Niko, protagonist of Grand Theft Auto IV.What better way to unwind after a day’s work than to spend an hour playing Tetris, Solitaire, Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto on your laptop or game console?
For most Maltese, gaming is the perfect way of having fun as a study reveals that 74 per cent of people aged between three and 54 play digital and video games.
The University of Malta yesterday released a study on digital and video game usage in Malta, penned by Leonard Busuttil, Liberato Camilleri, Vanessa Camilleri, Alexiei Dingli and Matthew Montebello – academics from different fields.
A gender gap clearly exists, with 86 per cent of gamers being male.
Interestingly, most respondents’ preferred mode of playing is by using a desktop or laptop computer (33 per cent), followed by a game console (23 per cent). Only 9.5 per cent preferred using a tablet.
Almost all (98 per cent) parents of children aged between three and six allow their children to play digital games. Fifty per cent of children played for at least 30 minutes a day. What was worrying, Ms Camilleri said, was that one fifth of parents were not monitoring their child’s playtime.
The top two genres with the Maltese are puzzles (such as Tetris or Solitaire) and action games (such as Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto). Interestingly, 52 per cent of women (aged 25-42) enjoy puzzle or online social games (such as Farmville).
“You hear people saying we’re gamers but are we really?” Ms Camilleri questioned.
“We had no empirical studies to offer a bird’s eye view of the digital and video game scene in Malta.”
There is growing interest in various countries worldwide to drive research in the field, not only for its economic impact, but also for driving education at school, as well as at lifelong learning level.
During a panel discussion later, clinical psychologist Mary-Joan Camilleri asked a number of thought-provoking questions, including whether there was a correlation between obesity and gaming and the effects of gaming on the art of conversation.
Nick Porsche, a producer at Stillfront Group, said from a business perspective Malta could become a test ground for games because of its small English-speaking population and because it formed part of the EU. Most products were often launched into a test market first.
Gordon Calleja, head of the University’s Institute of Digital Games, said he would like to see more experimental and indie games in Malta, such as Papers, Please, which focuses on the emotional toll of being an immigration officer, deciding who to let in and exclude from entering a fictional dystopia.