Telephone Gamers: Are We so Different?

Telephone Gamers: Are We so Different?
http://www.platformnation.com/2011/10/11/telephone-gamers-are-we-so-different/

I came across this article and it made me think if the author is putting telephone gamers into a 'lower class' of gaming. The article seems to talk down about people who game on handheld devices, even calling them, roughly put, gamers who haven't reached their true potential. The writer also makes many assumptions in his, or her, article (there is no credit to the submission) which I think is wrong. Simply put, one cannot make the assumption that because an Angry Birds plush toy is hanging in a car mirror the owner only plays Angry Birds/Telephone games and nothing else.

That said, I'm sure there are many people out there who only play telephone games. It is a large market making up over $100M in 2008 in Apple's revenues. It is also stated that Apple has a 10% share in the mobile games market suggesting that the portable games market accounts for over a Billion dollars a year in North American Revenue. Clearly this is a large industry and should not be ignored, or better yet be a downgraded form of gaming compared to the console and PC styles.

I can also detest the claim that the author of the article claims that the people who play mobile games are 'people out there with gamer souls that have never been allowed to fully develop'. Mobile games are great for passing time when situations arise that make one wait. In line at the doctor's office? Angry Birds can help pass that. On the bus? Maybe try doodle jump. It doesn't mean the people playing these games ONLY play these games. But it does make me think if the players of mobile games do so in their free time. As in play them while bored at home, as opposed to playing a console game, watching TV, or going for a jog.

It seems that people do, according to EA/Dice in an article on GamesBeat. Nearly half the time people are playing mobile games while relaxing in their homes. This may come as a little shocking to some of the gamers owning consoles and gaming PCs. Could it be that these people are the gaming type but do not own a console? Could it be that these games are so addicting (Why Angry Birds is so Successful and Popular: ...) that people want to play them? It may also be because these are social games, and are cheap. Groups of friends can download these games for free, or very cheap, and compete against their friends, or compare scores. These reasons may be enough to keep the mobile gaming market booming and even pulling players away from the tradition video game market.

This being said, the author of the original article may not be up with the times. Mobile gaming is not just tetris and bejeweled anymore. Its an expanding industry making a large amount of revenue with a wide variety of games. I think the mobile game type is just another form of game equal to all others and suggest this person should not just limit them-self to one form of game category.