The Gaming Graybeards: Can two thirtysomethings survive on Xbox Live?

Really, though, Xbox Live is just an online simulacrum of a middle-school cafeteria. The crudeness is coming from the kids, not being inflicted on them. If anything, the over-25s we met were an excellent influence. They tended to be polite and mellow and demonstrated good sportsmanship?like saying “good game” after they’d eviscerated me with various weapons.

[…]

I’m right at the fulcrum point of gaming popularity. Almost everyone five years older than me doesn’t really “get” video games and has little interest in playing them. Almost everyone five years younger than me can’t imagine life without an Xbox (or PS2 or whatever). — Seth Stevenson and Chris Suellentrop —The Gaming Graybeards: Can two thirtysomethings survive on Xbox Live? (Slate)

I’m pushing 40 (and this very moment is the first time I have ever thought of myself in precisely that term) — and the guy who wrote this is 30, so I found this statement very apt.

I would probably enjoy online multiplayer games if I had the time to play them… but quite frankly, if I did have more time, I’d probably spend it modding rather than playing. (I never did finish Half-Life 2.)