Mediamark Research & Intelligence, a sinister-sounding consumer survey group, has concluded from its 26,000 person survey sample that just under 80% of American children aged 6-11 play games online on a regular basis.
The percentage of boys and girls who played online games was virtually the same, 77.7% vs. 78.5%, respectively. Boys, however, were much more likely to report they went online to get “Tips” or “Cheats” for their gaming.
You can read the full PDF release just here. And what does that tell us about gaming? Well, perhaps it tells us that my generation, that thinks itself so gamer-orientated, will nothing to the generations of ubiquitous gamerdom to come. Those boys are going to Ebay some serious gold, mark my words.
Mmmmm, statistics. That particular quoted percentage tells us… well, absolutely nothing.
Yeah, statistics need graphs to be satisfying.
I suppose it is mildly surprising that such a high proportion of “girl gamers” play, or have played online.
The way it poses that particular statistic seems to avoid or even deceive people into thinking the number of girl gamers vs boy gamers is even vaguely comparable – that’s my issue.
How do we find out what constitutes ‘games’ in this thing (lemme guess; make wid da cash to get the full findings?). Although 6-11, the survey mightn’t be all that complex I suppose.
I rather suspect it encompasses everything from MMO to Flash-based tat.
Considering only a third have their own email… yeah. Plus the sample is from “Kids who went online in last 30 days.”
Lies, damned lies, etc.
This is tat.
There’s no offline games response, so the response that is there will include everything gamey. Plus some kids just won’t grasp that there’s even an offline aspect to computer use if they’ve been lucky enough to have parents who’ve had broadband long enough. For them, even if the option was there to make the choice between the three arenas (offline, online and Online), they might not be 100% clear on the distinction. So that’s at least two layers of cloud right there.
Also, I find it highly dubious that more than twice as many kids used email than IM. That just doesn’t gel with what I’ve seen.
As for boys being more likely to go window shopping online… well, who can say? I won’t call outright BS on that one.
Overall, I’m not impressed – both with the actual survey and the way RPS is presenting it i.e “Girls who gank boys” and about the ebaying of gold, both of which come down to understanding the distinction between the three arenas mentioned above. You’ve either seen more in the survey than I have, or you’re ploughing ahead with the ‘obvious’ angle and underestimating your readership.
Don’t you mean misunderestimating?
Oooh yeah.
“American children aged 6-11″ … “Boys, however, were much more likely to report they went online to get “Tips” or “Cheats” for their gaming.”
Confirming what we’ve always known about the bulk of Gamefaqs’ forum users.