Issue 52 - The Forgotten Gamers

[The Escapist Staff]

Dana Massey"Chess is thought to have been invented in sixth century India. The rules have been tweaked, but the game has endured for a millennia-and-a-half. I can guarantee World of Warcraft doesn't have that kind of replayability." In The Forgotten Gamers Dana Massey explains how game designers are often their own worst enemies.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Nilles
http://www.moonshade.com
The major problem in targeting older people is that most of them are not yet prepared for games. Using a computer always starts with applications: Paint, Word, Excel, Access. Those are the reasons of buying a personal computer. A lot of people have no idea what to do with a computer - let along knowing about its versatility and peripherals.

My grandmother used to have looks at what I was doing on my computer and asked about what was so fascinating about it - she gave up on my explanations eventually. For both my grandparents, computers are simply not useful, no matter how cool (or even essential) they might be for myself.

People say, elders are afraid of computers and technology. I think, the functionality of computers is simply too abstract for people who were brought up tinkering with combustion engines or tending animals. Wether that scares people or leaves them untouched - I have no idea. But certainly, people are less interested in things they can't relate to.

Then, there is the language barrier. Even when living in a non-English country, one encounters English words or Anglicisms on a daily basis. In real life, coping with these is quite easy since the important parts are always phrased in our native language - but when turning on the computer, one get overwhelmed with unknown words. Don't get me wrong, nowadays you can have your whole computer and software in your preferred language, but as soon as something goes wrong, your lack of knowledge surfaces. "What's on the screen?" - "Don't know. Something in English..."
I do find myself worried about situations which I cannot solve on my own quite frequently. And even after years of working with computers, those situations occur every once in a while.

Maybe you are right. By the time where the 30+ gamers grow old, the market will adopt and we will see elder people play video games as well. But what if your taste doesn't change? Won't you just be playing Starcraft 3 or Battlefield 5 by that time? Only time will tell.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Chris
http://www.cedarstreet.net
I think the author overshot the explaination within his own article.

One one hand, he claims that games are growing more complex, yet he relates how his father plays games on the Zone. In a nutshell, his father IS a gamer. He's not a hardcore gamer, in the often used sense of the word; he won't be pwn'ing noobs in CS or battling his way into Molten Core in WoW, but if we consider the industry catchphrase "gamer" as "someone who plays games vian en electronic medium", then even those who play Solitare during their lunchbreak -- even those who play poker on those dedicated handhelds, if you want to get technical -- are gamers.

Just like there are varying features available in cars these days, not all features are for everyone, and people will choose the vehicle which sports the options they are comfortable with. To say that older gamers are "forgotten" because mainstream, AAA list games offer a wealth of options is like saying that anyone who doesn't ride a bike is incapable of balancing themselves.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Dana Massey
http://www.mmorpg.com/
I don't believe that's the case at all. In a purely business sense, my father is not a gamer. He will never spend a cent on gaming, so the only profit he generates is advertising revenue on the Zone.

The point is that game companies could have him if they'd just make something for him. At the moment, only bargain bin versions of what he can get for free on the Zone exist.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Greg
http://www.costik.com/weblog
Bosh. By that logic, Gary Kasparov isn't a gamer, since EA never makes a cent off him. Though I imagine he's bought some nice chess sets in his life.

Your dad is a gamer. And he is generating some (limited) advertising revenue for Microsoft through his play. Agreed, "the game companies" aren't monetizing his play very much, although they are getting a trickle of revenue from him. But then, nobody forces the Zone to offer free online chess.

Note also that the casual game phenomenon is built on sites originally founded to provide free ad-supported play (RealArcade, Yahoo! Games, and the rest). In other words, they have found that players of free traditional card and board games can indeed be induced to purchase original games that are shaped to provide the sort of gameplay they enjoy. They may not be providing games your Dad will play, but they are providing games that many devotees of these sites will.

I'm all for expanding the palette of the medium to encompass different play styles, but why you think this can or should occur through the conventional videogame industry is a mystery. It will happen, but it's going to come out of left field, some other medium or distribution channel, as have casual and mobile games.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Dana Massey
http://www.mmorpg.com/
Your last statement agrees that it will happen. So why wait for a leftfield entry? I was by no means arguing that all games should be brought down a peg. There is room for BMWs and Fords in the same market. The problem I see is that everyone is chasing the high end crowd. The next small developer trying to compete with Half Life may be better served to reign in the 3D and make a truly original game.

