The Next Gaming Generation

How old were you when you first got into gaming?  As I recall, I was probably the ripe old age of 7 or so when I started to find my way to things like the Atari and arcade games.  Then in 1982 the Commodore was released and it introduced me to PC gaming for the first time.  My dad brought it home and he was as thrilled with the possibilities I was.  We started out with some cartridge games but quickly moved onto floppy disks.  The game that really ignited my passion for PC gaming was The Bard’s Tale. 

I enjoyed many, many hours of playing that game and its sequels with my dad, and many other PC and online games over the years.  It was part of not only my childhood, but my adulthood as well.  At this point it’s a well ingrained piece of my life in general.  A lot of that is due to having a family and parents who not only allowed me access to games, but also put boundaries and guidelines in place to ensure that I didn’t end up the world’s youngest hermit.  There had to be healthy balance, and as a kid there are lots of activities vying for your attention.  I was fortunate to participate in many things growing up, gaming being just one of them.

So most, if not all, of you are like me – we are the first generation of electronic/PC gamers – the Traditionalists if you will.  Will we give rise to a “Baby Boomer” generation of gamers?  If so, how will these children be raised with gaming being such a predominant entertainment medium?  At what age will they “jack in” and start to discover the realms of possibilities that gaming can provide?  Will we, the parents of this generation, live up to the task of raising and guiding these kids into a brave, new, connected world which someday will outstrip our ability to comprehend and interact with it?  Yes, someday you may be the grandparent saying “Bah…these kids and their confounded gadgets.  It’s a bunch of gobbletygook!  In my day we double-clicked on an icon to access the internet, none of these fancy neural interfaces!”

What got me thinking about this topic was reading an article today about the rise in video game playing among children.  Today’s kids are spending more time gaming and the PC actually seems to be the gaming rig for most of them.  As the article points out, that isn’t too unexpected as most homes now have at least one PC in them.  So the kids of the next generation are playing games, and they are playing more games than ever.  Want to take a peek at the gaming lifecycle of your youngster?

“The gaming lifecycle starts with kid-oriented systems, moves into PCs for gaming, and continues with Plug & Play and the more established gaming systems,” said the NPD. “Then, at about age 10, cell phone gaming begins, and the gaming lifecycle culminates with Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable, and the three next generation console systems (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii).”

So there we have it – it’s all mapped out.  Your kid is destined to be playing games for years.  Which means we’ll have plenty of time to interact with our kids, enjoying the hobby together but also teaching them and learning lessons from our shared play.  So when does your kiddo actually become a “gamer”?

“When kids get to the 6 to 8 year-old age range is when we see them turn into more serious gamers. Not only does the amount of time they spend playing games increase the most dramatically, but they migrate from using ‘kid’ systems to using more portable and console systems as well,” said Anita Frazier, NPD’s industry analyst. “This appears to be a critical age at which to capture the future gamers of the world.”

Investors, publishers, developers, and marketing people everywhere – please note that last sentence.  There you have it.  Hook these kids right where you hooked me 26 years ago and your future looks bright.  Imagine what the 8 year old of today is bombarded with in terms of gaming options and marketing hype.  It really boggles the mind compared to what was around when I was that age.  I had the choice of a few games on big floppy disks, beautifully packaged in zip-loc bags at the local computer store.  Today, our children are confronted with multi-million dollar ads for everything from the latest consoles to Halo to every online game imaginable.  I think that’s enough to make any parent take a guiding hand in the “gaming development” of their kids.

In terms of online games, the article notes that 39% of kids play games online, which is helped by the fact that 91% of the games marketed to them in that space are free to play.  That struck me as a pretty high percentage, given that most of “us” have only been in the online space for the last 10 years or so.  But already almost 40% of our kids are doing it?  So the transfer of gaming knowledge and history must be starting to take place already, with parents sharing their love and passion for the hobby with their kids.  That’s great stuff!

So what does this mean for us??  Why do we need to think of the children of this next generation?  Because they will shape and influence the next-gen gaming that we will see and experience, particularly in the online space.  At some point, “us” old gamers will move beyond the demographic that is being targetted for gaming.  Now don’t get me wrong – I don’t think developers will forget about us – I think there will always be games that cater to what we are looking for.  But those things may one day no longer be mainstream as this larger generation of kids comes of age (projected to be 76 million verus “us” today of only 46 million).  Those kids – what they want and are willing to spend money on – will drive the face and culture of gaming for the next 10 – 20 years.

I think for the sake of our hobby – our passion for gaming and our love for our kids – we need to help shape that next generation with our stories, a transfer of knowledge, and guidance to ensure that they develop into healthy gamers.  How many of you are parents already?  Are you already seeing your kids gravitate to gaming?  Are you already starting that process of experiencing the hobby with them?  I personally hope to one day have a child and share my love of gaming with them as my dad and I have been able to.  It will be a brave new world we’ll wake up to one day soon, and eventually our kids will become the teachers on the forefront of gaming.  I look forward to that time, sitting around a virtual campfire telling my kids stories of  the gaming days of yore.  I hope you are looking forward to it as well, because it’s coming!