Gamers

On occasion I've made submissions or media interviews highlighting the problematical basis of alarmism about online/offline gamers, ie consumers of video and computer games.

Digital Australia 2014 by Jeffrey E. Brand, Pascaline Lorentz, Trishita Mathew of Bond University for the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association updates past research under IGEA auspices regarding interactive entertainment in Australian households.

The authors comment [PDF] that

We began national studies of computer game audiences in 2005 to widen the conversation about games and tackle stereotypes that prevented an understanding in the wider community that computer games were a popular medium that had become not only normalised, but a medium valued by Australians of all ages. Rather than challenge negative stereotypes about games with rhetoric, we provided quantitative empirical data using established social and market research practice – something that had not been available for Australia’s journalists and policy-makers who relied on overseas data. Over the five Australian studies since 2005, we documented the ascendency of computer and video games to centre stage in media culture. 

The Game Play Australia 2005 claimed that

• 76% of households had a device for playing games and PCs dominated consoles
• 38% of gamers were female 
• the average age was 24
• the play duration was less than an hour and  the frequency was twice a week
• 49% of households had broadband connections
• 35% played games online
• 66% of parents played video games,
•  88% said Australia should have an R18+ for games
• 68% said classification information was very influential when choosing games for their children. 

The corresponding 2009 report claimed that

• 88% of households had a device for playing games and consoles took the lead from PCs
• 46% of gamers were female 
• the average age was 30
•  the play duration was an hour and  the frequency was every other day
•  81% of households had broadband connections
• 48% of household played games online, 
• 70% of parents played games, 
• 60% of households were home to 2 or more players, 
•  91% said Australia should have an R18+ for games, and 
• 46% said classification information was very influential when choosing games for their children. 

 The Digital Australia 2012 report claimed that

• 92% of households had a device for playing games and consoles lead and phones outflanked handhelds, 
•  47% of gamers were female 
• the average age was 32
•  the play duration was an hour and  the frequency was every other day
•  83% of parents played games
• 70% of households were home to 2 or more players
• 41% said classification information was very influential when choosing games for their children. 

The latest report argues that

the profile of the gamer and the gaming household is nearly synonymous with the profile of the typical Australian and Australian household. It demonstrates that multiple screens and game devices are commonplace and that games have expanded from the loungeroom to the pocket, played frequently and for longer durations. It suggests that the moral panic over established media like music, films, television and games is now moving to social media and the Internet. Adult gamers have formed great memories over the years of family time, characters, story, play and interaction from a medium that has emerged from its adolescence.