70 year old lady unboxing Rune Factory 5.

Covering Innocent Life (PsP/Ps2), Rune Factory 1 (DS), Rune Factory 2 (DS), Rune Factory 3 (DS/Switch), Rune Factory Frontier (Wii), Rune Factory Tides of Destiny (Wii/Ps3), Rune Factory 4 (3DS/Switch/Steam), and Rune Factory 5 (Switch/Steam).
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Terranigma Freak
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Post  Posted:

I just stumbled onto this and it's super wholesome. Apparently, she's a pretty hardcore gamer if you look at her channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA1jD_MVob4


Hmm... weird that the embed code can't be used in this section.
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K8sMum
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Post  Posted:

I'm 72 and have been gaming since the '80s. Who do you think were around when video games were becoming a big thing? Us. It was a bit harder to be accepted as a 'real gamer' if you were female. Unfortunately, as events have shown, it can still be difficult in some circles.

It's not as if you become a different species as you age. We are who we are, just older. Being an older gamer doesn't make you cute or unique. It merely means you've been playing a longer time. I get it: every generation thinks they invented « Chicken Hugging », drugs and rocknroll. But there are more of us than you think. We're just too busy gaming to make a big deal out of it.
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Kikki
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Post  Posted:

Yeah...I mean...hm. It's hard to say what I want to clearly, here, as there's some subtle and delicate nuances to it that I'm not sure I'm up to expressing. I like videos that feel wholesome since they often feel like they're becoming comparatively fewer. And it's nice when people think a thing is nice and sweet and all that. It's not an INSULT, but...

It does feel kind of belittling, to call something wholesome or cute based solely on the fact that she's 70 and likes the same game that some teens and twenties (and plenty of thirties and fourties) also like. It makes me remember when I was 10, and hacking up a lung. (I had cough-variant asthma, though I didn't realize it until I was an adult.) It was painful and exhausting, and my dad goes by and says 'would you listen to that pup dog?'

He said it in a cute tone and was implying that I was adorable. I KNEW he meant that, and I know now and knew then, too, that he loved me. But it was SO ANNOYING to hear him say that! I was suffering, and he was calling it CUTE. He didn't mean my suffering was cute. He was calling me a 'pup dog' because that's what my coughing sounded like. I got a bit angry and he defended himself by saying he meant it was cute, but I knew that and that is WHY I was angry. I did NOT want to be called cute for having uncontrollable bouts of throat-tearing, chest-aching, joint-popping coughing.

Not that this and that are the same, but I feel like it helps explain a little of how I feel about seeing this kind of video marketed as 'wholesome' (or 'cute' or whatever else). It's just NORMAL. It's nice if people enjoy seeing that their hobby is enjoyed by a larger market than they realized, but at the same time, I don't really like it being presented as something cute, because it feels condescending, like you're not being taken seriously. (I'm not claiming to be the one condescended to, here. I'm 44, so: old compared to the average gamer, possibly, but not yet in the phase where anyone would find me wholesome or cute just for playing RF5.)

Not that I think there's anything wrong with being happy to see someone 70+ enjoying games, particularly if you somehow hadn't realized that any do. I'm just not fond of the idea of thinking of it as wholesome or cute based solely on their age (or gender or whatever the qualifier in question happens to be.) I'm sure I still do this myself sometimes...think a certain way of acting or etc is cute because it's a guy doing it when it's more typical of women, or etc, but...I think it's probably better not to. Unless the person WANTS to be seen as cute/wholesome, I guess? I'm sure some people would, and I think the woman in question actually markets herself as an 'old lady' in some of her videos, so maybe that's her hook. But I know I wouldn't want to be looked at that way just for continuing to enjoy a hobby I've been seriously into for 36 years already and am probably more experienced at than most of the younger people, who consider it 'their' domain.

I believe this sort of thing is always intended kindly, but at the same time, the one on the receiving end may not feel very good about it. (I've no idea if that specific YouTuber would mind or not.)
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Mikodesu
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Post  Posted:

I think the novelty is finding someone who isn't the perceived 'right age' to discover a hobby like gaming sharing their first experiences with it. The disparity is what attracts people, and a lot of what makes it 'cute'. Sort of like how Shirley Curry (aka Skyrim Grandma on Youtube) got a lot of notice some years ago.

It's sort of...nostalgic isn't the right word, but... like reexperiencing finding games or genres of games and learning to love them through someone else's eyes. It can be very comforting, imo? (Sort of like watching blind playthroughs of old games you first played years or even decades ago.)

