Game On The BBFC publishes research into the way games are played Video games are an area of the BBFC's work that often results in confusion. People who don't play games often don't understand them and cannot fathom why they are so attractive to so many of the nation's teens and young adults. This lack of understanding has led to some video games (or even video games as a whole) being demonised by the press or by popular opinion. In order to understand better the way in which games are played in Britain today, the BBFC commissioned independent research into the subject. The researchers talked to a wide variety of people, from gamers aged seven to forty to the parents of game players, from games industry representatives to experts from games publications. The research team discovered that children are starting to play video games at The various gamers interviewed gave a variety of reasons why they enjoyed playing video games. Many said they played games to escape from real life and that games opened up new and exciting worlds. The fact that the worlds of adventure experienced by the gamer are without real risk and are able to be controlled were mentioned as attractive aspects. Gamers stated that they often felt a sense of achievement while playing games and claimed that video games offered mental stimulation and increased hand-eye coordination. Video game players indicated that they were less likely to become emotionally engrossed in a game than they would be if watching a film or a television programme. Many stated that the fact that they have to actively participate in the action, by making decisions, pressing buttons and moving characters, means that they are constantly made aware that they are playing a game and that gameplay is not real life.
The gamers were virtually unanimous in rejecting the suggestion that video games encourage people to be violent in real life or that they have become desensitised. They said they saw no evidence in themselves or their game-playing friends that they had become more violent in real life. As one participant said: 'I no more feel that I have actually scored a goal than I do that I have actually killed someone. I know it’s not real. The emphasis is on achievement.' However, games players, developers and reviewers all acknowledged that violence in games could become problematic as the graphics improved and some questioned where the violence would stop. As one person put it, violence is the 'elephant in the room' which no one in the industry wants to discuss. Non-games-playing parents expressed concerns about the amount of time their children, particularly boys, spend playing games and said they'd prefer that they were outside in the fresh air. However, they are more concerned about the 'stranger-danger' of internet chat rooms. While violence in games surprises and concerns some of them, they are confident that their children are well balanced enough to not be influenced by playing violent games. While parents agreed that there should be regulation of games, some are happy to give their children adult games because they are 'only games.' At the publication of the research, BBFC Director David Cooke said 'There is no question that video games are an important form of entertainment for an ever increasing number of people. As the technology improves the games will become more and more realistic and it is important that games are properly rated to protect younger players from the games with adult content. [The research] has highlighted parental attitudes to video games. We hope that it will provide some food for thought for the industry, and everyone who has an interest in the impact of games and we will be taking the research outcomes into account as we review our games classification policies over the coming months.' The full research document is available here. Find out more: |
an increasingly early age, but that gamers in general are getting older, as the generation of children that experienced the very first video games in the 1980s now reach their thirties and forties. The research indicated that men and women have very different approaches to game-playing, both in the games they choose to play and the amount of time they spend on them. Female players tend to prefer strategic games like The Sims and puzzle games. They spend less time playing games than their male counterparts. Male players favour sports and shoot-'em-up games and are far more likely to become deeply absorbed in gameplay.
As far as violence in games is concerned, gamers are aware that this is an important issue and some of the younger game-players questioned had seen violence they found upsetting, almost exclusively in adult-rated games. However, most of the adult game-players interviewed were not seriously concerned about violence in games because they think violence on television and in films is more upsetting and more real.