Huh? Gamasutra? That’s right, I’m also writing for Gamasutra now - I’ll be doing 3 to 5 Q&As for them right throughout the week. Hey, it’s almost like a full-time job!
The first of these is up now, and it’s a pretty cool one, even if I do say so myself. It’s a chat with Michael Cai, who works for Parks Associates and has just released a survery named Electronic Gaming in the Digital Home, which basically says that there’s not just “casual” and “hardcore” gamers - there’s actually six different categories:
- “Power gamers” represent only 11 percent of the market but account for 30 cents of every dollar spent. I guess this is what is normally referred to as the “hardcore” market.
- “Social gamers” enjoy social interaction within games. Cai notes that this is actually an exclusive field - while power gamers might also enjoy interaction, these social gamers wouldn’t play a single player game.
- “Leisure gamers” spend 58 hours per month playing games but mainly on casual titles. This is more than likely what people talk about when they aim for the “casual” market.
- “Dormant gamers” love gaming but spend little time because of family, work, or school. They like to play with friends and family and prefer complex and challenging games. I feel like one of these most of the time.
- “Incidental gamers” lack motivation and play games mainly out of boredom, but spend more than 20 hours a month playing online games. Office workers, I guess.
- Finally, “Occasional gamers” play puzzle, word, and board games almost exclusively.
So it’s a pretty interesting little chat. We talked about things like methodology and the implications for the industry.
Working for Gamasutra is pretty awesome, by the way.