One of the interesting observations about reading through the various “Influential 15s” that was circling around not too long ago and the more recent “21 Questions” in the past couple of weeks is that it really shows the age of most people blogging. We are an old bunch! The Starting computer/first game for the TOP 10 straw poll I pulled from the existing posts out there is as follows:
- Atari 2600 (11)
- Pre-home systems (arcade/pinball) (5)
- Original Nintendo (4)
- Sega Megadrive (3)
- Commodore 64 (3)
- Zx Spectrum (2)
- Apple 2e (2)
- Intellivision (1)
- Colecovision (1)
- Original PlayStation (1)
33 responses is about the same they do for Presidential polling right? While the one person had a PlayStation (which came out in 1994) the rest are all solidly pre 90s. So either Blogging is art (hah.. I called it art!) for the elderly gamer or we are just suckers for writing about lists of things. Perhaps both. Will there be a OneNote challenge for the next list?
This is not a “Blogging is dying” post by any means. I see a ton of activity and read and participate in a lot of blogs. I am just curious where the youth *are* on the net. IF they aren’t blogging, let me guess – they are on Twitter? YouTube? Podcasting? What medium is the up and coming space for the next generation of pundits that are talking about our favorite pastime?
Maybe they ARE blogging and I am just not in the blog-circle. I am genuinely curious of the thoughts and opinions of the gamer who only grew up with WoW, and want to know where to find it. Also, just socially, what would it take for the youngins to start and maintain a blog? I am curious if the groups that do the Newbie Blogger Initiative and other community building ideas are reaching the young or if its just not the way things are done anymore.
For the record, I am 40 years old. That may be young to some of you – I am just curious where the 20somethings are talking about their games and why they aren’t on my lawn.
I’m still 20 something.. ehm one year left 😛 But still!!
I think the younger people are using Twitch and Tumblr more then blogging. I think there was a few in the early twenties that joined in the NBI this year 🙂
Tumblr used to be the platform of choice for 20-somethings, didn’t it? Even that would have been a few years ago though.
It’s a good question. I’d like to know too. If you find them, let us know where they are!
*AHEM*
I think you’re overestimating the ages of some of the people who have SNES/Mega Drive games as their first games they remember. (Specifically, Sonic 2 came out in 1992.) WoW was my first MMO, and if you want me to stand on your lawn I’m sure that could be arranged.
My daughter tried blogging for a bit, but she prefers things like Tumblr and Instagram these days.
Technically, my FIRST home system was Super Pong, which had four, count em, four variations on Pong. But the first REAL system was an Atari 2600 the year it launched.
I noticed that, too, and thought it was pretty cool that a lot of bloggers started gaming in a similar time frame as I did, and even on a similar gaming machine! Thanks for gathering these numbers, this was really interesting!
I’m almost 32. I was gaming originally in the mid-80’s. I also had a love for writing at a young age, but most of that was either done by hand or on a typewriter. Later, that graduated to word processors on PCs. I think bloggers are naturally attracted to writing. It takes a certain type. That’s not to say that entire generations beyond ours are not writing, but perhaps they are being creative in other ways.
I’m 26. I started gaming with a NES and a Compaq PC. I played Ultima Online when I was 12/13. I AM YOUNG AND OLD!
@MissMojo – Tumblr – I have never used that and that makes me feel old. I did spend some time watching things on Twitch but mostly championship rounds of LoL (etc.) – I have a hard time watching other people play games when I can be using that time to play on my own =)
@Bhagpuss – I think they are hiding from us. Rightly so! We’d show them…
@Hiddenwings – REALLY good point – I was looking at “launch” date – and the Genesis (here in NA) came out in 89.. so I was narrowly looking at 89, 10 years old starting gaming so 79 birth, which is ~36 years old. I forgot to include any sort of lifespan of the unit itself. Great observation!
@Wilhelm – isn’t instagram just pictures with comments? So the new blogging is take a picture of it? Kids these days!
@Aywren – Most welcome – it was just a theme I started noticing so wanted to dig a bit deeper into it
@Izlain – Makes sense – generations do things a bit differently. For example, I am on Twitter but I don’t tweet (or rarely, rather) but I consume them. I find it somewhat interesting but mostly lacking due to the character limits. Then again, I like conversations so blogging fits my style well.
@CTMurphy – I visit your blog often and I think that you have “an old soul”. That fits =)
I think the proper conclusion is that younger folks don’t know how to write in complete sentences. Zing! (Just kidding!)
It’s all about the tweetings and the tumblings now. And the inability to express oneself without missing out all the vowels. Them kids, with their vidya games.