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The Core Gamer a Myth?
Next Generation explores the possibility that the 18 to 34 year old 'hardcore' male gamer, a coveted demographic, may not actually exist. Research from the NPD Group indicates that most 'heavy use' gamers are younger, between six and 17. From the article: "Frazier explained ... 'The segments were determined by examining player behavior, rather than defining segments demographically. While it's easy to talk about the 18 to 34 core gamer, it's not necessarily accurate. The industry has been in need of much more nuanced information that can be used both when developing and marketing content. In all, 10 behavioral attributes were used to determine the segments, and they fall into four primary areas: ownership of systems, use of systems, frequency of use, and purchase behavior. Segments emerged by minimizing differences within clusters and maximizing differences between the clusters." Is this yet another sign of the 'greying gamer' phenomenon, or simply evidence indicating the marketers have had it wrong all along?
Certainly the demographic exists. Whether it is as large or important as previously thought is another question entirely.
Saying it doesn't exist at all is akin to saying that no 10-15 year olds are interested in programming. I'm sure there are some, but the demographic isn't deemed important enough to cater to most of the time.
Anyone else think the comments just weren't rendering right before they turned off ABP and saw ads?
Is this yet another sign of the 'greying gamer' phenomenon, or simply evidence indicating the marketers have had it wrong all along?
Probably the latter. Figuring out the age of gamers (the real age, not the "im 11" you get in chat) is about as easy as finding out if high school students are honest when taking a survey asking what illegal substances they've used.
I've known several lads in that age bracket, and they do love their games. They also like biking, kayaking, clubbing, and macking.
Dark Reflection
It seems to me that the "core group" they are referring to do exist and in my experience play many more hours per day, with some playing the whole weekends away. They exhibit classic signs of addiction like only associating with people who play the game on a daily basis and hiding the "playing of the game" from family and friends who do not partake in it.
An Education is the Font of All Liberty
The core gamer does exist, but in small numbers. These numbers are importat because many core gamers are game developers. They want to make the games they want to play. They need to justify the creation of these games, so they have defined themselves as a core audianc
I used to have a cool sig, back when I cared
I would expect any one who plays games to know that the real hardcore group is children. While I my self at 23 play a great deal of games, I still acknowledge my responsibilities and don't spend 14 hours a day playing like most kids will over weekends.
This can be filed under the "duh!" category..
The core gaming group is more like 14-22 years old, from the time they have actual money to the time they get out of college. (Some will continue for a bit after college, but there's going to be a rapid fall-off.)
The other big group is parents, buying games for their 6-16 year old kids.
the core gamer is a high school through college student, whatever the age. they have much more free time per day.
real life drags core gamers (like myself) down to the level of casual gamer.
so, i suppose that would make the core gamer 13-22 or so.
The article says you can't look at traditional demographics, but then fails to define these new categories/behaviors. The link in the article goes back to the clueless article about the so-called 10 categories of gamers - 5 of which are just different pronounciations of "casual", none of this accuratly describes the behaviors/spending habits of me or many of my friends - past or present.
Anyone who believes that us 18 to 34 year olds have as much time to play games as 6 to 17 year olds has been reading some baby boomer propaganda. I've got a fracking mortgage to pay and kids to feed and clothe. While I still game, there is no way I could possibly game as much as my nephews for example, who are in that 6 to 17 age range.
Yeah, so earth to boomers: Gen X has grown up and the marketing people from your generation have had it wrong.
I'll come clean, I've had more than a couple menial jobs (food industry, retail, loan processor). The kind of jobs where you go in, churn away the hours, and go home burned out by the sheer enormous power of the stupidity of the masses.
I, and most of my male co-workers, would all decompress by playing videogames; usually for hours. If you worked a retail night shift and your job depended on keeping an hour sales average up (at The Sharper Image you have to sell an average of $100/hour each month) you can't be getting tired. Most people would alter their schedules to fit with an evening work time, but also in the world o' retail you get variable shifts. You could work three mornings and four nights one week, five nights and one morning, etc. etc. (Ditto for restaurants, but the shifts were generally more stable.) The solution is caffeine.
