Planet Sillicon

Games – For kids?

By blog on Apr. 18, 2009.

As a gamer, it is entirely frustrating to be told that ‘games are for kids’ or that you are somehow immature if you enjoy playing video games. Researchers here are a bit slow on the uptake in regards to this particular topic, the BBFC Video Games Report has a line in its findings that states ‘Professionals believe that the number of adult gamers is growing.’

The average age of gamers in the UK is now over 23, in the US it is now 33, and in Australia it is 28 with 8% being over 60! How the heck does that suggest that games are for kids? Kids games are for kids, adult games are for adults, it is really that simple.

And yet, there are still issues about what may or may not be depicted in a game. There are horrid, tasteless, highly violent films like Saw and Hostel which get classification and are deemed okay for a specific audience, but people go nuts over games like GTA Liberty City that offer people a free world to roam around in, but also have violent game missions.

Why is it that people still hold onto archaic notions that violence in games causes children to act out violently? Studies have been conducted into this issue, and found it to be completely false. Is society in general just that slow? I actually heard a doctor on the radio saying that new studies show that gaming is good for children because it increases their eye-contrast sensitivity and builds up neural pathways that haven’t previously been strengthened!

So come on people, lets stop blaming terrible acts on games, stop treating games as if they are a silly waste of time, stop treating gamers like they are immature, and start to recognise that most of us are gamers now, and we needn’t be ashamed of that fact! Video games have been around since the early ’70s, they aren’t going away, and the medium is just becoming more and more advanced and open to amazing and wonderful games.