[Poll] How old are we?

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:10 am

Obviously we are pretty much all old farts at this point, but I am curious about the distribution. I tried to set up the poll options to be as granular as I could and still cover as many reasonable years as possible with the limited number of options.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:30 am

The poll is young but I currently hold the title of the youngest person.

Long live the king!

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:42 am

Vorret wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:30 am The poll is young but I currently hold the title of the youngest person.

Long live the king!

...and as it sits currently I am roughly in the oldest third (35% now, but close enough, oldest 7/20th doesn't sound the same).

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:44 am

Shouldn't there be some dates with a BCE suffix?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:45 am

Jeff V wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:44 am Shouldn't there be some dates with a BCE suffix?

Isn't that what pre-1961 means?

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 12:01 pm

Jeff V wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:44 am Shouldn't there be some dates with a BCE suffix?

Polls only support 10 options... having good options for both dbt and Vorret and still getting interesting information is challenging. I could have made the middle options narrower and the outer options progressively wider but that involves presumptions I wasn't willing to make. I am already guessing that we mostly fit in between the pre/post categories.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 12:04 pm

This is a really good idea. Get the results then purge the millennials!

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 12:07 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 11:10 am Obviously we are pretty much all old farts at this point, but I am curious about the distribution. I tried to set up the poll options to be as granular as I could and still cover as many reasonable years as possible with the limited number of options.

I call foul! I was born two weeks from the end of my category!

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 12:10 pm

I am younger than at least 76% of this board, based on the current results. And it's probably a little bit higher than that, since I was born late December 1980.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 1:13 pm

Lost my title

Drazzil · Post by **Drazzil** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 1:16 pm

Nov of 82 here.

gameoverman · Post by **gameoverman** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:19 pm

I'm old enough that I lived through the 'no microwave to microwave everything' transition, the 'no remote control for the tv to everyone fighting over the remote control', the birth of videogames as a thing, the advent of home computers for the masses...this was some epic stuff and it doesn't even involve the internet or cell phones. I used to envy people in the past, the ones that lived through monumental changes in how people lived. It may sound smug, but I honestly think I've lived through the most monumental era in human history thus far, and so have most of you reading this right now. The crazy thing I think about is how, some day in the future, there will be an even MORE monumental shift in how people live and our era will seem downright boring in comparison.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:27 pm

gameoverman wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:19 pm It may sound smug, but I honestly think I've lived through the most monumental era in human history thus far, and so have most of you reading this right now. The crazy thing I think about is how, some day in the future, there will be an even MORE monumental shift in how people live and our era will seem downright boring in comparison.

Yeah if you compare life in the 70s to what life is like now it is pretty amazing. I would only lament that we (most of us) missed the space race. I'd put landing on the moon as one of mankind's most amazing accomplishments (especially after all the time I have spent with Kerbal Space Program. I didn't properly appreciate it before that.)

Jaymann · Post by **Jaymann** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:29 pm

I witnessed the fake moon landing!

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 2:33 pm

My older brother was 5 months old for Apollo 11. I don't think he remembers it. He turned 50 last month. I am not sure he remembers much of anything now.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:01 pm

I was in Viet Nam for the moon landing. Watched it on a rented B&W TV.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:03 pm

We have 6 pre-1961's, that's double what I was aware of, so I guess I have at least a dozen years of gaming left in my brain. Of course, cynical me wants to mention that 48 responses is also double what I was aware of.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:10 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:03 pm We have 6 pre-1961's, that's double what I was aware of, so I guess I have at least a dozen years of gaming left in my brain. Of course, cynical me wants to mention that 48 responses is also double what I was aware of.

Half of those unexpected respondents want to sell you shoes to wear on the beaches of Mali.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:11 pm

Paingod wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:10 pm
coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:03 pm We have 6 pre-1961's, that's double what I was aware of, so I guess I have at least a dozen years of gaming left in my brain. Of course, cynical me wants to mention that 48 responses is also double what I was aware of.
Half of those unexpected respondents want to sell you shoes to wear on the beaches of Mali.

Are they house shoes?

