Well, I have mixed opinions about such things to be honest. Of course I am by no means a "normal" person as I have explained in other messages.
For starters I will say that I have no objections to shorter, but still fairly complex, games for busy people. My problem of course being that they charge you the SAME price for those games as they do for a longer game with equal complexity that could keep you gaming for 40-80- or even hundreds of hours. There is no excuse for charging $50-$60 for a game with 8-10 hours worth of content.
This comes down to what I've been complaining about for a long time here on the Escapist: game industry corruption. Basically the game industry engages in price fixing and such so a new game, irregardless of development cost, length, or relative quality goes for the same price. A new game costs $60, it doesn't matter if it's a AAA title or a fly by night production. What's more the industry coordinates to the extent where they were able to set a $10 price hike not too long ago. This behavior is more or less illegal at least in the US, it's just that nobody cares (as of yet) in the US. People suspected of doing this with gasoline saw themselves on the receiving end of federal investigations and it was all over the news.
Sure, the industry sits there and defends this practice by talking about the sheer amount of money spent developing games. It however defends itself with the biggest and baddest titles, not the lesser ones that cost nowhere near that much. What's more in comparison to Hollywood movies and their budgets, people forget that you can own even the biggest Blockbuster for $15-$20 (oftentimes far lss), and that's including burning, packaging, distibution, and paying the stars extra money for special features for the DVDs, and who knows what else (perhaps even including a minor video game if you plug it into a DVD Rom). Heck, with the gaming industry they don't lower the prices even when they cut out a lot of that stuff with a 100% digital copy.
Basically this defense of short games is ridiculous.
As far as the "transition of life" as I mentioned above, I'm not normal. However I've noticed that for hardcore gamers the correct spouse/girlfriend is another hardcore gamer. This of course leads to questions about the numbers of girls playing (more than you think looking at organizations like the XBL 'Gamerchix' and even older groups like 'Da Valkyries'). In general, fundementally changing your lifestyle (whatever it might be) tends to end badly. I've seen many video gamers and PnP gamers quit their thing, only to be back a year or two later totally destroyed emotionally due to the breakup. I've also seen it work quite well, my father and Stepmother for example both game, and are frequently online together (we have 3 computers in the same room all with seperate accounts for MMOs and such. When I'm not online or doing something else, a lot of times they are). I also know many "couples" in guilds who game together. Oh sure, child rearing takes time, but in general if you have a relationship where one person wants to game with their free time, and the other wants to say go running around town, that's not a good thing in general.
When it comes to the frustrated, doting mother stereotype, I see it as sort of a generational thing. We're dealing with Baby Boomers who lived in a differant age and pretty much shelter themselves from reality. The majority (with rare exceptions like my father) just do not 'get' gaming, or new technology. Even if they understand it, they do not get the profound effects it has on society.
To give an example, there was one very minor bit in "The Sopranos" years ago where Tony and his son are having an arguement about his son job hunting. His son talks about putting in job applications on "the Internet" and this is treated as some kind of dodge/excuse which anyone with a deadbeat/irresponsible kid should be able to relate to. It sort of shows the generational divide among what the presumed viewers can relate to (to humanize Tony) and reality.
For example, when I worked I was not hired by "pounding the pavement" and going in and turning in job applications like someone from the 1960s or 1970s looking for a job would do. I laughed at people who talked about such things. The only times that works is during a hiring fair nowadays (which is where I've gotten hired incidently).
Today employers don't even want to see you, or have you sticking up their customer service desk chairs unless you've already through the computer. At Wal*Mart (where I applied before becoming disabled... I was refused as overqualified for the jobs I wanted) for example if you show up and ask for an application they refer you to an internet kiosk. If it's down and/or you don't have an internet connection then you get referred to the public library. Even smaller "mom and pops" stores tend to use hiring services that run internet applications for them.
The idea is that the human factor is removed, the computer sorts people based on qualifications (and dismisses people automatically with things like prison records or whatever, no chance to convince them otherwise! Lukily I don't have one of those), and then sends the applications of those fitting the criteria to the Human Resources guys to look at and then call for interviews. That is your current reality. I have been hired either this way (before retiring on disabillity) or through hiring fairs when new businesses needed massive numbers of employees (ie the Casinos down here on the East Coast where I worked for 10 years between them).
The point of this rant is that reality has changed. Parents from the 1960s and 1970s do not understand. They will never understand the world they are in. When they finally wind up retired they will be the totally out of touch old people we see clogging the halls of convelescent homes since they never learned to adapt to the changes. In many cases it's a problem with them, not the hardcore gamers.
When you have a parent "yelling down an empty stairwell for dinner, unheard due to the sounds of machine gun fire" the problem is that they will oftentimes feel it's undignified and inappropriate to walk down the bloody stairs to tell the lost in his game, gamer that dinner is ready. Unless they have a medical condition there is no excuse for it, and ofentimes discussions I've been privy to about why an upset gamer "wasn't told abount dinner' come down to someone not willing to "stoop" to going to see them in person "because of a game". This kind of thing isn't entirely on the head of the gamers.
In a differant world of decades ago, if you were loitering at a coffee shop with a dingy sweater, listening to people ramble on with bad poetry, or something similar (50s, 60s, or whenever), they would have understood. But they just can't adapt to this. To some extent argueing with them about it might be the best course if they can be made to listen.
... also again, when it comes to spouses, as much as powerful as the "carnal needs" are, we are NOT animals and can resist such things. I recommend never hooking up with someone you don't have a lot in common with to begin with. A bit of physical relief combined with massive emotional stress isn't worth it, as many people who have broken up can tell you (but the younger ones never listen). I doubt anyone will listen, but my suggestion is to remain a computer bachelor if your really all that hardcore, UNLESS you meet a girl like you, OR someone who is tolerant about becoming a "computer widow".
