Guild Wars 2 Geared for Older Audience?
Our guild has about 40% under 21 so I would say that more adults play GW2 but more “mature teens” play GW2 VS games like WOW
lol, I beg to differ. I’ve been kicked out of more dungeons than I can count by little teenagers in GW2. Let me give you a comparison. I’ve played WoW since the beginning of it’s existence. I’ll just say 8 years. I was only kicked by a teenager twice in WoW, and he was extremely immature. Fast forward to Guild Wars 2, and I’ve been kicked over 30 times. 20-22ish of those were teens.
That’s because more little teenagers pug, where older people tend to organize into guilds of like minded people. Much of my guild is over 30. Plenty of us are over 50.
Also, how do you know they’re teenagers? The MMO genre is infamous for attracting elitism.
I believe this to be a generational thing. The generation I’m from did everything personally. Mom and pop stores, instead of big huge megastores. That’s what I grew up with. The older you are, the more likely you were dealing with people personally and not systems.
So I’m more comfortable dealing with people I know…because growing up it’s how I (and people my age) interacted.
Now the younger generation, they’re more used to thinks like facebook, games where you pair with strangers over and over again, that sort of thing.
That isn’t to say there won’t be exceptions. There will be younger people who don’t want to pug and older people who like pugging, but even in my guild of 130, it seems to me the younger people just pug as a matter of course, and the older people tend not to pug unless it’s a last option.
I’m not judging this as being better or not better. I’m judging this based on comfort zones. I know how I feel and I attribute it to the world I grew up in.
It wasn’t intended to be a value judgement on anyone.
Our guild has about 40% under 21 so I would say that more adults play GW2 but more “mature teens” play GW2 VS games like WOW
lol, I beg to differ. I’ve been kicked out of more dungeons than I can count by little teenagers in GW2. Let me give you a comparison. I’ve played WoW since the beginning of it’s existence. I’ll just say 8 years. I was only kicked by a teenager twice in WoW, and he was extremely immature. Fast forward to Guild Wars 2, and I’ve been kicked over 30 times. 20-22ish of those were teens.
That’s because more little teenagers pug, where older people tend to organize into guilds of like minded people. Much of my guild is over 30. Plenty of us are over 50.
Also, how do you know they’re teenagers? The MMO genre is infamous for attracting elitism.
I believe this to be a generational thing. The generation I’m from did everything personally. Mom and pop stores, instead of big huge megastores. That’s what I grew up with. The older you are, the more likely you were dealing with people personally and not systems.
So I’m more comfortable dealing with people I know…because growing up it’s how I (and people my age) interacted.
Now the younger generation, they’re more used to thinks like facebook, games where you pair with strangers over and over again, that sort of thing.
That isn’t to say there won’t be exceptions. There will be younger people who don’t want to pug and older people who like pugging, but even in my guild of 130, it seems to me the younger people just pug as a matter of course, and the older people tend not to pug unless it’s a last option.
I’m not judging this as being better or not better. I’m judging this based on comfort zones. I know how I feel and I attribute it to the world I grew up in.
It wasn’t intended to be a value judgement on anyone.
Interesting observation Vayne.
As for… “From my history I have been completely oblivious to the fact older people (30-50) play.” That’s just adorable. Now excuse me while I go eat a pint of ice cream and cry.
This is why the LS sucks.
It’s pretty clear Anet wants kids to play it more than adults because that’s were the money is. Hence why there is also a lack of content that requires high levels of organization to complete.
First off, kids are not where the money is. Most of them need to ask their parents or face losing their cell phones for a week.
I have my own income. My income is such that I have “disposable” income. Saying the money is with all the kids is incorrect.
For the record, I do remember punch cards… and I remember using them when they became obsolete to help my daughter make artsy-craftsy angels out of them.
Cheers!
I grew up with just the opposite perception. My dad and his gaming buddies are what got me into online games, and they were all 30-50’s. Now they’re all in the 50’s going on 60’s range and are still hardcore gamers.
