The Graying of the Hobby?

[avrotim]

I can't help wondering how old we all are, and how long generally everyone has been gaming.

I am 54 and started war-gaming when I was 17.  Its only been in the last 5 years or so that I have branched out into more general gaming, due to the changing nature of my gaming group. 

How about the rest of you?

[bayonetbrant]

currently early-40s, but started playing at age 5 or so w/ dad

I've honestly been reasonably impressed w/ the number of wargamers I've run across who are younger than I am

[Sir Slash]

Sixty. That's 6-0. Though it's not the age, it's the mileage that counts. So, not sure if that's a good thing or not in my case. First wargame was American Heritage's WWI fighter plane game, was it "Barrel Roll"? I was in the Fourth Grade-- so 9 I'm thinking. I had to game so all the cute little girls would leave me alone for awhile.

[mirth]

Just turned 45. Started gaming in my teens with light stuff like Axis & Allies and Red Storm Rising. Did have dreams of playing Advanced Third Reich back then but it didn't happen. Mainly because I couldn't find anyone insane enough to play it with me.

Most of the guys in my local group are my age or older. We do try to encourage younger gamers to get into the hobby, with some success.

[Steelgrave]

56, started the hobby at age 14 with Avalon Hill's Midway. Went through a long AD&D period, then discovered computer games about the same time as my AD&D group was scattered to various assignments. Haven't looked back, besides buying a few old AH games for nostalgia's sake.

[Labbug]

I am 69.  Started gaming in junior high with Avalon Hill's Tactics II.

[Barthheart]

Just turned 51. Started serious war gaming with AH's Luftwaffe when I was 14. Still have it.  O0

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

46.  I started gaming in my early teens with RPGs and 25mm Ancients minis.  Quickly got into the heavy, groggy wargames and became a rivet counter.  Took a while to relax and learn to appreciate lighter fare.

I just got back into tabletop gaming last year after getting away from it in my mid 20s.  I'd say the vast majority of the local gamers are much younger than me but they're also much more into the "new" style of boardgames that tend to be lighter, quick to play, and social.  Very few have played a traditional wargame and most have no interest in trying.  The grog crowd around here is much older.  The event I went to last weekend was mostly guys in their 40s and up with only a few younger adults in evidence. 

[Greybriar]

I am 68. Soon to be 69 if I live that long. ;)

I've been gaming nearly all my life. My earliest memories are of playing cards and board games. In 1989 I purchased my first computer. It wasn't long afterwards that I was up to my neck in PC gaming and playing titles from Avalon Hill, MicroProse (and its label MicroPlay), Strategic Studies Group [SSG], Three-Sixty Pacific, Strategic Simulations, Inc. [SSI], and many other companies. Names like Norm Koger and Gary Grigsby became familiar to me as well as many lesser known developers.

My favorite type of PC game has become the 4X (Explore, Expand, Exploit, and Exterminate) games, and my favorite game of all time is Master of Magic. I still play it occasionally today.

[bbmike]

50 this year. I started with Starflight on my first PC. Also Star Fleet Battles, Federation Space, D&D, Gamma World and Traveller.

[besilarius]

SDR, I think you're right that many, perhaps most, younger gamers are looking for a lighter, more social game.
I'm 65 and got interested because of all the World War II stuff.  You had it in movies, in newstand books, television, and there would usually be something in the newspaper about history and veterans.
Getting to understand what happened was the hook that got me into gaming.  There weren't enough local gamers to have to much social interaction.  Remember the Opponents Wanted ads in the General and S&T?

[KyzBP]

I'm in my late, late 40's.  I had a bunch of Christmas money and wandered into a KB Toys.  I read the back of a Squad Leader box and immediately plunked down whatever it cost.  I was 13.  I tried to get all my friends to play it with me and we never went by the same rules twice.  What adult, let alone a 13 year old can be bothered to read the rules to that game?  I eventually saved up my Burger King money and bought a C64.  Friends were no longer necessary when you had such great games as Blue Max and SSI's Combat Leader available to you in cassette form.  Ah, the load times.

I do think with the total acceptance of gaming by the younger generation no genre is really shunned any longer.  I remember a small group of us jocks playing D&D.  We could NEVER speak about it in public for fear of being "outed" and ostracized.

[Nefaro]

I do think with the total acceptance of gaming by the younger generation no genre is really shunned any longer.  I remember a small group of us jocks playing D&D.  We could NEVER speak about it in public for fear of being "outed" and ostracized.

Same.  I also kept my tabletop gaming interests secret in my youth, after reaching high school. 

Stopped giving a damn about doing so in my 20s, but video games started taking the lion's share of time after that. 

I specifically recall a later moment of realization when I roomed with two friends in a large duplex in the mid 90s.  It was certainly a festive place, but we occasionally nerded it up, too.  Magic The Gathering beer drinking marathons were fairly regular.  Our various girlfriends were addicted to our Playstation (most notably the original Resident Evil for some reason) so didn't demand our constant attention (perfect babysitter/date?  :P  ).  All was proceeding as I had foreseen!  :))

[bob48]

I'm 67 and have been gaming since the early 1960's.

[MetalDog]

BCE?