It's close to the end of the video. The guest, Donny Deutsch, says it is NOT normal for men to play video games in their 30s and 40s. He said at that age, there should be something more on their minds than video games. Kathy Lee also said that it was weird. Then there was the usual cracks about men in their mother's basements.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/290543...4965/#43674965
My posting of this thread is not about "I can't believe they insulted my hobby." It's more about the negative perceptions older people have of gaming. Where is comes from. Where it's going.
What's interesting is, if the question for Donny had been, "Is it normal for men in their 30s and 40s to watch TV or see a movie?" the response would have been different. Obviously, older people see a MAJOR difference between "watching something on TV" and "playing something on TV." Do you think this attitude will just die off when that generation dies off, or do you think their attitudes will change over time?
With the Wii and the DS, it seems that Nintendo was able to make inroads into the older crowd. I have an older sister in her 40s and she actually started playing a few Wii games in the past few years, the first video games she has ever played. It's not a total transformation (she's not going to buy a Genesis), but there was definitely a change in the perception of gaming for her.
If companies are able to penetrate the walls of the older generation, then I wonder how their inclusion would effect gaming as a whole. More family-based games perhaps?
If you have any thoughts on the matter, feel free to express them.