Thursday, January 15, 2009

Village of the LANed

Just recently I went with a mate to visit his grandfather in a retirement village (nice word for a nursing home). I really hate those places. To me it feels like a bunch of old people waiting around to die. The whole time I was there, I couldn't help thinking how much better it would be if the entire place was LAN enabled. It would be like one giant LAN party. How awesome would it be playing network or MMO games with the 100 other old folks in the place? I think gaming would be the ultimate retirement past time. You don't have to worry about going to work or preparing meals. You can just play games with your mates until you die (seriously). Who knows, the mental challenge might even prolong their lives.

As the gaming generation gets older, I really hope this becomes a reality. I'd certainly look forward to being shipped off to the old folk's home if it was just one big LAN party. I'm sure my family would be grateful too ;)

9 comments:

Chappo said...

Most awesome idea ever.

By the time most of us are old enough to go to one we'll be playing the ancient goodness of COD4 that we enjoyed so many decades ago, while our young adversaries will be blasting away on COD15. Kids that never grew up with 3D games...missing out on so much...

Awesome. Sign me up

mbp said...

Sign me up Crimson, seriously, only make sure I have a decent internet connection as well as a LAN. I want to frag me some juvenile butt!

Watching my own parents get older brought home to me the stark reality of how painful it is to lose the ability to do the things you used to love. There is no age limit on gaming however. Computers and gaming are my curent retirement plan and I intend to stick at it until they pry the mouse out of my cold clammy hand!

Mind you it might be just another reason to keep on the good side of your kids. "Dad, If you don't behave wewill stick you in a home with no internet access" or worse a home with one crappy pc in a public common room that the pensioners fight over to see who gets to play minesweeper

Crimson Starfire said...

@Chappo
Lol, by the time I'm 80, I would have had 70+ years of pro sauce gaming experience under my belt. I plan on pawning juveniles left right and center ;)

@mbp
Computers and gaming are my curent retirement plan and I intend to stick at it until they pry the mouse out of my cold clammy hand!

Same here mate. The only way they will know my time of death would be from checking the logs for when the MMO auto logged me off.

Thallian said...

lololol great idea. I have tried to teach old people how to just play UNO and stuff and that was plenty hard. Teaching them computers and gaming is occasionally possible but usually beyond their ken. Still as people age they wont need to be taught.

Tesh said...

"The only way they will know my time of death would be from checking the logs for when the MMO auto logged me off."

This made my day. :D Great article!

Danshir said...

LOL. Great article indeed! But how will they tell the difference of you dying or just going afk in the middle of the fight?

Or is death the Ultimate AFK?

Elementalistly said...

My wife manages the business side of a "Retirement" village,
These locations are the most difficult types of "companies" to run, due to restrictions, government meddling, and having to play the "Books" game, because money is what counts..
If no money, then the care becomes worse.
People wonder why she can sleep 14 hours or more on the weekends...UGH!

As a note, I hardly EVER visit her there.

As for getting old and gaming...they will have to pry my dead hands off of a controller...guaranteed.
It is a known fact (new studies have shown) that working on computers or playing games keeps the mind fresh, and longevity is inevitable.
Great stuff indeed!

Anonymous said...

I usually rail against nursing homes, though I think there is a movement inside that industry to make them more humane.

But this idea - keep the humaneness - just give me 24/7 access to LOTRO or Nile Online or whatever. I can be young forever!!! Screw that, I can be an elf of the opposite gender foreverrrr!!!

This is a really good idea, lol.

Cap'n John said...

My Dad retired on an Invalid Pension (Disability) because of knee problems, and that's pretty much when he found the CRPGs (Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, NWN, etc). I think it helped him a lot because he was always someone who had to be busy, and after having his artificial knees replaced numerous times because he literally wouldn't stop, the CRPGs helped him slow down and take it easy.

We visited one of my wife's uncles in his Retirement Home a couple of weeks back, and I had the same thought: all you're doing is sitting there, waiting to die.