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During the 1980's, video games were mainly played by adolescents and the rare "cool" adult. They were played on infinitely slow consoles and in arcades that were jam-packed with kids. Adults really had no place in the budding gaming world. Since that time those adolescent gamers have grown up. Many of them have gone on to design better and more complex video games and systems that are geared toward adults as well as children.

I grew up playing games like Super Mario Bros., Metroid and Zelda. Those games were definitely geared toward adolescents. They were great games, but they are nothing compared to the games of today. Games today are way more complex and stimulating to the adult mind. Adults just don't have to play kid games anymore. There are games out there for anyone, there are even fitness video games. Game show games, horror games, history games, war games and even family trivia games are just some of the choices adult gamers have today.

At this time people of all ages play video games. My husband and I ( both of us nearing 30) are known to spend romantic evenings at home playing the Halo games on the XBOX 360. My grandmother lives in an elder care facility where one of the community's prized possessions is a Nintendo Wii. My seven-year-old child spends rainy days playing the Lego Star Wars and Lego Batman games, and I confess to playing along. Just because you're a grownup doesn't mean that you can't play video games. I actually find that playing video games is a great way to relieve stress, so I play them more now than I did when I was a child. It's hard to resist an excuse to shut out the world for a few hours and play a stimulating game.

In my experience it has become harder to find adults who don't play video games than adults who do. Just about every adult I know plays video games in some form or another. Some people have even made careers out of gaming. They get paid to test games or join tournaments for cash prizes.

The idea that adults should not "waste their time" playing video games is really very silly. It is perfectly acceptable for an adult to pass the time watching a movie or playing a board game. Playing a video game should be no different. A good video game is like watching a movie that you can interact with and on some game consoles you can play with several of your friends. It's no different from any other game you might play to pass time.

Learn more about this author, Shelly Barclay.
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