The gaming pensioner: No time for bridge when there’s raiding to do
12.9.2018
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
Ask your parents or grandparents what their hobbies are and you’ll often hear hiking, bridge or gardening. Edith Pfiffner’s favourite pastime is somewhat unusual in her age group and can be summed up in three letters: WoW.
Although the number of gamers is constantly on the rise, the hobby still tends to be eyed critically be outsiders: It’s for kids, unhealthy and a waste of time. The average age of gamers has been 30 plus for a very long time, but those tenacious prejudices just can’t be shaken. Digital gaming is not particularly popular amongst seniors. After all, they did grow up in times before video games existed, let alone turned mainstream. But gaming can be a fun hobby for retirees, as Edith Pfiffner proves.
Edith is Steeve Pfiffner’s mum. Steeve works in our very own customer service department. Initially, my colleague Anadi Singh, who had the idea for this story, was looking for a gaming pensioner outside of the office. After driving almost every retirement home in German-speaking Switzerland nuts with his phone calls, we decided to ask round within the company. Our bait: a brand-new PC. The complete package was sponsored by Asus. The company was probably hoping to reach a fresh, lucrative customer segment. In any case, it made Steeve get in touch and tell us about his «World of Warcraft»-crazy mother. This sounds perfect and I decide to personally deliver the PC hardware worth 2,000 francs to Untervaz in the canton of Graubünden. The timing couldn’t have been better for Edith. Her eight-year-old PC recently gave up the ghost.
How it all began
Just in time for the new «World of Warcraft» expansion pack «Battle for Azeroth», the 65-year old is now ready to rejoin the battle with her brightly blinking gaming machine. Her first encounter with Blizzard’s MMO was 13 years ago and she’s been loyal to the fantasy world ever since. As you might have expected, she was first introduced to the gaming world by her son Steeve. But it wasn’t love at first sight. «I’d occasionally look over Steeve’s shoulder and watch him play. At one point I asked him if he’d let me create my own character.» Steeve was happy to oblige. «I was completely overwhelmed with the steering. The mouse just wouldn’t do what I wanted it to and 3D was totally new for me. I gave up after 15 minutes,» Edith explains and laughs. That was back in 2004, right after the launch of «World of Warcraft». It would be another year until she went near the game again.
However, her curiosity for computer games was sparked, so she tried a different MMO Steeve was playing at the time: «Ragnarok». «Steeve always gave great introductions,» she says, throwing a glance at her son. She adds that they often play together. It was «Ragnarok» that introduced her to many gamers her own age. Following the dwindling popularity of «Ragnarok» and the rise of «World of Warcraft» to market leader, Edith and her new friends eventually followed the crowds to Azeroth. «I was surprised at how quickly I got the hang of the steering the second time round.» Naturally, her son was always at her side whenever she needed advice and tips. «I had a gaming mum and thought that was pretty cool,» Steeve recalls. «Other mums were always busy doing the housework, but we’d have gaming sessions together,» says Steeve. «Remember that time we were in a dungeon and you said: That’s my mummy?,» says Edith and both of them grin. To this day, Steeve is grateful that his mother is one of the very few people in his life who gets his passion. «Sometimes we discuss WoW over dinner instead of talking about our day,» says Steeve and chuckles.
Speaking of food: Through her newly developed passion, Edith was also more understanding when Steeve didn’t immediately show up for dinner when she called him. «I used to make a stink until I discovered gaming for myself. That’s when I realised you can’t just walk away from a game.» Mother and son now have an agreement that you don’t start a new dungeon around dinnertime.
Edith thinks it’s important to understand your children’s hobbies. «I’ve always wanted to know what my kids are into.» She doesn’t understand parents who have no idea what their kids get up to all day and finds it quite dangerous. That’s why she chose to sit down and watch what these games were about.
