Most parents don't play videogames with their kids

According to the results of an Associated Press-AOL Games poll released today, 43 per cent of US parents whose children play videogames never play along with them.

Even among parents who do play videogames with their children, 30 per cent say that they spend less than one hour per week doing so.

Only 38 per cent of the adults said that they played computer or videogames, although 81 per cent said that their children ages 4 to 17 played computer or videogames regularly.

The percentage of adults who admitted playing videogames was generally unchanged since they were last surveyed in April of 2006.

There was little difference among users by race or by region, but the percentage of adults ages 18 to 29 who play videogames is double that of adults ages 50 to 64.

Those parents who do play videogames with their children are more likely to be younger, single and part-time workers than those who do not, according to the poll.

Forty-four per cent of gamers said that they play over the Internet, and forty-six per cent of them spent up to USD 200 on games within the last year. Men were usually bigger spenders on videogames than women.

The AP-AOL poll involved 2,016 adults and had a margin sampling error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.