Audiences...

I find audiences an interesting topic when it comes to gaming, Bing Gordon (one of the founders of EA Games) talks about the three ages of gamers. Here is my summary of how he breaks it down;

Pre-adolescents - Kids upto the age of teenager play games for the power, the like being in charge. At school they get bossed around, at home they are controlled by parents and picked on by older siblings. In games they have the freedom and the control to do as they wish.
Teenagers - Looking for alternative identities, playing games with a good narrative, story or strong characters. In life they're at the position where they need to be thinking where they are going with life and what they are doing? Games allow teenagers to try new roles and alternative identity.
Adults - Adults play games for mental stimulation and the self-improvement element that comes with certain games.

He goes on to mention how the 3 ages of gamers play the same game differently, for example a flight simulator; The pre-adolescents would try make the plane crash in the most spectacular way, achieving dramatic explosions. Teens would try the most death defying stunts whereas adults play flight simulation for the simulation. They get the experience of flight school without having to pay £hundreds, they feel they're learning a new skill.

I'd like to apply the 3 ages of gamers to an array of different games and see, as an experiment, just how differently different people play the same game.