Games blamed for decline in national park attendance

by John Bardinelli { Jun 6th 2007 at 3:25PM }

The Christian Science Monitor along with the National Wildlife Federation reports that videogames are one of the reasons (along with cell phones, TV, and gas prices) national parks in North America have seen a sharp decline in attendance over the last few years. More kids are becoming couch potatoes and developing a "nature deficit disorder", and parks are suffering as a result. The NWF is launching programs around the country to fight the indooredness of these sun-deprived folk whose only interaction with trees is in World of Warcraft.

We love gaming, but we also love nature. While you can't do both at the same time (waterfall hikes with gaming gear in tow can get messy), we can't help but feel there's a deeper reason behind the decline. Maybe Nature just needs a better marketing team to jazz things up, make it more exciting? It's time for Nature 2.0.

[Via Gaming Today]

Tags: culture, gaming, nature, news

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ryan @ Jun 6th 2007 3:29PM

this is stupid, kids rarely have a choice on where they go. They would have made more sense (but still sound stupid) if they blamed it on the decline of the family.

Anni @ Jun 6th 2007 3:32PM

I can't wait for National Park Tycoon!

HotShotX @ Jun 6th 2007 3:33PM

I don't know about you guys, but when my youth camp when to do outdoor-sy shit or take nature walks, I was bored out of my f-ing mind.

I always got yelled at too for wanting to run around or climb rocks/hills. They told me I wasn't supposed to "play around", but to "look around and appreciate nature".

Nature blows, get over it and add some fucking physical activity for these kids. (Walking doesn't count)

~HotShotX

Jonny McCormack @ Jun 6th 2007 3:35PM

Gas prices? Oh wait thats what you Americano's know petrol as.

Gonna say, expensive heating!? DON'T EVEN THINK OF LEAVING THE HOUSE. Hehe.

Meliv @ Jun 6th 2007 3:36PM

Let me see, it's my one day off work. Do I want to do something entertaining or step in dog shit and look at trees?

Almack64 @ Jun 6th 2007 3:40PM

Nature 2.0 FTW

mccomber @ Jun 6th 2007 3:44PM

Perhaps it has more to do with the fact that entrance fees have generally been on the rise for our national parks?

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2007-04-29-parkfees_N.htm

Xvalue @ Jun 6th 2007 3:45PM

If they could just make a virtual national park tour game that would solve the problem.

Mack Swift @ Jun 6th 2007 3:46PM

Gas prices. Too expensive to even travel from point A to point B now.

Matt B @ Jun 6th 2007 3:51PM

Nice find mccomber.

In April, I drove the wife and kids to the Grand Canyon. I get up to the window to find out it was $25 to get in and we were only staying about an hour. I wanted to turn around but we went in. The novelty of seeing one of the biggest holes in the ground wore off pretty quick.

Trio @ Jun 6th 2007 3:52PM

Parks are boring......

liqwid @ Jun 6th 2007 3:53PM

I blame parents and high gas prices. Mine never took me to a national park, but we have made plans, recently, about driving to Yosemite, and that's the first time my parents ever brought up going to a national park.

Everything is at such a convenient location that people don't really think to go to such places. We have quite a few parks where I live, making travel to convenient and quiet location possible without going too far from home.

Dracula Jones @ Jun 6th 2007 3:54PM

"Gas prices? Oh wait thats what you Americano's know petrol as."

Mrs. Featherbottom: Ok, who'd like a banger in the mouth? Oh...right, I forgot; here in the states you call it 'a sausage' in the mouth.
Michael: We just call it a sausage.

I hate Europe sooooo much.

Sam G. @ Jun 6th 2007 3:56PM

I appreciate the symbolism in that photo - the Wii high above ground, the 360 at a comfortable perch, and the PS3 barely treading water. Bravo to the Weblogs Inc. graphics department.

Geo @ Jun 6th 2007 3:56PM

if they set some computer to have a lan party park i`ll be there...........