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:14 pm

coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:11 pm
Paingod wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:10 pm
coopasonic wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:03 pm We have 6 pre-1961's, that's double what I was aware of, so I guess I have at least a dozen years of gaming left in my brain. Of course, cynical me wants to mention that 48 responses is also double what I was aware of.
Half of those unexpected respondents want to sell you shoes to wear on the beaches of Mali.
Are they house shoes?

With curves. Better for slouching.

em2nought · Post by **em2nought** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 2:03 am

I'm not really happy to be in the selection right next to ancient.

raydude · Post by **raydude** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:54 am

woohooo! My vote pushed us to 30%!

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 7:58 am

Yay, another denizen of the "pre" category.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 8:30 am

I was born in 1983. I knew I was on the younger side of the forum, but I didn't realize it was by that much.

Archinerd · Post by **Archinerd** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 9:54 am

The best thing about being born in '80 is that it's easy to do the math when I forget how old I am.
Well, maybe second best. I do enjoy being babied a bit at Octocon and it's cute watching Hepcat try and change a diaper.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:22 am

I had a fake Archinerd built to your specifications and have been dutifully practicing at home. Next week I won't make the same mistakes!

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:40 am

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:22 am I had a fake Archinerd built to your specifications and have been dutifully practicing at home. Next week I won't make the same mistakes!

This feels like a repeat of how you got your last restraining order.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:52 am

They're like little legal badges of honor at this point.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:56 am

El Guapo wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:40 am
hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:22 am I had a fake Archinerd built to your specifications and have been dutifully practicing at home. Next week I won't make the same mistakes!
This feels like a repeat of how you got your last restraining order.

To be fair, he has to have his skills mastered. Archinerd's favorite game is "I Dare You!" As in "I dare you to eat that pan-fried musk ox testicle!" Archinerd is undefeated in this game, but the aftermath is often appalling.

And you thought we just played boardgames at Octocon?

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 10:59 am

pr0ner · Post by **pr0ner** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 11:24 am

Another 1980 birth here.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 11:37 am

I was born six months before the Space Age began.

gameoverman · Post by **gameoverman** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:35 pm

dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:01 pm I was in Viet Nam for the moon landing. Watched it on a rented B&W TV.

That's the kind of thing that blows my mind. People are landing on the moon and yet people are also still watching black and white television at the time. I suspect that some time in the future people's minds will be blown looking back to these days. "They had 'smart' devices and mobile phones and the internet but didn't even have...", I'd guess it'll involve robots. One day robots will be as common to have around as your cellphone, then people who grew up in that era won't be able to comprehend how you could live without robots to do your bidding.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:40 pm

gameoverman wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2019 1:35 pm
dbt1949 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 3:01 pm I was in Viet Nam for the moon landing. Watched it on a rented B&W TV.
That's the kind of thing that blows my mind. People are landing on the moon and yet people are also still watching black and white television at the time. I suspect that some time in the future people's minds will be blown looking back to these days. "They had 'smart' devices and mobile phones and the internet but didn't even have...", I'd guess it'll involve robots. One day robots will be as common to have around as your cellphone, then people who grew up in that era won't be able to comprehend how you could live without robots to do your bidding.

Color wasn't invented yet. The whole world was shades of gray.

I was in first grade and they wheeled in a B&W TV (19" IIRC) so we could watch it in our classroom. I remember watching every Apollo launch after that in school - every one was an awesome event to be witnessed.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 2:13 pm

Yeah we watched the Challenger launch in school (in color!)... for some reason after that we stopped watching such things in school.

Scuzz · Post by **Scuzz** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 3:27 pm

Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2019 11:37 am I was born six months before the Space Age began.

I was born the year the Dodgers finally won it all in Brooklyn.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 3:48 pm

Apollo 8 launched just hours after my birth, so I was alive before anyone went to the moon.

This was in the very final days of the LBJ administration, and I do have dim recollections of Watergate on TV.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 3:51 pm

Scuzz wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2019 3:27 pm
Kraken wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2019 11:37 am I was born six months before the Space Age began.
I was born the year the Dodgers finally won it all in Brooklyn.

I watched them.
In B&W of course.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:10 pm

I was born only a few short months before Star Trek TOS premiered.

...this was NOT a coincidence.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:23 pm

You are some sort of alien vampire from an uncharted part of the galaxy?

What year were you born?