Let’s keep this all in the family, shall we?

I’ve been playing “Alan Wake” lately, and I’ve noticed something: Families seem to be some kind of foreign mystery to video game developers, and only a few games throughout the decades have hit the core premise of what it means to be a family.

Without really spoiling too much of the plot, I’ll tell you now that “Alan Wake” does this superbly. But beyond observations of performance, I’d like to theorize as to why this is.

Although plenty of portrayals of video games may aim to ominously warn or outright frighten you, the truth is far less sensational. The average video game player is male, between age 16 and 35, with a large percentage of that base belonging to Generation Y — the kids who grew up in yonder days of counting bits on one or two hands. And although gaming has moved beyond this hardcore market — particularly in recent years — it’s these men, and their families, I’d like to focus on.

Right now in the United States, the trend is for men to be marrying at about age 26 – 28 — with that age median is slowly rising — according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. This means that such men would have been born in, on average, 1983; six years after the Atari 2600 and two years before the release of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

With studies revealing marriage in a direct relationship not only to increased happiness and mental health, but also commitment to work and family, it’s not hard to connect the dots: Generation Y is growing up. They’re the ones making games. They’re the ones imposing their values and their stories onto the products.

Not that this is a bad thing, mind you. If men are becoming more focused on their families and they are experiencing their first marriage at about the same time as their entry into the gaming industry, it’s only natural. And with some of the family-oriented plots — not to be confused with family-oriented gameplay — of video games today being featured in top-selling, quality titles like “Mirror’s Edge,” “Heavy Rain” and now “Alan Wake,” I’m certainly not complaining.

Family is motivation, both in the real world and in our games. While I don’t know about you, motivation is what keeps my feet trudging through the abyssal depths, plagued wastelands and scenic vistas that glimmer across my TV screen like a vision seen swirling through a gypsy’s crystal ball.

Motivation is what keeps me gripping the controller and coming back for more.

What more urgent motivation is there than the protection of one’s kin?

What truer love is there than that between a father and his children?

What deeper emotional bond is there than that between spouses?

Any of these are certainly a helluva lot more powerful to me than the motivation to blow things up “just ‘cause.”

The bond between family members is palpable and potent. If video games are beginning to show us that, maybe gaming is ready to take its next step toward maturity.