Poll of the Day > What I get out of today's POTD

(+) Yeah! (+)

Comparing today's poll to the past editions of the How old are you? poll, it seems to me that:
1. video gaming, or at least console/pc/non-smartphone gaming, doesn't have the draw on young teens and pre-teens that it used to
2. the people who were gaming in the late 90s are still gaming and make up the majority of the people who visit this site.
3. people abandon games for a little bit in their mid twenties then go back to them in their mid 30s maybe after they're a bit more stable career-wise and financially sound.
4. this site and gaming in general were at its most popular around 2009, then something happened in 2010 to piss off a bunch of gamers and make them stop playing or coming here. 130,000 people took the poll in 2010, then that dropped down to about 90,000 in 2011. The number of people taking this poll has declined about 75% since the peak of about 130,000.
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wyansas posted...

4. this site and gaming in general were at its most popular around 2009, then something happened in 2010 to piss off a bunch of gamers and make them stop playing or coming here. 130,000 people took the poll in 2010, then that dropped down to about 90,000 in 2011. The number of people taking this poll has declined about 75% since the peak of about 130,000.

Why everyone were pissed off?
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I guess it's at least partially because of social media and mobile games why things are the way it is now.
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I think people born in the 80s and 90s are the biggest gaming demographic. As they have kids and stuff, places like this aren't important anymore.
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Nobody got pissed off. Its just stuff like Youtube, Wiki's and Reddit took much of this sites traffic away. The only people left here are old timers who don't want to let go, ironic shitposters, and unironic shitposters.
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

I think people born in the 80s and 90s are the biggest gaming demographic. As they have kids and stuff, places like this aren't important anymore.

Bingo - I'm in the 33-36 range, have two kids under 6. My PS4 is hooked up, looking forward to getting reacquainted soon. I can only slug through 1 game at a time, so it's the franchises/big released. Last one was The Last Guardian. I'll go God of War, Last of Us, FF7, KH3...future looks nostalgic and fun.

SideburnStalker17 posted...

TheCyborgNinja posted...

I think people born in the 80s and 90s are the biggest gaming demographic. As they have kids and stuff, places like this aren't important anymore.

Bingo - I'm in the 33-36 range, have two kids under 6. My PS4 is hooked up, looking forward to getting reacquainted soon. I can only slug through 1 game at a time, so it's the franchises/big released. Last one was The Last Guardian. I'll go God of War, Last of Us, FF7, KH3...future looks nostalgic and fun.

Yeah, that seems to be why most social boards die. You get a strong community that peaks and then loses more than it gains in membership.

I don't have kids, though my wife wants one lol, which is why I can screw around here all the time. I don't really have any time consuming responsibilities.

The younger users are numerous, but I bet there's a much higher attrition rate with them than with the 30-somethings
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wyansas posted...

1. video gaming, or at least console/pc/non-smartphone gaming, doesn't have the draw on young teens and pre-teens that it used to

It's more that there's less need for a dedicated gaming community than there once was. Nobody needs a GameFAQs guide to answer questions about their game in an era where every game has a wiki for it, and there are so many other online communities for discussing games that GameFAQs no longer gets the lion's share.
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adjl posted...

wyansas posted...

1. video gaming, or at least console/pc/non-smartphone gaming, doesn't have the draw on young teens and pre-teens that it used to

It's more that there's less need for a dedicated gaming community than there once was. Nobody needs a GameFAQs guide to answer questions about their game in an era where every game has a wiki for it, and there are so many other online communities for discussing games that GameFAQs no longer gets the lion's share.

Exactly. Instead of reading FAQs, people watch let's plays. Video game media has changed.
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ha21nagamas posted...

wyansas posted...

4. this site and gaming in general were at its most popular around 2009, then something happened in 2010 to piss off a bunch of gamers and make them stop playing or coming here. 130,000 people took the poll in 2010, then that dropped down to about 90,000 in 2011. The number of people taking this poll has declined about 75% since the peak of about 130,000.

Why everyone were pissed off?

I don't think that's the reasoning, instead it just looks like a result of an aging cohort. The largest age class was graduating from college by 2010and started transitioning to adulthood, starting to game less.
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