Does Age Make Gamers Less Competitive?

I hate to admit that I'm getting older and that I qualify as a non-typical/"older gamer."  The reality is that I'm no longer a teenager mashing buttons and screaming at the screen (actually I never really was.  We only had dial-up and I grew up in the still pre-historic Internet days of the 1990's.)  As an "older gamer" a couple of different articles about a study caught my eye.  The study isn't extremely recent and was published earlier this year but seems to be getting a lot of commentary and analysis.  If you want to see the actual article and the data attached to it you can read it here: "As Gamers Age" Study.

There are some interesting tidbits to pull from this study.  Here's a list:  (I love lists)

1.) According to the ESA (the fun-folks that do things like run the rating system for games) the average age of gamers is 35.  Yessss!!!!  I guess that means that I'm not old...I'm average!  This was surprising because I have a stereotypical view of gamers--teenagers or college age people who tend to be mostly male.  It's nice to know that the average gamer could be someone like me--working full time and gaming on the side.

MarioKart remains one of my favorite competitive games.

2.) Younger gamers prefer games that are more competitive and males tend to prefer them more than females.  This piece of information makes sense to me.  I loved to play competitive games when I was in college.  Not that I really played anything that was really all that competitive--mostly MarioKart.  Maybe there's something about identity formation and finding something that you're good at.  Or maybe it's just the urge to crush someone and prove that you're superior.  But.....

3.) The desire to play competitive games decreases as gamers get older.  For some reason this discovery seemed to really steam some people.  It's a study that uses a random sample....that doesn't mean that the findings apply to everyone!  Speaking solely for myself, I would agree with this finding.  I used to really enjoy playing competitive games like Team Fortress 2 or Half-Life 2:  Deathmatch.  Not that I made the leaderboard very often or had some sort of winning record.  It was more about the thrill of competing and trying to win.

Now that I'm average, I just want to come home and relax.  I don't want to listen to some irate, crazy yelling because they lost a game or yelling just to be obnoxious.  The games I seek out are the kind that I can play how I want without having to deal with other nutbags.  I like Eurotruck-ing and listening to the radio or cleaning up a level of Viscera Cleanup Detail to unwind.

I tend to agree with the findings in this study but saw a lot of people strongly disagreeing with the findings.

One other cool feature on their website is the ability to build a "gamer profile" where you fill out a short survey and it tells you where you fit in with other gamers who are close to your age.  Check it out and see if you're like other gamers or in a league of your own.