By the time that we'd get out of work at 10pm or so we'd still be wired from our last coffee or other caffeine beverage. Some would go clubbing. Most would be too tired to party, to hyper to sleep. The perfect niche for videogaming.
Now that I have a semi-normal job, a wife, a house to maintain, a two hour a day commute, and generally a life I do have less time for video games. But even so I still find time for a little gaming every night, more on the weekends, and prolonged multi-hour session every other weekend or so.
"The segments were determined by examining player behavior..."
So age was determined based on behavior? Can someone think of any flaws with this, or did I misunderstand something?
If this is accurate, then Nintendo might have the last laugh with their one-size-fits-all approach to gaming. In Japan we are already seeing the sterotypical demographics blend and blur withe the DS and more specifically Brain Age. The Wii claims to be even more non-gamer friendly and potentially tap into the broad games market rather than the 3% hardcore gamer demographic that MS and Sony want to capture.
certified elipsis abuser
When you think about it, who *really* has disposable income and disposable time? It's probably your typical teenager, with few commitments outside of school and a part time job that can entirely fund a video game habit. Once you get past this point, in college or the real world with a real job, time rapidly becomes a precious commodity. "Hardcore gamers" don't last very long in college (I should know, I basically lost an entire semester...). So, the vast majority of gamers have to work to support themselves (or study hard to convince their parents to continue supporting them) and thus they only have time for a few hours here and there.
18-34 seems like a fairly useless demographic segment for something like video games. At 26 I'm not even halfway through that group, and since 18 my life has been through a whole bunch of big changes, my gaming habits included.
High school to college to graduation to getting a job to getting married soon. And I'll likely end up with some kids before 34. I can't imagine that my habits and tastes in regards to video games are usefully similar to those of an average 18 year old or 34 year old.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
I'm 29, I consider myself in that group.
I've got just under 80 PS2 games.
Every month I average the purchase of 1 PS2 game and 2-3 PC games.
I also enjoy getting out, have the girlfriend, and don't spend all my time inside.
Which also means I haven't actually played all the games I own, but I'm still a collector.
Oh yeah, and I own a PSP, DS Lite, X-Box (only found 2 games I liked on it - Strategy and RPG is my taste).
And yes, that means if I'll buy a system just to play two games, you can bet I'll be getting a PS3.
And I'll probably get a 360 when Mass Effect comes out.
A lot of my friends aren't as "hard core" as they used to be, due to various reasons (family, other interests, time, etc).
Me still being the hard-core one they always know who to turn to when they feel the urge to dive into gaming for a night.
I don't understand where this comment comes from. The alleged "core gamer" demographic was stated to be 18--34, which includes most of us that started gaming 20--30 years ago (though obviously not all), and what the article is trying to say is that the "core gamer" (what they call "heavy gamers") are more closely clustered around 6--17 years-of-age (45% of "heavy gamers" fall into that demographic, specifically). The point---which is obvious if you've bothered to read the article---is that marketers have had it totally wrong all along.
What I found most interesting is that 21% of the "heavy gamers" are female, which suggests that either
Game Publishers aim at the 17-34 hardcore gamer because they -purchase- most of the games.
The NPD study is weighted heavily by -use-.
Is anyone surprised that K-12 kids have more spare time and fewer entertainment alternatives than college students and young professionals?
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
'Tis truly the best way to mack.
Of course the Core gamer is a myth! Everybody got shanghaied into buying the Premium just for the hard drive.
Clearly the authors have not seen Grandma's Boy. Don't they know that all 25-38 year olds live with their Grandma and work as game level testers while programming games in their spare time?
Forget about kids, they're *so* yesterday. Aging baby-boomers are where it's at. (Although I have a seething hatred for that demographic.)
Look on T.V. Notice anything lately? You see all those T.V. anchors with grey hair? What about Taylor Hicks from American Idol? Get it? The boomers are getting older, and unfortunately are still the biggest demographic in the U.S.