Our guild has about 40% under 21 so I would say that more adults play GW2 but more “mature teens” play GW2 VS games like WOW
lol, I beg to differ. I’ve been kicked out of more dungeons than I can count by little teenagers in GW2. Let me give you a comparison. I’ve played WoW since the beginning of it’s existence. I’ll just say 8 years. I was only kicked by a teenager twice in WoW, and he was extremely immature. Fast forward to Guild Wars 2, and I’ve been kicked over 30 times. 20-22ish of those were teens.
That’s because more little teenagers pug, where older people tend to organize into guilds of like minded people. Much of my guild is over 30. Plenty of us are over 50.
Also, how do you know they’re teenagers? The MMO genre is infamous for attracting elitism.
I believe this to be a generational thing. The generation I’m from did everything personally. Mom and pop stores, instead of big huge megastores. That’s what I grew up with. The older you are, the more likely you were dealing with people personally and not systems.
So I’m more comfortable dealing with people I know…because growing up it’s how I (and people my age) interacted.
Now the younger generation, they’re more used to thinks like facebook, games where you pair with strangers over and over again, that sort of thing.
That isn’t to say there won’t be exceptions. There will be younger people who don’t want to pug and older people who like pugging, but even in my guild of 130, it seems to me the younger people just pug as a matter of course, and the older people tend not to pug unless it’s a last option.
I’m not judging this as being better or not better. I’m judging this based on comfort zones. I know how I feel and I attribute it to the world I grew up in.
It wasn’t intended to be a value judgement on anyone.
I don’t know… Pugging, especially using an lfg site or in game tool, is about convenience, and “path of least resistance” is age-neutral.
Our guild has about 40% under 21 so I would say that more adults play GW2 but more “mature teens” play GW2 VS games like WOW
lol, I beg to differ. I’ve been kicked out of more dungeons than I can count by little teenagers in GW2. Let me give you a comparison. I’ve played WoW since the beginning of it’s existence. I’ll just say 8 years. I was only kicked by a teenager twice in WoW, and he was extremely immature. Fast forward to Guild Wars 2, and I’ve been kicked over 30 times. 20-22ish of those were teens.
That’s because more little teenagers pug, where older people tend to organize into guilds of like minded people. Much of my guild is over 30. Plenty of us are over 50.
Also, how do you know they’re teenagers? The MMO genre is infamous for attracting elitism.
I believe this to be a generational thing. The generation I’m from did everything personally. Mom and pop stores, instead of big huge megastores. That’s what I grew up with. The older you are, the more likely you were dealing with people personally and not systems.
So I’m more comfortable dealing with people I know…because growing up it’s how I (and people my age) interacted.
Now the younger generation, they’re more used to thinks like facebook, games where you pair with strangers over and over again, that sort of thing.
That isn’t to say there won’t be exceptions. There will be younger people who don’t want to pug and older people who like pugging, but even in my guild of 130, it seems to me the younger people just pug as a matter of course, and the older people tend not to pug unless it’s a last option.
I’m not judging this as being better or not better. I’m judging this based on comfort zones. I know how I feel and I attribute it to the world I grew up in.
It wasn’t intended to be a value judgement on anyone.
I don’t know… Pugging, especially using an lfg site or in game tool, is about convenience, and “path of least resistance” is age-neutral.
Well, I’m going by personal, admittedly annecdotal experience), but I didn’t grow up “playing” with random strangers, so I don’t gravitate to that solution. It’s harder for me to pug, not easier. It’s a different thought process.
With a pug, you have to usually anyway run run run. Fast fast fast. I’m not a fast fast fast type of guy. I’m older. It takes me longer to get my bearings. Unless I’ve done a dungeon a million times, I still have to think sometimes about where to go or what to do next. Pugs don’t give me that flexibility.
Then, there’s almost no chance when playing with guildies of getting kicked from a party, or having to deal with unwanted comments, or rage quitting. It’s a different thought process.
I tend to play best with people over 30, because I am over 30. And I tend to find those people in guilds.
I could be wrong about other people but for me, pugging is more difficult not easier.
Our guild has about 40% under 21 so I would say that more adults play GW2 but more “mature teens” play GW2 VS games like WOW
lol, I beg to differ. I’ve been kicked out of more dungeons than I can count by little teenagers in GW2. Let me give you a comparison. I’ve played WoW since the beginning of it’s existence. I’ll just say 8 years. I was only kicked by a teenager twice in WoW, and he was extremely immature. Fast forward to Guild Wars 2, and I’ve been kicked over 30 times. 20-22ish of those were teens.
