Does anybody else here NOT play video games?

[enyawd72]

I must be the only geek/nerd/whatever in the known universe who does not play and has never played video games. None of my geek friends can believe I have never owned a single video game system EVER. Not even an Atari.
They just cannot accept it.

I don't have any apps on my cell phone, don't have an iPod or a Playstation or whatever people use these days. At age 39, I have never played a single video game in my life. I have zero interest in them. All my geek money goes to toys, comics and DVD's.

[MicromanZone]

I can believe it. But maybe not. Here’s my deal: I got an Atari 400 when I was 13 in 1981 and played video games by crazy. I stopped really caring about video-games by 1985. And while I played Tetris on Macs at the college newspaper and pumped some quarters into video games at the student union building, I really could care less about games. It was a distraction and not much else.

But nowadays it’s weird. I meet up with old friends I used to know back in the day, and they expect me to be as passionate about video games now as I was then. It’s really annoying because I have had one or two times I have been at a bar, talking, enjoying myself when someone comes up and goes “Hey! There is a Ms. Pac Man!” as if I suddenly need to drop what I am doing to play. Sorry, that was the 1980s... I’ve moved on.

[ctc]

>I must be the only geek/nerd/whatever in the known universe who does not play and has never played video games.

Yup. Given their ubiquitousness it's strange that you never played one, ever. Unless you're Amish.

>I stopped really caring about video-games by 1985.

I can see that. After a certain amount of play, the novelty wears off and you lose interest; like anything else. I used to enjoy them a lot; but haven't played so much for a long time. The last system I got was the original Playstation. I stopped there 'cos all the newer stuff plays a lot like the older stuff so there isn't too much novelty for me.

Don C.

[gummi]

I've honestly never known anyone under the age of 80 that has never played a video game, geek or not. Seriously, not even Pong when you were a kid? To me, it's like saying that you've never seen television. I don't mean to bust your chops, but it amazes me that anyone from our generation could have avoided all contact with video games. Aren't you at least a little curious what all the fuss is about?

[thunderbolt]

I have a plug and play Space Invaders game, and that is it, no interest in Wii or whatever. I had an Atari back in the 70's as a kid.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

Nope. I love 'em.

[enyawd72]

I've honestly never known anyone under the age of 80 that has never played a video game, geek or not. Seriously, not even Pong when you were a kid? To me, it's like saying that you've never seen television. I don't mean to bust your chops, but it amazes me that anyone from our generation could have avoided all contact with video games. Aren't you at least a little curious what all the fuss is about?

I suppose a lot of it had to do with my parents, who were both workaholics and had my sister and I working all the time on our farm. Chores before and after school, yard work all summer long and cleaning out the barn every spring vacation. They were not big on us kids being "entertained" as they called it. Their answer was always "You don't NEED to see that movie" or "You don't NEED to watch TV."

We never owned a color TV til 1983 I think, and never owned a VCR at all or had cable. I saw two movies the whole time I was growing up...nine years apart. Empire Strikes Back and Batman. Comics were the one thing I could afford to buy myself with my measely $1.50 a week allowance, so I had a ton of those. That is why I collect now. I'm buying everything I ever wanted as a kid but never had.

[Type3Toys]

I hate them. My kids have all the crap, XBox, Wii, the hand held stuff. It just bores me to death. Want to destoy a childs imagination and overall health and fitness level, just give them a video game. Why do anything for real when you can do it on the sofa with a bag of chips?

[megoscott]

To have never played one at all is pretty unique.

I've played very little, and not much since high school. I remember asking a junior high friend who was really good at Defender how he got that way and he explained how many quarters he had fed into the machine and I lost interest.

There's a lot of art job listings in the area for game companies. They all say "Must have a passion for games" and so I never apply.

[Adam West]

I haven't played much since I was young. I agree in that it truly almost unheard of to say that you have never played a single game. I only had one gaming system as a kid which was a Mattel Intellivision and played it quite a bit but not like an obssession. As an adult, I have played some of the Wii Sports games with my kids and I enjoyed a WWII game (an older one) and can't think of the name of it. The only video game I have played recently (around Christmas time) was Wii Jeopardy which my kids bought for me as a Xmas gift (I love the gameshow). Other than that, I play a couple of games of Kiss pinball once in a while, catch up on reading, or movies I have never seen. My weeks are so busy that I usually have one evening (Friday night) to carve out time for myself and I usually end up catching up on a good book.

[SUP-Ronin]

I play very few video games. I still like Age of Empires, but I avoid most games because they are cool enough that I would lose weeks of my life playing them, and surely regret it later.

[jessica]

Does popcorn blaster count? Cause that's what I play now. And I still love Tetris. Something about fitting those pieces together and making the blocks disappear feels very rewarding to me even though it's a waste of time.

[Iron Mego]

I played casually as a kid. Never got hooked. Would rather spend my quarters on toys, comics and music at the time. Now, I don't play at all, except an occasional round of Wii or something.

[jessica]

I did play centipede for a bit. When we were stuck on a 15 hour flight to Dubai, the Emirates had centipede as one of their videogames. Each seat had its own video on demand and games on demand. I played that game until I got so sick of it.

[Gorn Captain]

I have never played a videogame.
Too stressful....