Yang Binglin became the "oldest Bilibili game blogger" and received a Guinness World Records certificate. Photo provided by interviewee
In the TV screen, a figure wearing armor, a helmet, and carrying a weapon stood on the top of a narrow mountain, looked around, took a step forward, and almost stepped into the vast sea... "Oh, don't go down," TV On the other side of the machine, Yang Binglin held the game controller and blurted out while operating the character to retreat.
Yang Binglin, who plays games, is 88 years old this year. Because he continued to play stand-alone games after retirement, he received a Guinness World Records certificate on January 29 and was certified as the "Oldest Bilibili Game Blogger." Some netizens exclaimed "Grandpa is cute" and "Tai is so cool", while others envied him and said "this is my ideal retirement life", and some netizens expected that "in thirty or forty years, there will be a lot of old men like this."
However, Yang Binglin’s retirement life goes far beyond games. He also loves table tennis and photography, listens to music every day, does housework with his wife, and has the ability to repair small appliances.
Yang Binglin has a strict schedule every day: get up at 6 a.m. to make breakfast and eat; go out and take the bus to play ball at 7:30; go to the vegetable market near the playing point to buy food at 9:30, and then take the bus home; 1 p.m. It’s lunch break at 3pm; game time from 3pm to 6pm; bed at 9:30pm.
Yang Binglin is playing a game. Photo provided by interviewee
It’s fun to start a “game life” after retirement and explore the process of clearing levels.
Yang Binglin was born in Fuzhou, Fujian in 1935. After graduation, he came to Luzhou, Sichuan and took root in scientific research and engineering positions in oil and gas drilling in southern Sichuan.
During those years of working, Yang Binglin had almost no hobbies, "mainly because he didn't have time." His 82-year-old wife Wu Jianmin said that at that time, Yang Binglin was busy with work, sometimes in the wilderness, often traveling on business, and rarely participated in housework at home.
In 1996, after Yang Binglin retired, he suddenly became "free". It was also after his retirement that he started getting into video games.
Initially, Yang Binglin got into the game from Tetris and other similar games. In 1998, he bought his first PS1 game console. As the game was updated and iterated, he gradually purchased X-BOX360, PS2, PS4 and PS5 presented by Sony and "fan kids". Four years ago, he started sharing game videos on Bilibili and became an elderly console game blogger.
Over the past 20 years, the games played by Yang Binglin have developed into adventure games such as "Tomb Raider", "World War", "Resident Evil", "Sniper" and mystery games. He has accumulated more than 500 game discs at home, jokingly saying that there are more discs than there are in game stores.
In Yang Binglin's view, playing games is a kind of mental exercise that can prevent Alzheimer's disease. The most convenient thing about playing stand-alone games is that it is not restricted by time, people and environment. "It's not like other games. If your teammates don't play well, they will It's a hindrance, or you have to go online to play." Yang Binglin said that he can play as long as he is at home, and if his wife calls him for something, he can also pause.
Yang Binglin once intended to "development" two friends of the same age to play stand-alone games, but they felt it was too complicated and failed to persist.
The three hours from 3 pm to 6 pm every day are Yang Binglin's game time. "When I play games, I don't easily read the guides. I explore them slowly by myself. This process is very interesting." During the game play, Yang Binglin also takes notes, recording the level skills and experiences of the game he is playing. He said that he is currently playing some PS5 games, and it usually takes more than a month to complete a game.
For those game discs that he had completed, he would clearly write down the time of completing the level and the ending after completing the level on labels, stick them on the discs, and then neatly fill boxes one after another.
After finishing the game disc, he will record the completion time and results on the disc.
Today, Yang Binglin gave his first PS1 game console and game discs to relatives; the X-BOX360 had been broken for several years and could not be repaired, so he could not bear to throw it away, so he packed it tightly in a schoolbag; he will also A PS4 is placed in the place where I go to escape the summer heat every year, so as not to play without playing games in the past.
Yang Binglin playing table tennis. Photo by Xu Qing
The oldest member of the club can play table tennis continuously for half an hour
In addition to brain sports video games, Yang Binglin also loves playing table tennis after retirement.
Playing table tennis in the morning and games in the afternoon, Yang Binglin arranges his time very tightly every day. He gets up at 6 o'clock every morning and makes breakfast for his wife. After eating breakfast, he takes the bus at 7:30 and passes 6 stops. He arrives at the Luzhou Table Tennis Club for the Elderly at about 8 o'clock and meets with the members. Let's play table tennis together.
