Survey: Teen and tween gamers want to compete against Obama and celebrities

Around the water cooler, people may ask, “If you could dine with anyone famous, who it would be?” But for teens and tweens, dinner would likely be replaced with a heated match of Wii tennis or a fast-paced game of Mario Kart with a favorite celebrity. A recent survey of more than 1,000 8-17-year-olds by national video game retailer, Game Crazy reveals that the superstars teens and tweens would most like to compete against are President Obama, who received nearly one in five votes, the Jonas Brothers, Tom Brady and Miley Cyrus.

Forget Hollywood! Kids Want to Game in D.C.

The Game Crazy survey affirms the 44th President of the United States’ innate ability to connect with Americans of all ages. Boys and girls alike think competing against the Commander-in-Chief would be the ultimate gaming experience. President Obama rocked the vote with 19 percent of teens and tweens overall, choosing him as the personality they would most like to play video games against.

Guys Stick Together When it Comes to Gaming

President Obama was the definitive leader among boys (25 percent), followed by a cast of all-male athletes and celebs including New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (14 percent), and a three-way tie between singing trio, the Jonas Brothers, comedic actor Seth Rogen, and Olympian and well-known gamer, Michael Phelps (all at 12 percent).

For girls, the top picks included singing sensations and friends, Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers (both at 23 percent). President Obama came in third for the females with 13 percent of votes, followed by pop songstress and queen of the “Love Game,” Lady Gaga (nine percent).

Top Picks for Girls
Miley Cyrus 23%
Jonas Brothers 23%
President Obama 13%
Lady Gaga 9%
Angelina Jolie 7%

Top Picks for Boys
President Obama 25%
Tom Brady 14%
Seth Rogen 12%
Michael Phelps 12%
Jonas Brothers 12%

Kids Choose Celeb Rivals To Compete

Tinseltown makes for quite a few celeb rivalries, so Game Crazy’s survey also looked at the celebrity rivals kids would most like to see compete against one another.

Forget about a nasty war of words on Twitter — what better way to settle celebrity differences than with a video game playoff? A whopping 43 percent of boys agreed NBA stars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant would be the greatest match-up, followed by Eminem and Mariah Carey, a rivalry that continues to live through Eminem’s lyrics and Mariah’s music videos. With New Moon, the latest movie of the Twilight saga, breaking box office records across the country, the girls are smitten with competition for Belle’s love between Edward Cullen and Jacob Black (34 percent), followed by a duel between long-time rivals Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston (27 percent).

Survey Methodology

The Game Crazy survey was conducted online August 20 – September 2, 2009, by Weekly Reader Research. 1,005 U.S. male and female participants, ages 8-17, were recruited from Weekly Reader Research’s INSIDERS survey research community to participate. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence interval.