Did anyone else see the documentary on CTV called First Person Shooter?

This show should have been called When Parents Fail. The documentary covered a family where the kid in the family dropped out of school so that he could play Counterstrike. I haven't played CS but I know a lot of friends who do. While I wouldn't say that games like these are completely harmless* I would say that the parents in this show are stupid and useless. What parent would even allow a child to choose between dropping out of school and playing computer games?!

Granted, computer games can be extremely addictive. But if it leads to having a child drop out of school, and hearing that the parents say "We were powerless to stop him" ?

*When I was on my cruise, we saw a dead body on the shore, while we were docked at St.Petersburg, Russia. My brother, cousin and I got a pair of binoculars to take a closer look. While my cousin was totally grossed out by the sight of a large hole in the poor guy's face, I thought of Soldier of Fortune almost immediately, as did my brother. We both agreed that it looked like someone had taken a shotgun to his face at very close range. We were pretty fascinated by how accurate the game was!

Here are some interesting facts about gaming:

IDSA Figures (that's International Developers and Software Association for those of you wondering! www.idsa.com)
HISTORICAL SALES FIGURES

$6.35 billion in U.S. entertainment software sales in 2001.
$5.5 billion in U.S. entertainment software sales in 1998.
$3.2 billion in U.S. entertainment software sales in 1995.

WHO PLAYS VIDEO GAMES

43% of people who play interactive games are women
The average age of an interactive game player is 28 years old

For Computer Gamers...
28% of most frequent game players are under eighteen years old
30% of most frequent game players are between 18 and 35 years old
42% of most frequent game players are over 35 years old

For Console Gamers...
42% of most frequent game players are under eighteen years old
37% of most frequent game players are between 18 and 35 years old
21% of most frequent game players are over 35 years old