demographics
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NPD study: Video games are family activity and stress reducer
A study done by "bringers of the sales data" NPD found that people prefer to play video games together and that a majority of gamers view playing as a way to alleviate stress. Once again, like many studies, there's a lot of "duh" here, but the thing about studies is that until somebody actually does one the data stays anecdotal. The study finds that 63% of the US population play video games, with 30% saying they are playing more games than last year, 30% saying they are playing less games, and 40% saying they are playing about the same amount.The full release from NPD can be found after the break. Hardcore gamers were found to be squarely in the male 18-34 range and spend "significant amounts of time and money to gaming." The report states that consumers are fickle and that the lighter gamers have many options distracting them and their free time. NPD says the industry must compel those people to stay with gaming and the rewards will be great. We're pretty sure every major casual games company swimming in their money bin of cash has figured this out already.[Via Press Release]
Study shows casual gamers interested in Halo 3
We knew Microsoft was aiming to bring in a more casual audience, but we didn't think that Halo 3 could be part of that hook. Nevertheless, a new study reveals that casual gamers are unusually interested in Bungie's triple-A FPS, which many would describe as anything but casual.The study, performed by the BrandIntel research group, looked at the appeal of both Halo 3 and Guitar Hero III across multiple demographics. While Guitar Hero III performed as expected, the BrandIntel report indicated that Halo 3 "over-achieved," with regards to the reactions garnered from casual gamers.This could simply be due to the game's gigantic mass marketing push, which admittedly made it hard for anyone to not be aware of the title. There could, however, be other elements of Halo 3 -- such as the open-ended "Forge" mode -- that are appealing to the casual sector. As seen in the picture above, we're still investigating any potential connection between Halo 3 and games like Chain Factor. We'll get back to you if we make any startling discoveries.
TiVo looks to serve up demographic data to marketers
Don't you dare criticize TiVo's ad collecting / disseminating department for slacking off, as just months after it launched StopWatch to offer up second-by-second viewing data, the company is planning to also hand over demographic information about its customers. The move is certainly likely to shift TiVo into Big Brother's list of most highly-regarded outfits, as the information that will soon be shared with advertisers (we're hearing it may be opt-in only, however) includes "age, income, marital status and ethnicity." There's no telling how much coinage TiVo will be raking in for such detailed data, but at least willing users can now watch intently knowing full well that they're letting it all (and we mean all) hang out. Update: Turns out this is indeed an opt-in program. Thanks, Jake! [Via Reuters]
How old are those playing your class?
Mianii of the Ursin realm is collecting data in a forum thread on the average ages of players. She has organized the information by class, and what she has found so far is pretty interesting. Each person that posts in the thread includes their class and age and she adds it into her calculations (eww math). Currently the average age of paladins polled is 22.88, while the average age of rogues polled is 16.24. Weirdly enough, mages average at 34.74, so yay for me being ahead of the curve for once. Now before we start making conclusions based on these numbers, we have to realize she is polling forum posters, and that is a very small segment of the player population. I would love to be able to get access to this data from Blizzard, since I am sure they are storing demographics somewhere. If we had an accurate idea of the ages of the players then we could start forming generalizations about age, attitude, and class mechanics and behavior.
Breakfast Topic: Gender in WoW
We've written about gender before, and it's an interesting topic that confronts one more frequently and more dramatically in WoW than it does in other parts of life. Azeroth is a sociologist's dream in several ways; I'm not even a sociology buff and I'd love to see some data on player vs. character demographics.Do you play primarily your own gender or the opposite gender from your own, or do you play both genders pretty equally? Personally, I'm male, but I mostly play female characters. My other two RL friends who play WoW are male and female, but they both play mainly female characters as well. Furthermore, why do you play the gender(s) you do, and do you find that you get treated differently depending on what gender character you are playing?
BBC release full stats on UK gamers
We've already covered the BBC's summary report of their investigation into UK gamers. Now a full report has been released which goes into much more depth, revealing more about gaming as a national hobby on this side of the pond.One of the trends observable from the report is UK gamers' platform of choice--every age group surveyed featured the PS2 and PC prominently as the top two gaming platforms, though the ordering differed across the generations. Mobile gaming also featured very heavily, possibly because the survey labelled those who played Snake on their phone occasionally as much a "gamer" as nightly Halo 2 addicts.Other interesting data comes from the proportion of female gamers in each category. While male gamers outnumber females in every age group, the ratio ranges from 44:56 to 48:52--this seems counter-intuitively high, despite attempts by various groups to make the female gamer more prominent as a consumer. From the report:"Female gamers display a stronger attraction to certain genres and are searching for their gaming choices across a wider number of platforms, which may indicate a lack of appealing material on the popular consoles" These statistics alone aren't overwhelmingly meaningful, but if commissioned at regular intervals, we could map out the state of the "gaming nation" over time very easily. The report shows a lot of promise for gaming as a mainstream hobby in the UK, but with 41% of the British population seemingly not gamers, the industry still has to work for its custom.
