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Are you a middle-aged gamer?

ended 08. December 2025

Newspage's founder is in the top 0.3% of Call of Duty players globally and well on his way to unlock Singularity in BO7. He's not a Converse-wearing 20-something, either — add a few decades onto that. We're doing a piece on older people gaming, as so many now do it, whether that's vast open-world games or first-person shooters like COD and Battlefield. So if you're past your best but love a bit of pubstomping during your lunch break — or grind all day on the weekend while the other half stares on in fury and/or disbelief — answer the questions below:

  • Why do you game, e.g. do you find it turns your brain off and that it's thereapeutic?
  • Have you gamed all your life or are you relatively new to it?
  • What games do you now play? And why?
  • If you're on BO7, what's your KD?
  • Have you ever dropped a nuke?
  • Are you a brazen camper?

4 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Darryl Dhoffer
Founder at The Mortgage Geezer
As a 53-year-old gamer, I've always found video games, particularly Call of Duty (CoD), to be the perfect release. CoD's pick-up-and-play nature allows me to jump in, have a great time, and blow off any daily frustrations. While the experience is sometimes dampened by dedicated "sweats" and PC hackers, it seems many have moved to rival titles like Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders, which has fortunately improved the experience. I prefer a fast-paced, immediate action shooter, so mega-map games like Battlefield aren't for me. I can't stand taking ten minutes to cross a map only to get eliminated by a persistent camper—I prefer to get straight into the action. Lube up and straight in!
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Editor
Rohit Kohli
Director at The Mortgage Stop
I haven’t been able to game as much this year and I miss it. For me it’s an escape. I’ve played since the 80s, starting on a BBC Micro before moving to a Commodore 64 and an Amiga 500. Monkey Island is still the high-water mark. But I’ve always been drawn to space games - Cutting my teeth on Elite, Wing Commander, eleven years on Star Wars Galaxies, fifteen on EvE, then Elite Dangerous and now Star Citizen. What keeps me hooked is the freedom to write your own story and the fact that you’re no longer doing it alone. I can go anywhere and do anything and the tech these days means you’re sharing that world with hundreds of other players at once not just as a sad loner.
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Rohit Parmar-Mistry
Founder at Pattrn Data
I earned my stripes hauling heavy CRT monitors to LAN parties until sunrise, so I’ve been gaming all my life. But I have zero interest in the twitchy, repetitive loops of Call of Duty. I’m not looking for a quick dopamine hit; I’m looking for the depth and freedom I first found years ago in Anarchy Online.

Since the World of Warcraft boom, too many MMOs have become lazy, pigeon-holing players into rigid classes and 'on-rails' experiences. I reject that. That’s why I’m almost exclusively on Star Citizen. It’s the only place where I can physically walk onto my ship, take off, and traverse a solar system with zero loading screens. It is a genuine technical marvel.

The community harkens back to those early days of gaming, mature, collaborative, and distinct from the toxicity of modern shooter lobbies. I don't game to turn my brain off. I game because, in a world of prescriptive software and rigid corporate systems, Star Citizen offers genuine, seamless freedom. No rails, just the 'verse.
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Colette Mason
AI Ethics Consultant at Clever Clogs AI
I've played World of Warcraft since launch, drawn in by the Dungeons & Dragons mechanics and the chance to be a mage with superpowers I don't have in real life. My longest stint was 48 hours straight when a new expansion dropped. New lands to explore, more orcs to vapourise. No regrets.

I'm a solo player running a guild full of my own alts, which probably tells you everything I love about tech. I prefer building reliable backup I control over hoping random human teammates show up when I need them.

Being a female gamer means people either don't believe me or immediately want to date me. I'm not trading in my husband for a teenager with a headset just yet, but I appreciate the enthusiasm.

Twenty years later, I'm still playing because there's something deeply satisfying about systems that do exactly what you tell them to, and make you feel like a genius when you get it right.