We've often complained about the generation gap that divides those who understand videogames as a medium and those who, in ways large and small, dismiss them. But is it possible that this gap has become, for some of us, a security blanket, an article of faith? What would happen to those of us in our mid-thirties and above if our parents, grandparents, bosses, religious leaders, politicians, all wanted to play as regularly as we do?

The spur for this brief-but-heartfelt reflection is a just-published AP story titled "Youth Vs. Adults In Gadget Wars" about gadgets like mobile phones, social networks like Facebook and the culture clash that can emerge as young and old meet on these playing fields. The article begins with an anecdote about a college freshman and his grandmother communicating via IM and pointing out correctly that "Long gone are the days when the average, middle-aged adult did well to simply work a computer. Now those same adults have Gmail, upload videos on YouTube, and sport the latest high-tech gadgets." Then it continues with:

Nowhere are the technological turf wars more apparent than on social networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, which went from being student-oriented to allowing adults outside the college ranks to join.

Gary Rudman, a California-based youth market researcher, has heard the complaints. He regularly interviews young people who think it's "creepy" when an older person — we're talking someone they know — asks to join their social network as a "friend." It means, among other things, that they can view each others' profiles and what they and their friends post.

"It would be like a 40-year-old attending the prom or a frat party," Rudman says. "It just doesn't work."

It's a particular quandary for image-conscious teens, says Eric Kuhn, a junior at Hamilton College in upstate New York, who's blogged about the etiquette of social networking.

He accepted his mom's invitation to be Facebook friends and has, in turn, become online friends with other adults she knows. But so far, he says, his 16-year-old sister has declined to add their mom "because she thinks it is not cool."

From a gaming perspective, would it be cool with you if your boss wanted to join your Rock Band band and bless the mic with his or her vocal stylings on a nightly basis? What about if your grandparents asked to cowboy up with your Halo clan and help you re-finish the fight? Or if your parents had their heart set on your World of Warcraft party?

We've long been fans of the site The Smoking Gun, with its troves of mug shots, celebrity riders and other documents of the famous and infamous behaving badly. So it might seem a bit strange for us to accuse these purveyors of sensationalism of being, well, sensationalistic, but that's what we're going to do. A few minutes ago, while scanning the list of stories on The Drudge Report, we came across the following headline "Online shooting game lets kids target presidential candidates..." Intrigued, we clicked on the link, which brought us to The Smoking Gun and the headline "Hey Kids, Shoot Your Favorite Candidate!
Clinton, Obama pace gunners in "Presidential Paintball" online game." The site went on to describe the game as follows:

For the aspiring young assassin, a popular online games site offers kids the opportunity to assume the identity of a leading presidential contender and then shoot their political opponents in a series of armed confrontations in the White House. While the ammo is paintball, the game on the hugely popular miniclip.com site allows kids to train a rifle scope on six presidential aspirants and squeeze off a hail of shots (which are accompanied with a rat-a-tat sound). The game, "Presidential Paintball," features six candidates in the crosshairs: Barack Obama; Hillary Clinton; John Edwards; Mitt Romney; John McCain; and Rudy Giuliani (it seems the game was developed before the ascension of Mike Huckabee). If a candidate wins a head-to-head confrontation, he/she advances to a new shootout, which occurs in various White House settings, including outside the Oval Office. When a candidate gets blown away, bloodlessly, a screen appears noting that they have been "eliminated," not killed. To better direct a fusillade, young gunmen can use their computer's mouse to place a crosshairs on a candidate's head or body. Of course, the imagery of Obama and Clinton, both of whom have been the target of threats and receive Secret Service protection, being targeted in such a manner-by children, no less-might be seen as troubling in some quarters.

Sounds disgusting, doesn't it? Well, we clicked on the link for Presidential Paintball, selected Barack Obama--the candidate and the Level Up staff are both fans of Omar Little on "The Wire," so perhaps our mutual gangsta might give us an edge--and fired up the game.

1. RED...Ring of Death, revisited with a purported Xbox insider
2. DRA...ma for your mama: Romero vs. Wilson, Round 1--fight!
3. OBJ...ection! See Geoff Keighley's ace defense of Mass Effect
   
4. SAD...Another lengthy examination of the GameSpot fiasco
5. YOU...know, things break, or, adventures in Xbox customer help
6. MON...strous Iwata harnesses children's smiles as energy source
7. RND...Thugs, cuz and Senator Barack Obama all love "The Wire"