In the constantly advancing field of gaming, which features cutting-edge technology and new gameplay mechanisms, there is a group of players who are struggling to keep up.
Some games pose challenges for older players. A 53-year-old player expressed to AARP, an American non-profit organization that advocates for the interests and needs of older adults: “I feel like we’re being left behind, not taken into account” (via aarp.org).
Players over 50 make up a quarter of all video game players in America. In Germany, nearly a third of players are over 50, as our colleagues from GameStar report.
A 65-year-old has been playing Call of Duty for 15 years and has almost half a million kills. The various titles of the shooter are popular among many older players.
Font size too small and controllers that are difficult to use
Instructor Celia Pearce teaches Game Design at Northeastern University in Boston and has been addressing issues that older players face for years.
What problems do older players have? One issue is controllers that are sometimes hard to operate, especially for people with acute or permanent injuries or arthritis. Another issue is the small font sizes in games.
“I always tell my students, please use larger fonts, no one over 30 can read a font size of 0.5,” says Celia Pearce (via Marketplace). Pearce is part of the research group “Games for Life” and wants to bridge the gap between the gaming industry and the needs of older players.
AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) has highlighted in a research report that older players feel disadvantaged and rarely find games that are suitable for them (via PDF: AARP).
“Playing is a healthy part of aging”
What do older players wish for? According to AARP, for many, the tutorial often presents a hurdle. The instructions should be made clearer and more readable. Many older gamers also play on mobile devices, while others prefer PCs or consoles. There is a demand for more cross-platform games.
Maura White is the director of games and their community at AARP. She says that meaningful gaming is a healthy part of aging. Playing can “reduce stress, challenge you mentally, connect you with others, and simply be fun.” It also provides an opportunity to engage more with technology (via blog.aarp.com).
Additionally, while older players want to stay mentally fit, they also look for “ways to connect with other people through games,” says Kenny Rosenblatt (via Marketplace). Rosenblatt is the CEO of Arkadium, a developer of casual games.
What games do older players play? According to the instructor, older players are not only interested in brain-training games but mainly in story games. The company Arkadium now wants to focus primarily on this player group. Most of their players, according to Rosenblatt, are in their sixties and seventies, some even in their eighties.
Even Diablo 4 fascinates older gamers, as the Diablo franchise has been a pillar of gaming since 1996 and one of the best-known game series.
