Interesting Article About Adult Gamers

[wbatl1]

This is probably relevant to most of us

THE AGING GAMERS

Young at heart find joy with a joystick

By BILL HUSTED
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/05/06
Soviet tanks rumble down the tree-shaded streets of Druid Hills with a 54-year-old veteran at the controls.

Meanwhile, in Canton, a 46-year-old pilots a Delta widebody with no worries that the airline's bankruptcy case will curtail his days behind the yoke or shrink his paycheck.

The pilot, the tank commander, a 72-year-old great-grandmother in Peachtree City who plays online games when she can't sleep: They're all part of a trend in the computer world. An over-the-hill gang of gamers that is increasingly important to the industry.

"It's now big enough to be a relevant group," said Richard Garriott, an executive producer for the NCSoft video game publisher. "The average age for gamers has slowly gotten older and older over time."

And as the baby boomer generation moves into retirement — with time on their hands and money to spend — game publishers are becoming more interested in the group. Industry research shows that the average gamer today is 30, far from the stereotype of the 13-year-old with a joystick and the earnest desire to kill dragons or skateboard around obstacles.

These graying gamers have something to offer game companies in terms of sales. But the games also have something to offer older players: eternal youth and the springy legs of a teenager.

Just ask Rayburn Jones of Dunwoody.

"Very much so," he said, when asked whether playing makes him feel younger. "There's a game I play where there are three pits to jump over and you have to be very agile to do it."

Jones' 68-year-old legs easily make the jump.

Jones plays a selection of monster-slaying games that would make any kid proud, including "Unreal Tournament," "Pain Killer" and series of games under the ominous brands of Quake, Doom and Half Life.

Sarah McClure, 72, of Peachtree City, thinks playing online word games helps keep her mentally sharp.

"That's one of the reasons that I tell my children that I do it," she said. "It keeps my brain young."

The other reason — the one she doesn't mention — is that it's fun. Besides, she's good at it. When she's competing with other players of the "Funster" word games (www.funster.com) she asks for no quarter and doesn't need it.

McClure came to the word puzzle games through her interest in crossword puzzles. Now she logs on, sometimes as much as eight times a day, to play against the computer or even groups of online opponents.

Serious players

NCSoft's Garriott says older gamers tend to look for intellectual content from a game and often approach games with the same seriousness that they used to face workplace challenges.

For Jones, that seriousness means "you are always looking for some technological edge" while playing. "I picked up a laser mouse that you can program [to automatically perform some game functions], and it does give you a little bit of an edge."

Besides there is the thrill of danger for the retired Georgia Planning and Budget Office employee.

Any gamer will tell you that other family members — wives and mothers alike — can be more fierce, more dangerous, than any video monster.

"My wife says that my gaming does not bother her so long as I do not turn the boom-boom sound up too much," Jones said. "That is the sound of my game guns chopping some zombie in two."

Family ritual

Jones says most of his friends underestimate the complexity of the battle games he plays.

Jeff Cromwell, 54, of Druid Hills, the vicarious tank commander, has turned computer gaming into a family ritual.

When it comes time for the yearly family vacation on Amelia Island, the computers and networking equipment go along with the swimming trunks.

It's a family tradition — even now that the kids are 20, 18 and 14 — to play together. With the two oldest off at college during much of the year, it's a chance to reunite old teammates.

Cromwell will retire from his accounting job at BellSouth next month. That means more time for games.

But he also plans to go back to school to learn more about something he already knows firsthand: computer graphics.

There's no real digital divide when it comes to skill in Cromwell's family. His family enjoys the series of Command and Conquer games that offer strategic battles between U.S. and Soviet military units.

He and his family stay away from the fast-paced slash and shoot games favored by young players.

"Most of us get dizzy from the motion in first person shooter games," Cromwell said. "That's the problem with playing with relatives. We all inherited the dizzy factor."

Like many older game players, Cromwell prefers games that rely on strategy and logic. For instance, another favorite is "WarCraft," which allows players to take control of a character that advances in skills and powers with experience. All his favorite games depend more on logic than a fast hand on the joystick.

NCSoft's Garriott said that tracks with industry research.

"The younger gamers are pretty much interested in fast-action, shoot-them-up games," he said. "Once gamers cross over into the 30s and older, they are more interested in cerebral games."

Fantasy pilot

John Kendrix of Canton, 46, especially likes the challenge of flight simulators. He joined a group of online fliers (www.deltava.org) that call themselves the Delta Virtual Airline. The group uses Microsoft's Flight Simulator game.

They use voice-over-Internet to talk with online traffic controllers. Pilots come in an assortment of ages.

"That question came up on the virtual airline, and there are a lot of young folks," Kendrix said. "But almost as many in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, etc."

There is very little childish behavior online. Maybe it's the heavy responsibility of flying virtual passengers in his Boeing 767-300ER.

