Gaming in the UK amongst 11-15 year olds

Flicking through the BBC's Gamers in the UK research, I was struck by how little the sustainable school travel sector are using games as a way of encouraging walking and cycling to school.

STAT ATTACK!!!!*:

• 97% of teens (11-15 year olds) are regular gamers - with 56% of those gamers playing every day, and 98% playing at least once a week.
• 45% agreed they get greater enjoyment out of gaming than any other entertainment form!
• While they tend to opt for consoles first (PS2 - see *), PCs are still a second place with mobile gaming third.
• 63% of the group enjoyed puzzle/board games/quizzes - the biggest group of any gaming genre.

The whole document is well worth a read.

* The only downside to this research is that it was commissioned in 2005. Since then we have had the rise of myspace/bebo/facebook et al, and also the third generation (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii) of computer games. These will have had an effect, the question is what. I think it is still fair to say that electronic media (and gaming) is still important to them!