This Just In — Most Parents Don’t Like Videogames

November 13, 2007 1:17 pm Morgan DS, Gaming for All, Online Games, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360

News flash: Most parents don’t like videogames.

I’m just gonna pause here for a sec and let that sink in.

Ok, better now?

According to an AP survey posted over at Yahoo, an average of 43 percent of parents think videogames are a big fatty fat waste of time for their kids (that’s a technical term there, fatty fat).

Granted, these parents are probably speaking about the stereotypically abused, overused and super-saturated view of a rare breed of gamer who gets no sunlight and scorns all who don’t understand his or her mysterious and magnificent WOW clans and ways.

Yeah, we’re all like that. Guilty as charged. We all play with swords and potions in our spare time and have a hard time co-mingling without computers or games to bridge the social divide.

Yup.

However, the underlying issue here is that people (yeah, parents are people too) don’t like what they don’t really understand. So if you have kids and your kids like games…and by some miraculous reason you happened upon this entry, then take some time outta your day to game with them. If nothing else, it’ll be a bonding experience with you and your son/daughter.

Show some interest in what they’re interested in, and they’ll open up to you.

As far as the newsworthiness of this story? It’s kinda like how back in the day TV was going to rot your brain, and before that comics were gonna make you deranged, even before that reading was going to put thoughts in your head and make you a wicked person. Every generation has their scapegoats, ours just gets to be videogames.

View some highlights of the survey after the break.
Here are some highlights from the survey:

• 44 percent said of gamers said they play over the Internet.
• 26 percent said of gamers they spent nothing on the pastime last year, another 46 percent spent up to $200 and 12 percent spent $500 or more, with men usually the bigger spenders.
• Price is the chief factor for people purchasing a gaming console, followed by the availability of games.
• The poll involved telephone interviews with 2,016 adults conducted Oct. 9-11 and 16-18, and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. Included were 770 people who said they play computer or video games, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.5 points.
• 81 percent of children age four to 17 play computer or video games at least occasionally, compared with 38 percent of adults.
• 59 percent of those age 18 to 29 play at least sometimes, double the rate for people age 50 to 64. There is little difference among users by race or region, with middle-income earners likeliest to indulge.
• Casual games like card or board games were the favorite of 31 percent of gamers, about twice the number who like action games, the next most popular alternative. About half of women cited casual games as their favorites, triple the number of men who did so, while twice as many males than females preferred action games.