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Adults Love Video Games
flabbybuns writes "For those of you who feel you may waste too much time behind a controller fret no longer. According to a recent report on adult gamer statistics, it turns out that the adults are more hardcore about gaming than the kids are. "
I'm WAY better at Unreal Tournament 2004 than my five year old.
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
Particularly when said "adult" uses the front page of his popular website to whine about his WoW experiences...
God Mode + FPS = Stress Relief
Every time I do a report on computer or console video games I wonder if I am targeting the correct market. I personally have been known to get addicted to a computer game here and there-- *cough* Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike, Halo 2 --and admit that I have been upset with myself many a time for wasting too many hours behind a controller or mouse. Heck, at one point I think I pulled in twenty-four hours in a two week period for Counter Strike; or was it Unreal Tournament?
Anywho, based on the latest survey it now looks like it is the adults, not the kids, who are more likely to be found behind a joystick.
Adults are Gamers
According to a report by the Consumer Electronics Association, about one-third of adult gamers spend ten hours or more playing video games per week. Compared to only eleven percent of teens, some have to wonder where we find the time.
The Consumer Electronics Association finds the statistics startling while the people working on PS3 rejoice. According to the report put out by the CEA, adults will purchase 19 million of the next-generation consoles in the first year.
"The fact that adults are racking up more gaming hours than teens is startling, but there are several associated findings that shed light on this," said CEA's Senior Manager, Industry Analysis Steve Koenig. "Interestingly, a greater percentage of 12-14 year olds spend time gaming than older teens ages 15-17. Older teens simply may not have the free time for extra hours of gaming or they could be gaming on wireless handsets since 81 percent of teens own or use a wireless phone."
Through the new study, CEA also investigated gaming platform ownership and behaviors and found the data revealed the PC dominates the adult game market while teens spend more time using game consoles. For households owning a PC and a console, 58 percent consider the console to be their primary gaming platform despite its lower engagement. Additionally, the study showed portable gaming to be decidedly more popular with teens than adults. Only 25 percent of adult gamers who own a portable game device have used it in the past six months compared to 77 percent of teens.
Additional adult vs. teen behavioral differences emerge in the study when online game play is evaluated. The majority (64 percent) of adult gamers either mostly or always play console games by themselves and just over half (55 percent) play online. Conversely, teens are five times as likely to engage in multiplayer gaming with their consoles, especially teenage girls - an unexpected result. Teens also are much more likely to game online, but here males outnumber females - some 78 percent of teen male's game online in a given month compared to 58 percent of teen females.
The survey results also suggest female gamers outnumber male gamers in the 25-34 age category. This result stems from high rates of play of online games, many of which are free of charge (i.e. Yahoo! Games), among female gamers. The 25-34 age group also comprises the largest concentration among overall female gamers (29 percent).
In a promising trend for consumer electronics (CE) retailers, CEA found that some adult gamers purchase additional CE products specifically to enhanc
I'm so sick and tired of TV and the media in general making out that games are just for kids. With the level of technology games currently have and the sheer joyful fun you can have with them, and the fact that this survey proves a lot of adults know this already it's about time the world at large accepted it.
Ya it is quite disturbing when you have this nice image of this girl char who is very nice in game then you get in on a vent channel and they sound like a 70 yr old smoker, who you then later find out its a 60 year old... damn retirement.
I find that the hangovers from games are much less severe than the drug/substance hangovers I used to get in college.
Adults have more money to spend on it. Not only that, but adults are the ones telling the kids to get outside and cut the grass, take out the trash, clean their rooms, etc... while they keep playing World of Warcraft themselves!
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
" 5x more teens are playing mmogs than adults especially women"
Trout's epitaph: Life is no way to treat an animal.
I've been gaming since 1980 and will put the smackdown on any kids including my own :) Of course when I'm old, senile and can't wipe my own *ss, I probably won't be so good. But growing up with the classics that actually depended on good gameplay versus graphics makes one a better gamer.
gasmonso
75% of adult gamers act like teens.
Adults have more money/time to spend on their games. Kids have to ask the parents to buy a game for them, or get a job to buy the games. If they have a job, and isn't a drop out, they have less time to play.
