For decades, gaming was primarily posited as a children’s hobby. Nintendo marketed its first major home console, the NES, as a toy and bundled it with a plastic robot, gaming icons like Super Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog appeared in cartoons targeting adolescents, and video game advertisements have, with very few exceptions, traditionally intended to capture younger demographics. Things have changed in recent years, however, and, as indicated by one decidedly wholesome recent Reddit thread, players of all ages and backgrounds have been welcomed into the video gaming fold.

In a post submitted to r/gaming in late August, Reddit user parliskim describes themselves as a “56-year-old lady who has never played video games” who hoped for some insight on where to start with gaming. What they got was a torrent of more than eleven thousand comments suggesting all sorts of different titles, systems, and services to help them out at the onset of their gaming adventure. Including everything from Stardew Valley and Slime Rancher to Dark Souls and Bloodborne, just about every game worth discussing seems to be represented in the thread.

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After some time, parliskim made a few amendments to their post, identifying themselves as a “100% disabled vet who spends a lot of time alone” and who is now looking for a new hobby after growing sick of TV. Some of the discourse then shifted to the poster’s personal interests, and some respondents argued that the original poster will have to identify what their tastes are before in-depth recommendations can be made. Comparisons were also made to the legendary Skyrim YouTuber Shirley Curry, an 85-year-old gamer who recently crossed the one million subscriber threshold in June 2022.

The post also prompted some conversation regarding accessibility in gaming. Some suggested that parliskim start with beginner-friendly titles in which overcoming challenge isn’t necessarily the main goal such as Gone Home or The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, while others mentioned games that include in-depth accessibility options. In that regard, modern titles like Resident Evil Village and the new remake of The Last of Us warrant inclusion.

At the moment, parliskim only has access to a 2021 MacBook Pro, which, as many pointed out, restricts the poster’s options. However, they subsequently made known their interest in getting a used gaming console. Given how easily obtainable used seventh and eighth-generation have become in recent years, this definitely sounds like a solid first step, and there’s a limitless avenue of gaming experiences to be had after that first step is taken.

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