"Expert" on the today show says playing video games in your 30s is not normal

[hairdbeezt8]

What makes this Donny guy an expert anyway? What is normal for one person might not be normal for another person? What makes this guy "normal" anyway? Oh it's because he cheated. I wonder what other things are on his mind? Maybe he means Kathie Lee Gifford. Okay I'm being judgmental just like you Mr. Donny.

[Drixxel]

So in a thread about people talking about stereotypes of gamers and how talk show hosts using those tired arguments/statements is a bad thing I read a few comments on the IQ of nascar fans.... um, pot this is the kettle?

You mean this?


Could you imagine this show bringing someone on to talk in the same manner about NASCAR?


NASCAR fans wouldn't even know they were being insulted. ;)

I'm pretty sure Zing was just offering an example of a "normal" hobby that would generate some kind of outcry if its fans were criticised in the same throwaway style as gamers were on this Kathie Lee Gifford segment. Anyhow, note the tongue-in-cheekiness of the reply. No one's being a hypocrite here.

The idea that people regard each other as abnormal if their priorities don't sync up, that's more an example of intolerance than it is a healthy part of being an adult. It's ignorant to stereotype based on something like a hobby and that behaviour as seen in the video in question is as annoying as anything about it.

[jupitersj]

This guy has been a sensationalist for years it seems; it's all about ratings and money. Most networks do not care about opinions opposite their agendas.

I believe I found this on sega-16

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=5179663

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

This guy has been a sensationalist for years it seems; it's all about ratings and money. Most networks do not care about opinions opposite their agendas.

I believe I found this on sega-16

http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=5179663

Thanks for the link. I didn't know the guy had a history of video game bashing.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

Agreed.

There's no "cure" for it because I don't think it's an ailment. It's just normal. Radio was the devil. Comic books were the devil. Rock and Roll was the devil. Video games are the devil. I can only imagine what's next to be the devil but it'll be something. It might be Facebook right now.

The "cure" is for all the middle aged adults who "don't get it" to reach retirement age and back out of the spotlight whereby the new middle aged adults in power are the ones who grew up with the tech.


While I don't think there's a "cure" either, I don't think the process is as linear as you describe. People do get into new things as they age. I'm sure some older people adopted TV and radio after an initial period of rejection. Maybe it was because they took time to sample one at a mall.

Believe it or not, there are people in nursing homes enjoying the Wii. Although the staff probably made them try it out in the exercise room.

Then there's the example I have in the original post about my sister playing games for the first time in her 40s. People's attitudes are crystallized with what they grew up with, but those attitudes are not unbreakable, and I bet companies like Nintendo drool at the prospects of cracking the "much older" audience.