The attitude that "you have to be compeltely devoted to the hobby or it's not for you" is far too elitist for my tastes. Who are you or I to decide how other people enjoy their hobby. You give examples of going to the cinema and only watching something you know you want to watch, or only listening to the radio stations that play the songs you know you like. That's all well and good if you only ever want to experience things you're allready familiar with.
The length and involvement isn't the issue here. Someone could release a movie that's 20 hours long, for example. Or even more pertinant, box sets of TV series are often the same length or longer than modern games. It's not about the content, but the advertising and how people interact with it. Movies can be on shelves for just as long as games. Longer even, if those copy of metropolis (1927) I see at the local HMV are anything to go by.
Yeah, you and I wouldn't purchase a 60 dollar/pound game without knowing all about it. But my point is that there are people out there who aren't like you and me. Who don't hang around on a forum for a relativly obscure freeare indie game. These people have kids, limited free time, or are kids themselves. Are you saying they shouldn't be allowed to play games because they aren't as knowledgeable about it as we are? They still have a passion for it, just maybe not as much as us. And that's perfectly ok.
Complete devotion isn't what I mean. I just mean that people should know things about their hobby. If they enjoy whatever games they buy that are shit, then that's good for them, honestly. But you say it as if they buy these shit games because they get tricked by advertisement. If they enjoy the games than thats good for them. Seriously, it means the games must have some redeeming quality. That's something else entirely.
However, It isn't hard to get information on games, yes review sites aren't necessarily accurate, but that doesn't mean they are all handing out 10/10s for $2.50. Aggregate sites like Metacritic are fairly reliable. Plus, the big one, They could TALK to other people they know who play games, they could talk to the people at whatever shop they are buying their games at. I've gotten into multiple conversations about various games at my local gamestop with other customers.
I don't know anyone, (including older folks I know, who have kids, including my own parents) who would buy a boxset of DVDs for a TV show they have only seen a few times in advertising. That isn't to say that they wouldn't if they hadn't heard a very good recommendation from a friend, but that isn't just seeing a cool ad and running out to buy it.'
People can play games if they want to, It's a good thing the more people play. I don't have a problem with "Casuals" like so many other people do. If they have fun, then it's all good. It's just a bit hard to imagine so many people doing what they do because of limited free time, and seeing a cool advertisement for a product.