Game Developers Missing Their Target?

wh0pper writes "Digital Trends is reporting that a recent survey finds that there aren't just 2 gamer markets, but instead a whopping 6. What does this mean? It means that game developers and publishers are ignoring a large portion of the gaming market by focusing on the traditional two segments: casual gamers and hardcore gamers. The 4 other game markets they identified are Social Gamers, Leisure Gamers, Dormant Gamers, Incidental Gamers. If you are wondering what those categories mean, the article gives descriptions of what each segment is. A surprising result from the survey is the importance of social gaming; video games are often considered a solitary activity, but Parks Associates' findings indicate a significant portion of the market views gaming as a social activity."

Comments

Gaming as a Social Activity

[Anonymous Coward]

I tend to see this more and more nowadays. Yes, there's networked games like MMORPGs and FPS'ers but I think it goes beyond that. We're talking gaming as a spectator sport where a group of friends gather 'round some guy playing GTA solo.

Incidentally, I see a similar trend in web-surfing. Some guy surfing through interesting/funny/lame sites while a group spectate him or her.

I don't understand it completely. When I game, it's me against the computer...or someone on the other side of the network. No audience. Even in LAN parties, people have a chance to PLAY together, not just to watch someone else play.

When I surf slashdot, there isn't a crowd behind me going "oooh man, you're really gonna say that?"

What's going on here? Is it an after-effect of the prevalence of TV?

Re:Gaming as a Social Activity

[amuro98]

I know a few people (mainly women, oddly) who don't like playing games, but will sit and watch others play. I think this is partially due to the stories in the game, or just wanting to cheer their S.O. on.

I also know others who were in long distance relationships and would schedule to watch something on TV while on the phone (or IM) as a sort of virtual date. If it worked for TV, why not web-surfing, or even gaming? You could go "shopping" with your IM-buddy, for instance, or meet up in WoW or something.

And back in the days when I MUD'ed, I knew a lot of players who were just there for the social aspect. They weren't there to do quests or kill monsters, and would just hang out in the pubs to chat with other characters as they passed through.

I doubt that's what the article was refering to as a "social gamer" though.

Money

[Anonymous Coward]

Dormant gamers make be 26% of the population, but they probably don't make up anywhere near 26% of the money spent on games, which is what really counts.

Re:Money

[amuro98]

I don't think money is the only important aspect.

For instance, Yahoo and other sites offer free games (online & otherwise) which are often sponsored by ads. While no money is being spent by the gamer in this case, you can be sure that the longer he plays on such sites, the more money he's generating for the website in question.

Realistically, I think you would have to consider a graph where "money spent" makes up one axis, and "time spent" is the other. This means you could have a heavy spender, who doesn't actually play much ("the collector") and on the other extreme you'd have someone who spends 4-5 hours a day playing a free game. And if you further explored the TYPE of games played by these people (eg. FPS/action/arcade, RPG/adventure, puzzle/card/board) you'd see further patterns.

Re:Money

[johnstein]

Dormant gamers can be viewed as recovering alcoholics. They don't spend money on booze anymore, but the urge is still there (from what I've heard anyways). For dormant gamers, like me, who have tasted the addiction of video games, but for some reason or another have gotten out of the habit, the money is often there, but there hasn't been a good reason to get us back into gaming.

The Wii has very effectively captured my attention, and I really think there are a lot of people out there like me, young professionals with some disposable income and a renewed interest in gaming.

So you are true. We don't contribute nearly as much money, percentagewise, NOW. But the market is there ready to be tapped... Just give us a quality and original product instead of a lot of the same old stuff.

"My definitions mean I know more than you."

[cmonkey_1973]

First of all, the article truncated to save your precious time:

• Power gamers represent 11 percent of the gamer market but account for 30 cents of every dollar spent on retail and online games.
• Social gamers enjoy gaming as a way to interact with friends.
• Leisure gamers spend 58 hours per month playing games but mainly on casual titles. Nevertheless they prefer challenging titles and show high interest in new gaming services.
• Dormant gamers love gaming but spend little time because of family, work, or school. They like to play with friends and family and prefer complex and challenging games.
• Incidental gamers lack motivation and play games mainly out of boredom. However, they spend more than 20 hours a month playing online games.
• Occasional gamers play puzzle, word, and board games almost exclusively.