That’s because more little teenagers pug, where older people tend to organize into guilds of like minded people. Much of my guild is over 30. Plenty of us are over 50.
Also, how do you know they’re teenagers? The MMO genre is infamous for attracting elitism.
I believe this to be a generational thing. The generation I’m from did everything personally. Mom and pop stores, instead of big huge megastores. That’s what I grew up with. The older you are, the more likely you were dealing with people personally and not systems.
So I’m more comfortable dealing with people I know…because growing up it’s how I (and people my age) interacted.
Now the younger generation, they’re more used to thinks like facebook, games where you pair with strangers over and over again, that sort of thing.
That isn’t to say there won’t be exceptions. There will be younger people who don’t want to pug and older people who like pugging, but even in my guild of 130, it seems to me the younger people just pug as a matter of course, and the older people tend not to pug unless it’s a last option.
I’m not judging this as being better or not better. I’m judging this based on comfort zones. I know how I feel and I attribute it to the world I grew up in.
It wasn’t intended to be a value judgement on anyone.
I don’t know… Pugging, especially using an lfg site or in game tool, is about convenience, and “path of least resistance” is age-neutral.
Well, I’m going by personal, admittedly annecdotal experience), but I didn’t grow up “playing” with random strangers, so I don’t gravitate to that solution. It’s harder for me to pug, not easier. It’s a different thought process.
With a pug, you have to usually anyway run run run. Fast fast fast. I’m not a fast fast fast type of guy. I’m older. It takes me longer to get my bearings. Unless I’ve done a dungeon a million times, I still have to think sometimes about where to go or what to do next. Pugs don’t give me that flexibility.
Then, there’s almost no chance when playing with guildies of getting kicked from a party, or having to deal with unwanted comments, or rage quitting. It’s a different thought process.
I tend to play best with people over 30, because I am over 30. And I tend to find those people in guilds.
I could be wrong about other people but for me, pugging is more difficult not easier.
Going to have to agree with Vayne on this one. It may also not necessarily come down to a strict age barrier, but a maturity barrier. The player populations who use LFG systems are a bit of a running joke in MMO circles for a reason.
(edited by killcannon.2576)
I used to run with PuGs in Lich King all the time. I was well into my 50’s by then.
Had no problem “keeping up” because my guild used to run them usually faster than the folks in the PuGs. I always made sure to bring a class that could swap from dps to healing because I often found the healers had a hard time keeping up, and often themselves up as well. Yes, there were a lot of people I would never want to ever group with again. And there were some new players (especially healers) that I had enjoyable conversations with (often in whispers during the run).
I do much prefer running dungeons with folks I know.
Still love the mix of folks in outdoor raiding from DAoC days, where telling a few jokes to break the tension and just being amiable in chat got folks responding likewise. There was still a lot of that happening in Warhammer Online as well in the early days. Something about large group PvP that tends to bring that out. GW2, on a good day in WvW still has that flavor, something I do enjoy about this game. Sometimes it’s a great way to get to know more players. Familiar names, etcetera. The champ trains sometimes have that same feel.
And I’m happy to run with anybody of any age, as long as they act reasonably mature. (There are a surprising amount of adults around my age that don’t.) And I’ve always enjoyed running with my kids and their friends as well. They keep me young and they are kind to tolerate the “big kid” that enjoys their company.
Why I’ve turned down all the offers for “old folks” guilds for over decade: I get a headache from all the squeaky rocking chairs moving in tandem.
I agree that PuGs are BOTH age-neutral AND have a maturity barrier. For the most part.
(edited by goldenwing.8473)
Does no one remember punch cards?
I’ve been playing computer games since you had to program them yourself. (BASIC, anyone?) played p&p D&D….
Haha that brings back memories. I was the kid that would go to Radio Shack in the mall and program my name to go all over on the screen on the TRS-80 display. Later I had a Commodore Vic-20 with a cassette tape drive. I remember many hours with my nose stuck in Commodore magazine coding a game and many times having it fail. I had a few games for the cassette drive and would get home from school and start loading it, go watch cartoons and come back an hour later and maybe it actually loaded.
