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July 7, 2006 at 12:50 am #23724PolarBearNPRParticipant
Hey all – just found this website Entertainment Software Association
It has all sorts of facts and figures on the merits of gaming. Under the Facts and Research tab is a section on Parents & Games with statistics showing that games bring families together. Don’t know that I buy the whole concept, but it certainly is food for thought.Could be most helpful if you’re doing a paper on why playing games is good for you, or if you need some data to pass to your parents for the same purpose.
*edit*
From the site:
TOP 10 INDUSTRY FACTS1. U.S. computer and video game software sales grew four percent in 2005 to $7 billion — a more than doubling of industry software sales since 1996.
2. Sixty-nine percent of American heads of households play computer and video games.
3. The average game player is 33 years old and has been playing games for 12 years.
4. The average age of the most frequent game buyer is 40 years old. In 2006, 93 percent of computer game buyers and 83 percent of console game buyers were over the age of 18.
5. Eighty-five percent of all games sold in 2005 were rated “E” for Everyone, “T” for Teen, or “E10+” for Everyone 10+. For more information on ratings, please see http://www.esrb.org.
6. Eighty-seven percent of game players under the age of 18 report that they get their parents’ permission when renting or buying games, and 89 percent say their parents are present when they buy games.
7. Thirty-five percent of American parents say they play computer and video games. Further, 80 percent of gamer parents say they play video games with their kids. Sixty-six percent feel that playing games has brought their families closer together.
8. Thirty-eight percent of all game players are women. In fact, women over the age of 18 represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (30%) than boys age 17 or younger (23%).
9. In 2005, 25 percent of Americans over the age of 50 played video games, an increase from nine percent in 1999.
10. Forty-four percent of game players say they play games online one or more hours per week. In addition, 32 percent of heads of households play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.
July 19, 2006 at 2:23 am #147300drainMemberMy cousin is obsessed with video games. He once peed his pants on our sofa because he didn’t want to stop playing. It was a mess.
July 19, 2006 at 2:27 am #147298DavidParticipantI think a lot of those numbers are wrong, or the survey conducted wasn’t an accurate sample. There are not that many teens that buy games that ask their parents or any of that.
July 19, 2006 at 12:11 pm #147299PolarBearNPRParticipantDavid wrote:I think a lot of those numbers are wrong, or the survey conducted wasn’t an accurate sample. There are not that many teens that buy games that ask their parents or any of that.Yeah, I always wonder about “statistics” having done lots of work with them for my master’s degree. You can prove anything by your method of testing and manipulating the numbers.
I’m thinking though, kids “under 17” aren’t allowed to buy ‘M’ games around here. Recently my oldest son who looks like he could be 17 but isn’t, tried to buy one and the cashier looked at me for approval. I didn’t even see the rating, but he wasn’t about to sell it without my okay.
Another thing that may have skewed the sample was that it seemed to be numbers from lots of gaming parents. I don’t know that many parents who play the games with their kids as is reflected in these surveys. Maybe folks who play with their kids talk more about which games to buy.
They are some interesting numbers, though. Food for thought.
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