Quote from: Blazing Donkey;494128*snip*
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.

This...
For out of game chatty stuff I do prefer folks my age or thereabouts, say 30-50.

There are age differences which can become problematic. I value out of the game talk, and when we had very young  (ca. 17-19) people in a campaign once, it turned out their experiences and interests were so different from us we had very little common ground outside the game. With people my own age or older, we could talk politics, conspiracy theories, genre and nongenre media we liked or hated, daily adult problems or whatever. These folks were just too distant from all that, and we from them. One reason our campaign died was that we had too little to say to each other when not throwing dice. That bothered me, and I guess them as well.

Which is not to say this goes for everyone outside the +/- 5 years bracket. I have gamed in campaigns and one-off adventures where it never came up, and all was fine. But it can become an issue, just like a huge difference in playstyles can become an issue.

Quote from: Melan;494178There are age differences which can become problematic. I value out of the game talk, and when we had very young  (ca. 17-19) people in a campaign once, it turned out their experiences and interests were so different from us we had very little common ground outside the game. With people my own age or older, we could talk politics, conspiracy theories, genre and nongenre media we liked or hated, daily adult problems or whatever. These folks were just too distant from all that, and we from them. One reason our campaign died was that we had too little to say to each other when not throwing dice. That bothered me, and I guess them as well.

Which is not to say this goes for everyone outside the +/- 5 years bracket. I have gamed in campaigns and one-off adventures where it never came up, and all was fine. But it can become an issue, just like a huge difference in playstyles can become an issue.

This has been my experience as well.

Quote from: Numa Pompilius;494120So, 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)

I don't care too much about it. I'm the oldest at my 3 groups (35), but most of my players are in the late twenties to early thirties range, so it's not a big deal. One of my players is 21, but it's irrelevant, too.

Quote from: Numa Pompilius;494120So, 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?

I prefer to game with people around my own age or older. IME the age difference sometimes gets in the way of how some players relate to my games.

Regards,
David R

I play in three separate groups at the moment, the first two are on-running groups of friends I've played with for the last decade or two. Everyone in those are roughly the same age (give or take) as me.

The third group is comprised of some young Swedes I fell in with after running a combat course for them. I'm more than double their age which, in combination with different cultural backgrounds, make them an interesting experience to game with.

Whilst I can happily debate, argue, joke and so on with them - their youthful ebullience countering my domineering experience - I do suffer some troubles when making reference to literature and 70's/80's pop culture.  Raised with the internet and ubiquitous computers they have hardy read any books, let alone watched what I'd consider classic must-see movies.

So I educate them slowly, even showed one his first ever B&W movie - I kid you not! Still this is a boon in some respects as I have been running plots and settings which they have no prior knowledge of; for example The Many Coloured Land was a novel experience for them.

Their shocking lack of general education aside, my only real issue playing with or running games for them is their inability to turn off their mobile phones. But I handle my obviously Luddite sensibilities since I'm participating in their world, not them in mine.

Quote from: Melan;494178There are age differences which can become problematic. I value out of the game talk, and when we had very young  (ca. 17-19) people in a campaign once, it turned out their experiences and interests were so different from us we had very little common ground outside the game. With people my own age or older, we could talk politics, conspiracy theories, genre and nongenre media we liked or hated, daily adult problems or whatever. These folks were just too distant from all that, and we from them. One reason our campaign died was that we had too little to say to each other when not throwing dice. That bothered me, and I guess them as well.

Which is not to say this goes for everyone outside the +/- 5 years bracket. I have gamed in campaigns and one-off adventures where it never came up, and all was fine. But it can become an issue, just like a huge difference in playstyles can become an issue.

This is sort of what I'm experiencing as well, as I tried to say in the OP.

Quote from: David R;494195I prefer to game with people around my own age or older. IME the age difference sometimes gets in the way of how some players relate to my games.

Regards,
David R

That's the other thing that's going on too - there are issues where in game I'll do something as an NPC and they won't get it, because the reference framework is missing. Sorta kinda.

Quote from: Numa Pompilius;494202That's the other thing that's going on too - there are issues where in game I'll do something as an NPC and they won't get it, because the reference framework is missing. Sorta kinda.

Yeah.
I made a comment with my online group with a Bandit group they were sling to ribbons, with one guy who had 1 hp left and had been hit three times saying, " Tis a mere flesh wound!!"
They didn't get it.  Arg.

Quote from: Numa Pompilius;494202That's the other thing that's going on too - there are issues where in game I'll do something as an NPC and they won't get it, because the reference framework is missing. Sorta kinda.

My antidote to that is running adventures which aren't dependent on specific references. You might get a lot out of my games if we share common ground, since they employ multiple layers of meaning, but I try to be sure they work independent of them, and there is always a common level everyone can relate to and act upon ("You are in an exotic, dangerous city, and you have lost your memories - but others have not lost their memories about you.").

Also, to counter LordVreeg's post, I try to make my table a Python-free Zone.

I prefer not to game with people my age, because I like to think of myself as still being in my early 20's instead of my mid 30's, and seeing people my age would break the illusion.  





I kid, I kid.  

In all seriousness, I don't really pay much attention to the ages.  When I was in school it was always with people my age but that kind of goes with the territory.  As an adult, I've gamed largely with people a little older than me, with a few exceptions.

The kid who used to game with us (now 17-18, but started at like 12-13) was actually one of my favorite players.  It was always refreshing to see someone who can just enjoy the game as-is, instead of over-analyzing every little thing (rules, characterization, tactical decisions in game, etc).

Most of my group consists of my friends, so we're close to the same age group.

Quote from: Numa Pompilius;494202That's the other thing that's going on too - there are issues where in game I'll do something as an NPC and they won't get it, because the reference framework is missing. Sorta kinda.

Yeah, there's some of this, but since every single group I've been part of had players who were not into the whole gamer SF/Fantasy genre interest, I tend to run games the way how Melan describes it.

I guess by "relate" I mean more of attitudes towards certain subject matter coloured by age or experience. The funny thing is, when I first started out I only gamed with people older than me, and I was very aware that I was participating (in Pete's words) their world not mine.

Regards,
David R

mmmm... no. I feel better playing in and running games for players of all ages from 13+

Playing with a mixed group tends to minimize the disruption caused by immature players. When an older player is being selfish and playing in a manner that disrupts the game and sees the reaction of the younger players they tend to rein in their firmness a bit and create less aggro because they don't want to be perceived as being a grognard. In addition, most older players want the younger players to enjoy the game, and so won't start any unneccessary vendetta's.

I don't care about the age as much.  Just that the people I game with are at similar points in life.  Now typically that usually means the people I game with are the similar age +/- 7 years.  But that still means the difference between the youngest person and the oldest is 10+ years.