Lots Of Parents Playing Video Games With Kids... Though, That's Not What The Headlines Say
from the details,-people,-details dept
In the last few years, we've seen a number of studies suggesting that, while most people think of video games as something kids play, that it's increasingly becoming a family activity involving parents (and even grandparents) playing video games with their kids. This seemed like a good thing. A common activity over which families can bond seems positive. That's why it was a bit surprising to see a bunch of headlines trumpeting the news that "Many Parents Avoid Video Games With Kids." So when you get down into the article, you see that the headline is seriously misleading. What the report actually says is 43% of parents with kids who play video games never play with them. That would mean that 57% do play video games with their kids, which seems like quite a large number, especially compared to earlier reports. Yet, that apparently doesn't support the story line that the headline writer wanted to tell. While it is true that another 30% say they spend less than an hour a week playing video games with kids, that is still some bonding time, and shows that many, many parents are quite aware of what kinds of video games their kids are playing -- meaning that perhaps politicians can stop claiming they need to act as parents when it comes to video games.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: family activity, headlines, parents, statistics, video games
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I just can't wait...
I could see the change coming, though. My parents didn't grow up with video games and it wasn't much fun for them to get hammered at Duck Hunt by their punk kids. Newer parents have played/still play video games and have the skills to compete with their kids. Families used to play board games together, why not video games? If we got too prideful with our Duck Hunt triumphs Dad would pull out Trivial Pursuit and put us in our place.
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Video Games
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Re: Video Games
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To my bad on #4
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Agreed...
Since we're having story time: When I was sick and stuck at home under 24 hour watch my mom would try and bond ... and it was sweet at first, then after a month, it got old. So I started trying to engage her in 'my activities' and would get out the Gamecube. She'd be asleep in under 10 minutes.
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And what the poll says (I haven't read the story) is that there's a pretty clear age line between parents who play with kids and parents who don't.
That isn't surprising. My dad played Risk, Stratego and Hearts with me and took me target shooting. The only video games we ever played together were Risk and Duck Hunt.
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mario party FTW
when my youngest (age 7 now) first started playing, we set a handicap for her. now she plays without a handicap and soon i fear i will need the handicap.
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Big surprise?
I also find it interesting that as casual games enjoy a resurgance in popularity, so does this trend for parents to game with their kids. Perhaps there's a relationship between games that kids and parents would both enjoy?
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buy a Wii
kids, parents, grandparents, GREAT grandparents all play together. Even my hard core gamer teenage nephews enjoy it.
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Story Time
One of the main reasons my wife and I got together was because we are both gamers. When we first started dating we were doing the long distance thing so we'd get on public lobbies and play C&C Red Alert for hours just so we could chat.
We don't have any kids yet (tho I'm losing that battle methinks) but when the time comes I'm certain we'll be right there along side them playing Halo 17 and Virtual Reality Duck Hunt.
:-Þ
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Vidoe Family!
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misinterpreting statistics
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Kids are great..as gaming partners
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old news is news to people who close thier eyes
Virtually everyone in my neighborhood as a kid played Atari and Nintendo with their parents. My grandmother played Atari with us when we were very young - The Sesame Street games only.
Intergenerational sociology is nothing new. So why is this news in gaming or other digital channels?
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I don't care about stats...
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Nintendo Might Change Things....A Little...
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We've been playing as a family a long time
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we play
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Read and find out
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Read and find out
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Shane Creans Comment
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To Shane and Spencer
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Re: To Shane and Spencer
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