Sue- This is part of my dissertation research, and I confirm that there isn't much out there on this aspect of game play. Almost everything is about children or teenagers, or the ubiquitous college sophomore subject pool. But ditto Nancy's comments on Avatars Offline, and Jason's on Digiplay as a good resource. Try the IDSA web site (http://www.idsa.com/) for some facts and stats on age and use in the US. I think their numbers are too high, but that shouldn't surprise you from a trade group. Pew Internet also has asked some game-related questions, and was kind enough to recently give me this eye-opening data from a 2002 survey (Keep in mind that this is probably anything from Bridge to Everquest): Q. Ever play a game online All users 37% Men 37% Women 38% Whites 34% Blacks 48% Hispanics 54% 18-29 52% 30-49 34% 50-64 28% 65+ 38% I should have some family-based data on the game I'm studying (Asheron's Call 2) in the next few weeks, and you're welcome to mail me off-list. Here's what else I have for cites: Marriage & Family review, Vol 8 #1 & 2 are all on computers and families, but is from 1985. Sneed & Runco, 1992 (I think), Journal of Psychology V 120: The Beliefs Adults and Children Hold About Television and Video Games Let me know if you come across anything else good. I'd like to have more information myself. Cheers, Dmitri **************** Dmitri Williams Ph.D. Candidate University of Michigan Department of Communication Studies dcwillia@umich.edu http://www.umich.edu/~dcwillia On Thursday, April 3, 2003, at 12:01 PM, air-l-request@aoir.org wrote:
From: "Sue Cranmer" <sue@jcranmer.freeserve.co.uk> Date: Thu Apr 3, 2003 3:26:05 AM US/Eastern To: <air-l@aoir.org> Subject: [Air-l] Adult Gamers within the Family Reply-To: air-l@aoir.org
Hi
Can anyone help me with references about adults playing computer games as part of the family, for instance, parents who use the computer for work which blurs into entertainment through gaming.
Thanks Sue