Casual Gamers Not So Casual 83
Next Gen is reporting on a study indicating that casual gamers actually play quite a lot, putting the term 'casual' under a microscope. From the article: "'Our survey has determined that mainstream audiences dedicate a substantial amount of time to gameplay — not just in 15-minute increments as previously thought,' said Loren Hillberg, executive VP and general manager of commerce at Macrovision."
Gamer? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Gamer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Gamer? (Score:1)
Re:Gamer? (Score:2)
Sure, just put it in the dryer for 15 min, and then throw it on the clean pile on the floor
laundry (Score:1)
Re:Gamer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, I think they got their definitions backwards.
Could a peice of software be considered a "game" if it takes more than 15 minutes to play before you start to enjoy it?
I think that is what is meant by causual gamer. You pick up a game and in 90 seconds you are enjoying yourself and not after 90 minutes of hack and slashing... Oh and don't forget that if you can't simply save and put the game down without loosing enjoyement in 15 minutes of you decided to quit (ie save points, having to remember what exactly you were doing, and where you were going) then it isn't a casual game either.
Re:Gamer? (Score:5, Insightful)
Could a piece of video be considered a "movie" if it takes more than 15 minutes before you start to enjoy it?
Could a piece of text be considred a "novel" if it takes more than 15 minutes before you start to enjoy it?
Could a piece of metal be considered a "tool" if it takes more than 15 minutes before you learn how to use it in a way that makes it useful?
Re:Gamer? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Gamer? (Score:2)
Even a car. It's just a really big hammer.
Re:Gamer? (Score:1)
Re:Gamer? (Score:1)
Just to feel how long 15 min is, try timing it while doing nothing...
If it takes that long to start to enjoy or understand something, it gets boring. When that object is designed to entertain, it's not doing a very good job.
Re:Gamer? (Score:1)
Re:Gamer? (Score:1)
Could a piece of video be considered "pr0n" if it takes more than 15 minutes before you finish enjoying it?
Re:Gamer? (Score:5, Insightful)
I've read a lot of comments on handhelds that like their instant-on/resume feature (specifically, the DS and the PSP) so they can play games while "on line at the bank" --- now, I'm not jubilant about the service at my bank but even when it takes a long time I'm in line for no more than 5 or 10 minutes. So clearly there's people who buy these gadgets to play for minutes at a time. A review I read for Tetris DS lauded it for the ability to be online and playing someone else within 60 seconds. Heck, I bet you can get in a Halo 2 game in or two in 15 minutes.
If you look at older games there's a lot of games which can be satisfying in 15 minute increments. Take Geometry Wars or Bejeweled for example. Games that you find on XBLA or other compilations.
Or, if we're talking table top games, stuff like Checkers or Othello or Backgammon or any number of simple card games. Not every table top game needs to be as long as complicated as Risk or Settlers of Catan or Monopoly.
It sounds insincere and hackneyed but gaming is about passion. If you like gaming for gaming's sake (not just to pass the time a la MS Solitaire) then it doesn't matter if you only play half an hour a day or 3 hours a day.
Re:Gamer? (Score:4, Funny)
Stop, pause, and think about that. Let's try an analogy, shall we? I like sex for sex's sake. Does it matter to me if I have sex once a day or seven times a day?
I think so, yes.
Dear God, did I just compare gaming to sex?
Re:Gamer? (Score:1)
Let's talk about games (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Let's talk about games (Score:2)
Well, ok, it's not entirely a joke there. I never understood most of the "hardcore gamer" mentality, or what it even means. Sure, defining it as seeing games as a part of your life is one thing, but half the time "hardcore gamer" is passed off for meaning anything between tough-as-nails kick-me-in-the-teeth I-eat-bosses-for-breakfast adrenaline-soaked challenge-seeker and being outrig
Re:Gamer? (Score:1)
Re:Gamer? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sure a lot of women whose husbands only have sex in 15 minute increments a day would consider them to be "fuckers".
Re:Gamer? (Score:2)
Re:Gamer? (Score:1)
Not Surprising (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Not Surprising (Score:2)
15 Minute Increments? (Score:4, Insightful)
What game nowadays can you play in 15 minute increments? Absolutely no sports games
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:2)
Solitaire.
Minesweeper.
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:2)
Think of it -- does a 'casual' TV view only watch 15 mins a day? An insipid network sitcom is at minimium a 30min commitment. I think the average adult in North America watches ~ 2hrs of TV a day. What's happening is 'gamers' are d
Keyword: increments (Score:2)
T
Re:Keyword: increments (Score:2)
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:2)
I cant even get ready to play a game in 15 minutes. Gotta roll in the comfy chair from the 'office', get the easily consumable food out and ready to go, prepare a stiff vodka based beverage.
Sheesh!
I am being a bit facetious, but really, 15 minutes? i dont think you can even sit down and play any game (video or not) in less than 15 minutes. Who are these people?
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:1)
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:2)
(Anyone mentioning Lunar: Dragon Song will be shot, stabbed, hung, drawn & quartered. Calling that abortion an RPG is like calling a Volkswagon a vegetable.)
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:1)
games.msn.com
And similars.
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:2, Insightful)
Nethack.
Subspace/Continuum.
Console emulators with save state features.
The list goes on and on...
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:2, Insightful)
- Diner Dash
- Mystery Case Files
- Feeding Frenzy
- Egg vs. Chicken
- Plantasia
The reason they are casual games is not because you HAVE to play them for only 15 minutes at a time, but because you CAN play them for 15 minutes at a time, as a casual break from your day to relieve stress, like playing it at work until your boss walks in.
If you're interested, check the games out at www.playfirst.com
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:1)
I think any FPS where you respawn is appropriate for get in/get out kind of play on public servers (as long as they don't say serious gamers only).
