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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?
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 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.
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.
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.
This is the thing, the 18-34 year old gamers are just single men with no families. So, between 18 and 24 there's probably a lot of hardcore gamers, but beyond that, the numbers really start to dwindle. I have a family, and between that and my job, I don't have that much time to which I can devote to TV, Movies, Games, Sports, programming for my own interests, hanging out with friends and any other recreational activities that I may want to spend time on. Gaming simply doesn't come that high on the priority list. I suspect that it's the same for most people in this age group. The only people I know who spend a significant amount of time on games are single people.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Indeed. When I was much younger, it was only natural for me to have significantly more free time for gaming. I didn't have a career, a house, or a girlfriend, and being under 18 meant that opportunities to pursue certain hobbies or entertainment that took me far from home were at their minimum. It was at that time that the appeal of my games was undeniable.
Now in my 30s, gaming is pursued when there's nothing more compelling on the agenda, which means that though I've owned Devil May Cry 3 for well over a year (and the first in the series was the primary reason why I purchased a PS2), the disc has yet to be removed from its case. It would be fun, yes, but I've grown to discover that it's not nearly as enjoyable as dozens of other things.
I don't have as much time for gaming; and to be perfectly honest, I don't want to have as much time for gaming.