A lot of people are predicting the gaming industry is going to shrink this upcoming generation. There are plenty of opinions as to why, but here’s my theory — part of the problem is that the video game industry’s older, most stubbornly loyal customers are starting to give up on gaming. As I detailed a while back, being a 30+ gamer isn’t always so fun, and a lot of us geezers are finally throwing up our hands, or at the very least turning to cheap mobile gaming to fulfil our occasional urges. Honestly, if keeping abreast of the world of video games wasn’t my job, I’m not sure what, or how often I’d still play.

But not all is lost! Here are six things the video game industry can do to keep hold of their most lucrative cash cows…

Local Co-op

As you get older you simply have more people demanding your attention. Girlfriends, family, kids, co-workers, friends, loan sharks — they all want a piece of you and most won’t take “I just have to finish this level!” as an answer. Ah, but what if you can spend time with them and be playing video games at the same time? Problem solved! Except your wife will only put up with you headshot-ing her so many times, so it’s usually best to stick to co-op.

Unfortunately it seems like most games that offer co-op only offer online co-op, which is fine I guess if all you’re looking for is (marginally) smarter teammates, but it’s useless if you want to sit down for an enriching co-op experience with your kids. Plain and simple, as many games as possible should have co-op and there should always be the option to play locally. Come on developers, if you can make online co-op work, you can slap together a split-screen thing in like, an afternoon.

Online Multiplayer For Grownups

Speaking of online gaming, I don’t do much of it because, well, I don’t like to hang out with 15-year-old Asperger’s cases in real life, and try to avoid it online too. I want lobbies where only folks over 30 are allowed. I want a game that asks me how many hours a week I work and how many hours I play games and only matches me up with people with similar numbers instead of always putting me with the kid who gets 23-hours a day in. I want to be able to push a button and immediately banish anyone who casually uses the word “retarded” or who I sense might have Bieber hair from my online gaming life forever. Basically, online games should be working a lot harder to keep the goddamn kids off my lawn.

Either or.