Moderators can't exactly do "massive migrations". Sure they can set up shop a Kbin or Lemmy, and declare that the "official" new home, but that doesn't mean that their communities will follow them. People read subreddits because of the submissions and the discussion, not for the mods.
It may work for some specific niche subreddits, where the mods are some kind of official representatives of the community, like how we saw the "Jellyfin" project migrate from reddit to their own forum, but I don't see that working for large generic subreddits like /r/pics or something.
In a way this whole thing is a reality check for some mods too ... just because you moderate a big community doesn't mean that you are a big deal.
I'm about your age (48) and game. I don't think there's a cut-off date as such, but it's a little bit of several things.
There is certainly a generational angle. When we were growing up in the 80s and early 90s, playing computer games was definitely not an activity targeted at adults, and gamers were generally seen as geeks and nerds. This changed of course, but other people who grew up at the same time as us but never got into games may still hang onto that image.
Gender also plays a role, women our age are a lot less likely to have ever been into games. My girlfriend for example has no problems with it but she never gamed herself and doesn't really understand it. If I think of female friends and acquaintances, I know only one woman who games as well, but she's already 8 years younger.
There's also the fact that many men do in fact grow out of gaming as they get older, start to have more responsibilities and less free time and when other interests and hobbies start to compete for that limited free time. I notice that in myself too, it's a lot less important to me now than it was 25 years ago.
Then there's the slightly uncomfortable fact that many women simply find it unattractive when a man lists gaming as a hobby, and see it as a red flag, perhaps because they associate it with certain stereotypes of people who are obsessive about it and whose whole personality revolves around gaming, perhaps because they have previous bad experiences with it, or perhaps because it's something they simply can't relate with. Maybe gamers are to women what "horse girls" are to men? :)
I think the best way to handle it on the dating scene is to show that you're a functioning adult with a well rounded personality and a variety of interests, who just happens to game as well. At the end of the day, you have to have enough common ground to start a relationship with someone.