Survey: Few Parents Playing Games With Children

A new poll from AOL Games has found that 81 percent of children and 38 percent of adults play video games, with near parity between men and women, and that only half of parents responded that they played games with their children. The poll, conducted by AOL and The Associated Press, found that "while conventional wisdom holds that adult gamers are predominately male, the poll finds that 45% are actually female." It also said 43 percent of parents claimed to never play games with their children, and another 30 percent saying that if they did, it was for less than an hour a week. Of the adults surveyed, half of the gamers were under 40 and another 27 percent were under 30, and spent an average time of 2 hours a week playing games, overwhelmingly (93%) at home as opposed to work or school. Only some 33 percent were married with children. AOL also found that 41 percent of gamers were classified as "hardcore," playing at least 3 hours of games a week, compared to 31 percent of "light" gamers, playing less than an hour. The hardcore gamers skewed younger, with the majority under 40, and skewed male at 58 percent compared to 42 percent. However, "light" gamers did skew female, as well as married and employed full-time. AOL says 68 percent that were classified as light gamers were married, compared to 50 percent of hardcore gamers. Said AOL Games VP Ralph Rivera, “These findings underscore gaming’s broadening reach. It's not about eating dots and shooting pixilated aliens anymore. Today, games are multi-million dollar productions that range from kid-friendly to adults-only fare.”