
Meet the Counter Strike e-sports team where everyone is over 60 - SQL2219
https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/20/16800924/silver-snipers-senior-counter-strike-team
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slantyyz
I thought the headline was amusing until I realized that I'm only a little
more than a decade away from being a sexagenarian who will probably still be
playing Street Fighter.

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hkmurakami
Are you one of those crazy oldschhol ST players?

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slantyyz
Nah. For some reason, I just couldn't get into SFII back in the day. I didn't
really start playing SF until Alpha came out. Like a lot of other people, I
took a break from video games for a few years, but my interest in SF (and
fighting games in general) was revived after seeing EVO Moment #37.

~~~
hkmurakami
Oh Moment #37 ;)

Still my fighting game of choice to this day.

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kleiba
"As a recent retiree [...] at 62-years-old" \-- sigh, oh, Sweden. A dream.

~~~
T-A
[https://www.thelocal.se/20171214/what-swedens-new-
retirement...](https://www.thelocal.se/20171214/what-swedens-new-retirement-
age-means-for-you)

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anonova
The stats on their site ([https://lenovo-silversnipers.com/](https://lenovo-
silversnipers.com/)) seem off, e.g., BirDie has 82 hours of play time and 199
kills. That's averaging ~25 mins between kills! Surely, they're not _that_
bad.

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rasz
I agree, those stats look too good.

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Blackthorn
This is how you grow the pie. There's an economic lesson in here for every
targeted industry.

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santaclaus
I remember reading a while back about a link between competitive bridge (the
stereotypically old person card game) playing and a lack of cognitive decline
in aging adults. I'm curious if competitive video games have a similar anti-
brain-aging effect.

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QAPereo
I’d be baffled if they didn’t. Time and again studies have shown that the
complex overlapping cognitive demands of games such as shooters have a
distinct and lasting benefit. IIRC, researchers in one case studied people
playing an early iteration of the Splinter Cell franchise. They believed that
the combination of having to manage inventory dynamically, memorize and keep
track of shifting 3-D map, plus seek out and engage hostoles added up to quite
the workload. This would tend to fit with the “use it or lose it” theory of
neuroplasticity.

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bitwize
It's a great thing to see older folks involved in gaming, but are they going
to be even competitive? Empirical data suggests that the cognitive capacities
which produce gaming skill peak at about age 25 and enter steady decline
after, which is why top-tier e-sports pros are virtually all in their teens or
early 20s.

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hkmurakami
Even if they have a lower ceiling and could never compete at the highest
level, I think older players could go toe to toe with lower but still
competitive levels, especially in a team game with plenty of strategy. And I
think promoting this is a worthy cause.

I'm formerly a competitive golfer and there's plenty of 60 somethings out
there who are better than me even though I can hit it 50 yards past them. I
expect (and hope for) similar things playing out in gaming.

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bllguo
perhaps in a different game! Unfortunately, currently popular competitive
video games all demand fast reactions and hand dexterity, and the strategy
typically comes second to mechanics. For example in counterstrike you still
need to be able to hit the shots, no matter how great your tactics are. I
highly doubt that really old players can compete in these kinds of games.

maybe older folks getting into games will help spur the creation of more
strategic competitive experiences where older players are on a more even
playing field

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slantyyz
FWIW, there are a lot of still relevant "older" players approaching their 40s
in the fighting game community.

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lawn
To be fair, 60 is a lot more than 40. There are many top athletes in other
sports at 40 but very few at 60.

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slantyyz
Yes, but we also have to consider that today's 60 year olds didn't grow up
with the same types of video games (if at all), and video games didn't have
the same profile that they do now. The 40ish players in the FGC - they all
grew up with the genre of the game they play.

I would not be surprised if the 20-something pros in stuff like FPS games
would still be quite good at them when they hit 60-- provided of course, that
1) life doesn't get in the way, 2) that they still playing the games
regularly, and 3) that the genre even still exists at that point.

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nasredin
Can't wait until I turn 60 so I can finally justifiably call people with
inferior skills than me - noobs.

\---

I know one older gentleman playing a FPS. He is not very good, but better than
the majority.

It's all about community though. If you play on the same server or a not-very-
popular game, you would soon know all the "regulars". The actual game is there
just to hook you in. You stay for the community.

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eurticket
Teen Slayer

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roma1n
Well, it's counter strike we're talking about. They probably started playing
it in their teenage years.

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EliRivers
Apropos of nothing much, I think I've still got the 8MB alpha version from
about the year 1998 burned on a CD here somewhere. As I recall, run the
executable and CS is added to the opening menu of Half Life.

Why do I remember it being 8MB? That's an odd thing to remember.

