Yes, that's right. A mere 3% of teens (ages 12-17) don't play video games according to the results of the Pew Internet & American Life Project's Gaming and Civic Engagement Survey of Teens/Parents. And despite the common perception that parents of those gamers have no clue as to what they're playing, 90% of parents said that they "always or sometimes know what their children play" as a whopping 72% say that they check the game ratings and a mere 13% believe that video games have a negative influence on their children's behavior.

The most interesting part, 31% of parents choose to monitor or play along with their kids... although the survey found that monitoring had "no impact on whether or not teens are exposed to anti-social behavior or words in the gaming context."

What kind of games are they playing? The top five lists racing (74%), puzzle (72%), sports (68%), action (67%) and adventure games (66%) as their favorites as rhythm games like DDR and Guitar Hero were in sixth place (61%), yet respondents' top played game was Guitar Hero. At the bottom of the list were two other interesting finds as MMOGs such as World of Warcraft were popular with only 21% of teens and virtual worlds such as Second Life, Gaia Online and Habbo Hotel captured a lowly 10%.

The study, which was designed to show whether in-game experiences reduced the amount of civic engagements of gamers, found that respondents were more likely than their non-gaming peers in getting information about politics, raise money for charity and even persuading others to vote. Yes, we were shocked too.

To read more details about the report, you can head on over to the PewResearchCenter's site.

Micheal Mullen is the Managing Editor of AOL's GameDaily. Over the past 14 years, he has written about video games, technology and celebs for ZD Net, GameSpot News and Electronic Arts.