What cool things should you be too old for?Follow

For me, it's The Avengers cartoon. My son (who is 3) watches this on Netflix, and I watched one episode with him and was hooked. While I still think my Thundercats, G.I. Joe, and Transformers were cooler, this cartoon is awesome and I'm strangely not ashamed of how much I enjoy it.

What childish pursuits have you discovered or never abandoned?

I've bene watching that with my son as well. I also have to play with Lego and Transformers. It's tough, but a father's job is never done.

I dunno. Back when I played them, I used to think that Final Fantasy games were too young for me, but it wasn't exactly a quality about them that I really enjoyed. The more they seemed like they were designed for early-teen Japanese boys, the less I liked them.

Can't really think of much else. Maybe I'm too old to think that a career in the gaming industry is viable or even desirable, but that doesn't stop me from thinking it's cool.

Edited, Jan 27th 2012 2:55pm by Eske

Besides the obvious video game obsession, paintball is probably the thing I need to simply declare I'm done with. I love playing, but it's getting hard to get my team together anymore, and the crouching does a number on my knees these days.

Things I don't like anymore; sugary sweets like starbursts or sprinkles, really loud obnoxious music and tequila.

Way to remind me, yet again, that I'm a fricken old lady!

They're making progress, for sure. As gamers get older, and the average age goes up, more and more games are catering to the new demographics.

I've seen that side of it that you're talking about. Uncharted 3 had a very cool portion where your character was lost in the desert, and you just wandered around aimlessly as he got progressively worse for wear. They threw in some poetic narration over it, a few mirages and hallucinations, and it came out as a pretty powerful set of scenes. Gorgeous visuals, too.

Browse around, and you find a slew of people who HATED it for being "boring" (the whole scene takes all of 5 minutes by the way). Pretty easy to pin down what demographic it was that had a problem with it.

Still, I think that the average game still skews a little below my standards for maturity. Most just don't try to hit any deep or mature themes, have nuanced or complex dialogue, pose tough questions, etc. etc. Even games that we think of as having an awesome plot, or great dialogue, are still pretty simplistic and low brow when stacked up against other media.

They'll get there, just not quite yet.

Edited, Jan 27th 2012 4:02pm by Eske

I don't think mature = boring, so I'll pass on project management strategy, if that's all right.

I'm with you on the rest: I think it's totally reasonable to want to play games as an immature release. But I think games should be just like books and movies: something for everyone. Immature or childrens' offerings are great, and I'd never want to see them go away. I'd just like to also see some more that hit at the other side of things.

Edited, Jan 27th 2012 4:07pm by Eske

I've recently been told I'm too old to wear a hoody all the time. Does that count? Actually they elaborated that I don't dress my age, and that I should. The hoody was just the most obvious criticism.

I like my hoody.

I hope George Takei never grows up.

I don't think there's any great void of "mature" games. They just released a slew of them right before the holidays! Assassin's Creed: Revalations, Skyrim, Dead Space 2, etc. What about the numerous Half Life games? What about all of the Grand Theft Auto games?

What, exactly, do you consider "maturity" in video games?

I'm not using "mature" to mean games that are gratuitously sexual or violent (and thereby suitable only for adults), if that's why you brought up those examples. I mean mature as in, heady, or thoughtful, or deep...nuanced, subtle, etc. That kind of mature. Something a bit more academic, I guess. Most of games that you brought up don't really fit the bill for me, with maybe the exception of the first AC, Half Life, and maybe Dead Space 2 (I only played the first one).

I always describe it by saying that I'd love to see something like the Doubt of video games. Figuratively speaking, of course.

Edited, Jan 27th 2012 4:28pm by Eske

I view mature games to be something that evokes a level of thinking that a child would struggle to grasp or even come to. Shadow of the Colossus, Beyond Good and Evil, and Final Fantasy (before they went to carp) promoted thinking. On the other hand Duke Nukem Forever, while labeled as a mature game, is closer to the immature side of things. While I like to think that most game should tell a story in a way that is not only engaging but also stimulates thinking I feel as though we, as gamers, should still embrace games that appeal to the simpler side of man (booze, boobs, and booms) without loosing sight that our medium is evolving and slowly moving into mainstream culture.

Yes I am aware the games I listed are an extremely small list but I can't be ***** to make a long list nor do I imagine any of you want to read one.

Fast cars and loose women.