A friend's son who played WOW was so young that he couldn't even read levels properly. No concept of two digit numbers. He used to challenge people to duels left and right. Then he'd say "I couldn't defeat him because, see, he's  two-five and i'm one-nine! So it's natural." :)

Originally posted by Kyleran

I totally agree, I can't stand gaming with all these "young folks", you know, those people under the age of 35 or so, just not as much fun as speaking with people my own age. 

While its true the barriers to entry have come down and far more young people are in MMO's these days, I'm finding the most obnoxious group of people to actually be in the 20-30 range, not sure what planet you folks were raised on, but I am totally beginning to understand the generation gap between us. (no offense)

But overall "children" if we are talking about folks under the age of 18 really haven't spoiled my enjoyment of MMO's that much, it's all of the rest of you I can't get along with. 

 

I completely agree with you, it doesn't help that most people who play mmos are in the 20-30 range.

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Originally posted by Crazy_Stick
After talking socially with a few GMs once upon a time in an MMORPG, I came away with a differing insight OP. I once thought that for a medium with an average player age being in their thirties that so much of what occurred was outlandish, childish, anti-social, and frankly dumb. I questioned the age stats and was told per inside data it was accurate. The real problem was that many MMORPG players were considered to be amongst the most socially inept people and that they were freed from inhibitions by online anonymity. This was supposed to be the real issue they felt they were dealing with. Uninhibited social ineptitude... O.o

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This is the issue entirely- when games required a modicum of social skills and actually had repercussions for bad behavior there was far less asshattery overall. Unfortunately systems that decreased that behavior was inconvenient for players (need for grouping to progress, needing other players for fast travel rather than NPCs) and costlier for Devs/Pubs (need for increased physical GM moderation to enforce the rules as issues come up rather than hours/days later- if ever).

For the sake of profit and convenience these are the communities we are left with...

When MMOs were community driven, it sifted out most of the people who were not compatible with the game's community. The problem with this was that these games were more 'hard-core' oriented and never really catered to the casuals, but it taught people playing that they had to cooperate with others if they wanted to get things done in an MMO.

The more casual approach to the MMOs currently allows people to enjoy their games without having to spend ridiculous hours, but at the same time the quality of the communities, to me, has really hit rock bottom. 

I've always lead big groups in MMOs and talking to children or adults has always been something to deal with. Explaining tactics, game mechanics and in game situations to both gives me what I enjoy the best. It doesn't take anything away from the socializing aspect for me, in fact it gives me variety. Just stay open and patient.

Originally posted by solarine

A friend's son who played WOW was so young that he couldn't even read levels properly. No concept of two digit numbers. He used to challenge people to duels left and right. Then he'd say "I couldn't defeat him because, see, he's  two-five and i'm one-nine! So it's natural." :)

 

Smart Kid.

But on topic, ANYONE can be whiny and immature, regardless of age.

Maybe there are too many children in MMO's however there are also too many children at the Shopping Mall, at the convienence store and hanging around in the park. I wish they would go somewhere else. They bug me. And when I say children i mean everyone under the age of thirty because as I near fifty it occurs to me that people under thirty take themselves far to seriously.

I'd like to get the children out of the WalMart. I mean seriously you cant go in the WalMart with our hearing some kid screaming in the back corner of the store because his mother wouldent buy it a fifty dollar piece of third world crap that almost surely would require an emergency room visit down the line.

Children are a scurge that should be clensed with fire.

Originally posted by Prankster

When I say children, I mean everyone under the age of thirty, because as I near fifty it occurs to me that people under thirty take themselves far too seriously.

Children are a scourge that should be cleansed with fire.

Remind me to bring a swiss army knife with me if I ever see you around. O_O

Originally posted by Enigmatus

Originally posted by Prankster

When I say children, I mean everyone under the age of thirty, because as I near fifty it occurs to me that people under thirty take themselves far too seriously.

Children are a scourge that should be cleansed with fire.

Remind me to bring a swiss army knife with me if I ever see you around. O_O

Last time I saw one of those it was a down and dirty vasectomy in the back room of Sharkeys pool and eer.

Stop playing games that appeal to kids.  Yes i know "more adults than kids play" blah blah blah.  Walk into any new or modern themepark and its chat is jam packed with the chat version of 4chan/reddit...no real conversation exists just trolls and memes.

Jump into a game like Perpetuum/Darkfall/Mortal Online...you have people who act like normal people. Yes theres still joking around but theres conversation and its night and day from any themepark ive played in the last 10 years.  TSW had a good community from what i saw too.

Worst communities ive seen as of late inclue: Rift, SWTOR, Tera, GW2 beta (passing on that one)

If there was a worst it would be a toss up between SWTOR and Tera, though i did find out that i was on the server that everyone from reddit chose...and it showed.

When you have to activly seek out the hidden normal person community the games community is bad..end of story.  When you walk into a game and the normal mature-ish community is all around you the community is good.  Outliers will exist.

Simple way to tell if your mmo community is shit is ask a question.  If the first 5-10 responses are troll responses and lol's and you get a pm from a mature player  with a real answer and suggestions...then you know its bad...that guy is hiding and the kids are in control.

I find that any game that offers fustrations beyond your normal wow-park drives the kids away.  They dont want to put effort towards a game (they just want the best class and to own others NOW) and also they dont want to have to relearn or learn anything.  Find a game that can be fustrating while new and requiers a bit of learning and the community improves greatly.

The kids started coming into MMO's with what I call the console crowd just after WoW launched, but many have PC's of course.

