it seems to me your parents haven't grown up either yet. 

It's a really stupid argument to be honest. Life should be about following your hopes, dreams and joys, and if playing video games brings you joy, then it doesn't matter how old you are.

People may approach it with varying degrees of maturity, sure, but you shouldn't aim at growing up, you should be growing up as a consequence of trying to live the life you want to live. There is nothing in there about what you can and can't do, it's all about how you use the things you do in your life.

Beautiful post! This is the right way to look at gaming.
Unfortunately too many people see it as something else and miss the point - and by that I mean both the players and the people criticizing them.

This one is great, too:

What's your hobby:
_ TV shows (takes a lot of time and what you get is nothing but entertainment, some cultural knowledge) (Some people spend several hours a day)
_ reading (takes a lot of time and what you get is a story) (I read 10-20 hours per book)
_ TV series (takes a lot of time and what you get is a story ) (20 hours per season)
_ Movies (takes a little time and what you get is a story) (2 hours)
_ Sports (takes a lot of time and what you get is a fit body) (2 hours)
_ Games (takes a lot of time and what you get is a story, better reflexes and some social interaction). (10 - 30 hours per game).

Hobbies sorted from the most useless to the most useful.... (well one could swap the last 2). Gaming shouldn't define you, it's a hobby, spend as much time as you would on your main hobby...

end of all dicussion.... the average gamer age is 32 years old..... so whome ever tells you it's for kids is a moron who has no clue of the gaming population.... more than 50% of the gaming population is over 18 years old.... hell better yet you have more chicks over 18 playing video games than you have guys under 18 playing video games.....

for having made extensive research on the video game industry marketing over 5 or 6 years... I can tell you that 90% of there target market is with people between 18 and 35 years old with a core target between 21-30 years old....

now I have a woman in my life..... 100% of my friend list on XBL is over 25 years old up to 39 for the oldest.... they almost all have a GF and the one who don't it is more because they don't want the ties just yet than because they can't find one.... and more than 50% are married....

now I have to admit since I (they) work (seriously) and I (they) have someone in there life..... they do have less time to play.... but doesn't keep them from enjoying a little team death match quicky before bed time :P

to be honnest.... if it was for kids only they wouldn't put a 500 price tag on it.... would they.....

and beside that how many games are for Mature audience only???? so it is for kids but they mostly do games legal to be sold to grown ups, that does make a lot of sense you'll tell your friends

If I may, however, play devil's advocate for a minute, I think there is also a side to gaming which is unhealthy and can sometimes be addictive. I think when people think about gaming as a 'childish' endeavor, they are sometimes thinking about bad gaming habits more than gaming itself. Unfortunately bad gaming habits are all too common, and aren't always dealt with properly. This leads to extreme behaviors like missing sleep/meals because of a game on one hand, and also to bursts of rage quitting and going 'cold turkey' with the claim that gaming is for kids on the other.

In this context, what is indeed 'for kids', are bad lifestyle habits, and I think we'd be fooling ourselves if we didn't admit gaming encourages those, to a small extent at least.

The other reason I think gaming is frowned upon by the majority of adult society is because we are brought up in a way that encourages us to be more rational, and develop control over our emotions. Gaming goes against this trend by often letting us reenact our fantasies or our nightmares, and allows us to unleash behavior that is considered inappropriate around other people. This is something that could prove to be equally as beneficial as detrimental in the long run, because while some will always take the 'bad' behavior they have learned with them when they leave the couch, others use games as a release for tensions that have built up elsewhere, and return to the real world more balanced and civil for it.

If I may end with a somewhat unrelated comment, I have often asked myself 'what other form of art is similar to gaming?', as have countless others I'm sure. I've heard people say that sometimes games are like Movies, sometimes like Sports, sometimes like reading a book (in the sense that you can stop wherever you want and come back to it later, as well as in the level of immersion).

These are all true, but I have also come to think of games more and more like Music. They both have huge amounts of unexplored potential as forms of expression, and can affect us emotionally in powerful ways, to the extent that sometimes we even lose control a little bit.
Sometimes I think of our time as similar to the time in ancient Greece, where music was used in savage, often barbaric rituals, as a means to bring out animalistic behavior. If you've studied history you know the Greeks were very much aware of the power (and dangers) of music. Even today, music can still bring out unusual, uninhibited behaviors by listeners which can also be considered 'immature'.

Perhaps gaming is similar in the sense that it may take centuries until we learn to use it properly, and unlock it's true potential, as well as our own along with it.

Well,I'm one of those people. I have the 3DS and that's probably going to be my last system ever. I just don't see myself gaming after this gen,I've already cut back on gaming and will probably give up on it altogether after this gen,which is probably in a year are 2. I'm like an old athlete on his way out. hehehehe

Do you stop because you lost interest or are there other reasons?

They might as well quit on being fun.

I've never known anyone like this... BUT I have known people who simply stopped playing video games since it was simply not their thing.

Maybe at a younger age people lack the ability to express themselves or even know themselves. It's not hard to imagine someone teetering between various social pressures and their own desires. I see no problem with someone who is interested in other things moving on from video games.

Wanting to "grow up" is a funny thing since most adults can behave quite childish in various circumstances. It's more of a mission statement for the person who aims to improve themselves from their current position in a way that's socially respectable.

OP - On the basis of your English and name, are you living in China?

You call out your friends for still being virgins... but I heard in China since the amount of females is so low, girls will only think about dating guys if they own a house.