As E3 ramps up in Los Angeles, a new Associated Press and AOL poll has revealed that 40 percent of all American adults play games on a computer or a console, a significant percentage which shows the continuing importance of video games as a medium. Men, younger adults and minorities were most likely to play games, according to the poll.
The poll also yielded plenty of other results worth ruminating on - 45 percent of gamers play over the Internet, and those who do are notably more 'hardcore' than those who do not. Forty-two percent of online gamers spent four hours or more per week playing games, but only 26% of offline gamers did similarly.
The AP/AOL survey also revealed that, of those who play online games, almost one in five said they had formed real-life friendships or relationships with those they play with online, showing the use of gaming as a social activity, even when playing remotely against others.
In addition, it's noted that more men than women (45% vs. 35%) play computer or video games, and males are more likely to play computer or video games with other people (32% vs. 23%), while more women than men say they prefer to play computer or video game by themselves (69% vs. 59%). Other interesting stats: 4% of adults age 65 or older play at least 10 hours or more a week, and online gamers prefer casual games (30%), strategy games (20%) and adventure/role-playing (15%).
Another notable statistic involved what the survey dubbed 'hardcore gamers' - in this case, people who play games for three or more hours per week. By this relatively low-threshold definition of the hardcore gamer, many of this group actually spent relatively little on games - 60% spent $200 or less per year.
The AP-AOL Games poll of 3,024 U.S. adults, including 1,046 gamers, was conducted by Ipsos, an international polling firm, on April 18-20 and 24-27. For the gamers, the poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
