It's game on for families in fun-packed revolution

Tennis on the Wii gets couch potatoes to at least try to move like Maria Sharapova or Roger Federer. Photo / Supplied

The average video gamer is not who you'd think - with a major survey into Kiwis' gaming habits dispelling some myths around home entertainment.

Utter the word "gamer" and many would struggle to get past the image of a spotty teen, glued to a television. clutching a controller as he slashed his way through ultra-violent scenes of disturbing violence.

But Interactive New Zealand 2010, an industry survey released this week, showed the average gamer is 33 years old - and a staggering 44 per cent of the gaming population are women.

The survey showed the industry - worth $170 million in New Zealand last year - has turned a corner, becoming more part of normal family life than a geeky sector on society's fringe.

Headed by Dr Jeffrey Brand of Bond University on behalf of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (iGEA), the survey's most surprising result was that every household with children had some sort of device to play video games on - from PCs, laptops, portable games machines such as Nintendo's DS to PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

Mobile phones, despite quickly becoming a force in the games world, were not counted.

More than 1200 households and 3386 people responded to the survey, with ages ranging from 3-85 years. While 43 per cent of over-50s play electronic games, 91 per cent of those aged 6-15 years considered themselves gamers. Of all gamers, 78 per cent were over 18.

Family games were the most popular, with Nintendo's easy-to-use motion-controlled Wii a key driver. This category is expected to expand further with Sony releasing a similar, but more advanced, control system in September for its PlayStation3.

Microsoft's Kinect for Xbox 360, which "reads" body movements instead of using a controller, is expected later this year.

Most parents who participated felt games were useful for learning about technology, maths and science, as well as for developing general intelligence. Sixty-four per cent used games to help educate their children, and 59 per cent simply played to spend time with their kids. "It's really crucial for parents to get into games with kids," said Dr Brand. "Part of the tension we have with any new medium is parents don't understand it, kids do, and that creates issues.

"Gaming is something the family can do together," he said. "In time, it will be just like reading a book to your child, or watching television."

Females used more puzzle and "board" games, and favoured educational or family titles, while males were drawn to action, strategy, racing, fighting, shooting and adventure games.

Violence is often highlighted by media, with R18-rated titles such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and the Grand Theft Auto series attracting global negative attention. Non-gamers saw enhancing violence as the top effect of playing games - gamers put it seventh in a list of 11.

"Better to be violent on the computer/video games than in real life," one mother surveyed said.

The sedentary gamer stereotype was also discounted, with results showing that while 35 per cent played games on a daily basis, most only played for an hour or so at a time. Only 4 per cent played for more than five hours in one session.

The amount of physical and social activities that respondents regularly engaged in was nearly an even split between gamers and non-gamers.

"Gamers are actually much more likely to attend a sporting event," said Dr Brand. "They're more likely to play board games and card games than non-gamers. They just like being interactive and engaged - but they are less likely to garden."

"This is a maturing, very popular medium," he said, a fact solidly backed up by one 85-year-old gent in the survey - a devoutly enthusiastic gamer.

QUICK FACTS
* 88.5 per cent of NZ homes have a games device 50+ per cent play strategy, puzzle, board or card games

* 170 million dollars spent last year

* 64 per cent of parents play video games

* 44 per cent of Kiwi gamers are femaleWii is a key driver of family gaming.