Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ben Sawyer
bsawyer@dmill.com
Notes...
This presentation has been upgraded since delivering it initially at Games for Health 2009 The use of the term demographics is fairly loose focusing not only on core demographic issues but also some psychographic issues as well
What Im Playing...
June 09
Friday, June 19, 2009
5-6 Major Current Sources of Information Only one sustained major public effort Several minor but sustained public efforts More work concerning online players then other players types or players in general
There are a number of private surveys - some of which can be purchased but buyer beware
Most private surveys are highly focused on sales & consumer uptake projections not deeper questions of context and outcomes of play
Very little in terms of global statistics especially in emerging markets There is little breakdown by ethnicity even in North America There is little data provided in raw form where it can be reused effectively as new data emerges
Insert Rant...
A public source of consistently sustained, raw data, concerned with issues beyond sales and consumer adoption that is both deep and global in scope is needed if were going to see robust application of games and game technologies worldwide
Core Sources
Entertainment Software Association Pew Internet & Life Project The Daedalus Project by Nick Yee Dmitri Williams Valves Steam Distribution Service
Friday, June 19, 2009
68 of American Households play computer or video games 60% male : 40% female Women 18 or older are 34% of the game playing pop vs. boys 17 or younger (18%) Average purchaser is 39 52 Male / 48 female - % of purchases 63% say games are a positive part of their children's lives
Average Age is 35 49% 18-49 25% Under 18 26% Over 50 12 Years (Avg. Years Adult Gamers Have Been Playing) 62% of Gamers play in Person with Other Gamers
Fun for family (82%) Theyre Asked To (81%) Socialize with My Kids (78%) Monitor Content (63%)
Fun for family (82%) Theyre Asked To (81%) Socialize with My Kids (78%) Monitor Content (63%)
Teens
Pew Internet & American Life Project.
Pew/Teens : Summary I
Fully 97% of teens ages 12-17 play
Xbox, PlayStation, or Wii computer computer, web, portable, or console games
50% of teens played games yesterday 86% of teens play on a console like the 73% play games on a desktop or a laptop
Friday, June 19, 2009
Pew/Teens : Boys/Girls
Fully 99% of boys and 94% of girls play video
games. Younger teen boys are the most likely to play games, followed by younger girls and older boys. Older girls are the least more than half of them play. Some 65% of daily gamers are male; 35% are female.
Note: games listed in parenthesis were provided to respondents on an as-needed basis by interviewers; not every respondent received the prompts.
Halo 161
(104 no specic version / 57 Halo 3)
Solitaire 65 Dance Dance Revolution 60 Tetris 59 Grand Theft Auto (no specic version) 58 The Sims (no specic version) 54
Pew/Teens : Ratings?
The average rating of all favorite games
rating as one of their current top three favorites, compared with 14% of girls mentioned by survey respondents averaged just above a T, or Teen rating
Pew/Teens : Ratings?
Nearly one-third of young teens play M- or AO-rated games Almost one-third (32%) of teens in survey play at least one game rated M or AO 12-14 yr-olds are equally likely to play M- or AO-rated games as their 15-17 yr-old counterparts 28% of 12-14-yr-olds list an M- or AO-rated game as a favorite, as do 36% of teens ages 15-17 For a small number of teens, all three of the games they mentioned had a version with an M or an AO rating;
For others, only one of the games they offered as their top three current favorites was an M- or AO-rated game
Pew/Teens :
Playing Together & Alone
27% play games with people who they 82% play games alone, although 71% of this
Pew/Teens :
Playing Together & Alone
And nearly 3 in 5 teens (59%) of teens play games in multiple wayswith others in the same room, with others online or alone. 42% of teens who play games in multiple ways say they play most often with others in the same room. 42% of teens who play games in multiple ways most often play alone. 15% of teens who play games in multiple ways play most often with those they are connected to via the internet.
Pew/Teens :
Playing Together & Alone
Close to half of teens who play online games play with people they know ofine Online gamers are more likely to report playing games mostly with people they know ofine than with teens they met online. Of teens who play games online with others:
47% of teens play online games with people they know ofine 27% of teens play online games with people they rst met online 23% of teens play with both friends & family known ofine + people they met online
Pew/Teens :
Playing Together & Alone
Pew/Adults : Summary
Survey was 2008 Over half of American adults play video Among adults, computers are the most
games, and four out of ve young adults play popular gaming device, but among young adults gaming consoles are preferred
Pew/Adult : Summary II
Older adult gamers play games more frequently Younger generations tend to dominate the gaming world; however, older respondents who do play games are more avid players. Older gamers, particularly seniors, tend to play games more frequently. 36% of gamers 65 and older say they play games everyday/almost everyday, compared with...
19% of adults aged 50-64 20% of adults aged 30-49 20% of adults aged 18-29 77% of senior gamers reported being retired
Senior gamers may play more frequently as they have more time
Pew/Adult:
Race/Ethnicity
Pew/Adult : Platforms
Desktop or laptop 45% 35% Game console 41 22 Cell phone, Blackberry, or other handheld
organizer 25 16
21 10
43% of adults ages 18-29 play games online 26% of people ages 30-49 13% of people ages 50-64, 5% of those 65 and older
Friday, June 19, 2009
Adults are much less likely to play games online than teens 76% of all teens play games online and 79% of teen gamers play games online
Warning...
