A third (33%) of gamers in South Africa are ashamed of how much they game and hide it from their parents. This according to global research by Kaspersky and was discussed in a recent Mum’s Got Game live panel.

This research, commissioned by Kaspersky and conducted by Savanta in November last year, looks at gaming in 2020 across 17 countries and 5031 respondents, and considers what dynamics between gamers and their parents have changed and what can be done to break down barriers and stigmas.

According to the gamers surveyed, this gaming shame is due to archaic stigmas that remain around it, such as “bad for your health” (55%) or "rotting your brain" (56%). 28% believed their parents think gaming is too violent.

The biggest disappointment for gamers is that while parents appreciate many of the positives – creativity (55%), social skills (33%), problem solving (50%) – they are less able to engage with them about their passion, mainly because gameplay and the social elements of gaming are so different to the likes of movies and music. In fact, half (54%) believe that if their parents "got" gaming, their relationship overall would be better.

Andrew Winton, VP of Marketing at Kaspersky, said, “Gaming has provided huge support to many people this past year; offering solace, relief and friendship in difficult times. But for many families, the negative perceptions of gaming can be very counter-productive in enabling open dialogue and building relationships. We hope that the wise words from these mums will help others start to have better and more positive conversations between gamers and parents.”

The "Generation Game" research was commissioned by Kaspersky and conducted by Savanta, with all respondents under 35, spread evenly across gender, age and socioeconomics within that, consider themselves gamers, and game at least 5-10 hours per week on a PC. The countries included Russia, USA & UK (at least 500 each), Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and UAE (at least 250 each).

To read the full report visit Kaspersky's blog.