Even 80-year-olds are taking part in national videogame tournaments these days.
As videogames get older, and us with them, I’ve often wondered when it will be considered normal for every single age group to take part in a hardcore gaming habit. It turns out, those days are here right now, as teams of senior citizens recently competed in a national Wii golf tournament.
This wasn’t a casual tournament either: Teams of four from all over the U.S. had to submit their best Wii Sports golf scores to the National Senior League Summer Open Wii Golf Tournament, with only the top 10 qualifying for the championship.
Harry Sanger, Bill Taylor, Dolly Fyffe, and Jen DeRus from the Parc at Duluth retirement community in Duluth, Georgia came out on top with a score of 7-under-par in a 9-hole match. DeRus enjoys the factors of realism thrown into Wii Sports golf, saying: “You feel like you’re out on the golf course when you’re here, but it’s a lot easier. You still have to judge distance and wind speed and clubs and everything.”
The team members’ ages range from 78 to 89, and they even talk trash on each other. “I don’t know why you keep doubting me all the time,” Sanger was overheard saying when the team doubted his advice. “You tell us wrong sometimes,” Fyffe quipped back. I do not want to get in the middle of that.
It’s nice to know that even if arthritis cripples my body, I’ll probably still be able to competitively game when I become an old man. I just hope the tournament uses the Wii Sports Resort golf version, because I found the original Wii Sports golf game to be terrible. If not, well someone upgrade these senior citizens asap!
Source: Gwinnett Daily Post
