The Digital Australia study, an annual look at the way Australians are playing video games, was released today. It features all the statistics that you might expect from such a survey. Yep, pretty much everyone in Australia is playing video games. Yep, video games aren’t just for kids. Yep, people play video games to stay sharp, healthy and happy.
Every statistic one needs to arm themselves with when dealing with the powers that be is there.
But there are also a few interesting nuggets of information in there for those of us who are already on board with the video games.
For example, did you know that 92% of people play games with other human beings? I mean I suspected that number would be high. I didn’t know it would be that high.
Did you know that 66% of people want more gender diversity in video game characters.
That 65% of people want more age diversity in video game characters.
Did you know that 28% of gamers have shared videos of themselves playing. That’s insane to me, but absolutely a sign of the times.
3135 people from 1234 households were surveyed for the Digital Australia 2018 study.
God bless Jeff Brand and the good folks at Bond University. Their work has been instrumental in providing the numbers that allow the IGEA to represent the games industry at the government level. What’s interesting to me is how these numbers have settled. In 2007 only 79% of households had gaming devices. Now that number is 93% and has been since 2013 — almost as if games have arrived at that point of ubiquity and isn’t going anywhere. Supporting that — the average age of gamers has been steadily increasing ever since this research began. Almost as if we’re all getting older together — with video games.
Mthis doesn’t seem to include many rural people in the study as I put up a post in our local gaming group (which has 300 locals in it) and no one knew what it was.
How did they get their samples?
How are we playing? With lots of lag. That’s how.
A lot of cool info there, Much appreciated especially when i speak to an older work mate who feels video games are a waste of time and being lazy (as he sits and watches double the hours of football each weekend than i do playing games)
Just really wish it wasn’t yellow text on white background. Makes some of the details really hard to read.
98mins daily average? Gee I wish I had that amount of spare time a day to play games
and here i am gaming for an average of 12hrs a day
wow, thats epic
Please keep this information secret from the educational professionals. Otherwise they will lose their jobs. Self directed learning and having fun is very taboo and forbidden. Every baby is forced to be brainwashed this way.
But what do they include as video games? playing candy crush on your phone on the train because its ever so slightly more entertaining than sitting in silence, my mum that the only game she plays is a crossword game on her phone. Not to be uppity, implying whatever games i play are more game-y than theirs. But i mean really should little crap phone games count. it doesn’t say they included them but that would lead me closer to believing that they did, or their questions were vague and each person had to decide their interpretation of the question.
“Did you know that 66% of people want more gender diversity in video game characters.”
do these people play video games?