Why Your Grandma Should Play Xbox

“You don’t still play a lot of those videogames, do you?” This was the question my grandfather asked me several weeks ago over dinner, quite literally out of the blue. As a child, both my cousins and I spent a lot of time at Grandma and Pop’s house, where we would often turn their finished basement in to an arena for Super Smash Bros and Mario Kart. My grandfather may not have necessarily came right out and said it, but you could hear the hint of disdain in his voice. What he wanted to say is, “Are you still playing games? What a waste of time.” Most gamers have had this conversation at one point or another, usually with a family member who’s out of touch with the hobby. As such, I don’t blame my grandfather for feeling the way he does. Plenty of people his age hold similar views, which really comes as no surprise. Mainstream media organizations love to weave stories of how the past time has led to an increase in violent tendencies from today’s youth or point the finger at them when discussing America’s obesity epidemic. More often than not, they are depicted as the epiphany of a waste of time and genuinely bad for you, so it is only natural that those outside of the gaming community think of them in a negative light. I find this to be especially sad though, because games also can be incredibly beneficial, especially for the older generation. It may be hard to imagine that there even exists this community of ancient gamers – those above the age of 63, but I assure you that they are real, and they are living richer, fuller lives as a result of their gaming habits. Over the years, videogames have been […]

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