"Wargaming With Multiple Generations" Topic

You were asked – TMP link

Was reading this article about the 5 generations in the workplace. Got me to thinking if we added a piece on each of the groups. What would they be? And how has it affected the style of play?

15% of the votes: "shorter games"
11%: "simple rules and mechanisms that enhance the game"
9%: [TIE] "simpler rules that are less historical" OR "playing more non-historical games"

The irony is that younger players are typically the ones with the time to play games for hours, strung out over multiple weeks. (That's what we did in my teen years, and I come from the original video game/computer game generation, too. We did it ALL. ‘Cause we were teens and had the time.)
Adult players have jobs, spouses, kids, and other responsibilities. Retirees get to be teens again… so really, all you need is ways for busy 23-65 y.o.s to join in while grandpa/grandma and the teens enjoy the extended campaigns.

So the changes to the style aren't so much for age groups unless you're dealing with elementary age children and "tweens." It's more about personal interests, which I think is going to cut across generations in similar percentages. People who geek out over history or the military or science fiction or fantasy are going to be a minority group in any generation… but they'll be the same proportions of the population.

Interest in certain historical eras may rise and fall, and new eras and genres/cultural aspects be added, and new approaches to the rules themselves will always appear. But it's not inherent that any generation otherwise has to have any accommodations to play.

The irony is

… that the "generation differences" stuff is basically malarky.

As Parzival eloquently points out, your age (generation, birth year, whatever) is far less important that many other factors. Like free time. If you're 70 and not retired, you probably have different time than someone 50 and retired; 30 and hit the lottery; or 20 born into wealth, at uni on a full-ride academic, or working two jobs to support your family and go go uni.

While age has an influence on complexity, barring the extremes, I've seen 15 year olds who have memorize multiple tomes of arcane rules and 50 year olds who can't remember basics of rules they've played for decades.

The GD stuff is also highly variable WRT where and how you grew up. Growing up, say attending private school in Indonesia and Hawaii might give you a different set of workplace qualities than public school in Appalachia. Not necessarily better on either end, just different.

I agree with the posts above. However, the past several years I've been running an "All Things Zombie" convention scenario, "Trailer Park of Doom", with survivalists, bikers, & cops vying with each other for control of the park while also dealing with the undead. A parent who's playing in a "serious" historical game will leave his early teenager to play my game. The kid might need a lot of time to make his move, not know the rules & or not pay attention to the game when it's not his turn. Of course, some adults are just as needy.

Those hebaviours are much more likely derived from the kid's personal situation rather than some mystic property of his birthday or fallacious assumptions about "common" influences growing up.

Also, those behaviours don't sound like the typical Gen Z tripe. Shouldn't he be adept at paying attention to nine things at one time and not losing the bubble on any of them?