Half the time I'm right, the other half you're wrong.
article
these articles are stupid. hmm, why would it be that in the 80s only kids played videogames, and now, 20 years later, adults do too. 40 years from now they'll be wondering why senior citizens are playing videogames
Whilst many people may use the "Adults have to work, kids don't" may I remind people that: . Adults have more disposable income than children, moreso if they're single. . Generally, Adults have stopped learning (unless you go to university), and thus, they have more time to game and less to study (as high school is a frantic time) . Adults have all resources available to buy these controversial games (GTA:SA uncensored, all new violent games) whilst children have to pirate or illegally obtain these new games to play them. I would have thought it was pretty obvious.
Kids can't possibly understand the subtle complexities of Pong.
Don't waste your time on stupid video games! If you have the desire to play - try Sudoku, Kakuro or Chess! These three games will make your brains sharper - video games will only make you dumb.
I think the average age of an adult has increased significantly. What's the definition of "adult"?
Is someone who's 25 but does nothing but go to work, then game until sleeping 5 days a week count as an adult? If they haven't changed their habits since they were in school then gaming til bedtime I'd be hesitant to call them an adult. Agewise, they're an adult, but something's missing...
Two fish swim into a wall, one turns to the other and says, "Dam".
From TFA ...about one-third of adult gamers spend ten hours or more playing video games per week. Compared to only eleven percent of teens, some have to wonder where we find the time.
I find it hard to believe there are more adults playing long hours of video games than teens. Compare that to a recent poll by Gamefaqs about their users age.
Admittedly, that is only a poll showing the age of the people using that site, but it seems to be a fairly accurate representation of the age demographics of video game players.
well, DUH.
The first batch of kids in history to grow up playing videogames are now adults with the money to afford today's largely exorbitant game prices, and the age to be able to play games rated as violent/sexy/socially unredeeming as they want to.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
Duh!
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Just because gaming is the new escapism doesn't mean it's healthy. The question that shook me up was: in ten, twenty years, am I going to look back on gaming as some great use of my short and precious life? Games require so much investment of time to enjoy them (unless it's Minesweeper at el) that it just isn't worth it. Look at all the time and energy used in MMORPGS. This is just a new phase of couch potato-ism and the upside for commercialism is the need to get new games regularly (vs. the ease of flipping channels on a tv).
Get some hiking shoes, some good binoculars and explore some parks. Take some pictures. Go rafting. Watch some wildlife. I saw my first great horned owl on Sunday and that's because someone in the park beckoned to me and pointed it out. What an amazing creature and there's plenty more out there to see. When I think of all the cash I wasted on PC upgrades to play flightsims, I feel sick. At this point, I've actually flown a plane, I've mushed a dogsled team, I've climbed mountains and flown in a hot air balloon. All that stuff is accessible and it doesn't cost a whole lot more than buying a game or two off the shelf at the store.
Lara. Croft.
Am I the only one who saw the title and subconsciously dropped the "s" from "Adults" in reading it, and thus thought this would be about some raunchier version of those Japanese dating sim games?
-Forrest Cameranesi, Geek of all Trades
"I am Sam. Sam I am. I do not like trolls, flames, or spam."
remember sex games on the c64?
I 21, but personally think that with most of the games out now adays you'd have to be an adult to avoid mental disturbance in some of theese excessively violent and gorey games. I'd personally kick the parent that let their kids play games like Silent Hill 4. On the other hand Mario Party is the greatest for having drunken fun with freinds 8). Most young to middle age adults theese days grew up with and still enjoy video games. People need to accept it and move on. How's that go..... Move along, nothing to see here.
He whom you called four-eyes yesterday, you call Sir tomorrow.
25 percent adults playing portables vs 75? percent teens
- Adults are busying doing something like WORK or driving home so it's hard to play games then. Once they get home, they have their entertainment system, so there's no use playing on something with a tiny screen vs the console hooked into the big screen tv, or even the computer. Teens on the other hand are the ones in the back seat playing their games (hey, I did that with my game boy way back when.) Those 25% adults are either commuting by train and/or really love Nintendogs.
Teen guys mostly play online - Say it ain't so. Who doesn't love talking smack to a potentially international audience.
Teen girls (surprisingly) mostly play multiplayer - Not really surprising; this is why there's a Mario Party *7*.
0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
I'm part of a clan (www.ofclan.net) that is made up of only people over 30, we have members approaching 60. We play Enemy Territory, many play for several hours daily (the retired members can put in lots of time) and our main server is full every night of the week.
