Interesting BBC survey on gaming

[alva]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Well I'll want to be playing games when I retire!
Unfortunately, the way things are going, I won't even be able to afford net access on the state pension. Better get saving....

Pension, what pension...you guys will have to work until the age of 70 anyway, you're not going to beat many a games, let alone MP games after that me boyo.

Keeping the english from the street (and teh internet).

[Sandman]

Re: Re: Interesting BBC survey on gaming

Originally posted by Zero


cause casual gamers dont consider themselves a gamer.

If you'd looked carefully at the survey, it said that 27 million people in the UK consider themselves gamers. And I'll bet 20 million of them spend their time complaining about the scourge of casual gamers.

[DrSpike]

More likely they are too busy playing sudoku on their mobile phones to know what that means.

[Sandman]

Only a tiny portion of UK mobile phone users have ever bothered to download a game - 5%.

[DrSpike]

Download yes. Lots of phones have games on them to start with. Then there's the 'games' you can play through digital TV. My gran plays one - it's a bit like minesweeper. If she had taken that survey she would probably classify herself as a gamer. She has never even been near a console or a PC.

Like it or not, the casual gamer is far from a myth. Their ranks grow day by day, and verily, by osmosis their interest can seep through to real games, where their quick fix mindset is one of the drivers of the tendency for developers today to sometimes emphasise style over substance.

It is just undeniable to anyone that has eyes, and enough experience to see the gaming industry 10 years ago and compare it to the industry of today. Anyone that fits that criteria and still denies it needs to be slapped repeatedly with a wet kipper until they recant.

[Sandman]

Another link

It's South Korea and 2004, but even so - only 6.9% use their phones for playing games.

The causal gamer is a myth put out by gamers desperate for a sense of self-importance. I'll bet there's not a shred of evidence that they're 'constantly increasing' - although it does add to the power of the myth if the 'threat' is ever-growing.

[Nacht]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
edit: note that the most popular category was "puzzles/quizes" I think we've got alot of flash games, mobile phone games, etc. Thats probably why youve got the age and gender demos. Its not alot of 45 yo women playing Halo.

combine that with their definition of a gamer:

A gamer is defined as someone who has played video games in the last six months on any platform, including interactive TV

and this survey becomes completly pointless.

[DrSpike]

[Traianvs]

Re: Re: Interesting BBC survey on gaming

Originally posted by Zero


cause casual gamers dont consider themselves a gamer.

besides how is a heavy gamer defined? If you own a console or two and own a shelf of games, are you considered a heavy gamer? If you goto gamefaqs trying to unlock every little secrets for games you like maybe?

for me, if u wanna consider urselves harcore heavy gammer at what you play, you gotta spend hours thinking about the strategy, goto poly like sites where you discuss tactics of that game for hours on end.... thats heavy to me.

edit: and this is probably best example of what im talking about...

http://www.soulcalibur.com/forums/sh...threadid=27466

the people on that forum seem kinda freaky to me, analysing a game like that is a bit odd, ....
anyway to me a heavy gamer is simply someone who spends a lot of time gaming or on things related to games. it doesn't necessarily mean thinking out 100 strategies; not everyone perceives that as 'fun' you know

[child of Thor]

interesting article and replies. I spend alot of time playing games of all kinds(although tbs are my favourites) - probably about 30hours upwards a week.

[DrSpike]

It's impressive to turn in 30 hours with job/girlfriend restrictions. I haven't managed that for a couple of years, apart from when I was playing Guild Wars, which my girlfriend likes playing too.

Prior to that 30 hours was a light week for me.

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by DrSpike
edit....... girlfriend likes playing too.

Is the key part of my gaming hrs turn over, it helps hugely if your other half likes games too(or if your single, which is when the hours can get silly - )

actually thinking about it - 30hrs is probably my top end. around 20hrs is more like it(a few hrs each week day+ around 12 or more over the weekends). So yeah work and RL does cramp it somewhat

Still in relation to the article i would agree that we probably have a very high percentage of hardcore gamers in the uk(rather than the casual) that like the in-depth strategy games that are getting harder to find. I know all my pc gaming friends are into Civ much more than games like halo etc.

hmmm if the average age is around 28, that would mean these people probably started gaming in the early 90's(maybe end of 80's) - so they will have seen the slide to 'soft casual' type games that offer little challange or hrs of gameplay?

[Traianvs]

Originally posted by DrSpike
It's impressive to turn in 30 hours with job/girlfriend restrictions. I haven't managed that for a couple of years, apart from when I was playing Guild Wars, which my girlfriend likes playing too.

Prior to that 30 hours was a light week for me.

30 hours? Holy ****... how much gaming is that/day?

[DrSpike]

You can't divide 30 by 7?

[Shogun Gunner]

not without a calculator, abacus or something