Gamepad Dads

Editor's note: Remember those young boys—say about 15 or so years ago—who wandered around your store clenching a fistful of dollar bills carefully saved from weekly allowances? Remember how they agonized over their purchases? A die-cast car? A puzzle? A model kit? A pack of baseball cards?

They're b-a-a-a-ck.

Although retailers might not recognize them outright—what with the pierced ear and/or the shaved head—they don't want to ignore them, especially now that they are pushing strollers. They are Gen-X parents in search of playthings.

Retailers might want to consider that this new generation of dads, weaned on video games, is likely still playing them—and rethink their “gaming” business strategy!

—Maria Weiskott

Since the average video game player is 29 years old, according to the Entertainment Software Association, Washington, D.C., it's highly likely that more parents—and possibly even grandparents—are playing video games. And not only are they using gaming as a form of relaxation and entertainment for themselves, they are playing with their children and grandchildren. Call it a 21st Century “bonding” phenomenon.

In the new millennium, it's love of video games that males seem to be carrying with them into adulthood, leaving their cars and trucks behind.

Today, males are the majority of video game players at about 59 percent. Roughly 46 percent are aged 18 to 50, and the over 50 crowd, or “gray gamers,” make up about 17 percent, according to research conducted by the ESA.

“Gamepad Dads”—a demographic first noted by an electronics store in England, which subsequently coined a term for the niche—are sharing their gaming experience and time with their own kids. These new parents grew up with video games as a large portion of their childhood entertainment and believe it's a major part of family entertainment.

When video games first hit the market they were targeted at the teenage boy going to the arcade. As the console systems from Atari, Nintendo and Sega reached homes, each one carried with it arcade games as well as a host of new ones, but still aimed at the male audience. The boys grew up playing games and continue to do it now as a way to relieve stress from a work day or just as a source of entertainment.

Through the years, however, more girls took up gaming—about 39 percent of gamers are now female. So we can expect they may already be carrying the video gaming trend forward, too.

“Over half of parents (about 55 percent) play video games at least once a month,” says Carolyn Raunch, senior vice president of the ESA.

Now more than ever before, video games are becoming a family entertainment pastime. The cost is lower than seeing a movie, which can run a family of four about $50.00. Also, a movie is generally for one type of audience. Video games present a lot of content and each game can vary its experience depending on the player. Most games have a difficult, a normal and an easy setting to allow different skill levels. This gives parents and children a chance to play the same games but on different difficulty levels.

Video games are also educational. Games like Sid Meier's Civilization III Complete,Atari, N.Y., a real-time strategy game, can teach kids about the development of a society and how it progresses from a basic hunter/gatherer society to a modern one, along with all the issues a culture and nation need to deal with.

The social aspects of gaming are also a way for parents to connect with kids on the child's terms. According to research done by the ESA, the vast majority play games with friends and family. “In our 2004 survey we found that 92 percent of parents are monitoring the content of games,” Raunch said. Nearly 60 percent of gamers play socially, 33 percent play with siblings and 24 percent play with spouses and parents.