On April 1 we celebrate our first anniversary as a clan, our clan is non-skills based and is purely for the social aspect of the game. It is the social aspect that keeps the members coming back.
It is quite surprising how many older players there are, our server attracts them more since we announce we're the "Old Farts" in the server name, we have many of the players on TeamSpeak when they're playing and it is a great time.
One of the nice things about our servers is we don't allow swearing in the game chat (you can however swear your heart out on our TS server). We do this because many of the members have kids who play with us on the servers or have kids who watch them play.
We also have attempted to make the servers player friendly for newbs and those of all skill levels by limiting abilities.
I found kiddie games like the GC paper mario 1000 year door to be perhaps a bit more interesting after the operation. Mighta passed that over for GTA before.
We gaming adults spend a lot of time and effort getting our kids out and about, having them do things that don't involve a video display, because we know otherwise they'd do nothing but play video games all frickin' day.
Because that's what we'd do, if given a chance. The only reason my kid doesn't play more video games than I do is because his bedtime is earlier and we limit the time he spends playing otherwise. The teenagers I know have such heavy homework loads these days, they don't have as much video game time as you'd think, either. As long as I don't watch to much TV or actually tackle any of my to-do list of household projects, I can cram in at least a couple of hours of gaming in the evening, even with a full-time job and a few hours of family time...
if you classify adults as people who are over the age of, lets say 25, chances are they grew up on mario. Chances are also strong that they have been playing ever since. And the reason why older teen (right now) are playing less than younger teens is becuase their parents won't let them have a gorey x-box while the parents of the younger teens will let them have a gamecube for yu-gee-oh. SURE, lets see if that flys :)
I keep hoping that some day the mainstream groupthink will come to realize that video games are no more immature a pasttime than watching television. The average American has no problem sitting in front of a TV for two hours a night, yet the same people act as if there's something wrong with an adult gaming for the same length of time.
He watches TV, she plays bridge with her friends, they read books, I play games. What's the big deal?
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
So where are all the hardcore adult video games?
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
We play Super Mario Strikers (soccer), Mario Kart (racing), Mario Party 7 (board game like), Mario DDR (dance, dance, revolution!) with our 3 and 5 1/2 year old and have a blast. We can almost play some games 4 player now, and my 5 1/2 year old is really pushing me on Strikers! (how the hell does she score from so far out all the time?) I don't play outside of playing with the kids, well, perhaps once every other week, but we love playing together - the GameCube is the most fun system IMO.
fak3r.com
In the tween/early teen years, men spend less time trying to impress women, and more time following "other" pursuits, which video games definitely fall into. From ages 15-25, we spend most of our time trying to impress women, which leaves less time for videogames, sports and other pursuits.
After that, we have long term girlfriends and wives, so pursuing other women will only get us into trouble. Instead, we revert back and pursue "other" interests... videogames, sports etc.
Kids have a lot of responsibilities and have parents that enforce those responsibilities, such as school and homework and "family time" or whatever they do now-a-days. I have several friends who are unemployed that sit there and play video games all day long and they're all around 22 - 24 years old. Even me and all my other friends who ARE employed enjoy playing video games every chance we get.
Another thing that might make adults more likely to play games is the fact that they do have jobs.. and they do have money (sometimes).. so they can purchase the consoles and video games.
That's because adult who likes video games... Well, let's just say kids have other priorities such as a social life.
Am i rite?
Guys?
Hello??
We gaming adults spend a lot of time and effort getting our kids out and about, having them do things that don't involve a video display, because we know otherwise they'd do nothing but play video games all frickin' day.
Preach it, brother.
Because that's what we'd do, if given a chance.
Speak for yourself. I get easily bored with many modern games, and actually spend very little time playing the classics. My wife and I try to keep our kids from playing video games for too long because they've shown that their behavior is negatively impacted. ("Waaahh! I don't want to eat dinner/go to the park/do my schoolwork, I want to play Mario!") Therefore, we limit them.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
My parents owned both an Atari 2600 and then an NES before I was really of age to fully enjoy both (I was born in 82). I remember nights where they'd play SMB or Tetris until the wee hours. Not to mention Kangaroo and Jungle Hunt on the Atari system.
They still game pretty heavily. I bought them one of those 7200 games in 1 controller things a couple years back and they both played it until it just didn't hold together anymore. I can remember renting games like Ice Climbers and having to play turns between my dad, sister and myself. Good times. Since the newer-gen games came out they mostly stick to whatever they can play in their browser. I was actually considering picking them both up a couple USB controllers and hooking up an emulator for them to play some classics on.