My RP also started with p&p D&D. Those were the days were most of the graphics were in your head aside from a few pictures to look at in books. Things certainly have come a long way since then.
I had the Commodore 64. No tape drive on mine, but that external floppy drive that liked to overheat and catch fire if you didn’t have a fan running on it at all times.
I had the tape drive before the disc drive was available (or at least affordable). 1983. Fun times. Brings back memories.
Vividly. Now, do you remember how to do the formatting card on the little drum inside an 026 keypunch? I remember creating them, but not the encoding
As to the game, I am thankful the game was designed for, and both forums and chat are moderated for, mature adults. I too recoiled from Blizzard’s decision that it was OK for its beta forums to become useless, and its employees’ fostering of a very negative competitive raiding culture. Life is too short to spend my entertainment time listening to trolls, or pandering to people looking for an excuse to put me down.
(edited by bewhatever.2390)
Our guild has about 40% under 21 so I would say that more adults play GW2 but more “mature teens” play GW2 VS games like WOW
lol, I beg to differ. I’ve been kicked out of more dungeons than I can count by little teenagers in GW2. Let me give you a comparison. I’ve played WoW since the beginning of it’s existence. I’ll just say 8 years. I was only kicked by a teenager twice in WoW, and he was extremely immature. Fast forward to Guild Wars 2, and I’ve been kicked over 30 times. 20-22ish of those were teens.
That’s because more little teenagers pug, where older people tend to organize into guilds of like minded people. Much of my guild is over 30. Plenty of us are over 50.
Also, how do you know they’re teenagers? The MMO genre is infamous for attracting elitism.
I believe this to be a generational thing. The generation I’m from did everything personally. Mom and pop stores, instead of big huge megastores. That’s what I grew up with. The older you are, the more likely you were dealing with people personally and not systems.
So I’m more comfortable dealing with people I know…because growing up it’s how I (and people my age) interacted.
Now the younger generation, they’re more used to thinks like facebook, games where you pair with strangers over and over again, that sort of thing.
That isn’t to say there won’t be exceptions. There will be younger people who don’t want to pug and older people who like pugging, but even in my guild of 130, it seems to me the younger people just pug as a matter of course, and the older people tend not to pug unless it’s a last option.
I’m not judging this as being better or not better. I’m judging this based on comfort zones. I know how I feel and I attribute it to the world I grew up in.
It wasn’t intended to be a value judgement on anyone.
I don’t know… Pugging, especially using an lfg site or in game tool, is about convenience, and “path of least resistance” is age-neutral.
Well, I’m going by personal, admittedly annecdotal experience), but I didn’t grow up “playing” with random strangers, so I don’t gravitate to that solution. It’s harder for me to pug, not easier. It’s a different thought process.
With a pug, you have to usually anyway run run run. Fast fast fast. I’m not a fast fast fast type of guy. I’m older. It takes me longer to get my bearings. Unless I’ve done a dungeon a million times, I still have to think sometimes about where to go or what to do next. Pugs don’t give me that flexibility.
Then, there’s almost no chance when playing with guildies of getting kicked from a party, or having to deal with unwanted comments, or rage quitting. It’s a different thought process.
I tend to play best with people over 30, because I am over 30. And I tend to find those people in guilds.
I could be wrong about other people but for me, pugging is more difficult not easier.
Going to have to agree with Vayne on this one. It may also not necessarily come down to a strict age barrier, but a maturity barrier. The player populations who use LFG systems are a bit of a running joke in MMO circles for a reason.
Oh, I’m not saying there aren’t reasons to avoid pugs. Friends in my departed guild had a saying, “Pug shares letters with ugly for a reason.” I don’t pug much anymore, though I used to take my monk to mission towns in GW when bored and heal or prot for pug groups back a few years ago.
That said, I believe that players pug for a variety of reasons. Some don’t want to make friends/join a guild. Some are impatient, and want to do that dungeon run now. Others have limited time, and friends aren’t on when they are. Some people like meeting new people. None of those factors necessarily correlate with age or maturity. Still, there are people who avoid pugs like they would a plague. Those who’ve been around the block longer may be a greater percentage of that group, because they’re more likely to have had a bad experience.
