Intergenerational Digital Gameplay between Old Adults and Young Family Members

emily26

Dear gamers,

Intergenerational segregation has become a social norm. Factors such as extended families living apart, divorce and family disputes, and the rise of pension-supported retirements, have all led to fewer opportunities for intergenerational interactions. Playing digital games together creates a leisure context for common goals, cooperation and equal status that are key factors for successful intergroup interactions.

Our research team is conducting an online study to understand the features of intergenerational play between old adults aged 55+ and young family members aged 15 and 30. This study is financially supported by one of the eight National Centres of Excellence (NCE) work projects as part of a large NCE grant from 2015-2020 for $36.6 million (http://agewell-nce.ca). 

If you are aged 55 and over, and have played digital games with your young family members (e.g., children, grandchildren, nephews, and nieces), please click the following URL link to complete the  online survey:

https://sfu.fluidsurveys.com/s/intergenerationplay-OlderAdults/

If you are aged between 15 and 30, and have played digital games with your old family members (e.g., parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts), please click the following URL link to complete the online survey:

https://sfu.fluidsurveys.com/s/intergenerationplay-Young/

If you wish, you can provide your contact information at the end of the survey to enter a draw for three cash prizes of $100 

Sincerely,

Emily Chow, PhD

Post-Doctoral Scholar

Faculty of Education

Simon Fraser University

emily26

Dear gamers,

I would greatly appreciate it if you could take 10-15 minutes to complete the survey.

Thanks very much!
Emily

Grunty

Can't. I'm 'old' but I'm also single.

laserit

Love to help you out Emily but alas I'm only 52

Frammshamm

You honestly should change the study to 30+ generation that games with their 7-16 yr old children. your study group of 55+ is unrealistic since that generation did not really grow up playing video games and does not nearly have the psychological link that the 30-40 age range does to video games. 55yr olds are barely learning how to use skype and watch their grandchildren's streams. Also reflex and eyesight degeneration starts to kick in, affecting their ability to play the games, let alone play them at a high level.

laserit

Frammshamm said:

You honestly should change the study to 30+ generation that games with their 7-16 yr old children. your study group of 55+ is unrealistic since that generation did not really grow up playing video games and does not nearly have the psychological link that the 30-40 age range does to video games. 55yr olds are barely learning how to use skype and watch their grandchildren's streams. Also reflex and eyesight degeneration starts to kick in, affecting their ability to play the games, let alone play them at a high level.

My doctor recomended Geritol

Grunty

Frammshamm said:

You honestly should change the study to 30+ generation that games with their 7-16 yr old children. your study group of 55+ is unrealistic since that generation did not really grow up playing video games and does not nearly have the psychological link that the 30-40 age range does to video games. 55yr olds are barely learning how to use skype and watch their grandchildren's streams. Also reflex and eyesight degeneration starts to kick in, affecting their ability to play the games, let alone play them at a high level.

Speak for yourself.

Dibdabs

Frammshamm said:

You honestly should change the study to 30+ generation that games with their 7-16 yr old children. your study group of 55+ is unrealistic since that generation did not really grow up playing video games and does not nearly have the psychological link that the 30-40 age range does to video games. 55yr olds are barely learning how to use skype and watch their grandchildren's streams. Also reflex and eyesight degeneration starts to kick in, affecting their ability to play the games, let alone play them at a high level.

LMAO, of course we grew up with video games.    Jeezuz, squeaking Millenials think they invented everything.

cheyane

Blast it 56 and did survey. One of the questions has wrong options after agree instead of strongly agree it is strongly disagree which was already an option on the far left.

Kyleran

Dibdabs said:

Frammshamm said:

You honestly should change the study to 30+ generation that games with their 7-16 yr old children. your study group of 55+ is unrealistic since that generation did not really grow up playing video games and does not nearly have the psychological link that the 30-40 age range does to video games. 55yr olds are barely learning how to use skype and watch their grandchildren's streams. Also reflex and eyesight degeneration starts to kick in, affecting their ability to play the games, let alone play them at a high level.

LMAO, of course we grew up with video games.    Jeezuz, squeaking Millenials think they invented everything.

Totally agree, hell "we built this city"

59 and "computer" gaming since 1978.

laserit

We didn't just grow up with video games. Video games grew up with us.

Pynda

Add another "old" 59 year old who thinks this PhD has got her age brackets wrong. I was brought up as a kid on Pong etc., was doing a lot more than just gaming on my C64, and I was building my own rigs by the time the 80386 came around in 1985.

emily26

cheyane said:

Blast it 56 and did survey. One of the questions has wrong options after agree instead of strongly agree it is strongly disagree which was already an option on the far left.

Thanks very much! I will fix this soon.

emily26

My research team did another online study in 2014 to examine the socio-emotional impacts of MMORPGs on people aged 55+. This study recruited 345 people who were aged 55+ and played World of Warcraft. A lot of them mentioned they were introduced to this game by their children or grandchildren.