"It'll destroy you if you try to make it mean anything to anyone but yourself." - Henry Rollins
"According to a recent report on adult gamer statistics, it turns out that the adults are more hardcore about gaming than the kids are. "
This comes as no surprise; some of the research I've done into gaming suggests that adults are quite content gamers, and more, youth use the opportunity to mix with adults in ways they might not with their parents. So, proxy parenting, perhaps.
What strikes me, and what I wonder is, given adults' penchant for gaming, what epidemiological impact will this have upon the health of our population? Right, right - so it's easy to say that gamers might get less exercise. But I think there's potentially more to it; for instance, parents that are heavy gamers will teach their children than sentient lifestyles are OK, or that their kids will be exposed to fewer (or more, depending on your thoughts) experiences.
Interesting to consider, I think, what impact this will have upon our culture in, say, 20 years... (which then causes me to wonder: what is culture anyway?
With the first link, the chain is forged.
Wow, I've never seen anything so visually offensive as that shaking Windows ad that displays *over* the text of the article, and only has options for IE and Firefox to dismiss it. I don't know what it was for, but I know I will never ever visit that web site again (especially since I don't have either IE or Firefox)! If I ever meet the person who made that, I'll poke their fucking eyes out. Jebus!
A big reason why adults are more hardcore gammers may be because they don't (typicaly) live with their parents like kids do. They don't have Moms and Dads bugging them to go outside to play and getting them into sports programs. Parents are in charge of the house's TV so if they want video games on it they can make it happen as opposed to kids who have to get their game time in when their parents arent using the tube. Likewise with the family computer.
One might say, in responce, that the wife (or husband) might serve as a limiting factor towards gaming for adults. One thing I have noticed, however, is that married men at least, often have friend networks far smaller than that of most children (which meens they go out to play far less often). While I only have a moderate number of married friends those that I know I see out in social situations far less while I see them playing more games or watching more tv now than they did when they were single. This being housebound seems to happen (albeit less so) to even those married couples who don't have children.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
I hate playing games where you go all the way back to level 1 when you die, and don't let you save. This would be fine if there were a god-mode cheat, but some games don't allow this. If I'm playing a game, and I'm an adult, I'm not going to try to beat the certain boss 500 times until I get it, I'm going to do it twice and give up, not play the game more (since it is boring now), and not buy the sequel. For example when I have friends come over (instead of going out) and we decide to play a multiplayer game (be it console or not), we don't want to get 1/3 into the game, and then get stuck. We would like a "just let us continue" button, and let us keep having fun.
I want a "I'm an adult, just let me continue" option in games.
-nosebreaker.com
I thought it said "Adult Love" Video games but just when I was thinking "ooh! That sounds interesting...
:(
...bubble burst
Travelling forward in time at a rate of 1 second per second.
"Love Adult Video Games"?
For a minute, I thought I was on Boing Boing or Fleshbot.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
Seriously, I too am sick of the "games are for kids" mentality. I'd like to think I'm not a kid anymore. I'm 23, out of school, and have a career.
But I own a Nintendo DS, as well as a Playstation 2, and will purchase a Playstation 3. This is not including my older systems and my PC.
I'm a gamer, and proud of it!
Starmen.net
I'm a divorced, unattached, middle-aged man.
During the week I get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner. What should I do with the rest of my evening? I have no homework, I have no significant other demanding attention. TV sucks ass. I'm angry and bitter at the world and what better way to unwind and release some of that anger than smacking some punks around in World of Warcraft?
It was either online gaming or find a tall tower and a sniper rifle.
- Pithy comment goes here.
If you look at most of the games that are addictive to adults, they involve some form of collaboration between players. From MMORPGs (like Evercrack) to Battlefield2, it is a chance for adults to play a game while interacting with other people. Outside of work.
:)
For many adults, online gaming is becoming a replacement for going out to the bar with friends after work. Instead you go home, and spent time with your friends killing other people.
As to the age issue, I can say that in Battlefield2 (of which I am a heavily addicted player), in 1-on-1 combat a 12 year old may win, but older folks TEND TO have the discipline to form squads and execute team play on a much grander scale. I'm 28, and I'll take a squad of 30+ year olds any day over some teenagers.
