Or of various ages? Or is there a range centered around your age?

A thought that has occurred to me recently as I've been the main GM for all my groups for the last 6 years. All of the players have been, mostly, younger than me (except in about 2-3 cases). Now, I'm not saying I'm a master old fart (I'm a balmy 36 soon to be 37), but I'm feeling a sort of "life/responsibility" divide from my regular group.

The group are all guys, 23-27. Most in relationships with SOs, and most having recently finished Bachelor's or Master's programs. So, it isn't a matter of intelligence or income or anything that's causing issues. It's age, simply put.

Case in point; we're all busy, and can only game once a month. However, "busy" for me is actual work stuff, or family stuff, or home maintenance, or just trying to squeeze in more time with the wife since we barely saw each other all week thanks to wonky schedules.

For these guys, "busy" is next party, or gotta meet their girlfriend for a bit, or the like. When we game, they often go out afterwards to a club or party or something whereas I inevitably have to go home to get back to the family, or for some work function. And I like it that way; haven't the slightest interest in the club scene (I am very much a "homestead" sort of guy).

Even when we sadly need to cancel a game, as happened for next week's game: I've had to cancel for, you guessed it, family reasons; they usually cancel because "such and such exhibit is in town" or "I'm going with other friends to blah blah far place for the weekend" or whatever.

Now, not saying their a bad lot; they ain't, and we're friendly and do have a coffee or conversation now and then. It's just, well, to me, just a little, they're kids. I know, I know, they're adults and have jobs and have all sorts of sex and can buy x-rated things and understand what responsibility is. But...they're still kids to me, sort of. Which is why, sometimes, I feel I dominate the group just a little more than I ought to.

It's also a comment my wife made once. Back when we lived in Japan, my gaming group was all my same age, and, well, my wife sort of "respected" my "guy time" away from home; I was out with the guys, after all. But recently, I was talking about some stuff happening with this group in a game session, and she said something along the lines of "well, what do you expect? They're too young to know that! Duh!"

So, my question is: do you prefer to game with people around your own age? Or near it? Or something like that? Or it doesn't matter? Or it matters and you like a wide range of ages for that reason? Or what?

(note: it's over on the Big Purple too, just to cover different ground)

It would be great to be playing rpg games with friends around my age.  But unfortunately I don't have many local friends who are interested in a regular rpg campaign.

Over the last few years, I've largely played rpg games at gaming stores, community centers, college campuses, etc ...  Most of the people I never really got to know personally outside of the game.  We just went to the game at the designated time, and afterward we all left going our separate ways.

Most of the people I game with are between 30 to 55 or so. That seems to work well for us. Every once in a while someone in their twenties joins the group.

Live groups are mainly age 40 and up, though Igabr has added a few 25-32 recently, mainly females.  

Online is different.  My Steel Isle group is all 18-23.  they keep me young.

In my current game, I have two players in their 20's, and two in their 30's.

More than age, though, I think it really depends on the personality, maturity, and dedication of the player. I've played games with a bunch of 18-year-olds that were phenomenal and I've played games with people in their 50's that were slow and boring -- and vice versa.

I play with people who are a variety of ages. One of my groups is all my age give or take a year, another trends on average about two years younger than me, and a third is about half guys in their late thirties and early forties and the other half is younger than I am. The first two groups are people I met in university and kept up contact with, the third group I met through a mutual friend and joined.

I would suppose it mainly depends on whether you are gaming with your friends, and how large an age range of friends you have to recruit from.

I do have a rule that I don't play in or run games for anybody under 18. They are often irritating, don't understand complex language, and don't have the attention-span to sit still for a 8-10 hour game. Plus, if an "adult issue" of some kind comes up in the game, I don't want to have to worry about censoring it because of someone's delicate ears.

Iplay on Wednesday afternoons after school with a bunch of middle school kids. that doesn't bother me--they're awesome. At the flgs, I tend to play with some pretty crusty 40 & 50-somethings. It's gets pretty raunchy sometimes, but I'm really in my element there. I think the key to my comfort level is consistent expectations. I'm comfortable in either group, but I wouldn't want to mix them.

In my group, the only one near my age (55) is my wife. The rest are ranging from almost 25 to 21. Most of them started gaming with me when they were about 13.

-clash

I'd much rather game with college age RPGers, but most conventions are the 35-45 group and their kids.

I like the energy of guys in their 20s. Most still believe they will have lives worth living and that's fun. Too many gamers my age (40) have become their own grandfathers. Between their obesity and their attitudes, I expect a big die-off of 80s era gamers in the next decade.

for the most part I game with guys who are 10+ years older than me, or girls who are 10+ years younger than me. Most of the guys my age still haven't made it out of the D&D-as-a-videogame phase yet.

Quote from: Spinachcat;494149Too many gamers my age (40) have become their own grandfathers. Between their obesity and their attitudes, I expect a big die-off of 80s era gamers in the next decade.

LOL!!! Could be! -- I know a lot of 80's era people that fit that bill. Those are the kind of gamers I try to stay away from. They're simply unpleasant to be around.

Nephew: 15, Niece: 12
Friends from 23-37

I'm 39.

Nope. I enjoy gaming with who I am gaming with, age isn't a big factor.

I consider myself lucky because my group (38-44 years old) either grew up playing with me or is composed by fellow artists/writers of the comic book scene who share with me a great passion for anything creative. This allowed us to play at a stead pace for twelve years now.

And I often do after-school activities with kids 8-10 which are based around very simplified forms of RPGing, so I haven't problems with kids either and they do enjoy these activities a lot.

Strangely enough, I had my "mid-life crisis" between 25 and 30 years old. I basically stopped playing and thought that RPGs were an happy memory of my youth, drifting away. Thinking back, it coincided with when TSR sucked and WoD was all the rage.

Quote from: Spinachcat;494149Too many gamers my age (40) have become their own grandfathers. Between their obesity and their attitudes, I expect a big die-off of 80s era gamers in the next decade.

Quite a number of guys I played rpg games with in the past, fit this description.  A few of them have died already, due to health problems (ie. cancer, etc ...).

Quote from: Blazing Donkey;494153LOL!!! Could be! -- I know a lot of 80's era people that fit that bill. Those are the kind of gamers I try to stay away from. They're simply unpleasant to be around.

Definitely.

This is the main reason why I haven't play any regular games lately using older editions of D&D/AD&D.  The individuals who I've come across locally who are interested in older editions, are generally very unpleasant to be around with.