Amanda Lenhart's presentation to the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco on Friday, March 27 2009. The talk covers demographic data on teen and adult gamers and data on the games teens play, parents and their attitudes and behaviors towards games as well as the potential for games to teach teens about citizenship and civic engagement.

1. Cheats for Marketers: Fresh Demographics on Teen and Adult Game Play & How Games Can Teach Kids to Be Good Citizens Amanda Lenhart Game Developers Conference March 2009 San Francisco, CA

7. Hardware: Adults vs. Teens Source: Adult data based on Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey, October-December 2007. N= 2,054 total adults, margin of error is ±2%. N=1,063 total game players, margin of error is ±3%. Teen data based on Pew Internet Project survey, November 2007-February 2008. N=1,064 teen gamers, margin of error is ±3%. 62 25 13 Portable gaming device like PSP, DS, or Gameboy 50 35 18 Cell phone, Blackberry, or other handheld organizer 89 53 28 Game console (Xbox, PlayStation, Wii, etc) 76% 73% 38% Desktop or laptop computer % of teen gamers % of adult gamers % of all adults Do you ever use any of the following to play games whether or not you personally have one? Do you use…to play games? Adults Play Games On Many Devices

21. Majority of most popular games are not violent The Sims Halo Grand Theft Auto Tetris Madden NFL ‘08 Dance Dance Revolution Solitaire Madden NFL Halo 3 Guitar Hero 10 Most Frequently Played Games

27. How Games Might Make Kids Better Citizens (or, another potential selling point for skeptical parents and policy makers)

32. Democracy

33. Civilization IV Image courtesy of graye via flickr under creative commons

35. More civic gaming experiences = more civic engagement. * Indicates statistically significant difference when compared with the percent of teens with the fewest civic gaming experiences. Gaming and Civic/Political Life 55 54 53 Volunteer 15* 7 6 Participate in a protest march/demonstration. 34* 23 17 Persuade others how to vote in an election. 60* 59* 49 Stay informed about political issues/current events. 70* 61* 51 Give or raise money for charity. 70* 64* 55 Go online to get information about politics/current events. % of teens with frequent civic gaming experiences % of teens with average civic gaming experiences % if teens with few civic gaming experiences

40. Full Report @ http://www.pewinternet.org Civics White Paper @ http://www.civicsurvey.org/ Amanda Lenhart Pew Internet & American Life Project [email_address] http://www.pewinternet.org