This may be a generalization, but I find it to hold true most of the time. And what adult doesn't love spanking little kids online every once in a while? Their hubris nearly demands it!
This important study just released.
The real life of an average citizen is boring. News at Eleven.
If life were more engaging, if television wasn't full of garbage spewed out by unimaginative conglomerates these statistics would say something else.
But for now it just says games are better than nothing.
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
"Psychologically, (a geek who overanalyzes stuff?!) I think this helps me compensate for the lack of control I have in my life. The demands of work, home, marriage, etc. are all wiped away with a half an hour of tossing stormtroopers into the lava."
:) But I do the same with Farcry (cheats), and GTA III (a guilty pleasure running over people with the fire engine).
I guess they're not "lukewarm" anymore.
Let's see, you have two people in a household that are 'gamers'.
One has a bedtime, one can stay up all night.
One has homework, the other has a boss that can be placated (to a point).
One has (perhaps) an allowance or a part time job, so $50 for a game is a major investment, the other has a REAL job where dropping $3000 for a new computer may be about a similar investment.
Which one would be prone to hardcore gaming addiction?
As far as adults are concerned, the only thing that can stop us are spouses, and, well, this IS slashdot...
-Styopa
When I was 16, I was an assistant clan leader for a very small (10 member) Rogue Spear clan. We had one member - the leader, in fact - who was over 20 (he was 28), and we referred to him as "old man."
Now 23, I'm among the younger in my WoW guild. The vast majority of our members are family men and women and many are parents. Instead of having 10% of our members legally adults, we have 60%. That's a hell of a change.
ACs are modded -6. I don't read you, I don't mod you, I don't see you. Don't like it? Don't be a coward.
This "news" is obvious to most of us, but the media in general, and especially obstinate politicians and lawyers need to hear/read stories like this. Eventually it will sink in.
Is it just me or is this just a play on words. "about one-third of adult gamers spend ten hours or more playing video games per week. Compared to only eleven percent of teens" Ok. one-third of adult gamers is one third of 25% of adults. Teens however is 11% of 77% of teenages that are classified as "gamers" as they have played a console or pc in the last 6 months. Thus when calculating the percentage of users above 10hrs a week we have Adults = 8.3% Teens = 8.47% Thus as percentage goes more teens spend over 10 hrs. But only by a small margin. Its just too easy to lie with stats.
...the article uses "adult" and "hardcore" in the same sentance?
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Considering that it is the adults (especially my generation) that grew up when video arcades were big and the first home console systems started coming out.
There is one statistic in the report that is most likely true and rather unfortunate:
5x more teens are playing mmogs than adults especially women
I can certainly attest to that. Nothing like some punk kid who thinks he's l33t and ub3r coming along and ruining your team on WoW or CoH/CoV.
I'm not sure if what you mean is that teens are more "hardcore" because 5x more of them play MMOs, or the other way around, but just in case:
Seriously, I fail to see what's so "hardcore" about a MMO. The fact of the matter is that in virtually any MMO you'll eventually go up in levels whether you have any skill and dedication or not.
I've met people who were top level, or within the last 10 levels, and hadn't yet even figured out the very basics like "pulling", "tanking", "kiting", or generally using elementary techniques for their class. Or that "no, intending to sell it for cash doesn't mean your priest can roll 'need' on plate armour". Unless they were power-levelled, I can't imagine how someone got to level 50+ without knowing how to pull or how to stun an enemy while they bandage, other than by doing the dumb thing repeatedly, getting killed, and going back at doing the same dumb thing some more.
Or I still fondly remember grouping with level people in COH which had ploughed through the segment where they deal with endurance (mana) drainers like the Malta Sappers or Carnie Ring Mistresses by sheer getting themselves and their group killed repeatedly, and _still_ hadn't figured who they need to kill first in a Malta or Carnie group. Or a fire tank who, _months_ after a major and well documented change to his class, still refused to believe that the change existed. He blamed group members, the random number generator, _anything_ except accept that, for example, the game has a hard-coded limit of maximum 17 enemies you can hold the aggro of. Or people who, by their own admission, had been permanently in XP-debt from being killed ever since they reached level 5. (Back in the day when XP debt started at level 5.) And some were even proud of it.
So, sure, you could "grind" day and night to be the first to level 60... and then be the first to get bored as the game guides you to the tarpit of "endgame content". But the fact is, a casual gamer will reach level 60 too. And even a completely unskilled and thoroughly incompetent player will also reach level 60 too. Sure, it might take a bit longer, but they'll get there too.
