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Comment by bitwize | Hacker News Reader

It's a great thing to see older folks involved in gaming, but are they going to be even competitive? Empirical data suggests that the cognitive capacities which produce gaming skill peak at about age 25 and enter steady decline after, which is why top-tier e-sports pros are virtually all in their teens or early 20s.

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Even if they have a lower ceiling and could never compete at the highest level, I think older players could go toe to toe with lower but still competitive levels, especially in a team game with plenty of strategy. And I think promoting this is a worthy cause.

I'm formerly a competitive golfer and there's plenty of 60 somethings out there who are better than me even though I can hit it 50 yards past them. I expect (and hope for) similar things playing out in gaming.

perhaps in a different game! Unfortunately, currently popular competitive video games all demand fast reactions and hand dexterity, and the strategy typically comes second to mechanics. For example in counterstrike you still need to be able to hit the shots, no matter how great your tactics are. I highly doubt that really old players can compete in these kinds of games.

maybe older folks getting into games will help spur the creation of more strategic competitive experiences where older players are on a more even playing field

FWIW, there are a lot of still relevant "older" players approaching their 40s in the fighting game community.

To be fair, 60 is a lot more than 40. There are many top athletes in other sports at 40 but very few at 60.

Yes, but we also have to consider that today's 60 year olds didn't grow up with the same types of video games (if at all), and video games didn't have the same profile that they do now. The 40ish players in the FGC - they all grew up with the genre of the game they play.

I would not be surprised if the 20-something pros in stuff like FPS games would still be quite good at them when they hit 60-- provided of course, that 1) life doesn't get in the way, 2) that they still playing the games regularly, and 3) that the genre even still exists at that point.

Can't wait until I turn 60 so I can finally justifiably call people with inferior skills than me - noobs.

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I know one older gentleman playing a FPS. He is not very good, but better than the majority.

It's all about community though. If you play on the same server or a not-very-popular game, you would soon know all the "regulars". The actual game is there just to hook you in. You stay for the community.

Okay, but that just shows a natural decline from best to okay, vs okay to bad.

They didn't grow up with games at all. They would have been in their late teens and twenties just as the first games came out. Keep in mind gaming as a genre is still really young

I don't think the pros would be very good. If anything, I'm worried about how much carpal tunnel syndrome and other health risks they put themselves through by being pro.

I'm in my 40s and took up CSGO this year, I'm silver-2/rank 15, I find very often other players beat me in reaction time when we're heads up. Gradually I'm learning to compensate for that.

It's my first time playing a proper FPS, yay Steam and Linux compatability.

I don't know if there's much of a leap required, honestly. The games that I play (Overwatch, Starcraft 2, and Dota 2) can all be played well (if not at a pro level) without great twitch reflexes.

I'd be surprised if we ever saw oldsters at the top of any popular esport, but I have no chance of going pro, and I can still enjoy myself and improve. I very much hope to run into older folks on the various ladders.

Reaction time and APM (in RTS) pretty much dominates every other skill in terms of game outcome for most of the competitive games out there. Maybe if turn-based games develop a competitive scene.

Face it: you're over the hill, and so are most of the rest of us.

Probably not true for MOBAs, at any rate.

Pokemon has a competitive scene, and that's turn based. Also a series that rewards strategy and knowledge of the game's mechanics a hell of a lot more than timing.

So hey, perhaps that could be a good eSport for older generations.

This is true for various sports, like running - organizers just organizer age-based tiers. Maybe we'll see a 60+ CS tier!

No. It's a PR stunt. A fun hobby. Seeing them play it's obvious they play like any other group of people that just started. You need several thousand hours to be decent and tens of thousands to be competitive. These people have maybe a hundred or a thousand tops. I applaud the initiative and wish more people would start playing, but any random team of 17 year old CS players will beat this team, despite having a coach. I wish there were "masters" (40+) and "legends" (60)+ classes in competitions.

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