35% Of Parents Game 54
Next Generation is reporting on an ESA study indicating that something like 35% of parents play games. Most of them play with their kids, and a large percentage say that gaming together knits their family closer together. From the article: "'The data provides further evidence dispelling the myth that game playing is dominated by teens and single twenty-somethings,' said Doug Lowenstein, ESA president. 'It tells us that parents see games both as an enjoyable activity on their own, and one that allows them to engage with their children as well.'"
Why Nintendo Isn't Just for Kids (Score:3, Insightful)
The simplistic fun of Mario Kart, and even the entire Mario Party Series, has been a great hit in my household. My 9-year old can hold his own very well, and my 6-year old has even won games...without us going easy on the younger child. We all have fun and look forward to doing it again.
I have not seen the type of game where the whole family can play together, in simple good fun where as a parent you won't feel bad if the kid sees what is on screen, except on Nintendo. People can make fun of Mario and gang all they want - but they are kid friendly, and damn fun to play with even as an adult.
That being said - I like FPS games as much as the next serious gamer. I'm still playing Doom3 quite abit, but I wait until the kids go to bed. I can get my gaming fix during the day, if necessary, by challenging my kids and wife to a race on Mario Kart. Especially now that my kids and wife are really good at it, it's a decent challenge.
Re:The family that games together... (Score:4, Insightful)
They love it. So much so that when our three-year-old drew on our carpet, the punishment my wife gave (in addition to helping clean it up) was "No Blue Shift for three days!" They have imaginary pet headcrabs and bullsquids, I kid you not.
Now, we worked up to HL from D3, and I stick to the parts where you're shooting at monsters, not people. I've determined that my kids are not traumatized by the images and don't have nightmares or anything from them. They don't get in fights (indeed, from the comments we get from other parents they're unusually well-behaved), no signs of hyperactivity or poor attention span. Our five year old's first report card was quite good.
Since they like games so much, we try to encourage the kinds we like. They love playing with the Eye Toy and dance pads we have for the PS2. (Okay, the 3.5-year-old doesn't do so hot with the dancing, but he has fun anyway...) Good exercise.
(Just to forestall the trolls, we also go swimming, camping, biking, and the 5-year-old loves his karate class. It's winter so no soccer or baseball, but we do that too.)