In December 2024, the Elden Ring Reddit community gave a 19,000-upvote welcome to user vuduthmb, who claimed the title of "oldest gamer to complete Elden Ring and [Shadow of the Erdtree] on NG+7" at 72 years old. It's a hard claim to confirm, but I certainly haven't heard of anyone older managing a NG+7 run. (If it's you, speak up!) Some called him Elden Ring Grandpa, mirroring Skyrim Grandma Shirley Curry. Others theorized it might be Sir Ansbach's alt account. Another nickname came up when I spoke to vuduthmb – better known as Mike Williams – over the phone, and I think it's my favorite: The Elder Lord.
This will surely change as generations age up, but gaming is comparatively uncommon among seniors aged 65+, which is why stories of people like Skyrim Grandma and now the Elder Lord can be fun in a surprising way. (Williams does know of Skyrim Grandma, by the way. "That's encouraging, huh? What a great story," he says.) It's a shame, not just because gaming is such a great hobby for retirement – finally, time and money for games – but also because this is often a fascinating perspective. 72 years is a lot of life to live. We can all only hope we're still beating games like Elden Ring at that age.