Friday, June 19, 2009
Ive found that peoples perception of what is an online game vs. ofine game can create distortion with such questions For me (and many game designers) there is a critical distinction between playing a game accessed via online means and playing online against other humans It is likely online against other humans is a subset of all games actually accessed online
Virtual Worlds
Just 2% of gamers say they have ever visited a virtual world, such as Second Life One in ten teens and 11% of teen gamers reported visiting virtual worlds A total 6% of adults say they have created an avatar, or online representation of themselves often used for participation in virtual worlds and in some online games and social networks Warning : This number is probably rising fast but still low overall in 2009/2010
Pew/Adult:
Pew/Adult : MMOGs
Slightly more (9%) game players, however, say that they have played MMOGs vs.Virtual Worlds Young adults are signicantly more likely than average adults to play MMOGs, as 14% of 18-29-year-old gamers report playing these types of games Teens are even more likely to play MMOGs, with 21% of teen gamers reporting MMOG play Warning : Many teens play free MMOGs (e.g. RuneScape) and many families with teens will play subscription MMOGs together as units (e.g. multiple family members playing same character) thus the story behind some of these rising numbers is not well parsed yet.
Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical gamer prole
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121394419/HTMLSTART?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Dmitri Williams a Nick Yee b Scott E. Caplan c
Teens, 1217 College-age, 1822 Young adult, 2329 Thirties, 3039 Forties, 4049 Fifty or older, 5065
Friday, June 19, 2009
Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical gamer prole
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121394419/HTMLSTART?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Dmitri Williams a Nick Yee b Scott E. Caplan c
Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical gamer prole
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121394419/HTMLSTART?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Dmitri Williams a Nick Yee b Scott E. Caplan c
EQ2 players have an average BMI of 25.19 vs. avg. American adult, who has a BMI of 28 22.2% of EQ2 players are technically obese compared to 30.5% of American adults Among children and adolescents (ages 1119), EQ2 players have lower BMIs, with an average of 21.96 compared to 23.3 for US adolescents ...while adolescent EQ2 players are still healthier than their nonplaying counterparts, they do not have as large an advantage as the older population.
Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical gamer prole
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121394419/HTMLSTART?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Dmitri Williams a Nick Yee b Scott E. Caplan c
EQ2 players have lower levels of mental health on two out of the three indicators. 22.76% of EQ2 players reported having been diagnosed with depression.
This level is larger for the female players 36.52% vs. males 19.38% Avg. U.S. population: 23% rate for women and an 11% rate for men.
Players had a slightly higher rate of substance addiction 5.56% vs. 4.8% for the general population The exception to this pattern was anxiety for which EQ2 players reported slightly lower levels 16.6% vs. 18.1%
Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical gamer prole
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121394419/HTMLSTART?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Dmitri Williams a Nick Yee b Scott E. Caplan c
"What was somewhat surprising was the trend for older players to play more than younger ones, and for women to play more than men. Game developers have assumed that adolescents and college-aged populations have more free time and have tooled their MMOs accordingly as their player base has aged (Beliaeff, 2007). They have also assumed that males are their most devoted audience. However, both assumptions are incorrect.Young males are often tagged as the hard core, but it is the adults and the females who log the most hours. "
Who plays, how much, and why? Debunking the stereotypical gamer prole
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/121394419/HTMLSTART?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 Dmitri Williams a Nick Yee b Scott E. Caplan c
"What was somewhat surprising was the trend for older players to play more than younger ones, and for women to play more than men. Game developers have assumed that adolescents and college-aged populations have more free time and have tooled their MMOs accordingly as their player base has aged (Beliaeff, 2007). They have also assumed that males are their most devoted audience. However, both assumptions are incorrect.Young males are often tagged as the hard core, but it is the adults and the females who log the most hours. "
Benets of gaming: "People play games to escape from every day life and to escape to a world of adventure without risk which is under the control of the gamer, unlike the real world. Games provide a sense of achievement and are active, unlike television and lms which are passive. However, games are better at developing action than building character and as such gamers tend to care less about the storyline than making progress in the game. Gamers claim that playing games is mentally stimulating and that playing develops hand eye coordination."
Steam queries OS language setting and reports providing some interesting international statistics. Keep in mind though these are often higher-end PC centric gamers hence the strong 2nd place showing by German. Also English includes UK and Australia and most of Canada while French likely include Quebec
Paid service. Mostly focused on purchase intent, brand awareness, heavily focused on informed gamers who spend time on IGNs game enthusiast Web sites. Households probably have PCs vs. Mobile Web Access.
Conclusion
Lots of people game! Good! Lots of myths vs. data still prevail... Bad! There are some demographics and statistics
to start using to shape discussion, research, and proposals. Good! most researchers want/need. Bad!
Help Needed...
This is a start...
Please send links and additional info to add to this in the future:
bsawyer@dmill.com