Folks age 50 and older play video video games to keep away from boredom, scale back stress, keep mentally match and, oh yeah, have enjoyable.

For retired nurse Sandy Barber, 66, of Plainfield, Connecticut, sport play has supplied one thing extra, a “lifeline to sanity,” as she places it. Although Barber has been taking part in video games of 1 sort or one other on varied platforms for the reason that mid-Seventies, video video games assist as of late to distract her momentarily from the acute disappointment she has felt since her son Michael, 45, took his personal life in 2020 in the course of the pandemic.

Sandy Barber

Courtesy: Sandy Barber

“It offers me a way of escape, leisure, friendships I might by no means [think] I had or would want,” Barber says. She solid a bond with a thirtysomething couple from the UK, whom she met via a gaggle on Fb dedicated to the Animal Crossing social simulation sport.

“The youthful pals I meet and may discuss [with] in regards to the video games they’re taking part in retains my spirits up,” Barber says. “Their assist helped me via my darkest instances.”

Digital video games aren’t only for the younger

Video video games are stereotyped because the digital taking part in fields of youth. However the ranks of avid gamers 50 and older have grown by greater than 11 million previously six years, a rise of greater than 1 / 4, in response to an evaluation of AARP Analysis and U.S Census Bureau information. Rather less than half of older adults mentioned they performed video video games in 2022, up from 38 p.c six years earlier, representing greater than 24 p.c of all online game gamers.

Utilizing totally different age groupings, New York-based Insider Intelligence market analysis agency discovered that 36.6 p.c of all adults 45 and older performed video games digitally via the web. The figures embrace video games performed on a console, desktop, laptop computer, cell app, social community or internet browser.

• 11 and youthful, 9.2 p.c
• ​12 to 17, 9.8 p.c
• 18 to 24, 12.4 p.c
• 25 to 34, 17.6 p.c
• 35 to 44, 14.3 p.c
• 45 to 54, 12.3 p.c
• 55 to 64, 11.8 p.c
• 65 and older, 12.5 p.c

Whereas some gamers uncover gaming later in life, maybe to attach with their youngsters or grandkids, many have been at it on and off for many years, even courting to the period of Pong and Asteroids. Following his spouse’s demise, a number of the lifelong pals that gamer Joe Shaw met whereas taking part in had been capable of console him.

“That’s a part of it, the camaraderie, the companionship that you’ve from sharing a specific curiosity,” says the retired nationwide coach for Wells Fargo Residence Mortgage, 73, who lives in Magna, Utah.

“I bear in mind taking part in a sport with a youthful man and I discussed one thing about my age,” Shaw says. “He mentioned, ‘Wow, why are you taking part in video games?’ Nicely, I’ve been gaming a method or one other earlier than that child was born.”

The friendships that Barber has made with youthful gamers enrich her life, she says. She performs Pokémon and different video games along with her UK friends hours on finish. They’ve invited her to go to England.

She’s additionally labored as a college bus driver after retiring from nursing and now works part-time at Lowe’s.