ENworlder: How long have you been gaming?

[Mark]

I find the poll results so far kind of surprising. A relative neophyte at only 10 years I think maybe we need some young blood around here.

Many of us old timers survive by ingesting young blood. Be sure, please, that it has been chilled.

 

[Vancian Magic]

Class of '88, and given it has just gone Christmas, likely almost to the day! That's kinda cool to realize.

 

[Aeolius]

Many of us old timers survive by ingesting young blood. Be sure, please, that it has been chilled.

Chilled?!? Ewwww... 98.6, please.

 

[Greg K]

I find the poll results so far kind of surprising. A relative neophyte at only 10 years I think maybe we need some young blood around here.

I'm working to get my players to join (half of whom are 18-24). I know that one of the 18-24 year olds joined to vote in the poll that spawned this one. He is interested enough in the site to lurk, but I don't know about actively participating.

 

[Darrin Drader]

I'm still a tad concerned that we don't have too much new blood.

That's a valid concern, but I don't think its as dire as it looks. Due to the current economy, and my desire to fulfill certain personal goals, I'm back in school at a major university. This happens to be my second time through. I didn't really expect to find very many gamers on the college campuses of today because of this perceived decline in young people playing. What I'm finding, locally at least, is that there actually seem to be more than when I went through the first time. In one of my classes I was required to keep a blog, so in addition to my usual assignments, I would also blog about gaming related topics. One of the guys from my class noticed this. It turns out he's a gamer and he'll be joining my group next semester. When he joins, half my players will be made up of people under the age of 25.

My brother in-law has a group that's been going for a few years that's up to nine players (I have no idea how he can manage a group that size, but that's another thread). I went to the library and saw a few postings for people looking for players for both 4E and 3.5. The main hobby store a few miles away is doing exceptionally well, and there's a gaming section in all three of the major book stores.

I agree with the assessment that it's the gathering of "Alpha gamers" at sites like this where the younger generation might be underrepresented. That isn't to say that the hobby shouldn't be concerned about appealing to the younger generation, but I think it's doing better with that demographic than many people believe.

 

[Treebore]

I agree with the assessment that it's the gathering of "Alpha gamers" at sites like this where the younger generation might be underrepresented. That isn't to say that the hobby shouldn't be concerned about appealing to the younger generation, but I think it's doing better with that demographic than many people believe.

Yes, we posters may be old, but 3 of my gamers are my kids, ages 12, 15, and 17. So even though they don't come here and post (they post at TLG and AEG's L5R forums) I am aware of their likes/dislikes about RPG's, and so take their thoughts into consideration when I post things. Especially on their thoughts of "It must be easy", so we play primarily play C&C, but they like L5R enough to play it when their sisters wants to run something. Still, my boys refused to even try 4E because it looked too complicated to be worth learning, so only my daughter and I tried 4E for several months.

So only my daughter and I like to try new games, so she also plays Aces and Eights with me. My boys would rather just go off and play X-box rather than learn a new system.

 

[FATDRAGONGAMES]

27 years here. I was just at my FLGS yesterday and saw a couple kids buying the 4E Basic set (I was there to buy one as well, but that's another discussion )

I think, from what I have seen, 4E is doing OK with the younger crowd (actually, I see more of them playing it than us old timers.) My son and his friends (10-14) all like it, but the crowd I game with veers more toward C&C.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

18 years come this fall.

I was a freshman in High School when I was introduced to 1E.

 

[UngainlyTitan]

My most regular group are my nephews 10 to 19 years old, they just don't post here.

I'm sure some of them will in time, or at least some where similar.

 

[stonegod]

I agree with the assessment that it's the gathering of "Alpha gamers" at sites like this where the younger generation might be underrepresented. That isn't to say that the hobby shouldn't be concerned about appealing to the younger generation, but I think it's doing better with that demographic than many people believe.

Ditto. I teach at a university, and half of my game group are/were recently students. Its more difficult finding folks closer to my age, actually.