Gamasutra had an article about how aging gamers were going to result in changing requirements for games as they mature, or rather an expansion of the market into games that don’t server the 18-24 year old male gamer market. Most people who responded to the article took it personally like the article was saying they lose their imagination as they get older. I figured differently. My response is below.
I think you all are misunderstanding what the author of this article is saying. He’s not saying you’ve grown up and suddenly you’re some douchebag who can’t imagine anything any more. He’s saying it’ll get harder to suspend disbelief. And he’s right. After you’ve been around the block and seen the games you’ve seen and played through all sorts of environments, throwing some weird plot complication that the devs used to further the plot rather than making it follow through with the main theme will be less tolerable.
I think the core of what he’s talking about is what you all will want. It’s what I want. I want game devs/publishers to push out more solid products rather than the crap they usually throw out on the shelves to make their money.
Think about the adventure game market. When was the last time you played one…or if you play them, how many have you played in the last year that weren’t pixel hunts with ridiculously insane puzzle requirements (light bulb + chewing gum + silicon implants = gun)? You might be thinking realism = you doing your job in your cubicle but that’s not true. Realism is Fallout 3 having day-night cycles. Not you pushing papers on a desk in Fallout for 30 hours of gameplay.
The simulations comment is probably the only thing that’s out there really. I like econ sims (again, they’re 100% about escapism…I might build start-ups but they take forever and don’t always succeed…where else can you get $20 million and build a global conglomerate but in games?). But, it’s a tough call to say people are going to want more of these sims in any serious quantity. It’s always been a niche market and always will.
One last thing. You have to remember…you’re not the best example of the entire game market. I don’t consider myself a middle-of-the-market gamer. I consider myself hardcore (otherwise, what the hell am I and are you all doing on this site?). The rest of the population and, especially 20-somethings, are not all that dedicated to some games and game franchises. I know I grew out of the console platformers a while back because after a while it just got boring. A lot of the people responding to this are in there thirties (I’m 37) but we grew up with a nascent game market (I still miss Autoduel on my Apple //e). The more recent generation of gamers has been living in a much more mature gaming market so they’ve been bludgeoned with games since birth. At some point, they’re going to be less interested in games without some substance and more interested in some of the ideas expressed in this article like engaging characters and stories. I have friends who vary in their interest in games. Some are hardcore (like me) and some aren’t. Those that aren’t end up spending more time with work and family and when they come back to game play, it’s either limited to something of quality (because time is precious) or something they’re playing with their kids. When their kids grow out of LEGO Indy, you really think they’re going to keep playing it? Some will, most will move on.
