How pricey video games have sucked in millions of seniors citizens – New York Post

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    <button type='submit' class='pushbutton-wide'>Submit</button>       <input type='hidden' name='contact-form-id' value='21957708' />         <input type='hidden' name='action' value='grunion-contact-form' />      <input type='hidden' name='contact-form-hash' value='2ff5d778bf01f0363dd4493b6b801a5fc2fc6125' />   <br>        Thanks for contacting us. We&#039;ve received your submission.  <br>Older Americans are refusing to say &#8220;game over.&#8221;<br>Millions of senior citizens across the country are splashing serious cash on video games, saying they help keep their brains stimulated and create a bond with younger family members. <br>The findings come from a new survey published by gaming website <a href="https://www.fandomspot.com/us-senior-gamers-study/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FandomSpot</a> on Tuesday. The surprising results buck the widely held stereotype that video games are purely played by teenage boys. <br>&#8220;Old people don’t just want to sit on the porch and watch leaves fall, they want to have fun,&#8221; FandomSpot&#8217;s Alyssa Celatti said in a statement provided to The Post. &#8220;This study might even encourage more senior citizens to give gaming a go for some of the benefits cited by their peers.”<br>The site polled 1,000 video game players aged 65 and over, finding almost half spent at least $500 in the past year on consoles, games and accessories. <br>More than three quarters of those polled said the games help them to keep &#8220;a healthy, younger mind,&#8221; while 76% said they facilitated relationships with family and friends. That finding also refutes the cliché that video games foster isolation and anti-social behaviors. <br>Additionally, about half of the respondents said video games actually helped improve their mental health. <br>Back in 2019, a study conducted<a href="https://www.aarp.org/home-family/personal-technology/info-2019/report-video-games.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> by AARP </a>determined that video games were &#8220;booming&#8221; in popularity among Americans age 50 and older. The organization found the number of older players grew from 40.2 million in 2016 to 50.6 million in 2019. <br>The subsequent coronavirus pandemic and strict stay-at-home orders have likely prompted millions more older Americans to take up play, with seniors telling the FandomSpot surveyors that the electronics have helped ease their boredom. <br>Nintendo&#8217;s &#8220;Animal Crossing&#8221; became a beloved video game during the pandemic, turning into a popular pastime for some senior citizens scared of venturing outdoors for fear of catching the coronavirus. <br>The Post spoke with one video game designer who <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/05/12/inside-the-cult-of-animal-crossing/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">helped his 88-year-old grandma</a> get hooked on the game. <br>Meanwhile, the FandomSpot survey also revealed that violence-heavy &#8220;Call of Duty&#8221; video games were popular among America&#8217;s senior citizens. <br>And while 58% of those surveyed said they played video games on a PlayStation, a majority of senior citizens also snuck in some play time on their smartphones. <br>The <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/08/judgmental-wordlebot-assistant-critiques-wordle-strategy/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">online puzzle Wordle</a> was the second most popular game for Americans over the age of 65, while <a href="https://nypost.com/tag/candy-crush/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Candy Crush</a> took the top spot. <br>Share Selection<br><br><a href="https://nypost.com/2022/04/19/how-video-games-have-sucked-in-millions-of-seniors-citizens/">source</a>