatting that she'd been playing off and on since the early 80s and was super stoked to explore a British-fairy tale inspired game. I was really excited to have her on as a player, but unfortunately she realized she'd mis-calculated the time zone differential!

My Irish player who's 21 seems to be on a fairly different sleep schedule, haha.

 

[MGibster]

If what you’re saying is true, then you KNOW how overwhelmingly white & male the early days of the hobby were. I started in ‘77 and I’d been playing for a few years before I met another POC gamer…and it was about 20 more before I met a third. For comparison, I’d been playing for a decade before I met a female gamer.

I don't know if I ever saw a Black person in my local hobby shop during the 80s and I don't think I saw one until the 90s when Magic the Gathering was, heh heh, gathering steam. It was rare enough to see a woman or a girl at the game store. I only met a handful of girls who played AD&D when I was a teen but they weren't in any of my groups until I was a young man in my early 20s. Things have really changed a lot over the last 30 or so years. I see a lot more women and girls at the game store then I used to and while it's still overwhelmingly white it's not at all unusual to see Black people.

 

[Thomas Shey]

If what you’re saying is true, then you KNOW how overwhelmingly white & male the early days of the hobby were. I started in ‘77 and I’d been playing for a few years before I met another POC gamer…and it was about 20 more before I met a third. For comparison, I’d been playing for a decade before I met a female gamer.

And while things are much better these days, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.

So I’m not surprised at the reception you’re getting.

I've got to say female gamers seemed almost endemic compared the black gamers in my early experience. I think the first one I ever met was actually Mike Pondsmith.

 

[pete284]

Back in 1982 I had a couple of females playing in my D&D game, but they never stayed in the hobby. We were all in the last year of school before either getting jobs or going into higher education.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Back in 1982 I had a couple of females playing in my D&D game, but they never stayed in the hobby. We were all in the last year of school before either getting jobs or going into higher education.

 

[Image Miroir]

You were most probably among the first during the Golden Age of RPG, and you're now among the first in the Platinum Age of RPG.
I started playing in the early 80s, and while there was a lot of players my age or a bit younger, I met only very seldom the players of the previous decade. A former colleague was one of those Antediluvians, he was often speaking of this mythic age of RPG, of figures I thought were just legends...
This to say playing RPG costs a huge amount of time, and most probably only retired people have as much free time as students do. I will not reach retirement time before a decade or more, but for sure I already know what I'll do all the days an evenings...

 

[Arilyn]

RPGs will soon be listed as activities found at senior citizen rec centres and retirement villas. Cause honestly, who plays whist anymore?