September 17, 2008

Computer games drive social ties

It was a 2006 Pew Internet & American Life project that first confirmed some thoughts for me that led to Conduit, so I like to keep a close eye on what they are saying. Today they revealed a new study, this time on gaming, and here are some highlights:

  • About 99% of males, 94% of females that are 12-17 play games.
  • The most popular title was Guitar Hero, followed by Halo 3, Madden NFL, Solitaire, and Dance Dance Revolution. In general people played more rhythm, strategy, and action games than first-person shooters and MMOS.
  • "Three quarters of teens actually play these games with other people, whether online or in person."
  • Teenagers who played with other people in person did tend to be more engaged with their communities offline & online.

In general, I was impressed to see that not only is gaming absolutely ubiquitous in this age group, it is also at this point a predominantly social activity. Gaming also seemed to have no causal effect on a person's social life, but were simply a part of it. Basically, if you are social then you are more likely to be involved in school clubs, online social activities, and play games with friends. If you are already anti-social, you are more inclined to play single player. But there was no correlation between hours of play and type of play.

More interesting stuff I'm sure, let me know if you find anything.

The actual full report is here. (via BBC NEWS)

Sep 17, 2008 1:18:58 AM | Gaming, Social

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