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60% Of Kids Play Games Every Day

Next Generation has a piece up stating that, according to a JuniorSenior Research poll, something like 60% of all children play video games every day. From the article: "39% of the children polled said they were happy to pay a high price for games they especially wanted, and said they had saved up to buy a particular game. A third of children say their friends are the primary resource for information about new games, signaling the absolute importance of playground evangelists. Surprisingly a quarter of kids say advertising is a key source of information, while only 10% say they rely on TV shows."

12 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. remaining 40% of kids. by ikkonoishi · · Score: 4, Funny

    The study also concluded that 35% of kids live in caves, and an additional 5% lack opposable thumbs.

  2. Children Paying? by VJ42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "39% of the children polled said they were happy to pay a high price for games they especially wanted"
    From my experience it's usually mummy and daddy doing the paying, despite what the children say.

    --
    If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
    1. Re:Children Paying? by QuantumG · · Score: 3, Interesting

      ditto. I remember I saved up for a $10 phone and a $5 extension lead. My mum freaked out cause she couldn't understand why a kid would want a phone in their bedroom. After I told her how hard I worked to get the $15 she caved. Couple of months later I heard about modems and managed to save $30 for a 1200/75 baud one for my C64. Now that phone line had a dual purpose. I used it for almost a year before I learnt the fun of scanning 1800 numbers. Telstra sent me a nasty letter which my mum rang up and complained about. "It's not abuse to ring a number that is free. If they don't want people ringing it then don't make it free! No it doesn't matter how many calls he made, it's the principle of the matter!" Unfortunately 6 months later I called a few too many STD numbers and racked up an $800 phone bill. I never got an allowance again.

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    2. Re:Children Paying? by cowscows · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, for me at least, when i was younger, I usually saved up some of the money. Or waited until a birthday or something. Back in the NES days, when I was 8 or 9, how much did games run? $40 maybe? That was a lot of money for a kid. I remember having a chore chart where I earned my allowance, each chore was worth maybe 25 cents, if I did it all week. Say that averages out to 5 cents per chore each day, maybe 10-15 chores on the list. Working for 75 cents/day won't get you very much in the US.

      Of course I was happy to pay that much for a game. I didn't have to spend my money on anything else. Now that I can earn enough for a new game in a couple hours, I've got about a zillion other things that I need to pay for. Ah, to be a child again...

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

  3. Internet? by ZakuSage · · Score: 2, Interesting

    So did anyone who answered this say that they got most of their gaming info off the internet? I, for one, have been getting my gaming news from online sites for about 7 or 8 years now, since I was a lad not much older then 8 or 9.

    1. Re:Internet? by syrinx · · Score: 3, Funny

      I doubt many 10 year olds come on slashdot.

      Don't browse at -1, do you?

      --
      Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
  4. how appropriate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    page footer motto:

    It now costs more to amuse a child than it once did to educate his father.

  5. The Poll by Hedonist23 · · Score: 3, Insightful
    First, this is a poll based out of the Netherlands, which would make this strictly applicable to Dutch children. Sadly, the percentage of American kids playing video games every day is probably much higher.

    Secondly, I give very little credence to polls like this inthe first place. Kids are much more likely to answer polls in untruthful ways, whether it be to impress their friends or because they don't quite understand the questions. Remember those drug surveys you had to take in high school (if you're in the 20 something crowd like me)? How many of your friends ever answered those correctly? Further, even the slightest change in the wording of the questions could probably change the answers significantly.

    Not an extremely useful survey at all, but definitely interesting for stimulating conversation of the topic at hand.

  6. You kids can just call me Abraham.- by Japong · · Score: 2, Funny

    Why, back in my day when I was a youngster, many many years ago, I was given two shillings per month allowance for feeding the Gobblins, before they became turkeys - we had to change the name because of the War. You always had to wear an onion on your belt, as was the style at the time.

    Our town had two video game shoppes on either end, Hanzel's Interactive Inn, and Paul's Pixel Purchasorium on the north end of town, but that was for high-class folk, what with their fammycoms.

    I myself was an Amiga boy, I got my joystick from my pappy, who got his from his grandpappy, who had to fight them Injuns for his. The joystick was about 10 cubits high and weighed about 40 stone, and we had to wake EARLY in the morning to make the walk to the games shoppe if we wanted to be there before it closed... 15 leagues to be exact.

    When you got to the store you'd stand in line, and ask the developer to compile you up some code, yessir! And he would sit down, and COBOL you up some fine bits, and this was before that newfangled removable storage... you was just told a bunch of 1s and 0s, and had to remember what order they came in on the way back home.

    You'd come back, chop some trees, feed 'em into the old generator, and play your game in front of the stove fire. Oh, those were simple days, better days. Back when 8 whole bits was more than the King of England himself could afford.

    Hmph, and you try and tell this to those punk kids today, and they say you're making it all up. Bunch of no-good whippersnappers.

  7. It's just a matter of time by llamaxing · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I don't see the point in mkaing useless surveys about how many children play videogames. Something of greater use would be how many of those kids are playing the M-rated ones not meant for them. Or better yet, how many kids have been negatively effected by the M-rated games? I don't see the point in conducting surveys like these when there is no real point to it. Give me some useful statistics and I'll give out better comments... what a waste of an article.

    1. Re:It's just a matter of time by Gothic_Walrus · · Score: 2, Insightful
      This is a useful statistic, if you ask me.

      I'd say knowing how kids spend their time, and that old standbys like books and television have dropped so much in popularity is definitely worth knowing.

      As for your other suggested surveys? There would be no way to see how M-rated games "negatively affect" children, as it would be easy to lie about it. Beyond that, once you're past a certain age, you aren't really affected by it. You realize that it's just a game.

      If you ask me, that survey seems like an even bigger waste of time and money because it'd be damn near impossible to get meaningful results.

      --
      Goo goo g'joob.
  8. So what by xboxdude123 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Of couse so many kids play games after a long day of school and doing your homework it is good to play a game to relax and have fun.