As a full-time technology journalist who has specialised in the critiquing of video games for over a decade, you’d be amazed how many times I’ve been told that I have “every teenage boy’s ultimate dream job”. What amazes me more is the fact that I haven’t rammed a joystick down the throat of every person to have uttered this infuriating sentence. In just a handful of words this seemingly innocent statement not only belittles the career path of a thirty something professional, it also sums up how misunderstood and incorrectly stereotyped today’s interactive entertainment is. The truth of the matter is that video games are big business, and this revolutionary form of entertainment is no longer solely enjoyed by pimply pre-pubescent boys.

As a 36 year old male surrounded by friends who share the same passion for blasting animated pixels into the digital afterlife, I know through my own day to day observations that not all gamers are still in high school. Thankfully you don’t need to take my anecdotal evidence as the only proof - there’s also a comprehensive report that backs up my conclusion - the Digital Australia 2012 report. To be clear, this survey was indeed commissioned by the iGEA (Interactive Games & Entertainment Association), an organisation with a vested interest in spreading the truth that gaming isn’t just for geeks. However, the author of the report, Jeffrey E. Brand Ph.D of the School of Communication and Media at Bond University, has strived to ensure that it’s as objective as possible, sampling 1200 random Aussie households to find out the truth about how Australians really play in the 21st century.

According to the report it turns out that I’m just a tiny bit older than the average age of the median Aussie gamer, who happens to be a rather ancient 32 years of age.

It’s not surprising to see that 94% of kids aged between 6 and 15 enjoy a bit of Super Mario, but it is downright astonishing to note that 43% of today’s Australian gamers are over 51 years of age.

The grey generation is one of the fastest growing segments of gaming; with so many spare hours after retirement, what better way to fill the day than playing Farmville on Facebook or giving those tired bones a tune-up with a spot of Wii Sports? Dozens of neuroscientists and aged care workers have gone on record to proclaim the health benefits that playing puzzle games has on the older mind, and in a happy coincidence, these types of games are the most popular genre for older gamers.

Imagine the stereotypical gamer and chances are you’re thinking of the very proud owner of a penis, but the report smashes this myth as well, with 47% of Aussie gamers being female. What about the belief that most gamers are anti-social, sun-deprived albinos, locked in their dark gaming dens for days at a time as their children die from starvation? Waddya know, that’s a load of baloney too. According to the report, the majority of gamers only play one hour every other day, with a mere 3% playing for five or more hours at a time (unfortunately I fit into the latter category, as my arse-shaped couch can attest). Far from being the anti-social hobby of loners, 70% of gamers enjoy playing with other people. Game developers have known this fact for years, which is why most of today’s biggest games have a strong focus on social multiplayer facets, where gamers can play together via the wonders of the Intertubes.

With the report concluding that 92% of Australian households play games in one form or another, the report strongly suggests that society’s perceptions of gaming aren’t very accurate. The Digital Australia Report isn’t the only one to reach these conclusions; comparable reports show very similar results in the US, UK and other Western countries. Which begs the question — why do these negative and incorrect stereotypes about gamers still exist? The first answer is as simple as it is innocent. Back when the first video games arrived in the early 70’s and 80’s, they required a high level of computer proficiency to install and run, and were thus the preferred pastime of computer users. Unlike today’s gender-neutral attraction to bits and bytes, back then the subject was predominantly targeted at young, nerdy males. And so a stereotype was born… which has since been regurgitated endlessly by today’s mainstream media, which is the second and slightly more sinister reason gamers are thought to be virginal school boys.

There’s a reason we rarely see video games portrayed realistically on television or in the newspaper; today’s media moguls are running scared. Video games are the fastest growing segment in the international media sector, set to generate a whopping US$68 billion in global revenue in 2012. Video games dwarf both film and music… combined. The biggest entertainment launch of all time wasn’t a Harry Potter film or a Beatles album — it was last year’s Call of Duty video game. In Australia alone, the industry is expected to generate AU$2.5 billion by 2015. That’s an annual compound growth rate that would cause even Alan Kohler to lick his lips - 9.5% per annum. If you’ve got a spare hundred grand lying around, it’s one of the most profitable industries to invest in — provided your developer of choice makes it big, although unhappily the majority don’t.

Unlike the majority of today’s mass media, the games industry isn’t controlled by a small handful of media barons. Warner Brothers is the only significant media organisation with any clout in the game development space. The best Mr Murdoch could do was to purchase the world’s most popular video game news site, IGN.com, for US$650 million back in 2005.

With very little crossover between video game publishers and mainstream media owners it’s simply not in the mainstream media’s interests to promote one of the Western world’s most popular forms of entertainment. Every consumer playing World of Warcraft is one less viewer of endless West Wing repeats. This is why the only time you’ll hear about video games in the media is in one of two formats; a South Korean who died from playing for too long, or the damage that playing games does to the fragile minds of our children.

Thankfully the truth about video games is becoming too big to ignore, and it’s starting to surface more often in popular culture. Whether it’s regular gaming segments on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon or reality shows such as The Controller dedicated to the hobby we’re finally starting to see this massively popular form of entertainment slowly get the respect and credibility that it deserves. Once that happens, video games will no longer be seen as mere kid’s play, and Australia might finally introduce an R rating for the only form of media that isn’t blessed with this grading system.

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Bennett Ring is the geek that other geeks turn to for tech advice. He is a freelance writer and producer of content about games, tech and other assorted nonsense. Follow him on twitter @bennettring

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