If you look at buisness stratergy in general you will see one of the reasons why MMO's are in the state they are today. What is the biggest buying age demographic? 40's, 30's or 20's? No it is the teens, they spend more on their interests than any other age group. So companies are pandering to them and their tastes. Be it TV shows, music or games they are the ones the executives listern to.

It is Teen Idol, not middle aged gamer idol that these games are being made for.

Originally posted by Scot

The kids started coming into MMO's with what I call the console crowd just after WoW launched, but many have PC's of course.

If you look at buisness stratergy in general you will see one of the reasons why MMO's are in the state they are today. What is the biggest buying age demographic? 40's, 30's or 20's? No it is the teens, they spend more on their interests than any other age group. So companies are pandering to them and their tastes. Be it TV shows, music or games they are the ones the executives listern to.

It is Teen Idol, not middle aged gamer idol that these games are being made for.

The average gamer is 35-36 years old. So do the rest just pirate their games?

Originally posted by Scot

The kids started coming into MMO's with what I call the console crowd just after WoW launched, but many have PC's of course.

If you look at buisness stratergy in general you will see one of the reasons why MMO's are in the state they are today. What is the biggest buying age demographic? 40's, 30's or 20's? No it is the teens, they spend more on their interests than any other age group. So companies are pandering to them and their tastes. Be it TV shows, music or games they are the ones the executives listern to.

It is Teen Idol, not middle aged gamer idol that these games are being made for.

Gosh .. you are just sticking your head in the sand and ignore the evidence.

There are plenty of facts (many posted in this thread) that the median/average gamer is an adult.

Ahaha that's some crazy stuff. I remember, when being old and playing games was a rare thing, and only so called "geeks" did it. Now older people complain about kids playing games hehe kids playing games... Now there are games for mature players.

WoW. A game with colorful, cartoony graphics, where you can be a green goblin and throw magical spells at others. When you look at it objectively, it looks ridiculous and childish. And then you see the age of 30s being the average. And then people saying, that kids shouldn't play it. Crazy stuff, and scary :D

What will I see next... toy store with a sign "you need to be 18 to enter" Or "My kid took my legos, kids shouldn't play them" :D

Show me the evidence that the average MMO gamer is in his 30's. You may be in your 30's, and know a lot of gamers who are. But the posters on here are not the average demographic of a MMO, indeed the average MMO player does not read their MMO's official game forum, let alone this one.

Here is some evidence I found:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2139/unmasking_the_avatar_the_.php

"About 15% of respondents were female (N = 5547). This ranged from 8% to 18% depending on the game. The average age was 26.6 (N = 5509, SD = 9.19). The lower and upper quartile for age were 19 and 32 respectively. In other words, only about 25% of MMORPG players are teenagers."

Yes 'only' about 25% of MMO players are teenagers, this shows how blinded people can be. So the age group 13 to 19 which covers just six years has 25% of players. The age group 20 to 77 (average life expectancy) covering 37 years has 75% of players.

6 years is about 1/13th of 77 years. So if we had an even distribution of age, any six year period would contain about 8% of the total population, not 25%! I am slanting the figures you say? Ok lets be more generous then, lets say 9 yrs to 19 yrs for teenagers. That is still 12% not 25%! No one gaming at 77 you say? I will give you that, but as a balance how many ten year olds who should not be playing do you think fill out survey questionnaires?

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Originally posted by Amjoco
I think you have the age thing wrong. The ages are increasing.

Average age of World of Warcraft in 2005 was 28.

Read this paragraph posted in 2011

  The MMO StatsThe median age of an MMO player is 33, as compared to the median age of the general population, 35. People in their thirties make up the largest concentration of players, six times larger than the number of teens and three times the number of college students between 18 and 22. The average age for all online game players is 35 with 26% older than 50. 60% of the most active MMO players are female avatars who might or might not be women. (Data fromTotal Engagement)

This of course is just some quick google stuff I grabbed. Probably more in depth analysis is available.

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Hmm...on a completely unrelated note, how many people do you think will commit suicide when WoW shuts down in the future? Cuz if the median age of WoW is 28 to 33, we're gonna have a bit of a hole in the employment market...*yikes*

Originally posted by Scot

Show me the evidence that the average MMO gamer is in his 30's. You may be in your 30's, and know a lot of gamers who are. But the posters on here are not the average demographic of a MMO, indeed the average MMO player does not read their MMO's official game forum, let alone this one.

Here is some evidence I found:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/2139/unmasking_the_avatar_the_.php

"About 15% of respondents were female (N = 5547). This ranged from 8% to 18% depending on the game. The average age was 26.6 (N = 5509, SD = 9.19). The lower and upper quartile for age were 19 and 32 respectively. In other words, only about 25% of MMORPG players are teenagers."

Yes 'only' about 25% of MMO players are teenagers, this shows how blinded people can be. So the age group 13 to 19 which covers just six years has 25% of players. The age group 20 to 77 (average life expectancy) covering 37 years has 75% of players.

6 years is about 1/13th of 77 years. So if we had an even distribution of age, any six year period would contain about 8% of the total population, not 25%! I am slanting the figures you say? Ok lets be more generous then, lets say 9 yrs to 19 yrs for teenagers. That is still 12% not 25%! No one gaming at 77 you say? I will give you that, but as a balance how many ten year olds who should not be playing do you think fill out survey questionnaires?

So, according to your methodology, there should be as many one year olds playing as there are 20 year olds...perhaps there is a problem with the methodology ?

Are you playing EVE-Online or are you playing Mabinogi?

If you're looking for mature people or to the least, an older crowd, try playing games that are made for a much older audience. When you go to the theater to watch a Disney movie, do you complain that their's too many kids around?

I understand what you're saying and to a certain degree, can agree with you.

There's tons of much more mature games out there, just need to look at the right place.