The fascination with WoW
Since Edith got into WoW back in 2005, there’s been no looking back. She played each expansion extensively. Her stats after 13 years of WoW: 20 characters on level 110. Since our interview, she has probably reached the maximum level of 120 with some of the characters. Being a former excessive player of the game, there’s one thing I need to know: Horde or Alliance? «I play both factions but Alliance is predominant. I find the Horde cities confusing. Even the new Horde city Zuldazar is total chaos,» is her flimsy excuse why she prefers the feeble Alliance (oh, did I mention that I used to play Horde?).
When she’s not completing tasks in her questlog, she’s chasing achievements. Achievements are unlocked once certain requirements are met. This can be killing a specific number of enemies within a specific time frame, finding lost treasures or catching a fish in Orgrimmar – not an easy thing to do when you’re part of the Alliance. «All I did was wait for an important World Cup game to be broadcast on TV and then I just snuck in,» Edith explains proudly. No achievement is too difficult for her and it gives her great pleasure whenever she overcomes a challenge. Dungeons and raids, in other words, the game areas you tackle in small and large groups, are not her thing. Having said that, she regrets to this day that she never experienced a legendary 40-player raid from back in the day. Therefore, she’s not taken with the announced WoW Vanilla server.
I want to know if she was ever tempted by another game? «Of course I was. I‘d regularly suggest a new game to Steeve, such as “The Lord of the Rings Online”. But he never sticks to a game for very long. And I just stayed loyal to WoW.»
Little understanding from friends and family
Hans, her husband, often just shakes his head in disbelief. «It’s enough to have one addict in the family,» was his first reaction, Edith says with a smile. «All he uses his PC for is information, planning trips and browsing forums,» computer games were never his thing. Even though he never showed any interest for gaming, he never had a problem with his wife spending a large part of her spare time in a virtual fantasy world. «I’ve tried convincing friends to try it out but they say: No way, I don’t want anything to do with that.» Many of them just don’t feel like they could manage, Edith says. «Look at you, you’re addicted!» is something she hears a lot. «Surely it doesn’t matter if I’m sitting in front of TV or the PC.» Edith thinks the television is a greater danger. «When I tell people I’m going home to watch a movie, nobody cares. But if I say I’m going home to raid, all I get is blank looks.» She stresses that sitting in front of the TV all night like a dead fish is totally acceptable. Even though gaming is a lot more active. «Games keep you flexible. They’re challenging and require quite a bit of multitasking,» Edith says confidently.
She stresses that she has a lot of spare time as a pensioner. Between 8 and 10 p.m. is when she’s usually online. If the weather’s bad, she occasionally also logs in during the day. But that’s not to say that she spends all day at her computer. «We’re usually out and about during the day. But in the evening, when my husband’s watching his Alaska documentaries, I play WoW.»
Long-standing friendships
What many elderly people don’t realise is that online games can be very communicative. «There’s a serious lack of communication when you’re watching TV.» When she’s online, however, Edith meets new people – many of them her age. She adds that it’s much easier to get to know people online. «At our age, you don’t enjoy going out in the evening that much anymore. And once you’re sat, you’re sat.» WoW knows no boundaries when it comes to making friends all over the world. Many of these acquaintances have been going strong for years. Edith has even travelled to Germany to meet a guild friend. This has also happened the other way round and she has welcomed someone in Untervaz.
These friendships are nurtured and people get worried if they don’t hear from you for a while. «Everybody asks what’s happened. Especially when it comes to gamers my age. You just never know what’s going on if they disappear without saying a word...» But these are mostly just gamers going cold turkey. They often pop up again as suddenly as they disappeared.
For Edith, stopping is not on the agenda. It would be a shame considering she now has a new PC. As long as Blizzard keeps updating «World of Warcraft», there’s no need to turn your back on Azeroth anyway.
Are there any gaming pensioners in your family? Maybe you’re one of them? Let us know! We’d love to write more about mature gamers.
And finally: Edith’s gaming setup
Philipp Rüegg
Senior Editor
Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.chBeing the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.
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