Grandma Got Game?
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Michele Herman -- School Library Journal, 06/16/2006
A newly released study that examines the video- and computer-game playing habits of Americans contains some mighty surprising statistics. According to the Entertainment Software Association, which conducted the study in 2005, gaming is far more evenly spread across the population than the clichés about 13-year-old techie boys would have you believe. Judging by the other activities gamers say they engage in regularly, it’s also far less antisocial than detractors fear.
For starters, the study puts the average age of gamers at 33, with a full quarter over age 50. Perhaps most unexpected, more gamers are women over 18 (30 percent) than boys 17 and younger (23 percent). Action-based video games far outsell racing, shooting, and fighting games, and strategy games are by far the best-sellers on the computer side.
The study uncovered virtually no generational divide between kids and parents. More than two-thirds of American heads of households play computer or video games. Four out of five gamer parents report that they play video games with their kids, with two-thirds believing that the activity has brought their family closer together. The average age of the most frequent game purchaser is 40. When kids do buy their own games, a whopping 87 percent get parental permission first.
What are game players doing when they peel their eyeballs off the screen? Perfectly healthy, socially acceptable activities like exercising, playing sports, and volunteering every month. Almost all report that they read books and newspapers and consistently attend cultural events. Three quarters say they vote regularly.
