Game On? Video Games Good for Girls–Sometimes
The Journal of Adolescent Health reported this month that girls who play video games with parents had better mental health than girls who played them alone or with friends. The study, entitled “Game On… Girls: Associations Between Co-Playing Video Games and Adolescent Behavioral and Family Outcomes,” not only found that playing games with mom or dad helped girls feel more connected to their families, but that the same girls were better behaved overall.
“It’s tough for many parents to connect with their teenagers, who sometimes view the other as an alien life form. Maybe bonding over video games, at least for teen girls, is the way to go,” wrote Rachel Silverman in The Wall Street Journal’s popular blog, “The Juggle.” It’s the face-to-face interaction – the quality time spent on an activity that adolescents enjoy – that makes the experience so impactful, she said.
The study, which focused on children ages 11 to 16, found that the games needed to be age-appropriate to make an impact. When games were too mature, the research showed that parents and daughters bonded less. The reason: intense games interfered with conversation and interaction.
While the results sound logical enough, some parents may find comfort in having a scientific study back up their pricey e-game purchase. (The study found that boys, surprisingly, did not show a measurable benefit when playing video games with parents.)
Moms: do you play video games with your tweens and teens? Will this study influence your decision to purchase certain types of video games?
Marketers: Do you make any games that would be perfect for moms and their daughters to play together?
Getting in the (Video) Game
Once the domain of the hardcore gamer – men in their 20s and 30s–multiplayer online gaming has a new target audience: children and their parents. According to yesterday’s Wall Street Journal the new games, from companies such as Sony and Gazillion Entertainment, are the industry’s most recent effort to expand the audience for online videogames, which permit thousands of people to play at the same time over the Internet. The goal is to more than double the currently $5.4 billion market over the next five years. Moms as a target – once a startling concept for videogame makers – today is not such a surprise: Women make up 40% of gamers, according to a 2008 study by the Entertainment Software Association. There are even websites such as Gamermomsclub.ning.com. “Girls who perfected their aim on Ataris have grown up to be gamer moms,” says Canada’s Globe & Mail. “The majority of moms who play video games say they took up gaming to connect with their husbands and kids.”
Yet many moms and dads alike remain skeptical about their children’s safety when it comes to online games that let players talk with each other. The WSJ article notes that game developers are taking precautions to protect children by limiting chat sessions to predetermined phrases and other steps.
Videogame marketers, what are you doing to pursue the family audience? Moms, how do you feel about your children playing these games? Do you play videogames as well? Why?