Fuzz @ Jun 6th 2007 3:59PM

Sweet news. Parks are way to busy. All you lazy asses stay home, less people getting in my way.

Gamble20 @ Jun 6th 2007 4:01PM

"Gas prices? Oh wait thats what you Americano's know petrol as."

All I have to say is GOD BLESS AMERICA, you damn europians

required @ Jun 6th 2007 4:02PM

this just in: portable games can be played in and out of parks

by the way, what is the problem? Must we physically "use" the parks for them to be validated? I sure hope not, because even though I may never get to some of them, I do appreciate knowing that they exist and that our children's children's children are able to visit them.

JodyAnthony @ Jun 6th 2007 4:05PM

"Gas prices? Oh wait thats what you Americano's know petrol as."

I read this as "I was confused because where I am, when I hear gas I think of heating and when I think of gasoline I know it as petrol"

what stupid people read it as: "I HATE AMERICA I AM EUROPEAN AND EUROPE IS BETTARRR"

Geo @ Jun 6th 2007 4:10PM

@ 17 Gamble 20
All I have to say is GOD BLESS AMERICA, you damn europians

that is not rigth,it should be like this:
"AMERICA BlESS GOD"

Right...?

Grindstone @ Jun 6th 2007 4:14PM

I do things outdoors often, but then, I live in Oregon so it is nice outside. I would sooner blame gas prices, increased traffic, and higher park admission prices, than video games. And as pointed out by another poster, kids rarely get to say what park they want to see. The burden is on the shoulders of the parents, and these parents have financial burdens.

Plaid Ninja @ Jun 6th 2007 4:21PM

Has nobody considered the fact that there are millions of ticks out there waiting to pass on Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever? Gaming never passed on any diseases.

Trio @ Jun 6th 2007 4:25PM

The problems is that americans depend too much of the vehicles and im not saying is their fault because is the way of life in America......

Jonathan Tran @ Jun 6th 2007 4:26PM

I don't care the reason, I am glad. I hate when parks and stuff are packed with tourists. Dammit, I wanna be the only tourist there.

Blue Sam @ Jun 6th 2007 4:29PM

at bright side, nation park become more untouch scene.

Jacob @ Jun 6th 2007 4:30PM

Hmmnnn... I didn't know Christians believed in science. This may be something big! Oh, wait... that ain't really science. Awww!

czek @ Jun 6th 2007 4:33PM

Yeah tourist from india not europeans..........

Aprime1 @ Jun 6th 2007 4:39PM

GAMES MAKE GAS PRICES RAISE HURRRRRRRR

(well, actually, they do, but they don't even account for less than a percent (transportation and all).

Life Guard @ Jun 6th 2007 4:54PM

Drown Sony, Drown. Hahahahaha!!!! I'm not gonna save your ass. Bye bye. Hahahahaha!!!!

Benjamin09 @ Jun 6th 2007 4:56PM

I'm outside all the time, I am in the hunting industry but I love my video games too.

Nothing like packing miles into the moutains, shooting an elk and packing it out or canoing deep into the boundary waters to hunt for moose. Ah good times with dad.

Fa1kor @ Jun 6th 2007 5:23PM

I am an avid gamer and an outdoors fellow. Can't do much of the outdoors as much as I would like or use too. Gas prices have doubled in the past couple of years, it is about 4 bucks a gallon here in California. Park fees have also more than doubled; Yosemite entrance fees have gone up to $25 from $10. Last time I went to a state park I am embarrassed to say that I was surprised by the hike and could not afford the fee so I just went in without paying.

Donald @ Jun 6th 2007 5:26PM

@ #10 Matt B

The Grand Canyon is interesting to look at but I can see where you might get bored if that was all you did. You should make time some day to hike to the bottom. That is where the real fun is. I did this with my wife (before the kids) and we really enjoyed it

Sidepocket @ Jun 6th 2007 5:32PM

Getting inserpation from Shiggy, I have a very easy solution to this problem.

