I really love video games, but they’re all but impossible to talk about online without just running into a bunch of 133t-sp33k and misspellings and teenagers goofing around. Are there message boards out there where predominantly serious adults talk about video games?
I’m wondering the same thing. I hope someone comes along with an answer.
The games forum on the Something Awful Forums may not be exactly what you’re looking for, but doesn’t have too much 1337 speak (well, not in seriousness anyway) or kiddieness, though there’s a fair amount of goofiness. It’s a one time $9.95 fee to sign up if you want to post, but you can view the forums as a guest without paying. The level of discourse there certainly isn’t what it is here, of course, but it’s still better than most gaming message boards. I read it regularly but rarely post myself. The main draw there, in my opinion, is a lot of knowledgeable people, including some game designers, who usually manage to have the inside scoop on everything in pretty great detail, pretty far ahead of any other message board I’ve seen. Here’s a link: http://forums.somethingawful.com
There also have been successfull vg threads on the Dope. There was a twenty page or so thread on Diablo II a year or so ago…
SA has the only video game board I bother to read. Just remember to lurk (alot) before posting. Membership is worth it for better access to the Let’s Play threads alone.
What could you not talk about here?
What kind of scores are necessary to shoot in Tiger Woods Golf on line.Is every body shooting in the 50s. I ask because I just started playing it.
This is a forum for games too.
I’ve settled on the Gaming Forum over at Ars Technica, and my criteria was very similar to yours.
Womensgamers.com has a very mature and friendly atmosphere, with a strong intolerance for trolls and good moderators. Men are welcome there also 
As RetroVertigo said, most of us here are adults, and quite a few are gamers. Ask what you want to ask. If the SDMB can’t help you, go gleek with the leetspeekrs.
Curses! Beat me to that! I tend to pop in the Nintendo-related threads there, as that’s where my main interest is these days, but all of Ars is 733T-free.
I also lurk in the Gaming Discussion forum at NeoGAF – it’s moderately juvenile and in-jokey at times, but there are a lot of “industry” writers (Wired, EGM, etc.) there as well, which makes it more interesting IMO.
If MMOs are your thing, check out VN Boards.
For other games, the boards at IGN are okay but in order to get to a board for a specific game you have to go to IGN.com, look up the game you’re interested in, and follow the board link from there.