Madden Football 2006 guilt

Last week marked an annual holiday of sorts for video gamers: the release of Madden 2006, the latest installment of EA Sports’ long-running and hugely successful NFL video game franchise.

ESPN.com ran an interesting story that contained strains of Madden Guilt. Madden Guilt is the feeling shared among guys who look forward to each new Madden release and buy the game, but feel bad about it because they are probably “too old” to play it.

I too experience Madden Guilt, being a Madden gamer in my (very, thank you) early 30s. But I think the condition has nearly run its course as a cultural phenomenon.

Through the years, the average age of a video game player has stayed almost in lock-step with my age. Wikipedia says the average gamer was born in 1974. And that’s the average. That means there are a whole lot of guys (and ladies) playing games who are older than me.

I believe Madden Guilt will soon be resigned to halls of history as gaming continues to time and dollars from television. Surely, today’s kids won’t think twice when they see me mashing buttons as 70-year-old Madden fan.

I hope.