A 91-year-old woman in Westlake, Ohio, prompted a police welfare check after she failed to answer a routine call from the local Are You Okay program. For those unfamiliar with it, the service is designed for seniors or people who live alone, and if someone does not respond to their scheduled daily check-in, police are sent to make sure everything is alright.
The officers went to her house fearing a health problem, a domestic accident, or some other serious situation that could explain the unexpected silence. What they found instead was much more surprising: the woman was so focused on a video game that she had not even noticed the calls coming in.
She Was Just Trying to Beat Her Own Record
As she later explained, she was trying to beat her own record in a video game. Unfortunately, none of the reports mention which game it was, so it remains unclear whether she was playing something online or a local title. What is clear is that she became so absorbed in it that she simply did not hear the calls and therefore failed to respond.
Her focus on the game caused her to miss not only the warning call from the monitoring program, but also other attempts to reach her. Among the missed calls was one from her daughter, which only heightened concern before the police were finally able to confirm in person that everything was fine.
Fortunately, the incident ended without any trouble and with a sense of relief all around. The elderly woman expressed gratitude for the visit and appreciated the care provided by the monitoring system. The anecdote also serves as another reminder that video games are no longer just for the young, as more and more older adults are now gaming quite naturally.
One of the best-known examples is Shirley Curry, the famous Skyrim grandma, but she is far from the only veteran player proving that gaming has become a hobby for every age group. So beyond the curiosity of this particular case, the story also makes something else very clear: the generation that grew up with video games has no intention of giving them up just because it is getting older.
Source: GRY-Online, 3DJuegos
