babble » blogs » Strollerderby
Strollerderby
Who Says Games Are For Kids?
Every time a particularly violent video game comes to light, parents freak. But more and more studies are pointing to parents as the actual game players – not their kids.
A comprehensive round-up of gaming stats compiled by Online Education.net shows kids under eighteen are actually the smallest demographic of gamers – at twenty-five percent, they’re edged out ever so slightly by the over fifty crowd who make up twenty-six percent of gamers.
And who takes the major piece of the pie? That would be adults eighteen to forty-nine with forty-nine percent of the pie. And lest you think that’s mostly nineteen-year-old college kids or twenty-two-year-old stoners back home mooching off Mom and Dad, they say the average age of a gamer is actually thirty-two.
With sixty-five percent of American households buying into the gaming market, we’re willing to be a lot of them are parents. OK, more than willing to bet – Babble writers are a good representation (the requisite gamer in my household is my husband, although our daughter recently joined the ranks).
And despite all those panties in a twist over the scary world of egregious video games, the stats show an overwhelming amount of gamers are picking up the “E for Everyone” rated titles. Mature games make up just fifteen percent of sales.
So next time you get in a huff because another violent game is on the market, remember, video games aren’t just for kids anymore.
More by this author:
Joslyn Gray 
Amber Doty 
Julianna Miner 
Monica Bielanko 
Sierra Black 
Meredith Carroll 
Carolyn Castiglia 
Sunny Chanel 
Madeline Holler 
Wendy Michaels 
Rebecca Odes 
Danielle Smith 
Danielle Sullivan 
Katherine Stone 
The Walt Disney Company supports Babble as a platform dedicated to honest, engaged, informed, intelligent and open conversation about parenting. However, the opinions expressed on this site are those of individual parents/writers and do not reflect the views of Disney. In addition, content provided on this site is for entertainment or informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice, diagnosis, treatment, or safety advice.
0