Teens, Games and Civics- Pew Research response

3 things I learned:

• Daily gamers are just as likely to spend time face to face and communicating with friends.
• The majority of most popular games are not violent, and the most popular gaming types are racing and puzzle games.
• Three quarters of teens who see anti-social and uncivil behavior in gaming regularly see others respond.

2 things I agree/disagree with:

• I agree that the industry rating systems do not work. Interesting because 72% of parents say they "always" or "sometimes" check a game rating before letting their children play the game. 55% say they "always" do. I wonder about these numbers because I think sometimes parents want to think they are more diligent about following the ratings system then they are. The survey also found that 32% of teens said that one of their 3 favorite games was rated Mature or Adults Only. As far as I could tell, there was no information about what percentage of teens had played or owned a video game that was rated M or AO.
• I totally agree that teen gaming is social... and not just teen gaming, I rarely play games by myself. 

1 (well, actually 2 :) question(s) I have:

• This research made me question how gender stereotypes play a factor in gaming. I had questions about girls playing online. The research showed that girls were more likely to play almost exclusively online with people they know. I wonder if this is because parents/adults are more concerned about girls being "victimized" online. I also question if this is the case, or if boys and girls are equally as likely to be victimized online (bullied, propositioned etc). I was also taken by the research finding that parents are more likely to monitor boys and young children's gaming behavior rather than girls - again, another stereotype that boys are the only ones who have problems with video games. Also, the research showed that girls were less likely to have civic gaming experiences.... which I thought could  be a case of self-fulfilling stereotype in which teenage girls aren't supposed to be interested in civic engagement at that age because there are few media images that encourage that.

• Another question I had concerning civic engagement - the research stated that frequent civic gaming experiences is related to greater levels of civic engagement... I wonder if that's because the type of teenager who is interested in those types of games also has an interest in civics to begin with. Is this a case of the cart being put in front of the horse?