However, when Kendrix moves from his PC to his Xbox 360, a popular game console that allows online competition, "you meet a lot of people who obviously are having trouble with puberty," he joked.

But, even at 46, he finds computer satisfactions that a 13-year-old would understand.

"My stepson used to be the pre-eminent gamer in the house," Kendrix said.

"I took great pleasure in taking him to school in [the computer game] 'Dead or Alive 4.' This was a big change causing much stir in my family. The consensus logic from relatives seems to be that I was lucky. Ha!"

http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/0505bizoldgamers.html?COXnetJSessionIDbuild133=EbDyzE3ftmetN4g1pgsRFA18GOhmhrYCd7uYG6bfTmkoUZ0U14mi!722909352&UrAuth=`N\NUOcNYUbTTUWUXUWUZT[UTUWU\U\UZU`UaUcTYWYWZV&urcm=y

[Marc Vaughan]

The average age for SI's sims has always been considerably above the considered 'norm' for games and I've always quite enjoyed recieving 'thank you' emails from retired people as it makes a nice change from the ones from kids indicating they're being threatened with expulsion from school for skiving off to play*

*Sadly a true story, always wondered what he made of my lecture to take school more seriously as I didn't hear back from him (somewhat unsurprisingly) ...

[Ksyrup]

Nice to see PTC getting a mention. I see much hasn't changed. In high school, I thought everyone there was 72 years old.

[Franklinnoble]

No word wrap makes me sad, and unwilling to read the article.

[GoSeahawks]

Industry research shows that the average gamer today is 30, far from the stereotype of the 13-year-old with a joystick and the earnest desire to kill dragons or skateboard around obstacles.

If that's true, I am honestly shocked.

[Eaglesfan27]

I had a moving consultant doing an estimate the other day, and the idiot was actually stupid enough to ask if I had kids since I had an Xbox 360 and a PS2 in the living room. I said no, and then he said, "aren't you a bit old to be gaming." Of course, I didn't hire his company.

Edited to add: I'm only 31, but admittedly look older due to my lack of hair.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I had a moving consultant doing an estimate the other day, and the idiot was actually stupid enough to ask if I had kids since I had an Xbox 360 and a PS2 in the living room. I said no, and then he said, "aren't you a bit old to be gaming." Of course, I didn't hire his company.

Edited to add: I'm only 31, but admittedly look older due to my lack of hair.

Step 1: Insult Potential Customers

Step 2: ???????????????

Step 3: Profit!

[gstelmack]

Originally Posted by GoSeahawks

If that's true, I am honestly shocked.

That's because all you hear about are the media stories about Quake and Doom and all the action games. There are far, far more people playing poker on AOL (for example) than are playing a lot of the action games. That's why "casual gaming" has become such a huge industry of late.

I know, you probably wouldn't label a lot of those people "gamers", but still.

There's also the fact that I used to be a 13-year-old joystick jockey, and now I'm a late-30s-strategy-and-tactical-shooter gamer. There are a lot of people moving into and through middle age that were teenagers when the video game craze got rolling.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by GoSeahawks

If that's true, I am honestly shocked.

I'm not. We grew up with them. (I'm 34 now) Kids today have IPods and other interests which weren't around when I was younger. I can remember when the internet was a loud screech and some text.

I spent my free time with the Atari 2600 and have never stopped playing.

Whenever I walk into a Gamestop or BestBuy, a majority of the people I see are adults purchasing games.

You can also tell the age of the people by playing just by basing it off of cost. How many 13 year olds have $600 in income they could afford on an Xbox 360 and a game or two?

[ISiddiqui]

Damn.. I was hoping something about "Leisure Suit Larry"

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Step 1: Insult Potential Customers

Step 2: ???????????????

Step 3: Profit!

[bulletsponge]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight
Step 1: Insult Potential Customers

Step 2: ???????????????

Step 3: Profit!

you stole my smiley!

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally Posted by GoSeahawks

If that's true, I am honestly shocked.

I've yet to see good research that backs up the claim that the average gamer is 30 years old. The Entertainment Software Association has always been behind this crusade to persuade the world that gamers aren't all teenagers, but they keep their research close to the vest and just release "results" that say that the average gamer is 30 years old. They never open up their research to show how they got that number.

I have a sense that they define a "gamer" with something generic like "someone who played a game on a computer/console in the last 12 months", in which case my mother who played Solitaire once in the past year would be considered an equal "gamer" to the 15-year-old high school student who plays games 50 hours a week.

Having said that, it's clear that games are moving into the mainstream. As young gamers get older, many of them still play games, although at a reduced rate.

[Huckleberry]

Industry research shows that the average gamer today is 30, far from the stereotype of the 13-year-old with a joystick and the earnest desire to kill dragons or skateboard around obstacles.

I wonder if the average gamer was closer to 13 years old, I don't know, say, 17 years ago?

Funny thing about people is that they get older.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by TroyF

I'm not. We grew up with them. (I'm 34 now) Kids today have IPods and other interests which weren't around when I was younger. I can remember when the internet was a loud screech and some text.

