the play girlz gaming blog

Games are popping up in nifty places these days.  The expansion of the digital era and the widespread appeal of these technologies with consumers has made for some interesting stories of games in the news.

 

Did you know that 19% of all gamers are seniors?  I sure didn’t.  Why on earth are grandparents getting hooked on video games?  BusinessOnline Weekly suggests that people over 50 may be dependent on Social Security for their livelihood and may not have extra funds for travel and entertainment, making gaming a cheap diversion that’s lots of fun.  Not to mention the fact that it makes you one cool granny with the grandkids.  I think too, that we’re at a point in gaming history where the original gamers, the Atari  players, Coleco stars, etc, are reaching their silver years.  Gaming for them is likely just as engrained as it will be for us.  If you think that having a fifth of gamers over 50 is strange, fast forward 30 years and think if you’ll be among the hardcore seniors beating up on the young punks in Halo 23.

 

Does anyone think that the industry has followed up on this good chunk of playership?  ‘Fraid not.  Senior gamers like Grandma Hardcore fear that they will start making games designed specifically for seniors, when all she really wants to do is frag.  Developers first have to realize that such a demographic exists before they can properly patronize it with insulted games about Polident, and Cane Cane Revolution.  Much like developers are finally starting to realize that marketing their games to the female demographic might be a profitable venture for them, they’re a little slow on the senior uptake.

 

Games are also making a come back in the classroom, thanks to innovative companies such as Young Minds Inspired.  Seeking to make lesson plans that appeal to teenagers and make the learning process more interactive , games like Age of Empires III are being worked into history classes.  Exercises using this invasion and conquest simulator aim to help students understand how and why the conquering nations set foot in the New World and hopefully teaches the consequences of wide-scale invasion.

Young Minds Inspired founder Joe Ehrlich explains,

 

The Age of Empires III pack is targeted at high school students and the social studies curriculum, tied into the national standards for world history and American history. We created activities based on the game that introduce students to the great civilizations of that time. The students are put in the position where they imagine they are a world leader making crucial decisions and they are challenged to rethink events and analyze how they might have changed history.

 

I remember when math homework was made more fun by allowing for coveted time on the class’ only computer (I’m old okay?), and dang if we didn’t volunteer to do our work just so that we could steal a few precious moments at the keyboard.  The draw might not be quite the same today, with computers readily accessible to most, but anything is better than listening to a teacher drone on about Macedonia for hours.