Is KSP for Older Users?

[Kerbonautical]

24 and a fan of the 'guns and half neked womed' games too still though. I wouldn't necessarily say that the patience required with KSP actually deters younger gamers but rather filters them instead leaving only the open minded and strong willed gamers, regardless of age actually. Probably another factor in the quality of the community the game has picked up.

Generally though KSP is the sort of game I would have also enjoyed as a kid. I didn't play Sonic as a kid because he was colorful and fast, I played it because acing the game was hard as hell and it gave me a goal to strive towards. That's a huge factor in what makes a game a 20 hour time killer and a 400 hour deal instead. KSP obviously falls into the latter but for me so do a number of games that are historically considered abysmal so maybe my taste in games is kind of exclusive. The only thing that would have deterred me was that I didn't have the knowledge to build a decent PC until I was about 18, so I stayed away from PC gaming all together and stuck to the consoles. That could even be a factor in KSP's userbase.

[BostLabs]

I was playing Lunar Lander text only on what was at the time a cutting edge 8088 at age 12.. there was no way I could pass this one up now ;-)

My Vic20 had a lot of use with a game called Jupiter lander I think. Very lunar lander type game. Close to the old lunar lander arcade game that I pumped tons of quarters into. That was 82 or 83. I was 22 or 23 at the time.

You are only as old as you let yourself be.

[Gus]

I'm 52 [cards in a deck, weeks in a year] (for 3 more days). I play World of Tanks and this mostly. Played Civ for decades. I am a nerd. I had a Vic-20.

[minerman30]

I'm 12, and I very much enjoy this game. I have landed bases on both Kerbin moon, and gone to Eve and Duna. I'm planning a Joolian trip next.

I think it is mainly a question of your interests and capabilities, as I have always been interested in space, and science in general. If you want to do this kind of stuff, you can, and I think KSP is probably the best spaceflight simulator there is, with a ton of mods, a large, helpful community, and it being fun for any skill level. You can make a cannon and see how far a kerbal can be shot, or plann missions like NASA does.

[borzwazie]

I'm 42. My son is 9. We both play KSP. That's a good thing.

[Accelerando]

There are plenty of people here under the age of 18. Whether or not you'll meet them in real life depends, but that's more or less the case with any game that isn't mass-marketed on a big budget. I haven't met anyone in real life who played SimCity before the latest incarnation, for instance.

[Arran]

A mainstream consensus that "video games are for children" formed sometime in the 1980's. The people who grew up playing games, however, never seem to have stopped, especially computer rather than console gamers. Average MMO age is now late 20's to early 30's.

KSP and Minecraft have a particularly broad appeal not, IMO, in that their userbase is *older* than the average high-quality computer gaming community, but that it's younger.

I started gaming in 1974, i was back then 6 years old, my dad bought be a Phongbox for X-mas, and i was hooked..

Still gaming nowadays, only too see gaming slowly become more and more mainstream and accepted, when i was a kid, i had too hide the fact i was playing computer games, or my schoolmates would have pestered me for being a nerd..

Still i am leaning toward the older end of gamers, but i think I'm ta good example that gaming is something nowadays something of all ages, and i think in 20 to 30 years when i am old and grey in a retirement house, i will raise Hell if i don't have internet and a PC too play games on.. No way i gonna spend my old age playing bridge and other duffy games with a bunch of grannies

[razark]

I've watched an eight year old child try to teach a sixty-eight year old retired Chief Engineer for the Shuttle Program how to play.

I'm sure that says something about the appropriate age level for KSP.

[segaprophet]

KSP is for all ages of people. But it still takes a certain type, although not age dependent, I believe.

[jwenting]

Change "Lady Gaga" to "The Beatles", and that exact sentence could have been (and probably was) uttered in 1963. Plus ça change…

true. Just shows that the more things change the more they stay the same. There's a theory that says evolution stops when a species starts to change its environment, starts reverting when that species starts to allow its invalids to breed.

We've been doing both for a very long time now, scary thought.

[CheftonUTD]

I think KSP has a good balance of sim/physics/strategy to make it approachable to many people, without going so far as needing to be a full-on rocketry enthusiast to get into the game.

[lammatt]

dont exactly think so

but yes i think KSP attracts a lot of adult players

because you can finally feel learning those allien Newtonian physics in highschool and university (in case you are a science graduate; which i unfortunately happened to be) useful.

and there comes a sense of achievement

[Necandi Brasil]

Don't worry about your age ! Be proud ! I would love to play this kinds of game when I was 13... I'm 23 right now btw...

