General Information

Some interesting facts on the world of videogames...

• The average age of a game player is 29 years old
• Fifty percent of all Americans age six and older play computer and video games
• All games are rated by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), and sixty-three percent of games are rated �E� for Everyone. (For more information, please see www.esrb.org.)
• Sixteen of the top 20 best selling games in 2002 were rated �E� for everyone or �T� for teen
• Ninety-two percent of all games are purchased by adults over the age of 18
• Ninety-six percent of parents surveyed who have children under the age of 18 said they are paying attention to the content of the computer and video games their children play, and sixty percent of parents say they play interactive games with their kids at least once a month
• The vast majority of people who play games do so with friends and family. (Almost sixty percent of frequent game players play with friends, thirty-three percent play with siblings, and about one-quarter play with their spouse and/or parents.)
• One often-heard proclamations concerning online gaming is that that the players create some sort of social community. As we see below it is not that simple. Most play at home but at the same time they say they usually are physically together with someone when they play. In the USA, violent crime rates among youth have been declining steadily over the past decade. Conversely, the increase in media attention of any one crime leads to the public perception that such violent crimes are pervasive � when in fact they are not. Further, in other countries with high levels of game consumption (e.g., Japan, Canada), youth crime is almost non-existent.
• More and more, games and game-technologies are being used for �serious� applications such as corporate training, military simulation, scholastic learning and public policy decision making. Further, games are being used in medical and therapeutic scenarios (e.g., aid in treating ADD or to train diabetic kids to take their medicine). Games have become such a pervasive part of our culture, and speak deeply to so many players that academics have started to study them as cultural artifacts. Academics are studying such things as the aesthetics of design, the cultural impact of games relative to other media, the anthropology of play, and gender-role dynamics to name but a few areas of inquiry.
• Unlike the stereotypical pimpled teen male, game players represent a diverse mix of age, gender and cultural background. Like other forms of art and entertainment, there is content with themes targeted at those diverse audiences. From the cute cartoon game for the kiddies to seedy city streets, and everything in between, there is a game to appeal to everyone. Further, with such diversity comes the understanding that content does not need to be dumbed-down to suite any one particular audience (i.e., children).
• Game creation is a massively complex mix of science and art. From software engineers to script writers to animators to music composers, there is a great need for talented, creative and educated individuals that must work in unison to see a game become a reality. In step with the growing need for talent, universities and colleges worldwide are implementing game development courses and degree programs