Heck, you don't even have to "farm" or craft. I know people who've played a tailor/enchanter and refused to use the auction house or advertise their services in populated areas completely. (Apparently going to Ironforge savagely lagged their computer.) Guess what? They got to level 60 just the same.
The fact is, modern MMOs are among the most casual-gamer-friendly games. Now a single-player game can throw a boss or level at you that just won't let you through unless you're in the top X% of players as skill goes. (Where X can even be 50%, but still, there's a threshhold.) But WoW, EQ2, COH and the like will just require enough time investment to get to any point you wish to get to. The time investment may be hideously large for some of the "endgame content" rewards, but it's still all there is to it.
So if I was to take that as the lone reason why teens play MMOs, I'd say then teens are _less_ hardcore than us old farts. That's youth nowadays for you. Back in my day... *ahem*
But I'll give you another better reason: MMOs cost less, and teens have less disposable income. So between convincing mom and dad to buy you, say, half a dozen single-player games per month to keep you reasonably busy with them, and getting a $13 a month subscriptions, guess which one is more affordable to a teen? Right. WoW is actually the _much_ more affordable way to get your time reasonably occupied by a game.
Doubly so for teenage females, who in a lot of cases aren't exactly pushed towards anything either scientific or computer-related by their parents. I'd imagine a lot have a harder time getting their parents to fork over the cash for computer games. So I can easily imagine one staying with a MMO instead if she got her parents to buy one.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
What a whiner. I just want you to know that I fully support abusing the moderation system to marginalize conservatives.
Slashdotters: You are all a bunch of faggots.
Do you hear me, you repulsive faggots? NO DIGG.
I started playing video games again because I got sick and tired of TV and the media in general. I mean, put it this way, should I: a) watch overpaid, overconfident, overmanicured meatsack garble on about crappy human interest stories or spout lines from a bad script, or b) wage mass, futuristic war/fight enemy kingdoms and clans in medieval fantasy/hop into a good samurai/ninja suit and slice away/etc?
Quite frankly, games are going to keep getting bigger for a while. Movies and television will fade into the background eventually, because well, everything passes from the limelight, and eventually more and more people are going to realize that actors are the single most overpaid people on the planet... just not worth watching all the time.
Ex nihilo nihil fit.
By almost any definition, prices for new games have been dropping steadily . Cartridge games for the NES were up to $50 ($86 in today's dollars), and I distinctively remember seeing Mortal Kombat for the SNES on "sale" somewhere for $70 ($90 in today's dollars).
Even if you take the most expensive widely available game out now (the Oblivion "Collector's Edition") and discount the fact that it has $10 of "value"-added material on it, it's still about $45 for the late 80's.
Even if you were to take the cheapest new games at $30 in 1986, that's still over $51 by today's value.
Add in the fact that many flagship new games sell new for $20 to $40, that there are constant "Greatest Hits" series reducing game prices to $20, and a very healthy used market, and games have gotten cheaper.
Now, gaming may be more expensive for the casual gamer. A casual NES player would've paid $199 in 1985 for the "Action Pack" which gave them the console, two games, and two controllers. That's $350 today. Compare that to a Xbox 360 Premium console which is $510 for two games (Hexic + PGR3, for example), and two controllers. Adding Xbox Live is another $50-$70 if you want a headset.
But, casual gamers shouldn't be getting launch titles. Casual gamers are the ones spending $200 on a PS2 plus three good games.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
these days, video games can attract far wider audiences than they could before. back in the day, little old ladies would sit at home doing crosswords for fun (hyperbole, but you get me), now they're on yahoo playing Literati.
for myself, i have felt complete apathy towards picking up a video game until last month, when i decided to purachase a GBA SP to re-play the old gameboy games of my youth. i think the hardcore (WoW or UT, etc) games as well as the Literati-ladies would look on my video gaming as equally foreign, but we're all playing video games.
This might be the start of the realization by politicians/anti-gaming activists that gaming is becoming a staple entertainment industry much like movies and television are. Perhaps attempts to regulate gaming will cool down, but I have a feeling it'll be a long process, and this is the first step up an Everest-sized hill.
