Games and Grown-ups

Andrew Williams

http://www.bolton.ac.uk

Parents and Games

• Do your parents (or uncles or aunts or grandparents) play games?

• Do your parents tolerate your playing games?

• What do your parents think about games?

Games and Non-gamers

• Have you ever had a conversation with a parent about games?– Apart from, “please buy me this one”

• Have you ever had a conversation with a non-gamer about games?

• Have you ever played games with a non-gamer friend or relative?

Enticing the Older Generation

• Evening classes:– Art– Pottery– Music– Film

• What about games?– Not content production– More like a reading group

That Question Again…

• What is the difference between films and games?

• Why does your local adult education centre have an art history class and not a games class?– Is this just a matter of time?

Games and Society

• Why should we care?– So what if other people don’t like games?

• Does this matter at all? – If it does matter, why does it matter?

• Does it bother you that many people of your parents’ age don’t “get” games?

Thought Experiment (1)

• Suppose you were asked to put on a six-week evening class on “Games for Non-gamers”

• You have a lab like C1-08, a choice of modern consoles and a budget to buy games

Thought Experiment (2)

• Suppose you were asked to put on a six-week evening class on “Games for Non-gamers”

• You have a lab like C1-08, plenty of PCs but no budget and you can only use freely available games