Goggle Eyes

As Christmas present time approached .... and then receded

Xmas Games Gifts for Many

... there's little doubt that for many teens (probably predominantly male), and young males under the age of 25, computer games will have featured very highly on their Christmas present wish lists.

Game Revenues Worldwide

 
Worldwide, the market is simply huge .... here's a few facts: 

• There are more than 2.5 billion video gamers from all over the world and the market is expected to be worth over $90 billion U.S. dollars by 2020 (up from $78.61 billion in 2017).
• Smartphones and watches are expected to take up 34% of the worldwide revenue in 2019 and this will grow as third world teens move in to the market (Smartphones are more available to poorer consumers in many parts of Africa / Asia / South America, than PC's or specific game devices). This is backed by the fact that worldwide, 76% of customers prefer to play games on mobile devices while 62% prefer playing on PC/Mac.

Women Don't Play Games As Much .....

I am not convinced that the female of the species are anything like as interested in these games and software as the males, and the figures from the USA back me up:

• Only 19% of women play video games often, and a further 21% of women play video games 'sometimes' ... sometimes often means less than once a week. In poorer countries, women are often economically handicapped to the extent that they never play games.
• While 17% of male and 10% of female between ages 18 -35 in the U.S. play video games, the figures even out to 13% of male and 13% of female at the age of 50 and up play video games in the US.
• Globally the World Health Organization lists gaming addiction - which they call "gaming disorder" - as a mental health condition.

However perhaps the most interesting figures come from the Asia markets:

• The Asia Pacific reached a revenue of $51.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, making them the largest gaming market.
• Asian consumers spend the most minutes gaming or leisure on a computer during weekends and holidays, with an average use of 32 minutes.
• According to market research firm Niko, in the five years up to 2023, the number of mobile gamers in China is expected to rise from 598 million to 728 million.

Just for the records, the United Kingdom is the second-largest video games market in Europe, and the sixth-largest market in the world, and the entire UK video games market is expected to grow to reach £5.5 billion value by 2022. Now in the West, we shrug, mutter something about 'causes of the child obesity crisis' .... 'parental controls', and then turn the other way.

Game Locked Phones In China ....

But not so in China, which has introduced a new curfew for on-line gamers under the age of 18. They are now banned from playing between 22:00 and 08:00. Gaming sessions are also limited to 90 minutes on weekdays, and three hours per day on weekends. Furthermore, gamers eight to 16 years old can only spend up to 200 Yuan (£22, $29) per month, while those aged between 16 and 18 years can spend up to 400 Yuan (£44, $58) per month on their gaming accounts.

The Chinese authorities want to curb video game addiction, which Communist party officials say is damaging to Chinese children's health, they especially have concerns about near-sightedness in children. A quick glance at the figures, show that the Chinese and East Asians have something to be worried about.

Chinas Myopic Problem, Is Obvious If You Can See It ....

Levels of short sightedness among Chinese schoolchildren rose by more than 50 per cent between grade one and seven, a study has found. The study found 12 per cent of children in grade one, who were around the age of seven, were near-sighted. This rose to 67 per cent by grade seven, when the children are around 13-years-old.

According to some statistics, between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of Chinese primary school pupils start classes with myopia. Then the percentage rises to up to 50 per cent for secondary school students. In university, 90 per cent are short-sighted. In the 1960's, only 20 per cent of the Chinese population was short-sighted, even allowing for less testing, this is an alarming rise in the condition, and there are even fears that up to half of them will eventually lose all or most of their sight in later life. China could look like a post day of the Triffids world in some urban areas (myopia rates are markedly lower in the rural village areas, where children have to go out more).

Now, most observers have considered that the pressure to perform academically, in China has created a scenario where children are spending most of their time indoors, depriving them of the sunlight that allows their eyes to develop, as well as restricting the distances being observed.

The Japanese and South Koreans, also have high rates of myopia in children, and also have the same pressures to succeed at school. South Korea has 96 per cent of young adults (below the age 20) having myopia; and the rate for Seoul the capital is even higher. In Taiwan, 85 per cent of young adults are myopic, according to studies, and in Singapore, the figure is 82 per cent.

Hong Kong is a good case study in the rise in this condition, as according to a report by the Centre for Myopia Research at Polytechnic University, about 30 per cent of the population born before 1950 are myopic, but that rate shoots up to 70 per cent for those born between 1950 and 1980. Its estimated that more than 80 per cent of the entire adult population will be myopic within the next 30 years.

Perhaps in a sign of how poor academically our school kids are by international standards, only about 30 per cent of young adults in countries such as Britain are myopic .....