I've often thought about this "market" too. Personally, for some reason, I'm really interested in making experiences that would appeal to older folks as much as younger. Perhaps it's because I've had a reasonably close relationship to my grandparents, and have even cast them as actors in some films I've made. The idea of making some interactive experience that they would like is compelling to me. Probably even more so because older folks would have the time and perhaps patience to really get into something. (Although even the concept of a mouse pointer is alien to them...)

Certainly with the expected huge number of seniors, now that the baby boomers are retiring, there's the potential for a lot of demand for this...

I've made "Babyz", why not "Oldiez"...

Hey, let's start a blog, "Nursing Home Games". Just kidding. Er, sort of...

I agree with you ... but I fear that the general interactive entertainment market isn't excited at the opportunity to really explore new kinds of interactive experiences for older people. Reading the article, I think they're excited at the opportunity to sell their existing products to more people.

We have a lot of gray gamers playing our advergame. The game is golf, probably the most popular game around the world--and can be played rain or shine--without the physical effort when using the computor, therefore making it attractive to the elderly who may have played golf earlier in life. It is possible that the realism may also be attractive to the more mature.

We have a lot of gray gamers playing our advergame. The game is golf, probably the most popular game around the world--and can be played rain or shine--without the physical effort when using the computor, therefore making it attractive to the elderly who may have played golf earlier in life. It is possible that the realism may also be attractive to the more mature. Play a free game at www.goldenfairway.com/a152 and let me know what you think.

Advergames are real and really work. Online games transcend the advertising; they foster relationships. Relationships with friends who live across the country or across the world, family and neighbors. They also foster relationships with the advertising community. It's a great way to brand your business without screaming at a client. It's soft marketing and is based on "referrals" from a friend or family member.

Everyone enjoys games you can play with friends and family. It brings much more enjoyment to the game. It's fun to enjoy a game, laugh, engage in friendly competition and, let's face it, gets them away from the couch box.

I think that older people are very much stuck in an analog frame of mind meaning that they grew up in a time when computer's barely existed. The digital age only really started to pick up pace in the early 70's and thus you have to understand that a lot of older people have a very hard time grasping the abstract concepts behind digital manipulation and computing.

I find that younger generations who have grown up with computers have a strong grasp on concepts and theories in the digital age. They very easily figure out new technologies, hardware/software interfaces, and tools such as the mouse or the joystick.

In the field of computer and video gaming older people have to be very open minded and willing to spend time to slowly adapt and understand how computers work. I find that older people simply just don't have the patience to invest into something they believe they don't need (considering they grew up in a world bleak of digital technologies). I know that my grandma refuses to use a computer simply for the fact that she would rather watch TV and get physical paper mail, things that she can understand easier and relate to without much effort.

So I think that the results found in Codemaster's Survey is just evidence that an older generation is reacting to the growing popularity of video games in today's world. Will games ever catch on in an older age range? Maybe once people like me start to get old (I'm around 20yrs), but I don't think that the "mature" audience has the time or patience to invest into something they have a hard time understanding.

Can anyone recommend a game for the Silver Gamers? My Dad wants a Mac game for Christmas and I'm looking everywhere for a suggestions but nothing seems to pop up online.

Hi, I'm 66 and I currently play two games that I enjoy. One is Underlight (www.underlight.com) and the other is EQ (http://escapetonorrath.station.sony.com/)

The former is a very low-bandwith roleplaying game that gives you a one month free trial. The second is high resource intensive but it is a 10 level trial version of the game. Depending on how adventuresome he is, he might want to give one of them a try.