Dripfree Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I know your not supposed to ask a persons age but I was curious as to what the average age of an atari enthusiast is at this point in time. I myself am 29 and grew up in the glory days of the nes. About 7 years ago I got nostalgic and decided to get an nes once again. From there my interests expanded but seemed to go backwards. I got myself a colecovision, vic-20, a 2600 and much more but my biggest fascination of all has become my 800xl. I seem to keep hearing from people older than me that they're surprised someone as young as me is into these old machines. I'm surprised to hear that and I hope that people younger than me are still discovering these great machines. Most of the machines that interest me are before my time. Maybe not before my time, but by the time I was playing with computers these would have been considered very outdated. I always argue that over the years video games have not gotten better only better looking cuz at the end of the day whether your playing Mario or Halo your still just pushing buttons. That being said I cant understand why younger folks wouldn't be discovering and enjoying these games all the time. So id like to hear some ages and find out if I am at the low end of the age group in this community. Dripfree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeaGtGruff Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I'm only #$36, but sometimes I feel like I'm #%110110. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atari8warez Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) So id like to hear some ages and find out if I am at the low end of the age group in this community. Dripfree You probably are closer to the lower end. I am 56 and had my first Atari at a rather late age of 30. When I first got involved, XL series was about to leave the scene and give shelf space for the XE series, 800/400s were already history. I did own an 800XL for a short time and then compelled to upgrade to an XE a short few years later. My interest and active use of the Atari ended at around the same time when PC became popular. I wasn't a gamer and was mostly interested in the technical and programming aspects of the Atari computers. That's why I never owned (or thinking to own a pure Atari game console like 2600). My interest in them rekindled at around 2007, this time around I am more into games and into upgrades (mostly new peripherals and memory upgrades) but also in programming on and off Atari but for Atari. In any case there is nothing wrong with younger generations finding interest in museum pieces and you're right about games, they are not necessarly better, only better looking with the contemporary hardware. In fact they are so visually realistic at times they leave no room for imagination... I am trying to master Millipede these days, but can not seem to beat my best score of 347,000 points yet no matter how hard I try... Welcome aboard by the way... Edited April 10, 2013 by atari8warez Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 Probably not what you want to hear, but my daughter is 4 and very interested in my Atari computers. I am 37 and since 1984 into Atari 8bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mclaneinc Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 52 this year, been there from before home computers existed...And involved with them in every way since.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russg Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I know your not supposed to ask a persons age but I was curious as to what the average age of an atari enthusiast is at this point in time. I myself am 29 and grew up in the glory days of the nes. About 7 years ago I got nostalgic and decided to get an nes once again. From there my interests expanded but seemed to go backwards. I got myself a colecovision, vic-20, a 2600 and much more but my biggest fascination of all has become my 800xl. I seem to keep hearing from people older than me that they're surprised someone as young as me is into these old machines. I'm surprised to hear that and I hope that people younger than me are still discovering these great machines. Most of the machines that interest me are before my time. Maybe not before my time, but by the time I was playing with computers these would have been considered very outdated. I always argue that over the years video games have not gotten better only better looking cuz at the end of the day whether your playing Mario or Halo your still just pushing buttons. That being said I cant understand why younger folks wouldn't be discovering and enjoying these games all the time. So id like to hear some ages and find out if I am at the low end of the age group in this community. Dripfree I'm 69. Got my first computer (800xl) in 1984. My grandson is 19. He briefly was interested in my Ataris. I gave him his choice and he picked the 1200XL. I also gave him a little laptop and a SIO2PC to play hundreds of games. I don't think he ever plays with it any more, he is into card games, Yugio, Magic. Also a XBOX player. He is a high level at those card games, international competitor. My interest is I don't understand the A8. I do some non-graphics programming, disk accessing stuff. I'm currently learning point of sale software and devices on PC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+slx Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I am not even 30 (just $2D ) and got my first 800 (no XL) as a teenager at the end (=Xmas) of the first year they were sold in our country (that was in 1982 and I'm still grateful that my parents spent money that would have bought a nice used car for their son's hobby). I still find many 1982-1984 games superior to what is offered today and I can't seem to get the hang of games requiring more than one joystick button Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marius Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 In 1984 I won an atari 800xl with Joystick and Ms. Pacman cart. That was pretty it. No data recorder no disk drive... It did not matter. I typed a listing from a book, and kept the atari switched on for weeks to play that single typed in game Unfortunately my 800XL had this Rev. B basic, so it froze from time to time. That was the first reason why my dad bought me a data recorder. Never been more happy. In 1989 I got my first 1050 diskdrive. It was 1995 when I started to collect more atari 8bit items. And now I am almost drowning in equipment. But hey... there is no such thing as too much atari 8bit stuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sack-c0s Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 $20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+skr Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) $28 Edited April 10, 2013 by skr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMR Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 And $29 here... i'm stuffed before the end of 2013 and will have to go back to using decimal, saying i'm $2a gives the game away! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenjennings Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 $2E I was $C when I got a 2600. $E when I got my first Atari 800. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 $2C. I was about $20 when I got *back* into Atari, and found atariage.com. I was $D when I got my first 2600, and $E when I got my first 5200 and then 1200XL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candle Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 D5 was set a year ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roydea6 Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I will be $46 in July. I have been doing Atari stuff since the early 80's. Machinist before doing programing with punch cards and then some Fortran with a terminal with tape cassette to save program for programing the equipment. One Apple IIe for about 6 months. Vic20 for 6 month. Atari ST Mega until 96 and then PC's and Atari as hobby now that I am retired.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinman Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I'm 45. We got a 2600 (back when it was just the VCS) around 1980 or so, and my parents bought me an 800 (the original) around 1982 to replace the Commodore Pets I would borrow from school to use. One of my friends had an 800 already, so I was familiar with them. My other closest friend had a Vic-20, but soon replaced it with a C64. Our nerdy Atari vs. Commodore arguments were an early version of more recent PC vs. Mac discussions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ransom Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 $2C. Not quite old enough to have experienced the earliest days of home computing, and I didn't get my first Atari VCS until about 1980. But ever since, it's been a procession of Atari stuff, with lots of programming and gaming fun along the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pps Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 As long as VW it produces, I will be the same as the VW GOLF (or Rabbit as it is called in the US). Even Germany became football (or soccer in the US) World Champion for the 2nd time in that year - you know when Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 As long as VW it produces, I will be the same as the VW GOLF (or Rabbit as it is called in the US). As a former VW Rabbit (diesel) owner, I can remember that Golf and Rabbit were 2 different makes. Golf was a step up. Or maybe Rabbit became the Golf line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pps Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 As a former VW Rabbit (diesel) owner, I can remember that Golf and Rabbit were 2 different makes. Golf was a step up. Or maybe Rabbit became the Golf line. As far as I konw, the Rabbit is the same as the Golf, but only for US market. Maybe there are less options and quality. The Jetta seems a lot more prominent over there - here in Germany we had times the Jetta was not called Jetta - we had Vento and Bora for instance - in the US it always was called Jetta. The Jetta itselves is nothing more or less than a Golf with gradually tail. now btt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kskunk Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 (edited) Hex ages are brilliant. I'm only $21! My family had a 2600 since 1980, so I played Combat from a young age, then Surround and Reactor as my reflexes improved. My Dad got an 800 for Serious Writing in 83. The kids were on it too much, so we got a 400 for Christmas 84. I built the 400 and a B&W TV into a cardboard box, and played Star Raiders in my spaceship cockpit for days. I learned to program BASIC on the 400 by trying to make Surround in GR.3, on a membrane keyboard without tape or floppy. After it worked, Dad let me program his 800 with the 810. In 87, me and my brothers saw Dungeon Master at a friend's, so we begged for an ST for Christmas. We got a 130XE with a 1050 instead. We amassed boxes of floppies, playing hundreds of Atari 8-bit games. I picked up "Programming the 6502" by Rodnay Zaks, and learned to hand-assemble my inner loops. I bought an SX212 modem, and used BobTerm to connect to local BBSes. In 91, I bought an Amiga with paper route money, with the SX212 to reach the internet through the early 90s, learning C and 68K along the way. I kept the 400 for some time. It controlled a robot for my 9th grade science fair, my first experience adding electronics to a computer. Robotics is now my profession. I owe it all to growing up with Atari. - KS Edited April 10, 2013 by kskunk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 $2B here. Started playing around with our school's TRS-80s and PETs when I was in 4th or 5th grade. Got an 800 of my own in MCMLXXXI when I was $0B. I had so much fun with it... truly magical times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8bit-guy Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 My first was the 2600, then moved to home computers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sack-c0s Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I built the 400 and a B&W TV into a cardboard box, and played Star Raiders in my spaceship cockpit for days. Is it wrong that I'm gutted that I didn't think of that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+DarkLord Posted April 10, 2013 Share Posted April 10, 2013 I just turned 51 this last December...been into the Atari scene since my 800XL in the early 80's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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