In addition, MMOs are getting better and better, and bandwidth is increasing. Add in a bunch of retirees who have absolutely *nothing* to do, and all of a sudden we'll be seeing games like "World of Shuffleboardcraft", and "The Sims: Retirement Community"
Know it. Fear it.
Who the "core gamer" group is depends on how you define it. If you're thinking of "those who spend frightening amounts of time on video games" then this report is likely accurate. One you get the job, committed relationship, mortgage, kids etc. there are just so many more things requiring your time that game time is necessarily reduced.
On the other hand, if you judge the "core gamer" as the group that spends the most money on games, then you're back to the 18-34 year old. Sure, some of the purchases are for siblings or progeny, but that's the group with the disposable income.
I'm a member of the demographic. Whether or not you trust me when I say this is another question entirely, however. :/
From the article: "The Video Gamer Segmentation Report separated gamers into six groups: heavy gamers, avid console gamers, mass market gamers, prefer portable gamers, secondary gamers, and infrequent gamers."
But if we re-name the groups to better describe who they are, the results aren't too surprising.
1) 14-20 year old guys. The only people who can easily fit into the first group are those with large disposable time and incomes, so naturally, this will be skewed towards those in high school. But, at one gender and only a few years of the analysis window, it's not surprising that they are only a few percent of all the gamers overall.
2) Fanboys. They can come in any age, but "avid" console players still need lots of time, so again, the skew towards high school, but not as much so as the "heavy" gamers. Also, the fact that many people mature in college and may lose their fanboyism also drives the skew towards younger kids.
3) Average Joe Consumer. This is the one to blame for all the sports game rehashes, boring sequels, movie tie-ins, and cartoon show tie-ins. Only buys based on what is popular and/or advertised. The article didn't giva a full breakdown as to how many people were in this group, but I'm willing to bet its the second largest behind the casual/non gamers. Of all the demographics this is the one I really wish would go away, because most game publishers ARE aware of this large market, and hence they push more and more mediocre games every year to appeal to the lowest common denominator.
4) Commuters. Either the young children who need something to do in the car while mom drives them all over suburbia, or those who take public transportation to and from work. Portable games are there primarily to alleviate boredom when you can't be home playing games. SO, with more gamers actually getting jobs as they grow up, many will shift from consoles to portables. Hence the surprisingly older ages of those who like portables.
5) People with lives. Gamers who like to play, but don't always have the time or money. Not much was said about this group in the article, so I can't say much here.
6) Non-gamers. They know what games are beacuse they live with gamers or know gamers, but they don't really have an interest. Big market, but good luck cracking it.
Anyway, the bottom line is that this isn't really news to anybody who actually watches what is going on in gaming. It is nice to see that the gaming culture as a whole is getting some consideration though. Of course it still doesn't fix the fact that no matter what category each of us falls into, the others will always be the ones to blame anytime the industry starts to falter or stagnate.
I don't care if the "core gamer" spends every waking hour playing games... Those stats are irrelevant. What matters is what demographic SPENDS the most. I am a casual to infrequent gamer (if 4-6 hours of gaming a week can count as casual or infrequent). But I still buy a decent amount of games. I have a stack of 6 games waiting right now still in shrink-wrap.
Do publishers care if I've played them or not? They still got my money.
The danger of studies such as this one is that publishers then try to cater to this supposedly "fanatic" demographic, and then we get a bunch of juvenile sex and violence crap-fests, and everyone sits around scratching their heads when they don't sell.
There's the kid gamer, who's spending power is entirely in the hands of his parents.
There's the teenage gamer, who will probably spend more money than the kid, spend more time playing games, and explore the social aspect of gaming more. This makes an ideal demographic for in-game ads.
There's the college gamer, who you might as well not bother targeting since he's going to pirate all his games anyway.
Of those, you've got a few subgroups:
The casual gamer who just plays a few games on his PS2.
The social gamer who likes anything so long as it plants a bunch of his friends on the couch with him.
The mobile gamer, who's attention you can never get when you need it, but at least you've got something interesting to watch waiting in line.
The obsessed gamer, who talks about games to people who care nothing about them and think a fun weekend is only stopping to order pizza or sleep.
