New Research Shows Parents' Gaming Fears Persist, Nonprofit Offers Parenting Workshops

Games for Change released a paper titled “Raising Good Gamers” that draws on a massive analysis of media and social commentary across fifteen countries, showing a stark dominance of negative attitudes toward video games online. Rachel Kowert, the nonprofit’s research director, highlighted that parents’ primary anxieties—excessive screen time, potential addiction, and exposure to violent or age-inappropriate material—remain largely unchanged from the 1970s, even though scholarly research often contradicts these assumptions.

She noted that gaming’s interactive nature and its frequent scapegoating in violent crime narratives keep the fear cycle alive. The study also found that nearly six in ten children want to play games together with their parents, prompting the development of a “SPACE” approach: Show up with curiosity, Play together, Adjust for context, Cultivate digital citizenship, and Establish boundaries. Games for Change’s chief program officer Arana Shapiro explained that early, guided exposure can build a healthier foundation for later gaming habits. After a pilot workshop showed that 82 % of attendees felt more capable of talking about games, the nonprofit will expand the sessions to community venues in the United States and United Kingdom and offer virtual webinars, embedding the SPACE framework throughout.