There's something to be said for modern living with regards to how limited the human lifespan once was, but living out your golden years is far easier for us than for games and, more prominently, their characters. Despite freaks of circumstance like Final Fantasy and Call of Duty, games die out quick; modern publishers are so stringent that even a single sequel is difficult to get greenlit unless the IP's progenitor was able to fill the company money pool high enough for safe diving. Such geezers as Sonic the Hedgehog, Metal Gear Solid's Snake, Duke Nukem and even Nathan Drake (looking a bit silver in that new trailer, mate) at least deserve a round of applauseeveryone stamp your walkers and canes repeatedlyfor sticking around so long. It's unfortunate that the minds of half of them went long ago and their most recent incarnations were just senseless fits of nostalgia, but they're modern fits nonetheless.
A freelance games writer, you say? Typically battling his current RPG addiction and ceaseless perfectionism? A fan of horror but too big a sissy to play for more than a couple of hours? Spends far too much time on JRPGs and gets way too angry with card games?
Well that doesn't sound anything like me.