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Are Solitaire-Playing Grannies a danger to society?

The Chinese state media has branded online games “spiritual opium”. and this week announced that on-line gamers under the age of 18 will only be allowed to play for an hour on Fridays, weekends and holidays between 8pm to 9pm . China’s video game regulator has also instructed gaming companies to prevent children playing outside these times

China cuts children’s online gaming to one hour – BBC News

Why do the Chinese consider on-line games as opiates? British writer Tom Fowdy  believes that China “is locked in a new ‘Opium war’ against the west, with a series of countries wanting to impose their ideological, economic and strategic preferences on them” but what about those western countries, is the gaming culture harmful to us?

Webster’s defines a gamer as “a person who regularly plays computer or video games”. Although I know that our 4-year-old grandson is obsessed with Pokemon, his 5-year-old sister has an iPhone (all be it a hand-me-down from her dad without internet access unless supervised), and our other granddaughter, the six year old, made some pretty decent video tutorials during Covid lock-down; I didn’t think by any stretch of the imagination our three, or indeed we ourselves could be branded “gamers” in the short-hand sense we use the word today.

We don’t own an Xbox and apart from a mild addiction to, Solitaire, Candy Crush and virtual jig-saws we don’t really do “gaming” – I assumed hard-core console gamers would say we don’t count,

How wrong can you be?


In 2021 video game profits are expected to reach $180.1 billion.

Compare the “proper” video game companies:

  • Activision Blizzard, the creators of Call of Duty: Black Ops, World of War, and Modern Warfare, and also the largest video game company in 2021, holds an estimated market capitalization of $70.74 billion – a 25% increase from May 2020. (Source: Statista)
  • Right behind is Japanese giant Nintendo, with favourites such as Animal Crossing and Mario Cart. and valued at  $64.73 billion as of March 2021.
  • EA is third in line, with an estimated value of $37.43 in March 2021. They are responsible for FIFA and Star Wars games. 

But here is the shocker: the mobile games part of the market share is expected to grow to 59%. PC games are predicted to generate $32.3 billion in profits in 2021 and to have 19% of the global games market. Console games, on the other hand, will only get 22%.

Smartphone owners like casual games that take little time to play; puzzles, arcades, simulations, lifestyle, and bingo-like games are all the craze. This sector made over  $5.1 billion in 2020, 29% growth compared to 2019. Puzzle games also accounted for just over 50% of all casual games revenue for 2020, while 2020 also saw a 60% growth world-wide in-game playing among people 45 to 54-years-old.

So the stereotype of the “spiritually damaged” hard-core Gen-Z gamer sitting in their bedroom plotting their next real-world act of violence is debunked.

Apart from the fact that there is no scientific, consensus-backed research supporting the idea that playing video games, even bloody, realistic shoot-em-ups, leads to real-life acts of brutality, with their 59% market share and the buying power of their disposable income, perhaps it is the solitaire-playing subversive Grannies that the Chinese should really be concerned about!

Anyone got a life they can send me?

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