18-23 sounds like an adult-ish age range to me. In Canada at 18/19 you're pretty much legal age for anything, 21 in most of the USA. At 21-22 I was done 2.5yr of college, at 23 I was making as much as or more than many of the older generation.
Compare that with the luxury of a Saitek X52. Console designers need to wake up.
fault-tolerant
Most adults today that have not had formal training required by their job (or are not young enough to have grown up with computers a bit) probably barely know about spell check, let alone the real reasons to upgrade an operating system. You know what would have happened if XP hadn't been given a new interface and software hadn't dropped support for 98? No normal consumers would have had any interest to upgrade (few do upgrade of course, since most just get a new computer, but that's not my point). And for the people that are still scared as all hell about using a computer (they are out there), a little eye candy that makes it look fun is probably a good thing. Yes, eye maxes out GPU/CPU usage, but At least people's computers will finally be doing something. Useful things can be done with it for normal usage (although most probably not incredibly useful). With adiquate (that keeps them under 65 C) cooling, most processors have no problem with stability (As iBooks have proven). It seems like such a waste that the total average CPU utilization is probably less then 5%, if even. IF it works, no reason to hold it back. People have probably had the argument that more eye candy is a bad thing since TV times, but things seem to have turned out pretty well.
In undeveloped countries, the consumer controls the market. In capitalist America, the market controls you.
Not much original content - am I the only one who saw all of the Google Adwords? 1) Reword someone else's report 2) Make Slashdot 3) Profit!
I always laugh when I hear that. As if the idea of "Adults" playing games is somehow "new".
I've got a still minty-condition special-edition of PLAYBOY ELECTRONICS magazine (which was also half devoted to cars - including the Delorean - oooo.) from 1981 that featured arcades and home games as well as high-end video and audiophile info put out by the masters of everything bunny-related.
Now - was Playboy magazine ever marketed to kids specifically - or did perhaps Nintendo skew the age-image of video games in the late 80s? I also recall a lot of tall "kids" with briefcases hanging around the arcades during lunch-hours in 1980-1983.
I'm still annoyed at congresspeople who feign shock over a pastime that also included "Custers Revenge" and other low-rez adult fare. Strip Poker for the Atari 800 anyone?
kids got sex, drugs, and games. adults mostly just got games and more reasons to want to "escape" namely work, and the stresses of their kids doing drugs and having sex.
An interesting statistical study would be how many adult hardcore gamers are:
a. single by choice;
b. single because they are hardcore gamers;
c. divorced because they are hardcore gamers;
d. going to be divorced because they are or will be hardcore gamers; or
e. happily married and hardcore gamers.
I'd guess a number of the E. responses are actually D., since they probably don't realize what's going to happen.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
Watch who you are calling an adult!
:)
hehe the online racing mod i play has an average age in the late thirties! and only cause there is a couple teenagers dragging DOWN the average
Rock on ya old geezers
One of the nice things about our servers is we don't allow swearing in the game chat (you can however swear your heart out on our TS server). We do this because many of the members have kids who play with us on the servers or have kids who watch them play.
I have always thought this strange. When it is your server, you can set the rules of course. But I find it ironic that it is ok for kids to play an M rated game that is high in violence - but they can't say "fuck". Sure, they can knife people and use shotguns on people at point blank, but they cannot swear, and using a porn or nudie tag (Half Life and CS) is out of the question.
It is just bizzare IMO - Graphic Violence? OK!
Sex? Swearing? NOT ALLOWED!
Again, the server owners make the rules, and players must obey those who have admin rights, not to mention be polite. Still, I have always found such restrictions on such games to be rather strange.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
Oh, so then you're *not* one of the 33% of adult gamers who put in more than 10 hours a week? I try not to put it together like that, but I probably do average more than 10 hours a week, or at least close to it.
When it comes to the behavioral changes, we put it right out there like that : if you're going to complain when I tell you it's time to put the game on pause, you're just not going to get to play again for quite a while. Playing video games is a reward, not a daily fact of life... it has to be, or the kid just isn't going to want to go outside or play with toys or friends or do all of those 'healthy' things we supposedly did as kids.
And I'm pretty sure the reason 12-14 year-olds spend more time playing than 15-17 year-olds really is all about free time ( i.e. homework )... the huge number of kids playing online v.s. adults is interesting, though it makes a certain amount of sense; I'm perfectly happy playing older games, why would I want to get camped by some kid?
