Out of the range of different gaming systems available, it appears that the majority of children use the trusty PC as their gaming system.

According to a report issued by the NPD Group, PC was shown as the most widely used gaming platform for children between the ages of two and seventeen. In addition, this study maintains that over one third of children studied in the U.S. spend more time today playing computer games than they did a year ago.

Going Up, Going Up

The study claims that about half of the child gamers are light users, which means they play for up to five hours a week and the rest spend from six to sixteen hours or above a week. It appears that between the ages of six and eight, children seem to take their gaming more seriously. Anita Frazier, Analyst at the NPD Group stated that "not only does the amount of time they spend playing games increase the most dramatically, but they migrate from using 'kid' systems to using more portable and console systems as well." She added that "this appears to be a critical age at which to capture the future gamers of the world".

Boys, Girls and Gaming

The study suggests that boys are attracted to video gaming systems, especially consoles, while in general, girls play more at PC games, kid systems and cell phone games. It is also interesting to note that girls, although they do start off on the kid systems, at some point they seem to lose interest.

Following this study, it is also reported that out of children between the ages of two to seventeen who play online games, 39 percent of the time is played online rather than offline. It should also be noted that a massive 91 percent of the children examined play free online games.