The target demographic for video games has always shown that gamers are between their teenage years and up to their quarter-life crisis, age 25. Several studies indicated that video games are less interesting to older audiences for a variety of reasons, but rarely are those reasons explicitly stated. Do adults suddenly lose all interest in video games, or are there reasons behind this change? After all, 25 seems like a relatively young age to stop caring about something so fun.
I have reached the end of the industry's target demographic, so it's hard not to think about age and how it affects the industry. Before that is said, let's analyze where a gamer at my age has been for the past 20-something years.
Let's see, 20 years ago. Up, up, um, down, down, left... um...
I vividly remember bringing the Nintendo Entertainment System into our home after my family purchased it. Before this, video games were typically a single screen with no scrolling, no detail, no backgrounds and a few obstacles a dot had to avoid. A game like the 70s classic Pong, now worth as much as a loading screen on today's games, was worth buying an entire console over. Ironically, one had to; the game was its own console and provided built-in controller knobs to move the paddle lines. All of these high-quality graphics were streamed into my television, but not through typical cable hookups of today. Back then, people had to remove two screws called UHF from the back of the television (yes, with a screwdriver) and wedge in two C-shaped metal pieces for connection.
Favorites of mine ranged from a frog crossing a street, to leading E.T. home (yes, really), to flying a ship as long as I could before exploding, to a bartending game, to saving the bottom of the screen from a crazy escaped convict throwing bombs. Every game had a single purpose and maintained a simplicity largely ignored by the gaming industry today: high scores and basic replay value. When old-school gamers plugged in the NES, the next generation of graphics emerged in what seemed like life-like realism.
In Renegade, you could tell people were angry. Even with
absolutely no story or words on the back of the cartridge's box!
Compared to the old half-bit generation, characters finally had complexions and expressions. Tons of colors could be seen everywhere, and the new Zapper gun allowed what seemed to be the first in consumer virtual reality. It's almost sad to think my generation found such realism in those days, but I'm sure the coin will flip and people today will be mocked for thinking these next-gen Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 graphics were real at all. Remember that, all ye who mock my generation.
Digression aside, living through all of the consoles since then has been an incredible ride. A little bumpy here and there, but worth it the whole way through. When I thought about the whole demographic dilemma, it seemed that I would be a special case and not lose any interest until I was at least 50 or so. Unfortunately, society contributes a good portion to why older gamers no longer play games: they can't.
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