<
https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/ng-interactive/2025/jul/14/video-games-older-adults-data>
"Michelle Statham’s preferred game is
Call of Duty. It’s fast and frenetic,
involving military and espionage campaigns inspired by real history. She
typically spends six hours a day livestreaming to Twitch, chatting to her more
than 110,000 followers from her home in Washington state. She boasts about how
she’ll beat opponents, and says “bless your heart” while hurtling over rooftops
to avoid clusterstrikes of enemy fire. When she’s hit, she “respawns” – or
comes back to life at a checkpoint – and jumps right back into the fray.
The military shooter game has a predominantly young male user base, but
Statham’s Twitch handle is TacticalGramma – a nod to the 60-year-old’s two
grandkids. Her lifelong gaming hobby has become an income stream (she prefers
to keep her earnings private, but says she has raised “thousands” for charity),
as well as a way to have fun, stay sharp and connect socially.
“A lot of people are surprised that someone my age is playing video games,”
Statham admits. She finds the gameplay exhilarating. “When I get really good
long sniper shots in, or down someone out of a helicopter, that’s pretty fun,”
she says.
Statham juggles in-game multitasking with live-chatting to her
multigenerational streaming audience. Younger followers have taught her slang,
like the gen Z shibboleth “skibidi”. “I’ve learned some things I don’t want to
learn,” she says, laughing. When she tires, she plays privately off-stream to
unwind. She also exercises daily, going to the gym with her daughter as part of
the 75 Hard fitness challenge, to ensure gaming doesn’t displace physical
activity.
Statham is one of the 57 million Americans over 50 who game, a cohort that
represents 28% of roughly 205 million total US gamers, shows recent data from
the Entertainment Software Association. According to the ESA, nearly half of
Americans in their 60s and 70s play some form of PC, mobile or console video
game every week, as do 36% of people in their 80s. And as more gamers like
Statham enter their golden years, older adults are becoming more visible in the
gamer mainstream – sometimes to the confusion of their peers on multiplayer
platforms."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
