Stross on the future of gaming

Here's Charlie Stross's stirring address on the future of video games, a world in which everyone ends up being a gamer:

If this sounds like a tall order, and if you're wondering why you might want to go for the sixty-something hardcore gamer demographic, just remember: you're aiming to grab the share of the empty-nester recreational budget that currently goes in the direction of Winnebago and friends. Once gas regularly starts to hit ten bucks a gallon (which it did last year where I come from) they'll be looking to do different things with their retirement -- the games industry is perfectly positioned to clean up.
And then there are the younger generation. Let's take a look at generation Z:
The folks who are turning 28 in 2030 were born in 2002. 9/11 happened before they were born. The first President of the United States they remember is Barack Obama. The space shuttle stopped flying when they were eight. Mobile phones, wifi, broadband internet, and computers with gigabytes of memory have been around forever. They have probably never seen a VHS video recorder or an LP record player (unless they hang out in museums). Oh, and they're looking forward to seeing the first man on the moon. (It's deja vu, all over again.)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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MollyMaguire

When I’m in my 60′s, I am going to be too busy surfing to play video games.
Anonymous

Vinyl will survive.
jcrit

It keeps sticking in my mind that the next awesome operating system will derive from gaming engines. Can’t wait.
The Lizardman

@2

When I’m in my sixties I hope I will be like my parents who hike a mountain trail nearly every weekend – with a DS in the backpack.

No reason you can’t be actively having fun outdoors and gaming.
Tom Hale

I’m pretty sure most of us will be in a game that provides input through all of our senses. The game will be as realistic as real life. We’ll get rid of all of our worldly possessions and live in pods that feed us, get rid of our wastes, and monitor our vitals.
merreborn

#1: To get an idea of where the gaming industry may go, you might look at how a few of the slightly more mature entertainment industries have fared: after decades of growth, the music and film industries are more dominated by a handful of stale genres than ever.

I wonder what the gaming equivalent of Auto-Tune will be.
I2OI3

That last paragraph made me feel really old. I’m 23 today.
Shay Guy

I’m surprised only one person in the comments mentioned Dennou Coil.
Anonymous

I do believe they will see a record player…a requirement for most DJs
yri

Do people still play video games? How quaint!
grimc

@tom hale

Make these pods giant robots, and I’ll take two.
Itsumishi

the music and film industries are more dominated by a handful of stale genres than ever.

I’d beg to disagree.

There are 9 million artist profile pages on MySpace now

Source.

The time of blockbuster videos is also rapidly dying. The result of this will be more independent and diverse films.
jetfx

What I’m waiting for is when gaming has what New Wave did for cinema – the discovery of the unspoken language and form of the game. When the actual structure of the game is used as an element of play, rather than as an invisible architecture to guide the player through the game itself, like continuity editing is used in film.
Brainspore

Let’s hope that in the future the industry won’t still be dominated by games that conform to a handful of stale genres.
prion

UGH. I don’t want to end up a Luddite or something of that nature, but I don’t want all the internet everywhere meta-life extravaganza. I’m right ready to be set in my ways and old!

All the same, Stross is right on in his assessment of the codger gaming industry. Now THAT seems exciting to me for some reason. Imagine game ratings for 50+!!! Rated E for Elderly! Take that sonny! and your Twitter holovids bull! You’re too young to play a real game, guess you’ll have to stick with MA 17+ sucker!