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35% Of Parents Game
Next Generation is reporting on an ESA study indicating that something like 35% of parents play games. Most of them play with their kids, and a large percentage say that gaming together knits their family closer together. From the article: "'The data provides further evidence dispelling the myth that game playing is dominated by teens and single twenty-somethings,' said Doug Lowenstein, ESA president. 'It tells us that parents see games both as an enjoyable activity on their own, and one that allows them to engage with their children as well.'"
Some of their other statistics caught my eye:
Gamer parents are also likely to be voters, according to the study, with 73 percent of those surveyed claiming to visit the polls regularly. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 85 percent think that monitoring the appropriateness of what kids play should be the job of the parents, not the government or game publishers. Similarly, parents believe by a two-to-one margin that it isn't the government's job to regulate games at all.
Now, at first I thought that this was great; maybe all the anti-gaming regs will fall through after all. But then of course, nobody is going to vote for somebody because they are against gamers' rights. At least not in this day and age. Ah well.
People Grow Older with Time.
A recent study has found that the teenagers of the 80s and 90s have nearly all grown into adults. Many of these adults have sired children and play with them in the manner they used to play themselves.
Argh.
I'm totally waiting for the little one to get old enough to play games with. Then I'm all up ons the babysitting situation.
"Hon, you want to go out? I'll stay in with the kids. No, we won't just order pizza and play video games."
I mean, who better to play with than your kids? For a while, you can totally school them, and then when they start winning, you can send them to bed.
My two year old daughter loves playing "the falldown game" (NFL 2k5), "the car game" (Project Gotham Racing 2), and "the pirate game" (Sid Meier's Pirates!) with me on the XBox. However, I show the tiniest amount of parental sensibility and wait until after she's asleep to play San Andreas. With her being at the critical stage for copying language, I don't need her walking around talking like CJ!
Here's more info, via the ESA's press release. There still seem to be a lot of questions to be answered regarding their methods, however, such as how those 501 families were chosen.
This guy's the limit!
Many parents today grew up with video games and it's a great way for the busy mom or dad to bond with their kids, at least in a superficial way given the probability that it will be the extent of their bonding. Also, it makes good sense that they are voters because to be able to easily afford a new game system and spend $50-$60/game, you'd have to have disposable income and IIRC, studies have shown that disposable income correlates to higher voter participation.
I fully agree with the article comment about knitting families together. While we certainly do play board games together, there is a lot of fun brought by multi-player kid-friendly games for the whole family.
The simplistic fun of Mario Kart, and even the entire Mario Party Series, has been a great hit in my household. My 9-year old can hold his own very well, and my 6-year old has even won games...without us going easy on the younger child. We all have fun and look forward to doing it again.
I have not seen the type of game where the whole family can play together, in simple good fun where as a parent you won't feel bad if the kid sees what is on screen, except on Nintendo. People can make fun of Mario and gang all they want - but they are kid friendly, and damn fun to play with even as an adult.
That being said - I like FPS games as much as the next serious gamer. I'm still playing Doom3 quite abit, but I wait until the kids go to bed. I can get my gaming fix during the day, if necessary, by challenging my kids and wife to a race on Mario Kart. Especially now that my kids and wife are really good at it, it's a decent challenge.
-When going for broke, go for Ithaca!
True, but with everything there are limits.
I know a family where the dad (50) and 2 sons (10 and 16) play to the extreme. Dad and the boys play ALL the time (dad is out of work, and too friggin lazy to get a real job.) The 10 year old usually stays up until midnight playing with dad and older bro.
Both kids do not do well in school and are anti-social.
I know another family where the 8 year old games all the time, alone, with seriously violent MA games. He has serious social issues too.
So anyway, sure, game with your kids, but set reasonable time limits. Do other things too - don't let gaming be one ot the only activities you do together. And make sure the games are appropriate for the age of the child.