They get sucked in. You can tell by the glazed eyes and the irritation they show when anyone or anything interrupts them battling some evil force or attempting a skateboard jump to make Tony Hawk proud.
They are the male children of America and a generation or more have been drawn to the call of video games. (Okay, we're being way melodramatic here.) In total, 1.6 million consumers in the U.S., kids (and adults also, to be fair) are engaged in some form of video gaming, whether it's on a PS3, Wii or Xbox.
Until now, it has largely been viewed as a guy thing where girls, being much more sensible and conscious of using their time productively, have dabbled from time-to-time but largely gone about pursuing other interests.
There's no doubt that when it comes to gaming, guys are console-ready. According to numbers from Nielsen's State of the Console report, two-thirds of males 18 to 34 have a video game console in their homes. Younger boys have an even higher access to video games. The overall gaming population, however, is aging with the median player aged 17 compared to 15 in the fourth quarter of 2004.
What was surprising in the Nielsen research was the increasingly high number of girls and women who have caught the gaming bug.
"Seeing the amount of reach gaming has in teenage girls and women 18 to 34 is pretty impressive," Nick Covey, marketing analytics and development manager at Nielsen Gameplay Metrics, and author of the report, told Ad Age. "Part of that might represent the increasingly multimedia use [of the gaming console]."
While gamers spend quite a bit of time in front of a screen with a controller in their hands, Nielsen numbers suggest that, when the gaming is over, the television viewing begins.
"Our data show key demos are consuming more TV in addition to gaming," said Mr. Covey. "There's this whole notion of multitasking and media competing for their attention but they seem to have the ability to consume more of everything."
Discussion Questions: Is there anything to be read into a growing number of girls and young women moving into a category (gaming) previously thought to be part of a boys' club? How do you square the increase in female gamers with the fact that the vast majority of titles on the market are targeted to guys? What does all this mean for retailers and game marketers?