No matter how many times I do it, running around in GTA:SA trying to take back the 'hood from the Ballas just doesn't get old...
This is so true - my hands start to ache and I get cramps after using an XBox-S controller or a playstation controller. Why can't they offered "adult" sized controllers? I mean not everyone is a 12 year old kid.
Same thing goes for mice - why are they all so small? I have average sized hands, but they still need to contort to grab hold of various controllers.
Best comment all day.
Dude, you sound like you really need to go buy a Harley instead. It worked for me.
Most (85%) of the gamers at Cinciclassic are adults. www.cinciclassic.org
Oh, so then you're *not* one of the 33% of adult gamers who put in more than 10 hours a week?
:-)
Nope, I'm not. I'm far too busy with other personal pursuits.
Then again, I was always that way. I loved video games much more as a kid, but my VG time just didn't compare to my programming, reading, and personal study time.
if you're going to complain when I tell you it's time to put the game on pause, you're just not going to get to play again for quite a while.
That's more or less what we do as well. The problem with using only that technique is that they tend to become lethargic if they play video games for too long. Then they don't perform very well even *if* they leave the game when they're told. As a result, we tend to limit them to less than an hour on weekdays, and then allow them to take turns on the Gameboy on the weekends.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
There's actually some unfortunate side effects of adults enjoying video games more than kids.
I was over at my uncle's house and my 12-year-old cousin was playing on his father's Everquest account. I then heard the following (rather ironic, IMHO) exchange:
COUSIN: "Dad, can I go outside and play?"
UNCLE: "Not until you've leveled my character."
Ahh... if only that had been my childhood...
The games are more aimed at adults because they are the ones buying the games, the upgrades, and all the rest...
Adults love video games! Next up, sky blue, water wet, Stallman bearded. Don't change the channel.
>>flabbybuns writes "For those of you who feel you may waste too much time behind a controller fret no longer. ... "
Enough said...
Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated up.
My first reaction upon reading this article was to doubt its veracity. I look at my parents, my grandparents and their friends and I assure you the adults do NOT play games more now then they did in 1983 when I got my first console.
and then it hit me: they mean me. no way, dude! I'm not one of THEM! I demand a new demographic!
BBC's 2005 UK Gamer research shows quite different results.
U K_Games_Research_2005.pdf
http://open.bbc.co.uk/newmediaresearch/files/BBC_
In the UK, most gamers are young, and the percentage of gamers in each age group decreases for older age groups. Also, in all age groups, male gamers outnumber female gamers slightly.
I find it a bit hard to believe that the gaming culture in the US is drastically different from the UK one. I think the different results are mainly due to different research methodologies and different definitions of things such as "gamer". For example, the CES people got their survey results from teenagers via telephone, and adult results via Web-form survey. If somebody asked me how much I play face to face or over the telephone, I'd be more likely to understate how much I really play (because I'm kinda embarassed by how much I play games). I'd give a more truthful answer to a paper or a Web form.
The full report costs $499 USD. Without access to that it's kinda hard to judge how good or poor the study's research really was.
Only in America do people think video games are a kids market.
I really hate it when someone publishes statistics like this and treat them as if they were actually facts. I could do the same survey and have totally different results becuase I would be surveying a different balance of consumers. This survey is totally self serving and in no way representative of the real population. Then again, look at those of us who are reading it. It is probably representative of this audience.
A true survey would probably determine the age grouping of the adults and find that the high percentage was younger adults who are the gamers. Those who grew up with it. I myself spend so much time in front of computers working that the last thing I want to do in my spare time is sit in front of a 2 diminsional display playing a MMO with a hunderd other faceless geeks.
Athiesm is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
Oh yea! I guess I left it out as common sense ( espeicially with our kid, who isn't yet 5 for cryin' out loud ), but about an hour and a half is pretty much an upper limit for gaming in a day, and we really push for breaks every half hour or so anyway. Though our kid doesn't get lethargic... that would be a nice change, a break for us... he just gets grumpy.
I didn't have money or a game system when I was a kid, so I guess I'm making up for that now. I play games when I'm too worn out to code or study... I suppose I do it instead of watching TV or, unfortunately, reading, though I do still find time for the occasional book... occasional...
Am I the only one who couldn't read the article because of a stupid advertisement that covered the article itself and wouldn't go away with the "close" button? Maybe we should stop linking to sites that have this kind of crap.
Sometimes I comment just to hear myself typing.