At what age did you start gaming?

[ShadeMoon64]

I actually played with the original three book set during my freshman year of boarding school. One of my friends back home got a copy of the blue box edition for Christmas and we started a campaign that is still going on after a fashion. Am I REALLY that old???
I had a teacher at school who used the Chivalry & Sorcery rules (without the sorcery) as part of his class on the dark ages. Each student started as a baron or bishop with the teacher as the king. A part of their grade was based on how much land and wealth they were able to aquire or the course of the semester. The school chaplain even served as the Pope when a bishop tried to excommunicate someone.

 

[kenobi65]

I started playing at age 16 (halfway through my junior year of high school, which = early 1982).

However, I will point out that I know an awful lot of exceptions to the rule. Of the twenty or so gamers I play with regularly (across various groups), at least a half-dozen are near or over the age of 50. Thus, all of them started RPGing as adults (some of them even in their 30s and 40s).

 

[Vrecknidj]

I started at age 12--most of my gaming friends started at roughly the same age. My kids (now 15 and 10) started when they were about 6. But, my older son didn't really get into gaming until he was about 12, and my 10 year old is just starting to get into it now.

Dave

 

[haiiro]

I was about 10 when I started gaming, but I didn't get serious until I was about 12 (so I put 11-13 ). Interesting theory, about age vs. passion level -- I'd never really thought about it.

 

[demiurge1138]

11-13. 13 to be specific. I got the Players Handbook and DMG 3.0 for my birthday (I had already bought the Monster Manual in February, because of the flavor-text and art), found a group in a matter of weeks, and never looked back.

Demiurge out.

 

[Kanegrundar]

My first RPG (non-video game) was Hero Quest. I belive I was around 11 when I got my first set. From there I went on to Basic D&D (a hand-me-down from a friend's dad) then to AD&D and then I winded my way through a lot of other games to get to D20.

I was 9 when I got my first taste of the gaming bug though with The Legend of Zelda and then Final Fantasy a little later. That, mixed with my love of Star Wars and Willow, is more likely what got me into gaming in the first place.

Kane

 

[ivocaliban]

I started at precisely 14 years of age. I bought the boxed set and, because I had the money to do so, became the DM. Now, at 28, I'm still DMing. I would love to actually play from time to time, but my friends are cheap bastards.

 

[X-Marks!]

History of a Gaming Life

To aid the theorizing here I go:

We started playing when I was about 8, first finding the game in The States and then bringing it back up to Canada quite early. There was only one place we could find in Toronto (2 hours drive) to get anything new, and there wasn't much out there. My older brother and I played regularly with differing groups straight on throughout high school (each running the high school club in our turn). Towards the end of high school, "life got in the way" more than not, and I think we each started to drop away from it.

I got rebit briefly when 2nd edition got started, for a couple of years towards the end of College, particularly with Dark Sun and Spelljammer. But admittedly it was very hard to put together a group of peers willing to give it a go. And so I just bought for the fun of reading over those years. My brother eventually got back into gaming not too far off from then, as a professional gaming writer, and still does quite successfully to this day.

Then everything went back in storage once again, for years, until my step-son started to investigate the game at a friend's house. His mother told me about it, and I began to look into where the game was at these days. And that turned out to be 3rd Edition. I bought myself and my sons a set of books and taught them the rules and played some adventures. It was a tremendous bonding opportunity! Both they (and I, when we got together) played for several years, although each living in separate cities.

Eventually I met some female friends who showed some interest in the game (which is why I like the mixed genders in the 3rd edition rulebooks so much) and we were able to put together a group for about a year and a half, but distances between us grew unmanageable. So now I keep buying a tonne of materials even though I don't play anymore -- simply as food for the Imagination.

So as to early age = dedicated player. I'd say that's probably not true in my case. I started early, but have kept fading in and out throughout my 35-year lifespan. It does, however, make for an extremely nostalgic and curious enthusiast. Hope that helps you.

~ALX~

 

[Hypersmurf]

I had a teacher at school who used the Chivalry & Sorcery rules (without the sorcery) as part of his class on the dark ages. Each student started as a baron or bishop with the teacher as the king. A part of their grade was based on how much land and wealth they were able to aquire or the course of the semester. The school chaplain even served as the Pope when a bishop tried to excommunicate someone.

Ooh, I had a teacher a bit like that in... (uh... conversion...) ... 7th grade?

We did a unit on farming, and he took two farming almanacs a year apart, gave us a budget and a price list for assorted crops, animals, fences, etc based on the first almanac, and told us to design a farm.

Then he took into account assorted effects (wind shelter for your orchards? proper fences between your cows and your crops?), and used the prices in the second almanac to determine people's financial success (or lack thereof) after a year.

(From memory, someone with very little imagination simply sank all his cash into deer, and lucked out when deer rose sharply in value that year )

Anyway, later that year he was planning on doing a unit on castles and fortifications... I think he was intending to use the 1E DMG pricing tables, and have people design castles, and see whose design was best for holding off a besieging army. But unfortunately, we moved cities halfway through that year, so I don't know if he did it...

-Hyp.

 

[Sado]

I put 17-18 because thats when I got into my first group. But before that I started with the solo gamebooks like Lone Wolf and Fighting Fantasy at about 12. Of course the old Choose Your Own Adventure books are what got me started at about 7 or 8. Didn't join my first group until I moved out and joined the navy, since the parents were in the "D&D is satanic" camp. They objected to magic and casting spells, but somehow Tolkien was ok, not to mention the movies my mom liked such as Mary Poppins and Wizard of Oz that also had magical elements (she got so mad when I told her Mary Poppins had to be a witch).