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How old were you when you played your first MMORPG?
Ramonski7
Member UncommonPosts: 2,662
Time to reflect on things for a second. Quick poll to find out what this group is made up of. Also no need to post what game it was as I'm just curious about the raw numbers.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Comments
Interesting number so far a lot more sandbox players too.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
I think it's a strong showing for UO. Or... maybe there are people that actually think of EQ as a sandbox? Who knows. People have issues with the sandbox thing. For some reason everyone wants to feel like they are playing one.
Meh, it's only 18 votes so far of a self selected sample.
Drop the next-gen marketing and people will argue if the game itself has merit.
UO when I was 16.
18 people not two of whom would agree what the difference was between a sandbox or themepark game let alone be able to agree which category specific MMO's fall into!
The poll also fails on the age ranges offered. What's the point in wanting to know how old people were when they first played an MMO and then cutting it off at 26+?
As another said, it is probably a strong showing for UO for those that played it back in '97-'98 or possibly even later.
People are more likely to have a family at 26+... so all in all, it is a decent cut off point.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
Shadowbane at 21 here. I was a late bloomer. Hard to imagine that was 8 years and about 250 mmo's ago... lol.
I don't see the relevance of that.
As for me, I was 48 or 49 and it was The Realm - which was, as I recall, the first MMORPG before both Meridian 59 and then UO (both of which I looked at but didn't take to, any more than I took to The Realm). EQ was the first I settled into, and I played the beta at 49.
So that would make you........ like 3 million and two? :P
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Almost. But from now on I shall simply refer to myself as "26+"
!
3 years ago when i was 26 with the release of LOTRO
. I was an FPS'er. Had a break from gaming for a number of years after i overdosed on Q2 (plus every FPS after Q2 was terrible IMO).
People with families generally have more responsibilities and thus have less free time to participate in games in general, much less MMORPGs. They will be spending "family time" together with the spouse and kids. The kids may be involved in afterschool programs - etc.
Could he have included a group for those where the kids may have grown up and gone off to college? Sure, but that would be more difficult. Then another period when those kids have grandkids and more time is lost again? Sure, but again that would be more difficult. It is also not really relevant to be that specific - when for the majority of people those life changes take place after turning 25.
As for UO... for many of us, we had played Ultima long before on Apples, Commodores, etc.. It had a draw to it - much in the same way that WoW had a draw for those that had played Warcraft, Diablo, and even Starcraft.
I started playing Ultima when I was 10 or 11, but I did not play Ultima Online until 14-15 years later.
I miss the MMORPG genre. Will a developer ever make one again?
Explorer: 87%, Killer: 67%, Achiever: 27%, Socializer: 20%
I think there is a perception of the gamer demographic, and there is the reality of the gamer demographic. I believe it's been shown the average gamer age is 34.(link)
I know in a recent MMO I played, (FFXIV) a significant part of the guild were couples with children.
Drop the next-gen marketing and people will argue if the game itself has merit.
Maybe when I was 14 (I'm 21 now), my first MMORPG was Knight Online. Its terrible game, which is pretty much pay to win and its really heavy on grind, but we couldnt care less, boy did we enjoyed every hour playing that game, even through we were grinding (in that game you can grind, pvp, sell items and thats pretty much it, no crafting, dungeons no nothing).
I guess we just took the game for what it is and didnt care about what other people buy in cash shop, how do they advance or if they are more powerful than us due to cash shop. And you know what I miss those days, I believe people shouldnt care about those things and just relax and play cause at the end of the day its just a *game*. You should relax playing games not bog your head with artificial troubles and wories.
Early/Mid 2005, i was 25 and wanted a change from single player strategies and RPG's, chosen MMO was SWG.
Late 2004 or early 2005, I was 33/34 and it was SWG.
Goddamn best game time I ever had!
People don't ask questions to get answers - they ask questions to show how smart they are. - Dogbert
The polling limit is 10 here at MMORPG.com. So that does not give me much wiggle room when splitting up age groups, so I went with a more miestone approach for age groups.
13 & under - represents the age group where kids might discover social gaming (D&D, Magic, Pokemon, Yu-ki-oh). Cash is limited for the most part and time is readily available..
14-17 - represents transition from middle school to high school where social groups are more well defined. Social group gaming is planted firmly and gaming preferences are starting to take hold. Cash is still limited for the most part and time is readily available.
18-21 - represents a change from parental cash flow to personal. First job or more demand from real life issues may take a toll on some gamers. It also introduces gamers to a new social group whether it's from entering college or starting a job. And this brings a chance of changing gaming preferences based on both time and money.
22-25 - represents two other possible changes introduced to the equation for gamers. It might be the move from college to a career or it might see a change of family structure. Both tend to burden the strain of time and money available for mmo gaming. It also may see a need to "rethink" younger gaming preferences to allow less time demanding mmos.
26+ - represents a possible stablity to both career and family demands, thus either allowing more time to devote to mmo gaming or not. It's often a phase where we make the most exceptions for our own gaming preferences and often give less weight to the need to adhere to more hardcore gaming restraints.
Also the option to choose either sandbox or themepark is a very telling sign of how gamers view themselves and their gaming history when compared to their age. And it gives a chance for those contributing a to reflect on how they viewed themselves as young gamers and how they view this current generation of young gamers.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
Doubtless I'm in a minority of one here in terms of age, but I'm not so in terms of gamers (including online gamers) generally. My point is that gamers may well take on family commitments in their mid-late 20's when they also have the hassle of employment, but that isn't the final stage in a gaming career and represents therefore a false cut-off point as some here will recognise when they reach their 40's-50's and realise that they have a whole lot more time available for their hobbies once again! By that time your kids place much less of a demand on your time and you also begin to cut back at work. I'm gaming more at 60 than I was at 30 or 40 (home computers hadn't been invented when I was 26)!
My comments weren't a major criticism, just a suggestion that 26 was a false cut-off point when considering gaming demographics generally.
That's why I put a "+" after 26, this denotes that 26 is not a cut off age at all. I also did a brief description of what I feel like some gamers may go through during gaming from 26 and beyond. But I guess you didn't see that response.
"Small minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas."
There was no description in the poll, your later response came after I had commented.
The first version of runescape when I was 14, it brought me into the mmo scene
after that there was rubies of eventide, wow, eve, lotro,... and alot of rubbish
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waiting for ... nothing..
Lol, I know - it's a near-pointless survey what with the daft upper age limit (26+ will span several decades!!) and the difficulty people have understanding the terms 'sandbox' and 'themepark'... or even if they DO, they won't all agree on what game falls into what category.
I believe it was Phantasy Star Online for the dreamcast. Really awesome times...
i was about... 12-13 years old i guess
DAOC when I was 13
East Carolina University, Computer Science BS, 2011
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Current game: DAOC
Games played and quit: L2, PlanetSide, RF Online, GuildWars, SWG, COH/COV, Vanguard, LOTRO, WoW, WW2 Online, FFXI, Auto-Assault, EVE Online, ShadowBane, RYL, Rappelz, Last Chaos, Myst Online, POTBS, EQ2, Warhammer Online, AoC, Aion, Champions Online, Star Trek Online, Allods, Darkfall.
Waiting on: Earthrise
Names: Citio, Goldie, Sportacus