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What About the Grey Gamers?
Chris Morris at CNN's Game Over column wonders out loud about the legions of older gamers, and their snubbing by most of the gaming industry. From the article: "The Entertainment Software Association reports that 19 percent of the people playing video games are 50 or older. That's a huge jump from 1999, when players of that age group made up just 9 percent of the gaming world. Game publishers, though, seemingly couldn't care less - mainly leaving senior gamers to Web-based games, such as PopCap Games' 'Bookworm'. And while it certainly makes loads of sense for publishers to focus primarily on the core market, especially in transitional times like they're experiencing now, that focus is at risk of becoming myopic."
Those darned space aliens better not be farmers.
I only hope that when I'm 72 and sitting down to play a little Mario Cart or Half-Life, my little brat grandkids won't bug me all the time with questions. "how do you play this game without stereo-glasses grandad?" "Is that supposed to be an alien?" Goddamn kids.
In team based online multiplayer games, the older players bring a level of experience, maturity, and organization that often make the group better as a whole, or at least more fun to play with. In many gaming clans I've been with over the years, its usually the older players (40+) who take the lead and provide an example for the 12 year olds in the group. So I say they're good for gaming, and at the very least, they don't swear as much over teamspeak and don't call everyone a n00b.
"Get Off My Lawn 1.0" We could have Maxis do it, ala the Sims engine. Where you have a life simulation where you drive at 5mph down the roads, pay for food at the supermarket with 5,000 coupons, and yell at kids to get off your lawn.