Our community has people from 10-90 , and that only shows how much this game is addicting

[Spyritdragon]

I don't think there's any reason 13 year old's, and younger, can't play it. I just think the game become more fun when you know exactly what 'air' and 'fire' means in the up-goer-five chart (http://xkcd.com/1133/), i.e. once you know the sciency-aspect of things. It's just more fun if you know what 'liquidfuel' and 'oxidizer' means, why they are called that, why they are used etc, what's the difference between liquid and solid fuel, than just seeing it as 'one kind of fuel', 'other kind of fuel', etc. If you want to make the most efficient flights, knowing and understanding "The rocket equation" comes in rather handy.

In short, i think it's alot more fun if you know science and a bit of maths, but you dont NEED them, so it can be great fun for younger people too. Hey, it's rockets, explosions, and Jebediah .

I have to admit i'm only 17, but i've been into science all my life, space most of my life, and my uni studies are science related, so i consider myself reasonably educated in the ways of science. I'm more talking about younger people and teens from other educations, who haven't learned much about science yet. (I know, the more you know the more you realise you know nothing. But you get what i mean :-) )

Edited August 9, 2013 by Spyritdragon

[manskal]

I'm pretty old (15 and 1/2) and KSP is really hard. Doesn't stop me though.

[tom1499]

I started the game when I was just over thirteen I think. I had played orbiter before but had no clue as to anything to do with orbital mechanics, I still sunk hours into Orbiter though. It took me about a week or two before I figured it all out. Unfortunately none of my fourteen year old friends have any interest in learning rocket science, nor the intelligence to be honest. They all seem to be happy with Call Of Duty:ModernGUNS_and-Kill_everybody{1337}#supreme

[Tophir]

I had started playing when I was thirteen and a half and taught myself to orbit with the help of Scott Manley, and now I can travel around the kerbol universe, but as the previous poster said the majority of our peers are too busy with games which should not even be called games for this game.

[stargazer1235]

I like to disagree with most people on this thread. KSP can be for everyone, I am surprised from all the negative comments on this thread. Sure it takes a degree of patience and sure that most likely appeals to an older crowd but it doesn't mean a teenager can't just pick up this game and play it. KSP is just as much about the game play as it is the themes expressed in the game, if your interested into space and science, then this game might appeal to you, no matter what age. Unfortunately I will have to agree with some of the comments above, science and space in general ain't really focused on by schools meaning the interest level isn't there. I like slow moving games and hate FPS games. For example I like Civ IV/V, TOM, Endless Space, Democracy, Europa Universalis and the list goes on.

[Lanfranc]

true. Just shows that the more things change the more they stay the same. There's a theory that says evolution stops when a species starts to change its environment, starts reverting when that species starts to allow its invalids to breed.

We've been doing both for a very long time now, scary thought.

"allow its invalids to breed"? WT actual F, mate?

[K^2]

IQ has been steadily going up for decades.

Average IQ is fixed at 100 points. It cannot go up or down.

[manskal]

"allow its invalids to breed"? WT actual F, mate?

It is time to break out the napalm and clear this Earth of the undeserving!

[karolus10]

KSP need nearly no skill to begin with, especially that every early failure (moAar boosters, no struts) look quite epic and rewarding .

Later, learning basics of orbital mechanics and rocketry is often fun, especially If You get bored of blind shooting with rockets.

KSP is like chess, easy to begin with but hard to master.

EDIT_1:

I like slow moving games and hate FPS games. For example I like Civ IV/V, TOM, Endless Space, Democracy, Europa Universalis and the list goes on.

Same for me... endless space is dangerous time sucker .

Edited August 9, 2013 by karolus10

[Brenok]

I must be the exception that proves the rule then

(Then again, I do have a mental disorder the Issac Newton and Albert enstin had, and my IQ is 138+.) anyway, no stereotypes please

Now I'm wondering if that mistake was intentional, and if that mental disorder was dyslexia.

[karolus10]

Now I'm wondering if that mistake was intentional, and if that mental disorder was dyslexia.

Dyslexia is learning disability, not mental disorder I have massive problems with writing as elementary kid (I spent most elementary lesson times and pauses on writing stuff down in notebook + terrible pain in hand) and even today I'm pretty slow when writing and making calculation on paper, especially if it must be readable by other person than me (ie. "Doctors handwriting").

I mostly compensated this issues by using typewriter in school (in home, of course) and on important exams, because I wasn't able to finish essay in given time even if I was writing (assuming I had entire essay text in memory) by hand constantly at maximum speed.

So it's not like person who can't physically write faster or such is less smart than others.

If someone made mistake during writing posts and don't correct words what are clearly red-lined by the web browser thesaurus is just lazy (or simply overlooked ).

Edited August 9, 2013 by karolus10

[GalaxyGryphon]

ive been playing orbiter since i was around 12, ORBITER, NOT EVEN KSP

that says something