I spent my free time with the Atari 2600 and have never stopped playing.

Whenever I walk into a Gamestop or BestBuy, a majority of the people I see are adults purchasing games.

You can also tell the age of the people by playing just by basing it off of cost. How many 13 year olds have $600 in income they could afford on an Xbox 360 and a game or two?

Totally anecdotal, I'd say our customers fall into one of four groups:

1) 17-34 y/o gamers buying stuff independently on PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360.

2) 13-17 y/o gamers bugging their parents to buy them a new game, usually on PS2 or Xbox.

3) Younger children getting parents to buy them games on GBA/DS/GameCube.

4) PC gamers

We're not representative of the market as a whole, but I would break that down as probably a 40/40/20 for the console market. The folks we see from group 4 are almost universally kids under 16. We see some older folks buying PC games, but I've noticed that far more of our older customers tend to gravitate to the console games...and that might go back to the whole comfort issue oft discussed in the PC/console debate.

Older gamers who work for a living spend all day in front of the PC, and maybe more frequently want to kick back on the couch with a controller and a beer.

The alternative is that older PC gamers purchase more of their games via alternative delivery methods - either internet purchases via Amazon/eBay, or else independent offerings from companies like Solecismic, and so we don't see them in-store very often.

Again, none of that should be used to extrapolate to market tendencies as a whole; that's just what we see in one itty-bitty corner of Southern California.

[Franklinnoble]

I dunno, SA... I'm 31, and I don't play console games at all anymore. I'll never buy another console, and I'll never buy another console game (well, unless it's for my kids).

I think the alternative point you make is valid... when I buy a game, it's rarely an impulse buy anymore - it's a deliberate purchase made after careful evaluation, reading reviews, and, of course, shopping around for a good price. Some are direct-downloads, and some I just shop around and purchase online.

Console games are probably not as likely to fluctuate, price-wise, from an online or in-store purchase, so you really don't see any point in buying Madden online when you can get it in-store immediately and at the same price.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Franklinnoble

I dunno, SA... I'm 31, and I don't play console games at all anymore. I'll never buy another console, and I'll never buy another console game (well, unless it's for my kids).

I think the alternative point you make is valid... when I buy a game, it's rarely an impulse buy anymore - it's a deliberate purchase made after careful evaluation, reading reviews, and, of course, shopping around for a good price. Some are direct-downloads, and some I just shop around and purchase online.

Console games are probably not as likely to fluctuate, price-wise, from an online or in-store purchase, so you really don't see any point in buying Madden online when you can get it in-store immediately and at the same price.

Franklin, this town is more affluent than many others in Southern California, which probably skews things some. Older dudes in this town buy game consoles where maybe they wouldn't elsewhere.

Which is why I say, don't extrapolate my observations to the market at-large. They probably aren't valid there. But that's what I see in the SCV.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by GoSeahawks

If that's true, I am honestly shocked.

That's because they are giving you an average, not a median or standard diviation. All you really need is a small percentage of gamers to be in the 60+ range to pull that average up, giving it the impression of being higher than it really is. (An example of why "average" is not a very good statistic).

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Godzilla Blitz

I've yet to see good research that backs up the claim that the average gamer is 30 years old. The Entertainment Software Association has always been behind this crusade to persuade the world that gamers aren't all teenagers, but they keep their research close to the vest and just release "results" that say that the average gamer is 30 years old. They never open up their research to show how they got that number.
I have a sense that they define a "gamer" with something generic like "someone who played a game on a computer/console in the last 12 months", in which case my mother who played Solitaire once in the past year would be considered an equal "gamer" to the 15-year-old high school student who plays games 50 hours a week.

Having said that, it's clear that games are moving into the mainstream. As young gamers get older, many of them still play games, although at a reduced rate.

I'm with GB here, looking at the statistics I've seen. And, no amount of a really biased sample of anecdotal evidence (go ahead, everyone, keep making those posts of "I'm 30 and I game so it must be true"- that'll prove something ).

Don't get me wrong- there's a large population of "older" gamers- it's just that it's not huge in the grand scheme of things.

SI

[SackAttack]

SI, I'd say that the most active "older gamers" are the ones who grew up with it. I don't think there's many 50/60's out there, the occasional "gamer granny" notwithstanding. But dudes in their 30's? Yeah, I can see it.

I'm certain they don't game anywhere near as frequently as their kids do, or even as they did when they were kids, but it's sort of like high school football in the South - not that it's that rabid an activity for them, but you don't see Southerners quit going to high school football games just because they're not IN high school anymore.

By the same token, while the duration/intensity of gaming may not be what it was for the 30-somethings, the ones who were into it as kids probably haven't lost interest in it as a hobby. It's just that they have other concerns/interests complementing it, so you still see an overwhelming sample size of teens and tweens for the group putting in the most hours.