For this new study, we are interested to see the potential of using digital games to connect old adults with their family members.

Emily

Kyleran

I've decided to take offense to the phrase "old adults"

No survey for you..... 

Gdemami

...and there goes your tax money.

Grunty

Vardahoth said:

Kyleran said:

I've decided to take offense to the phrase "old adults"

No survey for you..... 

There's nothing wrong with being old, but there is something wrong when a guy says to another guy "look at em Dan, he's 90 years young". It's okay to be old because you won't have to die. You'll pass away. RIP George Carlin...

For me it's more a matter of personal perception.  My body may be over 60 years old and my experiences cover that time period.  My perception is I'm still in my 40s.

Grunty

Vardahoth said:

Grunty said:

Vardahoth said:

Kyleran said:

I've decided to take offense to the phrase "old adults"

No survey for you..... 

There's nothing wrong with being old, but there is something wrong when a guy says to another guy "look at em Dan, he's 90 years young". It's okay to be old because you won't have to die. You'll pass away. RIP George Carlin...

For me it's more a matter of personal perception.  My body may be over 60 years old and my experiences cover that time period.  My perception is I'm still in my 40s.

Right... "so you bullshit yourself." Seriously, watch the video.

Call it what you will.  And I've watched George Carlin since the early 70's.  I won't pass away when I die.  I will be dead. They can compost my dead body and use it to feed the bluebonnets for all I care.

esrd9985

@username

Kyleran

Aged or old whiskey
Well worn or old shoes
Classic or old Rock
Vintage or old autos
Traditional or old thinking
Timeless or old styles
AARP or AAOP
Elder or old statesman
Seasoned or old veteran
Golden or old years
Senior or old PGA tour
Fine or old wine
Nostalgic or old look
Historical or old site
Ancient or old civilizations
Early or old man
Historical or old trends
Old-school or old game
Antique or old furniture
Medieval or old times
Old-fashioned or old lemonade

Old as an adjective is never flattering or welcome

Older adults would have worked better

For the record I introduced both my children and parents to computer and online gaming.

Old indeed.

Amathe

Frammshamm said:

your study group of 55+ is unrealistic since that generation did not really grow up playing video games and does not nearly have the psychological link that the 30-40 age range does to video games. 55yr olds are barely learning how to use skype and watch their grandchildren's streams. 

Get off my lawn. I am in that age group and yes we did have video games when i was young. There were more arcade games than ones you can play at home, sure, but we had them. Before that we had pinball. 

I have been playing video games continuously since Pong, and I still play them.

Pynda

I admit I was a little irked by the "old" thing, too. But I think my main issue here is with the age bracket used. I'd say the beginning age of the truly computer/electronic gaming challenged generation begins at around 65-70. But certainly not 55. This owing to the fact that 65-70 year olds were never exposed to modern electronics during their formative years (but people younger than this probably were).

emily26

Pynda said:

I admit I was a little irked by the "old" thing, too. But I think my main issue here is with the age bracket used. I'd say the beginning age of the truly computer/electronic gaming challenged generation begins at around 65-70. But certainly not 55. This owing to the fact that 65-70 year olds were never exposed to modern electronics during their formative years (but people younger than this probably were).

Thank you very much for your comment. Today, "55" is still young. However, some people at this age already become grandparents, and play digital games with their grandparents. "55" is also a cut point that has been used in social studies.

emily26

Grunty said:

Vardahoth said:

Kyleran said:

I've decided to take offense to the phrase "old adults"

No survey for you..... 

There's nothing wrong with being old, but there is something wrong when a guy says to another guy "look at em Dan, he's 90 years young". It's okay to be old because you won't have to die. You'll pass away. RIP George Carlin...

For me it's more a matter of personal perception.  My body may be over 60 years old and my experiences cover that time period.  My perception is I'm still in my 40s.

In this study we use "old" and "young" to differ two different demographics: people who play digital games with their children/grandchildren and people who play digital games with their parents/grandparents.

Iselin

Aori said:

Kyleran said:

I've decided to take offense to the phrase "old adults"

No survey for you..... 

Calm down grandpa you forgot your meds again, come sit down.

He'll get back to you tomorrow. Right now he's on his lounger "resting his eyes."

Kyleran

emily26 said:

Pynda said:

I admit I was a little irked by the "old" thing, too. But I think my main issue here is with the age bracket used. I'd say the beginning age of the truly computer/electronic gaming challenged generation begins at around 65-70. But certainly not 55. This owing to the fact that 65-70 year olds were never exposed to modern electronics during their formative years (but people younger than this probably were).

Thank you very much for your comment. Today, "55" is still young. However, some people at this age already become grandparents, and play digital games with their grandparents. "55" is also a cut point that has been used in social studies.

55+ is the age some become great grandparents.

The youngest grandparent I ever met was 31. (yes her daughter was born when she was 13) and Ive known several in their mid 30s.

But you really want "old" gamers, those technical illiterates who need their children to set up their computers.  

Stereotyping at its worst.