Grannies into games in the US

According to an NPD Group study, 63 % of the US population plays videogames. HC gamers are still males ages 18-34 although "casual games" are somewhat changing the focus.

"Of the people who said they played videogames, 30 % claimed to have played more frequently this year than last, with 40 % spending about the same amount of time playing games each year. The majority of gamers claimed that they saw playing videogames as a way to relieve stress. Both "light" and "heavy" gamers valued gaming as a family activity". (From Gameindustry.biz)

I wonder how the definition of a game has changes within few years due to SNS and other internet-related trends, entertaining game-like applications, advergames etc. How should we define or sort games into various categories? Who defines a game; the player or the designer/industry? Hard core or casual gamer? Is this relevant anymore?

What definitely is interesting is that there is not a clear division between serious and fun. Information overflow, dynamic processes and networking has made it a reality that things should be fun and easy. Social networking is networking but moreover about poking and sending gifts. Finding your place in various on- and offline communities. Learning or working in not advancing from A to B anymore, it is about starting with B, chatting with peers about C and F and maybe playing with A after checking out how D looks like. It is about fun, visual or audiovisual, instant and reactive communication with a number of communities and networks. After that it really does not matter if this or that s a game or a non-game.