Key Facts: Children and Video Games

Published by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, this 4-page document provides many facts and statistics about the use of video games by children in the United States. In this country alone, computer and video game sales reach US$6.35 billion; estimates indicate that this figure will have reached US$16.9 billion by 2003. Here is a selection of the type of information provided in this document:

• Prevalence - 92% of kids in the USA (ages 2-17) play video games, more than two-thirds live in a home with a video game system, and one third have video game players in their bedrooms.
• Amount of time spent playing - on average, young people in the USA spend 20 to 33 minutes a day playing video games. Boys spend substantially more time playing video games than girls; American and Hispanic youth tend to play more video games than White youth; and kids from low- and middle-income communities spend more time playing video games than kids from high-income areas. "Video game playing, even more than television watching, is an activity that kids tend to do alone: among 7th through 12th-graders, more than half (55%) play video games by themselves, about one third (36%) play with siblings or peers, and only 2% play with their parents."
• Preferences - games with themes involving action or combat (42%), sports (41%), and adventure (36%) are most popular.
• Content - according to a 2001 study of that year's top-selling video games conducted by Children Now, 89% contained violence; about half contained serious violence, and 17% featured violence as the primary focus of the game. Two-thirds of the characters were male (64%); males dominated as player-controlled characters (73%), and even nonhumans (15%) outnumbered female characters (12%) for players to control. About half of all human characters were White (56%); nearly 9 out of 10 heroes were White.
• Effects - data is provided on children's education and tendency toward violent behaviour.
• Ratings - the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has provided ratings, which are printed here; many experts and parents disagree with these ratings.