20 Things Only 30-Something Gamers Will Understand

Old school gamers learned how to do things the hard way.

Blowing Into A Game Cartridge
Junkie Monkeys

The video gaming industry is worth almost £60bn. For those not great at maths that's twelve zeros.

Twelve zeroes isn't bad for something that started out with a few nerds, a handful of transistors and a black and white telly. It's come a long way from the Magnavox Odyssey.

Having survived the great console crash of 1977 and the video game crash in 1983 it's bounced back like a powered-up Pac-man to become one of the most lucrative industries ever and believe it or not there are a handful of people (formerly kids, not allegedly adults) who lived through it all.

These early-adopters were lucky enough to unwrap an Atari 2600 from Father Christmas, some did well at school and convinced their parents to shell out for a Commodore, Spectrum and Amstrad from Dixons and a few hard to take the long road but when they smashed open their Nat West piggybanks and legged it down to Woolworths for their very first Nintendo or Sega it was totally worth it.

Back then there was no online gaming, downloadable titles or free home delivery. By living a hard-knock life the struggle was real.

So for the joystick-wagglers, the patient loading screen warriors and the frustrated console gamers who shook, blew threw their temperamental cartridges across a messy bedroom, here is a list of 20 Things Only A 30-Something Gamer Would Understand.

20. Multi-Player Meant Having Real Friends

Blowing Into A Game Cartridge
Universal Pictures

Today's world of faceless online play will never be able to match that happy, warm-inside feeling that comes with seeing a friend left utterly destroyed at the controls. 

Meeting mates at the arcade for an epic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or NBA Jam session while hogging the machine until the money runs out was pure class. During the school holidays strangers became friends on the final bend of Daytona USA and rivalries were forged thanks to a dead-end in Bomberman.

Even when arcades had died off and every home had a Nintendo or SEGA brothers battled brothers and class-mates would come round after school for their tea and a quick thrashing on Street Fighter 2.

These days headsets don't quite cut it and direct messaging "banter" is for kids. Truly the virtual gaming lobbies of the PS4 and Xbox One and the whole online experience don't even come close to the glory days of the 80s and 90s. 

True multi-player battles will always take place together in the same room, at the same time, with snacks.

 
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