I was going to start hacking this to pieces, but it's so obvious I just can't be bothered any more.

Bring us another transparent attempt for an outsider to seem authorative about the games industry, this one's broken.

Re:Ahh, I can see it now...

[Volante3192]

Dormant Gamers have gone into hibernation waiting for the time the galactic economy is capable of sustaining their exhorbant needs.

Until that time, they pass the time playing SimEarth...

Used to play ...

[anagama]

I used to play and buy a lot of games. I'm from the Sierra Games generation though and maybe I just got older, but I find it hard to really get into games anymore. Once a year I'll pull out my Windows ME CD and install Civilization Call to Power -- play it for a week then go back to living. When I was in my teens and 20s, I played Deathtrack or Wing Commander till my joysticks wore out - every Leisure Suit Larry - tons of others I can't even remember. Now however, if I play a shooter on my PS2 for 30 minutes, my wrist and forearm aches for two days. I've tried adventure puzzle games but mostly, they are only modertately good -- something to do if there is nothing else to do and it barely costs anything. It's hard to find really compelling games that a fogey like me can play .... well, I'm only 37 but I can't take the repetitive game pad pounding anymore. And at $30-50 a pop, it's hard to justify the risk of buying something you can't return.

Civilization is cool for me because it takes some thinking, is quite entertaining, but doesn't cause issues with hand overuse. It's a hard formula to match. Recently I tried Pirates of Carribean which seemed cool at first, but somehow just didn't capture my attention and hold it. Anyway, I imagine coming up with a game for people like me would be really hard to do successfully ... and then we'd just buy that one game and play it for many years as I've done with Civ-CTP which makes it hard for game companys to justify the development expense.

Re:Used to play ...

[rackhamh]

I played Deathtrack or Wing Commander till my joysticks wore out - every Leisure Suit Larry

Yeah, I played Leisure Suit Larry until my joystick wore out, too.

Re:Splitting hairs

[(H)elix1]

WTF difference is their between a "Casual Gamer" and a "Leisure Gamer"?

Lots of polyester in the closet?

Extra dimensions

[w33t]

...there aren't just 2 gamer markets, but instead a whopping 6.

What is this, game-string theory?

Re:Splitting hairs

[complexmath]

WTF difference is their between a "Casual Gamer" and a "Leisure Gamer"?

I assume you meant "Leisure gamer" and "Dormant gamer." It's difficult to be sure, but my guess is that it has to do with the number of hours per month each spends playing games. Leisure gamers seem to spend a lot more time gaming than Dormant gamers, mostly because they have more free time. This distinction is arguably a bit silly, but it may apply to game design with respect to the length of an average gaming session. For example, a Leisure gamer might have the time for a raid in WoW while a Dormant gamer would not, even though both are interested in the same type of game.

I do think the addition of a few more categories is a step forward however. For example, a lot of gamers would be considered power gamers in terms of how they approach gaming, but casual gamers in terms of available time (represented by "Leisure gamer" and "Dormant gamer" in the list). Blizzard seems to have been catering to power gamers with little end game content for casual gamers, beleiving that casual gamers will rarely make it that far. But this obviously ignores a rather large subset of players in the Dormant and Leisure categories. Social gamers are another category for which MMORPGs tend to have a lot of appeal, but they typically approach content with a more "casual" play style. Often, these players experience very little content for the time they spend online because they're more interested in roleplay or simply chatting.

Re:Ahh, I can see it now...

[EnsilZah]

I'm a dormant gamer, i just fucking woke up and my friend is expecting me to play an FPS with him.

Re:Splitting hairs

[toolie]

Not sure, but I started out as a Leisure Suit Gamer. I still get misty-eyed when I see Lefty's.

Dude, aim away from your face. Thats how you go blind... all that 'mist'.

Game On

[shoma-san]

There are only 10 types of gamers in the world: Those who understand pwning, and those who don't