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Poll Finds Diverse Range of Gamers
A poll released on Tuesday by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc., offers new evidence that gamers are fast becoming an increasingly diverse group, with women and players over 50 making up a larger percentage of gamers than ever before.
According to the data, a full 17% of game players are over age 50, up from 13% in 2000. Women age 18 and older now make up a larger percentage of the gaming population - 26% - than boys ages 6 to 17 who represent 21% of gamers. Men age 18 and over represent the largest group of gamers 38% with girls between the ages of 6 to 17 making up 12% of all gamers. The average age of game players is now 29 years old.
"It's clear that Americans of all generations and genders are making games an important part of their entertainment lives," said ESA President Douglas Lowenstein. "With half of all Americans playing computer and video games, the signs point to interactive entertainment as the entertainment choice of the 21st century."
The poll also found that computer and video games are a staple of Americans' entertainment diet, with the average player spending approximately 6.5 hours a week playing games. They also play a wide variety of games, with 29% saying they play three or more genres of computer and video games. Boys ages 6 to 17, a group that is often incorrectly characterized as playing games to an excess, spend an average of 7.3 hours per week, or just over an hour a day, playing games.
Further, gamers come from a wide variety socioeconomic backgrounds, with the total household incomes of game players divided evenly between those making less than $50,000 per year (39%) and those making more than $50,000 per year (41%).
The poll, conducted for the ESA by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, Inc., was among a random national sample of 806 adults reporting a total of 1,048 computer or video game players and has a +/- 3.5% margin of error.
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