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"The 'Average' Gamer"

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Mon 16/04/01 at 23:24
Regular
Posts: 787
In the late 70s, gamers were mainly early 20s, computer geeks, spending all their time in front of the green glowing screen of their monitor playing text-adventures on their computers.

In the late 80s, gamers were mainly teenage boys playing on either Sinclair products or the latest NES or Megadrive.

Now we're in the noughties, and it seems very hard to define what the 'average' gamer is. I think it's moved from teenage to older on the whole, maybe we're looking at the mid-20s band as the average age. 25 maybe?

Gamers seem to have more of that promised 'leisure time' that the advent of computers hailed (on the whole), but the overriding factor between all three of these stock takes is that the average gamer is still male.

Will this change, can we ever expect to see an even balance between male and female gamers? Will the agegroup change, maybe shifting further into the 30s because existing gamers now will still be gaming a decade on from now?

If so, will the types of game that we play shift to cater for this new average age range. Nintendo seem to have cottoned on to this shift with Conker's Bad Fur Day, and PC developers seem to have recognised this demographic shift in the gaming population by adding more adult themes to PC games. When Sony hit the market a while back, they were aiming for the 20+ gamer that was largely uncatered for in the mid-90s.

So 10 years down the line, I think there will be a few more Conkeresque titles on the shelves, a lot more nudity in games (the Japanese seem to have the edge over the rest of the world on this) and in general games will be a lot more 'complicated' i.e. you'll have to think a bit more to get the most out of them.

I'm looking forward to it.
Mon 16/04/01 at 23:44
Regular
"Eric The Half A Bee"
Posts: 5,347
aye... but I mean...

Is it a game adults would want to play...

An adult orientated game?

or is it really aimed at the age group that isnt allowed to buy the game?

Mon 16/04/01 at 23:42
Regular
"Copyright: FM Inc."
Posts: 10,338
In the States you've got to be 17 to buy it legally.

In the UK I think they put a 15 rating on it? I'm not certain though, I haven't bought it.
Mon 16/04/01 at 23:34
Regular
"Eric The Half A Bee"
Posts: 5,347
Is Conker really an adult title... or does it just have lewd gags?

(I've never played the game, so I really dont know)
Mon 16/04/01 at 23:24
Regular
"Copyright: FM Inc."
Posts: 10,338
In the late 70s, gamers were mainly early 20s, computer geeks, spending all their time in front of the green glowing screen of their monitor playing text-adventures on their computers.

In the late 80s, gamers were mainly teenage boys playing on either Sinclair products or the latest NES or Megadrive.

Now we're in the noughties, and it seems very hard to define what the 'average' gamer is. I think it's moved from teenage to older on the whole, maybe we're looking at the mid-20s band as the average age. 25 maybe?

Gamers seem to have more of that promised 'leisure time' that the advent of computers hailed (on the whole), but the overriding factor between all three of these stock takes is that the average gamer is still male.

Will this change, can we ever expect to see an even balance between male and female gamers? Will the agegroup change, maybe shifting further into the 30s because existing gamers now will still be gaming a decade on from now?

If so, will the types of game that we play shift to cater for this new average age range. Nintendo seem to have cottoned on to this shift with Conker's Bad Fur Day, and PC developers seem to have recognised this demographic shift in the gaming population by adding more adult themes to PC games. When Sony hit the market a while back, they were aiming for the 20+ gamer that was largely uncatered for in the mid-90s.

So 10 years down the line, I think there will be a few more Conkeresque titles on the shelves, a lot more nudity in games (the Japanese seem to have the edge over the rest of the world on this) and in general games will be a lot more 'complicated' i.e. you'll have to think a bit more to get the most out of them.

I'm looking forward to it.

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