Dango said:
This is just a little topic that came up with me and a friend on X-box Live the other day, as the title says, do you think it's possible to outgrow video games?
I answered "Maybe" because it honestly depends on the state of the industry. Back in the 1990s and perhaps the beginning of this passing decade I would have said "no" solidly as video games were growing up the people playing them. The gaming industry backing down to censorship and the like, contreversy over game content that lead to a "soft ban" on things like graphic sexual content and child killing, and of course the current legislation being debated right now over limiting free speech when it comes to games, all have contributed to a situation where I think the number of truely "adult" games has been diminishing even under an "M" rating, and if the current legislation goes through, I expect that games will dumb down to the level of toys for the protection of the industry.
Don't get me wrong, I do not think graphic sex, child killing, and other things are nessicary to make a game "adult", it's simply that when such limitations exist at a level greater than say "R" rated it discourages creators from pushing the envelope at all. Add to the fact that in some of these respects (like say killing children) we had games willing to do those things years ago, but not now, and you see how even before the current Supreme Court battle there was an issue.
If the gaming medium gets cut free to the point of other similar mediums like movies, then no, I don't think it will be something you can outgrow, any more than you can outgrow movies or TVs. On the other hand if it doesn't break free from the current fetters, or the current supreme court ruling is lost, then yes... I think there will be something of an age limit on video gaming.