Breakfast Topic: Grandma Loves Her World of Warcraft
by David Nelson 
Nov 9th 2006 at 8:00AM
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When I play World of Warcraft, I usually assume every player is somewhere between 16 and 35 years old. Some a little older than me, and some a little younger. However, tonight I discovered that one of my regular instance partners over the past couple of weeks is not only a little older, she is A LOT older. In fact, she is a 61 year old grandmother. She said her and husband started mudding way back when, and just kept with the hobby and eventually transitioned into Everquest, then into WoW. Oh, and she is also a phenomenal rogue.
I am always shocked when I see older folks playing WoW, but I really shouldn't be. As the tech savvy crowd gets older, we can expect more and more older players. Heck, I hope I am playing World of Starcraft 4 in my retirement village in 50 years.
Have any of you guys run across someone a little older in WoW? What's the oldest player you have met? Do you see yourself playing MMORPGs when you are 60? Or will you have retired your keyboard?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
White Rabbit Nov 9th 2006 8:39AM
I'll probably still be playing. Hopefully the technology used in teh .hack franchise will be real. Total emersive MMORPG action woo!
but hopefully... without all the comas
Brim Nov 9th 2006 8:37AM
Holy Retirement Batman! That be some elderly rogue!
Should be fun to have your ass handed to you by your grandma in a duel.... O.o
Kevin Nov 9th 2006 8:40AM
Ahh... mudding. I sometimes lament the days of the text-based RPG. I wasted several hours of college study time in one of those.
We have several members of our guild that are parents and I'll safely guess that they're in their 30's. I'm not sure who the oldest person I've met in-game is - I'll guess mid-40's.
I do have a grudge against playing with the younger crowd - people that have yet to graduate high school, for example. They're just too young or I'm just too old (29).
I'm sure I'll still be doing computer stuff in my 60's. I'm not sure if its gaming since the mice and keyboard might become obsolete and my old age will prevent me from learning the new tools that they use to control the virtual reality around you.
Jim Nov 9th 2006 9:33AM
Leo Laport and Jerry Pournell have both admitted on past Twits that they play WOW.
McBain Nov 9th 2006 8:45AM
There is a 64 year old grandmother who is a hardcore member of my end game raiding guild. She says she's been playing video games since Pong. She's retired so she just takes care of her sick husband and plays WoW. She plays with her husband too, but he doesn't do endgame raiding because his disability keeps him from doing particularly well with the mouse; end game dungeons are just a bit too much for his physical capabilities.
She is the nicest sweetest person in our guild.
Amaris Nov 9th 2006 8:47AM
In my previous guild, I met a guy around my age (29) who plays with his dad.
Also at some point our guild gathered very mature players around the age of 40-50. Some had teenage kids who play WoW as well.
Those be the oldest.
Ian Nov 9th 2006 8:57AM
My guild has a couple father/son combos, where the son is in his late-20s/early-30s. A mother/son combo. And we have at least one grandfather.
Ty M. Nov 9th 2006 9:33PM
The best shadow priest in my guild, and not to mention grinded to Warlord, is a 68 year old... I hesitate to say grandmother, but woman. She also will rip your young, pitiful heart to shreads with the razor blade at the end of her tounge, and we all love her for it.
Thunkon Nov 9th 2006 9:31AM
Man that would be cool. Retirement homes of the future... Metallica, NiN, etc. blaring and a 40 person raid going on in the "game room". :D
Theadrick Nov 9th 2006 9:19AM
I'm 36, and have been gaming since junior high. I've met plenty of people my age or older, including one person in their late 60s.
Hermes Nov 9th 2006 9:30AM
We have a 51-52 years old warrior in the guild, but besides that rest of the people are in the range of 20-40.
We also have some dad/son combinations, and sometimes we need to beg dad on Teamspeak, in order to allow the son to keep raiding (when it's getting late)
Chad Nov 9th 2006 9:40AM
My whole family plays WoW. Me, my wife, my younger brother (19) and his girlfriend, My older brother, my Mom (she's a grandma) my dad. Most of my guild is 25-40 and have kids and we have a LOT of couples in the guild (Not hard-core raiders, we only just downed Rag last week and are starting BWL one day a week.) But still the ag variety in this game, and the proportion of males:females is shocking.
Ryan Nov 9th 2006 9:40AM
Where part of me think it's pretty cool and interesting that someone that old is stuck to a computer game consisting of fantasy and addictive gameplay... the other part of me thinks it is pretty sad feels bad for this person.
Molly Nov 9th 2006 9:48AM
Our raid team has at least 4 people that are 40+ years old. One of my guild members, a woman who is in her mid to late 40's, just hit hit High Warlord two weeks ago - which still amazes me.
JJ Nov 9th 2006 9:53AM
My brother and I play, and I got my Dad the game for his birthday last year- he will be 74 in December, and he has a Troll Hunter that hit 60 last week.. I NEVER thought he would hit 60....
Bangarang Nov 9th 2006 4:38PM
I met some lady at work a few days ago that played WoW, and she was a grandma..id say she was around 55 or so.
Trout Nov 9th 2006 10:13AM
I tried to time my reaching level 60 with my 60th birthday -- I missed by a week. That was in September of 2005. I am also a Guild officer.
Trout (Mage_60)
Feathermoon Server
Order of the White Tower
Roseroyce04 Nov 9th 2006 10:28AM
Ryan, just because you get hopelessly addicted and let the game rule your life doesn't mean that's how it works with other people. Least of all old people with more than enough experience not to let themselves get carried away with anything. Let alone a game.
That trait belongs firmly to little kids who get carried away with everything, games being the least of them.
Justin Nov 9th 2006 10:46AM
A couple of months ago, one of the mages in my guild announced on our message boards that he dinged 70. At first glance, I thought he was referring to the expansion pack until I read the message and realized that was his age. He's actually one of the better mages in our guild.
If I make it to that age (I'm halfway there right now), I hope to still be playing whatever computer games look like then.
MadBrain Nov 10th 2006 3:49AM
In my guild there's almost an entire family playing! An around-60 man, his two sons and his daughter. Excpet from the girl, that's my girlfriend too, they all play online (mud, mmorpg and other) from 10 years ago.