Survey: More than half of U.S. adults are gamers

When my dad was my age, he never—ever—played video games. Ever. But times change, and here I am—a grown-up gamer, as are (apparently) a good 53 percent of American adults age 18 and older.

That's according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project (by way of Digital Media Wire), which goes on to note that among adult gamers, about 21 percent play almost every day—and indeed, gamers 65 and older are even "more avid" than kids.

So wait, Grandpa's playing "Call of Duty 4" on his PS3 every afternoon? Well, almost. While he may indeed be blowing away baddies on "CoD", he's much more likely to be playing on a PC (81 percent of gamers age 65 or older play on a desktop or laptop) than a gaming console (just 10 percent).

And here's an interesting statistic: Parents are more likely to be gamers than non-parents, according to the study. A whopping 66 percent of parents with kids 17 or younger play video games, versus just 47 percent of grownups without kids. And get this: only 31 percent of parents play game with their kids "at least some of the time," although younger parents—and parents with younger kids—are more likely to game with their little ones (hopefully "Little Big Planet" and not "Gears of War 2").

Huh ... but if so many adults are gamers, why is it that every time I play "CoD4" online, all I hear are a bunch of screeching 12-year-olds? According to Pew, that's because only 43 percent of adult gamers play online, compared to 79 percent of teen gamers. In other words—grown-ups like me (I'm 39, kids—I know, I'll probably die soon) are seriously outnumbered when it comes to multiplayer.

OK, let's do our own survey right here, right now—are you gamer? If so, how old are you? Console or PC? Parent, or no kids? And how often do you pick up that controller?

Related:
Survey: More Than Half of American Adults Play Video Games [Digital Media Wire]