Gamer Market Is Diversifying

[Shawn Andrich]

Gamer Market Is Diversifying

According to Parks Associates, the gamer market is more than just "casual" or "hardcore" players.

After running a survey of nearly 2000 U.S. online gamers, research firm Parks Associates [http://www.parksassociates.com/press/press_releases/2006/gaming_pr4.html] feels that the gaming market is made up of more than just two groups of gamers:

* Power gamers represent 11 percent of the gamer market but account for 30 cents of every dollar spent on retail and online games.
* Social gamers enjoy gaming as a way to interact with friends.
* Leisure gamers spend 58 hours per month playing games but mainly on casual titles. Nevertheless they prefer challenging titles and show high interest in new gaming services.
* 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.
* Incidental gamers lack motivation and play games mainly out of boredom. However, they spend more than 20 hours a month playing online games.
* Occasional gamers play puzzle, word, and board games almost exclusively.

Based on these findings, Parks Director of Broadband and Gaming Yuanzhe Cai believes that casual gamers want more online features. "Social and leisure gamers may play simple, non-competitive games, but they want to play these games with friends and players they meet online," Cai said. "For this type of gamer, there simply aren?t that many options."

Thanks Gamespot [http://www.gamespot.com].

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