Yeah, dungeon communities in MMO’s have gone downhill a lot over the past few years, particularly with regard to pick-ups. That may be a maturity issue. The MMO player-base may be aging, but are they growing up?
It’s just..what about this game in particular makes teens the minority? P2P?
I don’t think that this game is especially geared for “older” people in any way. In fact it feels that GW2 has quite a lot lower average age than for example Lotro, Swtor and even WoW had back then when it launched in 2005.
I did kinda giggle at the thinking five years of MMOs is a “long time”. I’m 39 and this month is the 25th anniversary of when I beat my first game – The Legend of Zelda. I started gaming in 1982 when wee little me discovered something called Pac-Man and later that same year, my mother bought and became wholly addicted to Coleco-vision. So gaming has almost always been around me. It’s a terrifying idea for me not to be playing a game or gaming – what in the world would I do with my spare time to have fun and what would be my hobby?
Others did point it out but it’s true the average age of gamers is 30+ and people who are 30+ don’t want to deal with a lot of bullkitten. I did try WoW but I found it full of rude little kids who needed a swift kick in the butt and overly grindy, not fun content. That’s why I left. When I tried out GW2 during Karka Heck Weekend, I found the community was mature, the game not as grindy as WoW, there were a lot of really great female characters in prominent roles, the male humans actually looked nice, and the overall focus was on enjoying oneself with light but still serious stories. Oh and it wasn’t Korean MMO Clone 28,987. That all sold me the game and what has kept me playing is that it’s fun and offers just the right amount of challenge for me … though those kids who need a kick in the butt have been steadily flooding in and mucking up the community (Reason #1 I will not do random dungeon runs and was sad when the guild of old farts I was in finally died).
Maybe teens don’t stick with it because the game doesn’t encourage showing off and being a butt. No “inspect” tool. No PvP servers. Maybe because there are a dozen other things that cater to their generation. It’s not Call of Duty.
And hush about My Little Pony and Hello Kitty – I’ve been collecting both since the 80’s.
Forever known as “that slow guardian who can’t jump worth crap”.
I remember when it was my generation that thought it was cool older people played MMO’s.. Man, I’m getting old. Anyway, video gaming preferences are as diverse for older people as they are for young people. I’d be surprised to find that any demographic held a considerable percentile over another.
There are two things that are being mixed up in this thread, they are similar though. One is Market Segmentiation, the other is Profiling. Market segmentation is a well known fact that has been researched for a long time and it is the base of how professional adveritsing works. Profiling, on the other hand, is based on anectdotical evidence that can or can’t be true. We grow in a society and most people follow a similar path, that is the base of how market segmentation works.
Once you end HS and start college, people face competitivity, raise to the top of your class, earn respect. Sometimes it is based on their appearance. In most cases competition is so hard that people look for shortcuts, don’t have the time to enjoy the process and everyone around them is an enemy. Even if they try them politely and team up, at the end, in most cases, if a person threat their position they have no qualms in crushing him or her. This is one of the segments that MMO are addressed at.
Once people get a job and start climbing the ladder, gaining financial stability, they become more relaxed, have kids and raising them, becoming more tolerant of mistakes, more patient. This is another segment that MMO developers try to predate obviously, because of the underlined phrase.
These segments are not hard cut, and there are obviously noticeable exceptions, but I see GW2 having a good balance caring for both.
Can an older player perform competitively if he wants? Yes, [opening brag bracket]during my last days in WoW I was among the best geared Rogues in my realm and had ranked WoLs in almost every fight in Firelands and Dragon Soul[/closing brag bracket], and I know that I was not the only one. The difference is that I really didn’t care about it, I cared more for seeing the boss die, working as a team, having just simply old fun. The other people (younger) was more interested in topping the DPS charts (even if it meant a wipe), in proving something, making a drama when the guild fell one spot in the WoW Heroes ranking.
If you believe that GW2 don’t care for the obsessive competitive people, just check this thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/PuG-Stupidity/first#post3163559
I’m with Vayne here, I don’t like to PuG. I don’t want to be exposed to the scorn in my leisure time
This is a very interesting topic. I guess I will put my experience in there and see how it goes.
