Statistics on Video Game Content (1991-1999)
1999
Video Game Habits (U.S.)
These figures are based on the responses to a survey conducted by the National Institute on Media and the Family and the University of Oklahoma. The survey was administered to 137 teens in grades 8-11 in a large suburban school district near a large Midwestern city.
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Eighty-four per cent of teens overall play video/electronic games. Ninety-two per cent of boys play games.
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Ninety per cent of teens say their parents "never" check the ratings before allowing them to rent or buy video games. Eight per cent say their parents "rarely" check the rating. Only one per cent of teens said their parents had ever kept them from getting a game because of its rating.
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Thirty-two per cent of boys who play video games download them from the Internet.
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Eighty-nine per cent of teens (91 per cent of boys) say that their parents "never" put limits on how much time they may spend playing video games.
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The average teen likes a moderate amount of violence in their video games (roughly 5 on a scale of 1 to 10). Among boys only, the average teen likes a fair amount of violence (7 on a scale of 1 to 10).
Source: Media Family "Whoever Tells the Stories Defines the Culture", Dr. David Walsh
1996
Most Popular Video Games (U.S.)
A small-scale study found the most popular categories of video games were: fantasy violence, with 32 per cent of players preferring such games; sports (29 per cent), general entertainment (20 per cent), human violence (17 per cent), and educational (2 per cent).
Source: Source: Interactive Video Games, from Mediascope, June 1996
1991
Male vs. Female Characters in Video Games (U.S.)
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Out of 124 characters in the video games studied, male characters outnumbered female characters 13 to one.
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In these games, women were rescued or kidnapped 30 per cent of the time, and although men were in occasional need of rescue, they were never saved by women.
Source:
Video Kids: Making Sense of Nintendo by Eugene Provenzo, Harvard University Press, 1991