Taking Bronx Botanical Gardens (which is awesome place BTW) tag every Tree and some of the local Wild Life with an RFD Chip. Then when people enter the park and they have a DS, they get a special cartrage that has info about the place.

Kids can go around and scan shit for park info. If they scan enough stuff, they get prizes.

See how often the simple solution eludes us. ;D

maxvanhelsing @ Jun 6th 2007 5:41PM

Didi any of you guys maybe think that the rise in prices of visiting national parks has anything to do with less visitors? I.E. To make the annual earning work out with less visitors, they need to jack up the price...

Grey Acumen @ Jun 6th 2007 5:48PM

#3 nailed it on the head. What's the point in being out in nature if all you can do is look and not touch any of it? Hell, it's a sad day when video games offer BETTER interaction with an environment than a national park.

Sorry, but to me, this is just like how people blame nintendo for the failure of 3rd party software titles. If they didn't shovel out crap on us, we wouldn't treat it like crap.

Neebs @ Jun 6th 2007 5:48PM

I lol'd.

Jonathan Tran @ Jun 6th 2007 5:55PM

parks would be more fun if they gave you Achievements.

Unlocked: made 8 illegal transactions at park

Grant @ Jun 6th 2007 8:19PM

"The problems is that americans depend too much of the vehicles and im not saying is their fault because is the way of life in America......"

so... are you suggesting i walk the 50 miles to my nearest national park? I'm assuming your european, because you speak as an outsider, but the US is a big ass place, people typically have 30 mile commutes if your anywhere near a city, so national parks are quite out of the way.

It's a simple fact, manifest destiny spread out the population of the US really thin, so we need vehicles to commute, and until the US gets more densly populated, thats how life will have to be.

as for national parks... i can enjoy nature as much as anyone, but i like free nature alot more than $20 nature. oddly enough it's the same thing, and usually free nature is a hell of a lot closer than pay nature.

bard @ Jun 6th 2007 8:28PM

I'm with Grant on this one. "i like free nature alot more than $20 nature. oddly enough it's the same thing, and usually free nature is a hell of a lot closer than pay nature" National parks are great, but you have to make a trip to visit them. And who has the time/cash for regular vacations? I don't think my gaming habit has interfered with my love for nature one bit. If anything it's life in general that's done that.

Spitkicker @ Jun 6th 2007 8:38PM

Yeah that is a great pic!! Blame everybody else but the parents. It must be video games right?

mocax @ Jun 6th 2007 10:04PM

I thought it's a good thing to stay away from parks.

No human presence = no trash = nature flourish.

t_m @ Jun 7th 2007 1:28AM

its good not to trach them, but they are stunning places to see.

Still, when i was in US national parks a few years back I don't think I met ANY americans.. it was entirely foreign tourists.

trent @ Jun 7th 2007 9:57AM

remember the episode of south park where the guy that runs the planetarium started hypnotising kids into being obsessed with visiting it? at the end, when his plot was foiled (by those meddling kids nonetheless) he stated that it was because kids were too busy playing their video games to come to the planetarium.

kinda eerie aint it.

jabbertrack @ Jun 7th 2007 10:28AM

NPR had this story LAST YEAR.

Is this going to be a yearly thing to GUILT people into going to poorly maintained parks?

I blogged about this LAST YEAR after I heard the NPR story. - http://jabbertracks.blogspot.com/2006/07/video-games-ruiner-of-national-parks.html

jabbertrack @ Jun 7th 2007 10:30AM

Also Joystiq had this last year too
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/07/20/recent-study-video-games-favored-over-national-parks/

NJBeetle @ Jun 10th 2007 9:48PM

I just got back from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park with my DS. While I made sure to keep it out of the water - it did just fine in the mountains.

Also the Great Smokys is one of the free national parks. Get Your Nature Cheap. What you save on an entrance fee can be used to buy a new DS game!