as small as a world and as large as alone

8:18am April 8, 2013

clatterbane:

d0cpr0fess0r:

sylphorix:

Still under the impression that video games are strictly for kids? Hilda Knott would like to have a word with you. And perhaps a game.

The 85-year-old British gamer has been mashing buttons for 40 years — roughly the life of the video game industry – and is showing no signs of slowing down.

We’re not talking about just a bunch of boring PC card games, either. In a video interview with the BBC, Knott, who turns 86 next month, shows off her formidable gaming setup, including a sweet 65-inch HDTV and a brand new Playstation 3 Superslim. She discusses her love of Grand Theft Auto IV, which she had a “hilarious” time playing with her 94-year-old-aunt.

Knott acknowledges that her deep love of gaming has helped her stay mentally fit, because “a lot of them have puzzles, working out how to do something.”

She isn’t joking, either, as the video shows her playing the niche tactical role-playing game, Disgaea 4. That’s hardcore. This lady is a gamer, through and through.

And while many of her fellow octogenarians credit games like Wii Sports for keeping them physically active, Knott’s favorite part about playing video games will sound more familiar to the Halo crowd.

“Finding something new in the game,” she says. “Getting on to the next stage, or the next event. And the achievement of finishing it.”

With 40 years of gaming under her belt, we imagine she’s finished quite a few. Hats off to you, Hilda!

Imagine playing Halo online and hearing an old woman’s voice from your headset. And then imagine finding out that the old woman has twice as many kills as you.

Exactly how fast do you send that friend request?

It’s a shame they tend to sound kinda condescending with this kind of story.

Then there’s the strange general idea that you somehow magically turn into a different person when you get older, beyond (hopefully) learning from all the years of experience. I haven’t noticed that things really work that way. If you’re the kind of person who is interested in puzzles at 20, you probably still will be at 90. Like this woman, yeah.

That said, I think it’s a shame that, with the marketing and all, my Nana never got into gaming. I suspect we’d have enjoyed a lot of the same games, and she would have gotten at least as big a kick as I do out of, say, running around Liberty City with a rocket launcher or shooting up New Austin. (And, unfortunately, I suspect that a lot of older people have more daily frustrations to deal with than I do—at least partly related to the idea that their age is somehow more relevant than who they really are.)

I actually only got back into gaming about five years ago, in my 30s, encouraged by a partner who’s a pretty hardcore gamer. And who didn’t get nearly as strong a message that wanting to do that is somehow incompatible with being an adult of his assigned gender. (I also got it rather strongly at home, that grownup AFAB people just don’t have the time to “waste” like that. Which is a pretty grim attitude, when you stop and think about it.) I’m glad the industry is finally having to pay some attention to the fact that teenage boys aren’t the only people interested in games, slow as the progress often seems to be. Hopefully we’ll see some more general social attitude change there, and soon. :/

But, yeah, I am totally looking forward to seeing what kinds of games will be available when I’m 86. :)

Regarding not having the time to waste. It reminds me of my grandmother who, I was told, believed that reading was something men do. Because women had to be doing actual work all the time and only guys had the opportunity for such leisure.

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