Silver Gaming in Poland: The Margin or the Future of the Gaming Industry?

Silver gaming, the practice of video game play among older adults, is examined in this exploratory qualitative study of Polish citizens aged 60 and over. The work argues that population ageing and the ludification of culture together create conditions for wider adoption of games among seniors, yet the phenomenon has received little scholarly attention in Poland compared with North America and Western Europe. The study was designed to supply in-depth understanding where quantitative data is scarce, addressing media practices, participation in gaming culture, the influence of peers, family and institutions, gaming-based relationships, and perceived benefits and risks.

The research drew on ten unstructured interviews with silver gamers who played at least weekly over the preceding six months, supplemented by ten interviews with experts such as media educators and NGO representatives working with older people. Interview data was analysed using mixed concept-driven and open coding in MaxQDA 2020, yielding a coding book of more than 1,200 transcript segments. Purposive sampling was used, so the findings offer rich insight into individual practices but cannot be generalised to the wider Polish population.

The principal findings describe Polish silver gamers as tending to engage with games in a restricted way, focusing on their ludic aspects while overlooking educational and social potential. Many experience stagnation in their gaming competencies, which limits both their development as gamers and their social inclusion through digital technologies. They show limited interest in social features that encourage intergenerational or intragenerational play, and some may be unknowingly exposed to patterns associated with "gaming disorder" in the WHO's ICD-11 classification. Participants also reported a lack of adequate support from families, institutions and state authorities.

The author concludes that the potential of silver gaming in Poland remains largely untapped. Realising it would require coordinated action to promote a more holistic understanding of games among older adults and institutional representatives, one that weighs both the health and social benefits and the risks of the medium.