Members all call Yang Binglin a "veteran" member of the club because he is the oldest member, one of the earliest members to join, and the one who has stayed the longest.
The 88-year-old can play table tennis for half an hour continuously against his 67-year-old opponent. He can hit a ball ten or twenty times. When his opponent hits a good ball, he can't help but praise "good ball, good ball" and makes mistakes on his own. If he didn't catch the ball, he would say "Ouch" in an annoyed tone.
Club member Pi Dazhi is 73 years old this year. He often "discusses" with Yang Binglin. Sometimes he can't beat Yang Binglin. Pi Dazhi said that the club currently has more than 100 members. Although Yang Binglin is the oldest member, many younger members may not be able to beat him.
Because of playing table tennis, Yang Binglin also won many medals from competitions in Luzhou City to competitions in Sichuan Province. The most important one was the second place in the table tennis event of the 6th Sichuan Senior Games in 2007.
Yang Binglin said that playing table tennis can fully move the limbs and is a good physical activity. Exercise and good health can also put children at ease. "Unless I can't walk anymore, I will definitely keep fighting." Yang Binglin said with a smile.
The "all-around housework" wife won't interfere with his game play
In Yang Binglin's home, dozens of photos on the living room wall are very conspicuous. His wife Wu Jianmin said that these photos were taken during their travels over the years. Every year, they and their family would travel abroad or domestically. After returning home, Yang Binglin began to print out the photos, plastic seal them, and frame them.
In addition to TVs, game consoles, and basic furniture and appliances, the rest of the home is filled with large and small storage cabinets occupying every room, from the living room to the bedroom.
In these lockers, in addition to Yang Binglin’s baby game discs, there are also his other hobbies. For example, he likes photography, so he not only bought a camera, but also had to figure out how to buy a photo printer and a laminator; he likes listening to music, so he tinkered with a set of speakers to take home; occasionally, like a child, he likes to buy some Small toys; I couldn't move my feet when I saw the beautiful handicrafts in the store, so I slowly bought more and more various objects.
There were piles of stuff in every corner of the house. Wu Jianmin complained in a doting tone: "He likes it. Is there anything I can do about it?"
In Wu Jianmin's view, although his wife has many interests, he has never missed the housework at home. Yang Binglin is responsible for buying groceries and can cook. He does all the hard work at home. He can repair small appliances if they are broken, even the sewer toilets. If there is a blockage, he will buy tools to clear it himself. Wu Jianmin happily talked about their retirement life. In her opinion, her husband after retirement is an "all-rounder at housework."
"I also have my own hobbies. I usually play mahjong in the afternoon and go dancing in the evening." Wu Jianmin said that he would not interfere too much with his wife's hobbies, unless he forgets the time while playing games and will remind him.
Children with more than 500,000 "fans" are asked to "do your job well before playing games"
Starting in 2018, Yang Binglin’s grandson and grandson’s daughter-in-law began to upload videos of their grandfather playing games on video platforms. Over the past few years, Yang Binglin, who calls himself “Old Man Yang, a hardcore gamer,” has gained a total of more than 500,000 fans on two social platforms. He calls these fans "fan kids" and greets each other through videos and messages.
Sometimes, if Yang Binglin's video account is not updated for several months, some fans will worry about his health. In response to this, Yang Binglin will also respond in the video, saying in the tone of an elder in the family, "It is too hot during this period, and grandpa went outside to escape the heat." During the holidays, he will also send gifts to "fans and children" in the video Blessings.
In the video recorded by his grandson, when he bought a new game CD for Yang Binglin, he would be like a child receiving a gift. He would immediately put down the magazine he was reading, pick up the game CD with both hands and flip through it. Faced with his grandson's daughter-in-law's question "You must be afraid," Yang Binglin muttered carelessly, and finally said leisurely: "Is he afraid of me or am I afraid of him?"
After receiving the Guinness World Records certificate, Yang Binglin handwrote another line on the certificate. He also clipped a photo of himself and his wife in the lower right corner of the certificate. He plastic-wrapped the certificate and hung it in the living room.
Whether in his video account or in interviews with the media, Yang Binglin always insists that "young children must do their jobs well before playing games." He said that the current games are very beautiful and good, but He also hopes that young people will stop playing games in moderation and not stay up late or delay their own work. "It is best to wait until retirement and play games as planned and wholeheartedly as I do."
West China Metropolis Daily-cover news reporter Xu Qing