Buy Now...

To avoid any confusion and possible offence that it may cause, I would recommend reading the next sentence in its entirety rather than just the initial section.  British parents are clueless  when it comes to video games.  This point of view, offered by children, came about as the result of a study of 1,000 kids aged between eight to 17 commissioned by Hyperoptic, a company involved in the delivery of  super affordable fibre optic broadband.  The study revealed that many children believed that their mums and dads were somewhat lacking in their gaming knowledge.

More than half of the children questioned confessed to a feeling of frustration by their parents unsuccessful attempts to speak to them while they were engrossed during a gaming session.  This was often due to the parent not understanding why the game could not be paused.  Other results from the study indicated that around three in ten children were embarrassed by their parents talking to them during a gaming session and not realising that the child's online friends were able to eavesdrop on the conversation. 

 There appeared to be better support for dad's understanding of gaming knowledge over than of what mum was capable.  Mum could only get a brilliant rating from one in ten children while dad got a similar rating from around 16% of those asked.  However one in ten children felt their dad was totally clueless when the topic of gaming was raised.

According to Charles Davies, the MD ISP at Hyperoptic, "Parents are surrounded by video games nowadays but often don't fully grasp what's going on or how important gaming is to their children.  It's amusing to see what parents do and don't have but this lack of knowledge about gaming also means parents may not be fully understanding of their children's hobby and why they do certain things."  Knowing there are at least two sides to an argument, the study also questioned the gamers' parents regarding their knowledge of the gaming world.

Over half the parents questioned felt that online gaming would affect other uses of their Internet such as streaming television and downloading.  Regarding the time spent playing video games, 64% of parents felt their child played more than an average of ten hours a week.  Almost half of the parents are worried that their child have become addicted to gaming and would often ask them more than twice a day to stop playing and take a break.  When asked to stop playing, many children admitted to finishing the current round first before obliging while a much smaller number would pause immediately.  Around 25%, would you believe it, were sneaky enough to pretend taking a break but actually continued playing in secret. 

Unsurprisingly, more than a third of the children taking part in the survey thought they should be allowed to spend more time on playing their games.  A time allocation of five hours a day was a popular suggestion. Add in sleeping and eating time and there is not much of the day left.

While almost half the parents questioned would play online games with their child, many could not understand what they were doing.  Often the reason for this was the need for the use of gaming language and terminology.  Parents were often lacking in this ability.

Some gaming terms not understood by parents.

1. FUT - FIFA Ultimate Team

2.Pallet Town - A playable character from the original Pokémon games

3.Cappy - Mario's hat in Super Mario Odyssey

4. Mercy - A healer character from the game Overwatch

5. Microtransaction - Something you can buy in-game with real money

6. Joy-Con - The name of the Nintendo Switch controller

7. Killstreak - How many people you can kill without getting killed yourself

8. Creeper - Enemy in Minecraft

9. V-bucks - In game currency in Fortnite

10. Battle Royale - Popular type of "last man standing" videogame popularised by                            Fortnite.