[quoting Doherty, 8 Dec 98] I agree that children are the majority players of computer games, but the amount of players decreases exponentially with age. I can't think of any 65 year old I know who plays computer games!
That's not a fair comparison. Experience with computers in general, and probably amount of people using them, also decreases exponentially with age! Not that I really accept that exponential relationship....
I have to say, children, (the majority of game players), play "twitch" games and not adventure games. Only a small minority of game players play adventure games, which you say can be used to embed cognitive skills.
I'd argue that has more to do with lack of imagination in design than inherent properties of the game. It's true that I too (as Steve confessed) occasionally resort to games as mindless entertainment, but I wish I had the time to fritter away playing puzzle games. It's the time that's the issue, and if it were leading me to learning, I'd better be able to justify it!
Quoting sales of games like Myst or SimCity to counter this argument would be biased because these games sold on hype (I bought Myst because I heard so much about it, only to be utterly bored by it). I'm sure many others were the same and only if you quote me a figure of how many people actually played and enjoyed these games would I be statistically satisfied!
I think the sales of Riven (the sequel to Myst), and the associated titles of Sim (SimCity 2000; SimFarm, SimWhatever) should satisfy you!
So I stand by my earlier statement that "computer game playing is still a minority occupation", but with the extension "adventure (i.e., non-twitch) game playing is still a minority occupation". Perhaps adventure or exploratory games can be used to embed cognitive skills, but the people who play and perhaps are interested in learning like this are a minority, as reflected by the amount of players who actually play these games.
I'll agree that cognitive-style games aren't the most popular among the segment that's typically bought them (adolescent males), but will maintain (going out on a limb a little bit here) they have a much higher percentage among the rest of the population (females; mature males).