I was on the GS forums tonight and saw a post about “How old do you think is too old for video games?”. This bothered me greatly because it shows that even gamers aren’t taking the medium seriously.

I celebrated (if that’s what you want to call it) my 30th birthday on Friday. My presents included the New Super Mario Bros. and Rayman games for my DS, and copies of Urban Chaos and Drakengard for my PS2. While I was more than willing for my older co-workers and family members to think this was strange, I was surprised to learn that many gamers did too.

Video Games and computer entertainment are a multi-billion dollar industry. Literally millions of copies of games are sold around the world every year. A top selling video game makes more money than many blockbuster movies. This should count for something in the area of acceptance.

Right now, there are a huge number of people who enjoy video games. There are also billions of people who enjoy Television, movies, and music. So why is it you never hear anyone ask “How old is too old to watch movies?” or “How old is too old to listen to the radio?”.

I don't expect to change what the people from the generations before mine think about videogames. However, it bothers me a little when a 13 year old posts that 21 is too old to still be playing video games. If games don't respect the mass appeal of video games, how can we expect anyone else to?