Demographics?

I was telling my husband (who only plays games from The Dark Side) that the players of HOAGs are predominately female. At least, it seems that way from noting names of frequent posters on this forum. Some players have indicated their age in various ways, and I have a feeling that many are older rather than younger. Not sure about that, though.

As for me, I've played computer games since computers came along, and played all the famous old Adventures. I played my last one in early 2000. I play the Casuals now because I got burned too many times when spending $30 or $40 on a game and then either finding I didn't like the game or it was problematic for some other reason (glitches, sexism, too violent or abusive, trouble getting them to run properly, or they even set off a migraine). There was no opportunity to take those games for a test spin; if you didn't warm to them, it was your hard luck. Finally, the pickings always were slim on the Adventure game side of things, compared to how much hoopla and how many choices were available for the sword-wielding or BFG-blasting player. And then, along came DRM, which kind of sealed their doom for me (yes, I know some are DRM-free now, but I'm still not going back). I miss the depth, the challenge and the engrossing nature of them versus a Casual, but have no plans to venture into those waters again.

Big Fish presents me with the opportunity to test drive a game before buying, and I've avoided wasting money many times thanks to that. I've been buying their games on line since 2012, and prior to that, bought them on CDs at local stores. I crossed the border into my 70's a couple of years ago, and still play these games. They help keep my brain from growing lazy.

I've read that the demogrqphic for casual PC games is primarily middle age to older females. That would be me. 😄

My computer adventure-game playing goes all the way back to 1982, when I picked up and played the text adventure Zork. Over the enusing years I was an avid player of adventure games and played a few RPGs as well. About ten years ago I began assuming the full-time care of my elderly mother with dementia, and I found that I did not have the blocks of time anymore that I would like to have in order to play an adventure game or an RPG. I still played a few here and there (such as a Nancy Drew adventure game), but this was when I also got started on casual games. With these games I was able to play a few minutes here and there each day without having the flow interrupted as much as it would have been with hard-core adventure games or RPGS (the latter of which require even more sustained amounts of time in order to make any measurable progress at all).

I found that I enjoyed time management games (easy to play a level or two here and there and then get back to it when I had a little more free time), and I also really enjoyed HOPAs. I have genuinely loved some of the HOPAs I have played, as much as any of my favorite adventure games, and have replayed quite a few of my favorites. I also did not have to worry about my computer meeting or exceeding system requirements for any particular game, which was a relief considering I could not afford to upgrade my computer all that often anymore anyway. And to top things off and make things even better, the price of casual games made my continued gaming more affordable.

I'm 64. When I first found GameBoomers, it was the year 2000 and I was 45 - that sounds so young to me now!

I am MUCH older than 64 !!!!

And play a mixture of Adventure, Casual and RPG - with Adventure top of the list.

Although the older Adventures are re-played more often than new Adventures are attempted - because the older format still appeals to me so much more.

Casuals, for me, are the ones I can pick up or put down as the mood takes me, because (for me) they are so much less complicated than full scale Adventures or RPG's.

However, between the three I definitely have all the gaming entertainment I will ever want. YEAH !!!!

I didn't start playing games until around 2004. For about 4 years prior I had tried to play a game several times but could not understand how it worked. Finally, I figured it out and have been playing ever since. It was an Adventure game. I enjoy both Adventure and Casuals. I recently turned 61.

Marian, I think my first ever computer game (that wasn't Pong or some silly B&W thing on the first Mac) was the now-classic Myst. I believe it came out in early 1983. So you and I started about the same time. From there on, I was hooked. Kings Quest, all the Zorks, Monkey Island, TLJ, Gabriel Knight, etc. If you mention an Adventure during that period of almost 20 years, I probably played it. Such a fun period to look back upon!

My first game was Leisure Suit Larry and the Lounge Lizards. I've been hooked since then, I'm 78.

Nice to have some folks close to my own age playing these games.

Reenie, I consider the 1990s to have been the best decade of all for adventure games. And I have played all the older adventure games that you mentioned.

Yeah, "The Golden Age," when a great game came out every few months! Wow. As for me, when they began to push more Action and RPG-like stuff on us, I had to stop buying Adventure games altogether. I'm not well suited to that style of gaming, either physically or emotionally.

Myst was released in 1993, not 1983.
Adventure games that were released in 1983 looked like this
https://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/planetfall/screenshots

Myst was my first adventure game too, but I played it in 1999, not 1993.
I didn't own a computer when DOS and Windows 3.1 were current.

Some of us "old-timers" will recall games in which you could fall into an abyss, or get eaten by a grue - and it was Game Over.
If you wanted to play more, you had to start over, or open a saved game that you were careful to create. No automatic saves then.
No such thing as a walkthrough either - it was up to you to take notes.

My first computers were never 'brand names' - I put them all together: power supply, motherboard, Soundblaster, video card, intermal modem, extra memory, etc. Played Myst in 94; that opened the gates for me. Played everything but Leisure Suit Larry.

Remember Lemmings? I can't guess how many hours I fiddled away LOL

Weren't those Grues just something ??

Thank the powers that be they haven't yet found their way into Casuals !!

Please excuse the typo about the date Myst was issued.