Unboxings aren't my thing, but I'm happy for her. I've seen her channel around for a while now. :)

Edit: To be clear, the fascination IS still ageist, I just understand where it's coming from. Sharing your beloved hobby with somebody else, even a stranger, is fun! It's just that the algorithm plays heavily into stereotypes. You're much more likely to get attention if you're very obviously different. How we fight that, I don't know.
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Kikki
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Post  Posted:

I understand where it's coming from, too. I just didn't really want to let it pass by without mentioning that I think it can be a problem to present this as wholesome (or cute) based specifically on her age. I thought so as soon as I saw it...it instantly brought back to mind my anger with my dad during that coughing fit...but wasn't going to comment, since I figured if no one here cared, then no harm no foul. Though that's not 100% true, I'm not really the confrontational type so I'll roll with stuff I don't agree with to avoid conflict if I don't see anyone actively being bothered by it. But then K8smum cared, so...I chimed in with my initial thoughts as well.

That YouTuber doesn't usually use her age as a hook (I was checking her video titles)...only the one where she's explaining why/when she became a gamer does she put 'old lady' in the title, I think because people specifically ask her why/when she became a gamer considering her age (and probably gender a little, too.)
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K8sMum
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Post  Posted:

I realise it's most often not done in a malicious way, but it does feel condescending and dismissive. Older people know what it's like to be young. The young don't have the empathy that comes from having experienced something. All young ones? No, of course not.

But the trend of chasing youth is very intense now and aging feels like something one needs to apologise for doing. I found it interesting that Kikki referenced an incident regarding the word 'pup' because the cute wholesome aspect feels to me like patting a puppy on the head and cooing "awwwwww....."

Young or old, I try to see the person. While stereotypes usually have some basis in reality they also ignore the uniqueness of the individual.
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LeBurns
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Post  Posted:

Since I started playing Conan Exiles I've been following Granny Gamester a lot on YouTube. Yes, she's a granny, but her tutorial vids are pretty good. And yeah I'd be watching her vids even if she wasn't a granny, or if she was a guy. But based on her YouTube handle I would say she's putting it out there that she's older than most.

Ironically many of the players I chat with elsewhere are also females older than me (and I'm rather old and a grandfather myself). So for me personally age is starting to mean little as far as gamers go, which is good, that's the way it should be. Though admittedly I'm sure the majority of people that game regularly are thirty or younger. I guess I just found a niche of similarly aged players. ;)
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Kikki
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Post  Posted:

Some definitely do market themselves that way...draw attention to their age as something special. Some WANT to, and some don't, but HAVE to, to distinguish themselves and get noticed. Everybody needs some kind of hook to draw viewers in, if they want to increase their views. (Her being a YouTuber is what I actually find more uncommon, rather than her being a gamer. I don't think it's that unusual to be a 70+ gamer, but it is considerably more unusual to be a 70+ gamer YouTuber.)

It's kind of a shame that everyone has to somehow stereotype themselves to gain an audience, but humans are so lazy...we want an easy way to identify what we'll like/be interested in. We don't want to have to sort through and actually watch things...we want to know as best we can, right away from the title and thumbnail, if we're gonna be into it or not. I get it...saves time and effort...but it also means that to be successful, YouTubers and streamers have to stereotype themselves. Package themselves for easy consumption. Though this woman specifically doesn't appear to be marketing herself as an old-lady gamer. Only that ONE video had that as a point, as far as I saw, and I think that's because it was a video specifically about why/when she became a gamer, so her age was relevant, as it's probably what made people ask. (People don't really ask 10-year-olds why they got into gaming. The answer is obviously 'because it's fun'. I think that's the answer for everyone, though.) Going by her not actively using it as a hook, I think she'd probably not really want to be focused on as cute or wholesome because of her age.

I just had an instant reaction to the thread when I first saw it. That experience I described with my dad calling me cute when I was coughing so much. I love my dad, but even the fact that he died less than two months ago doesn't make me remember that with anything less than a sigh and/or irritation. It's nice to think your daughter is cute! It is NOT nice to diminutize her pain/suffering/discomfort. Hacking up a lung is not a cute experience: it's miserable. Even if that's not what you meant to do, it's still what you did. (General 'you' being used, here. I am specifically talking about my dad, but...)

That's what it boils down to, for me. I know it's meant as positive, that there's no malice or ill-intent, but I think it's good to sometimes consider if the things you think are compliments actually ARE. What you think isn't the important part...it's how it makes the other person feel. No matter how much you like something about a person, if the way you compliment them on that thing hurts or diminishes them, is it really a compliment at all?

Now if she actually wants to be called a wholesome granny gamer, that's her business. We'd have to ask, to know if she'd like being described as wholesome for these reasons. Some definitely wouldn't like it. Others would.
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