I started playing MMO’s in my early 20s, a friend of mine that was 20 years older then me got me started. I went through Everquest a bit, but got really hard core with DAoC. Most of the hardcore players I played with was around my age. Made a lot of good friends.
Now that I am older (mid 30s), with a family, my gaming has changed some. I am not hard core any more. When time permits me I play hard core for that amount of time but I am not on everyday because other things are important.
Where the numbers come from now is the gaming population, the ones that would continue to play got started years ago. We probably will be gaming until we die. That is why the age has been going up for MMO’s. A lot of us started in are teens and 20s and just kept going. I belong to a guild that is for over 30s. We have a lot of players in theirs 30s, but we also have a lot of players in their 50s. But I think we see a good mix of players in GW2. I think their probably more players over 30 then under but that just goes with the territory now a days.
______________________________________
Lead, Follow, or get the hell out of my way.
I’m 44 and I started playing this game because my kids got all hyped about it (they’re 19 and 22), which got me interested in what it was all about. I watched them play for a little bit and fell in love with the look of the game and the fact that in PvE, no other players can kill you; and in fact you can HELP other players. It seemed like such a cool invention… a game where you can play without fear of being pummeled to death constantly by other players!
Now, over a year later, I play every single day and my kids have mostly moved on – they both have PS3 consoles and more friends than I do – though they will log in every once in a while for a GW2 day with me. Neither of them has even one character up to level 80 yet! Now, I play WvW and am slowly learning how to fight other players, and that is making the game all new and exciting for me.
BTW I never was a gamer before this. Sure, I played Pac-Man and whatever in the old days, but never did play any game like this before. My kids are quite shocked I’ve turned into such a “gamer”.
I’ll chip in my two cents as an “old” person – well actually if you think anyone over 30 is old, I’m bordering on ancient. Let’s just say I’ve been gaming longer than some of your “old people” have been alive
Gaming is my hobby, I play lots of games of many varieties, and shortly before GW2 came out was completely burnt out on MMOs. I’ve tried all of the major ones and the only one that kept me around for any significant length of time was City of Heroes (RIP). Tons of aesthetics, easy to hop on, do a couple of missions and hop off, and really fun community on the RP server. I think the game design choices ANet made appeals to older folks without necessarily alienating all younger folks.
You don’t have to have dark or mature content to attract adults – look at Candy Crush Saga. It isn’t children spending tons of money on that game every week. You do however have to have a game that we ancients can enjoy after work without having to be hyper focused or commit huge blocks of time to do raids.
GW2 has fewer time sinks than any other MMO I’ve played. There is no waiting for the zeppelin, or having to have a mount to get around the world, or having to go back to a quest giver to complete your dailies. It was the first game that I hit the level cap before my man, because all of my wandering and crafting and side tracking to investigate something that looked interesting was actually a much more effective way to level than grinding. I was level 80 for a long time before I ever set foot in Orr, which I think is incredibly awesome.
I think that the difference in pace might be a reason that the community could be trending older. The younger folks with more time and energy might (in general) get bored sooner with a game that doesn’t have much of a gear treadmill pushing them forward to the next great thing. You hit the level cap pretty quickly, and from there on out the obvious goals tend to get longer term. The stereotypical old person likes to putter around where the stereotypical young person prefers to charge forward at full speed. Exceptions to every rule of course…
He might start thinking he knows what’s right for you.
—Paul Williams
I couldn’t strictly say if GW2 is geared towards an older gaming audience but I can say it is geared towards me.
I grew up in the era of cassette drives mentioned by previous posters and highschool typing classes involved a room full of mechanical typewriters where shorthand was just as important as typing speed.
Running around in this (or other) virtual world, whether theme park or sandbox is astonishing – a dream come true from my space invader days.
Time teaches that life is not perfect so enjoy whatever you have despite flaws. GW2 gives sooooooo…ooo much more than the measly $60 once off purchase, more than most F2P or sub games I have played over the decades.
I am lucky enough to have made the choice not to forget what its is like to be young, to remember what I didn’t have techwise growing up and how to bring the positives of the “social always connected” age into the positives of our current tech life. Whatever GW2 does it works for me and except for no flying cars I’m living the future dream that current youth may not appreciate.
Just being able to play GW2 is great.
(edited by Respawn.6802)