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:1)
Re:15 Minute Increments? (Score:1)
I apologize for the blocky look. Here's a properly paragraphed version of that if that's too painful to read:
Actually, most RPGs that are bound to "save points" are console RPGs (which aren't usually RPGs at all, they're just action games with player character stat evolution and at least an attempt at a plot, but that's a different discussion altogether). Computer RPGs usually aren't limited by some "save point" mechanism. At least, not Neverwinter Nights, not Planescape: Torment, not Elder Scrolls: Obliv
The Casual Combination (Score:4, Insightful)
Nope there is more to it than time alone.
Nedulous Definitions (Score:5, Interesting)
I think of myself as a gamer, but the reality is between work and family I don't have the time to play as much as I want. I'll play a game of football, do a mission on Halo, or play SSBM with the kids maybe 3 times a week. I, too, would be considered a casual gamer, but I am not in the least interested in the "casual game market," nor would I likely put casual in my descriptor.
I'm reminded of a point made in regards to creative writing: write something you want to read. Not something you think others would like to read, but something that you would enjoy reading. Maybe gameshops should work more towards making games that they enjoy than trying to capture a certain market segment.
Re:Nedulous Definitions (Score:2)
All relative (Score:4, Interesting)
A 2 hour game of poker would be considered casual by many.
Or two hours a day of TV (Score:2)
I think the problem is seeing gaming as something that should be a short-interval kind of thing. No, it's not. I mean it can be but it doesn't have to be. There are many things in life that are fun when done in longer periods. For example I don't think you'd seriously sugg
Re:Or two hours a day of TV (Score:1)
Billions of people watch movies, but there are a lot less who fit the definition of "movie geek" or (to borrow the gaming term) "hardcore". These are people who maybe know more about film or drama, or just really love movies. These people don't necessarily spend more time watching movies than the average person, especially
Shocker (Score:2)
Re:Shocker (Score:2)
Sounds like my sex life.
But seriously, when it comes to games, who shells out the $20-$50 (plus the cost of the console, for console games) to play only a few minutes a day? This is like Lays' [lays.com] old ad campaign for their potato chips: "Betcha can't eat just one!" Why would you want to? You bought the whole bag!
Re:Shocker (Score:1)
They've got it wrong... (Score:3, Insightful)
15-minute increments (Score:1)
Show me a game where I can have fun and make some progress in a 15-minute increment, and I'll show you Solitaire.
Just try playing WoW for 15 minutes, and see how much you can do...
Re:15-minute increments (Score:1)
Re:15-minute increments (Score:1)
Re:15-minute increments (Score:2, Funny)
Re:15-minute increments (Score:3, Informative)
Re:15-minute increments (Score:2)
I can respect that. Some of those videos are still jaw-dropping, just knowing that it is physically possible to do that in a particular game.
The only time I've seen them without some kind of ment
Re:15-minute increments (Score:3, Insightful)
Surprisingly, a lot, especially if you like to play the market to get rich. The auction house is great for folks who just want to log on for a couple minutes. I doesn't take long to search through items looking for underpriced stuff that you can resell for a profit or seeing if the market is ripe for listing your goods. You can make quite a lot of money keeping an eye out for obscure rare items that many players don't realize is a com
Consider this contrast.. (Score:5, Funny)
Interesting. Indeed.
Titties!
Re:Consider this contrast.. (Score:2)
Well, maybe *you* don't.
Or maybe I'm just weird that way. Oh well.
Re:Consider this contrast.. (Score:1, Troll)
Well, maybe *you* don't.
Or maybe I'm just weird that way. Oh well.
"MOM! Dad pwned me again!"
Uh, oh. Are you sure you meant to share that with the group? You might check the green pages in the phone book for an incest support group and the blue pages for health and human services...
This came up on the WoW boards a lot... (Score:5, Insightful)
This applied specifically to whether or not a person could raid in World of Warcraft, but I think it applies to gaming in general - it isn't that "casuals" wouldn't play for 4 hours at a stretch, it's that they couldn't commit to a playing schedule and actually keep said commitment consistently enough to a) not piss of the other raid members and b) not upset Significant Others.
Re:This came up on the WoW boards a lot... (Score:2)
Actually, that's where most people set the limit between "hardcore" and "obsessive" gamer. Just FYI
Be careful what conclusions are drawn... (Score:4, Informative)
Now it just so happens that I'll likely get hooked once I start and play a good dozen of those blocks and find an hour has gone by - often longer still. But, if I knew I had to invest an hour to even try, I likely wouldn't pick up the game in the first place.
So, yes, casual gamer play sessions are often much longer than one five-to-fifteen minute block. But, no, that doesn't mean you can create a game that requires those longer average play times and still capture the same market. It's a false conclusion based on completely missing the low barrier to entry aspect and fixating on average playtimes.
In short: Casual gaming isn't about short play times. It's about the ability to play for short sessions and thus having a low barrier to entry that then leads to those longer play times.
And with that, I'm off for just one more game of sudoku.
casual gamers anonymous (Score:2)
The definition of a "Serious Gamer" ... (Score:3, Funny)
Thats a cursed shirt (Score:3, Funny)
Casual gamers in MMORPGs seem to put in more time (Score:2, Insightful)
I'll use myself, and a friend as an example.
- We both started playing EQ at the same time, and for the first month of play we stayed pretty much neck in neck in terms of levels. We'd duo allot, goof around, have fun, explore. Somewhere along the line, I got bitten by the 'power-gaming bug', and ended up taking off in levels past him.
We started
How representative of gamers in general is this? (Score:2, Informative)
Casual gamers are like drivers (Score:2, Funny)
Likewise gamers: if you play more than I do, you're a hardcore powergamer no-life. If you play less than I do, you're casual.
-Jeff