Then there's us old types. We're the hardcore gamers, the ones who while everyone else is trying to "grow up" refuse to put down the control or step away from the mouse and go mow the lawn of our overpriced suburban homes. "Core gamer" as a marketing demographic is much younger than the older term of "hardcore gamer", and means soemthing completely different.
120 characters for a sig? That's bloody useless.
"...the real age, not the "im 11" you get in chat..."
Is it just me or does anyone else think it's weird that this guy hangs out in chat rooms where people frequently lie to him and tell him that they are 11 years old? And that he seems to disappointed by it?
What exactly is their deffinition of a "'hardcore' male gamer". I mean I fit into the age bracket and I play games when ever I can. But holding down a fulltime job and owning a house don't really leave massive amounts of time for game play anymore. It looks like the group they are saying are the main base of players is the group that has 2 or 3 months off in the summer and then has nothing to do but some homework after they get off from school. I think the biggest problem with this is that most people college age don't tend to have the money to buy the newest console or the best comp to play the newest game. I mean everytime a new game comes out now I have to look at upgrading something on my system because they increased the system requirments, and while I'm not hurting for money I can't make myself spend $100 for an upgrade to play a $50 game.
The game is called "what has to be true about the universe for my god to exist", er I mean "what has to be true about the universe for my preferred game system to succeed."
If photons decay and there were great rervoirs of underground water, er I mean if there is no core demographic for video games...
I dispute that there are few old hard core gamers. Since I'm an old gray gamer, with children and Grandchildren that are gamers. I'm glad to say I started them onto this mild form of addiction. PC's started to be house hold items in the late 80's and continued to be popular till present times. Now if you do a little math, considering in the 80's, a gamer would be 12 or above years old. Now I fall in the well above 12 year age in the 80's, mid forties, which now puts me in the gray haired crowd. My friends found out that a good whack and stack RPG was a great stress reliever. We continue to play to this present day. Put that in your mix and now figure who has the money to buy the games or has the time to really play an unlimited time, single play or on-line. The gray haired set continue to play or resume their playing games as they age. bdpf "broken down pipe fitter" Snuffy
Many of the 18-34 age group that has been labeled "hardcore" are now 28-44 or older while new games have joined the ranks. The problem with this statistic and what makes it mythical is that it started at a time when home computers and consoles were relatively new. Many of us have grown up with them now. I myself am a couple years past the specified group old enough to remember getting pong for christmas and debating whether Intellivision or Colecovision was better (I was a coleco fan myself).
I dont really see myself being too old to play games. I own all the current consoles (except the 360) and all 3 handhelds (yep the GP32 counts for some of us). As long as I have the vision and dexterity to play I will, heck with controllers like the Wii I dont even really need the dexterity. I play family games with the kids and more grown-up games myself. I don't put in as many hours as I did when I was a kid without responsibilities but I actually buy more. Trying to box gamers into a constantly shifting segment is impossible and if anything when it comes to advertising and marketing it probably decreases rather than increases potential sales.
34-current have 30+ games installed on my PC, own 2 consoles (ps2+gamecube) and play about 15+hours a week, sometimes more as my time allows.
;)
I have many friends in the same age bracket who are about as "hard core" as I am.
When i wasn't employeed the hours played were more along 40+ a week.
I also have kids and a wife.
So I am the demographic for the hardcore gamer (maybe not the typical slashdot geek tho).
Now that my kids are getting older (10,11 and 15) we can play games on our lan which is helping to increase my play time as i am not "being selfish" as my wife puts it, I am spending "quality time" with the kids
As usual these surveys and marketers have their heads up their arses, but this is typical because those who respond to surveys and marketers aren't savy enough to know better, and typically not "hard core" (meaning they are too busy gaming to answer surveys:P).
Can small developers reach this demographic? Would a game designed for set-top PCs be a viable product, or is the number of video gaming machines without a lockout chip connected to a television set negligible?
Unfortunately, as I understand it, most mobile devices are locked down in some way: PSP and DS to the console maker's preference for large developers, and mobile phones to the network operator's preference for large developers.