This goes beyond whether my dad is a gamer (for the record, obviously he is a gamer, my point was he is not a gamer in any real economic sense). The games are all building upward. We've got countless new chess sets and very few new games onto themselves. I believe it will take someone making a more basic, indepedent game to strike that next chord. As I said in the article, we'll have RTS games in a 100 years. What I want to know is what else we'll have?

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Keith K

The line I hate the most in the article "So why don't we target anyone over the age of 30?" This is a little bit of a stretch. I would say make that 45. I grew up on games thanks to my brother who is 42 and he and I both still play games to this day. There are first gen gamers out their who never stopped their love or addiction of games. I have personally seen the rise of games from pong. Sure I am not as good as a teenager in fps but I still enjoy playing them. This is due to time constraints due to real life. Gamers over 30 still play but have more in life to take care of. The other problem with that is what really is original now? In games almost everything has been done. Every once in awhile you will see a new type of game but it is born of an older idea. Spore comes to mind as a great new idea but it basically adds onto Will Wrights idea of The Sims and puts it on a grand scale. What can really be done for the FPS nothing now that Prey is due out in a week, I think the FPS scene will be stagnent until the rise of destructable environments due to physics acceleration. This was done in a game already but I am not sure to what extent. The game was Red Faction. ok I am done rambling Have fun and I love the Mag just found that age quote a little too low.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Cody K.

Keith K wrote: ?The line I hate the most in the article "So why don't we target anyone over the age of 30?" This is a little bit of a stretch. I would say make that 45.?

30 is actually a great age to focus on. However, it?s just a matter of time before gaming really targets more audiences (15 is arguably the only real target age right now). The reason for the concern in the article is that gamers have grown up, but the games really haven?t. My musical tastes have matured over the years? I watch movies now that I would have thought were boring 14 years ago? but, has videogaming matured with quality titles that kids think are ?boring?? I don?t honestly think so.

I?m 29, a husband, a father, and a gamer? and I?m realizing that the videogaming industry has a very narrow target audience. Right now, the industry is all about sucking kids? allowances dry.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Geoff

When I were but a lad, I was bought an original-style GameBoy for Christmas. As they tended to, it came free with Tetris. My grandad, then a spritely 70 year old, took an interest.

The following year, we had to buy him a GameBoy of his own, such had his addiction developed. Only Tetris, mind - he couldn't get his head round any other games.

Even now, he still plays Tetris, and both he and my grandma can be found playing Solitare on their newly installed PC.

There are games suitable for older generations - just not very many. I don't like the idea of the industry "waiting it out", so that when I'm 80-ish, all I can play is whatever GTA-clones are still around. Develop games for the sake of good games, without necessarily targeting anyone in particular (such as Tetris, and a whole host of other "unusual" games like it: Styx, Myst, 7th Guest, Super Monkey Ball, whatever), and you'd be surprised at the people who start to play them.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: bob arctor

Chaos: Battle of the Wizards. 1982. Probably the most timeless game ever.

http://www.reflectedgames.com/free.html

Easiest PC version though it changes some rules (Can get Turmoil on spawn not only from Magic wood)

Anyhow I say forget the mainstream. The net is allowing new game forms to emerge. E.g. Mount and Blade (nothing plays like it) The Ship Online (likewise) Physics puzzle games like Armadillo Run and Bridge Construction Set. Games are coming out which have never been done before.

We should concentrate on them to encourage similar development to see the whole thing speed up a bit.

Forget mainstream console stuff, the "forgotten" don't need a console in their living room. Make them use their PC for games they like. Don't make them pay for chess, use ads to get money. There's no point charging for old rope, that's not encouraging them.
What's the problem with him playing his games and giving a bit of ad revenue.

They are being targeted already.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Patrick
http://www.kingludic.blogspot.com
While I disagree that games must involve competetive elements to be timeless, I do agree that replay value and essential simplicity are key. Alpha Centauri (i.e. Civilization in the future) is such a game, every few years I'll come back and play the hell out of that game, though I tried to intoduce my dad to it and he was immediately turned off by the rampant complexity involved. I did somehow get him hooked on Might and Magic VI, which he played for years, though that is a deal less complex.

I'm currently working on a title I think could be very innovative, involving social mechanics and whatnot. I guess you could say its a new ur-game, a drama game. I'm currently working out the fine details of the interface design, and I suspect if could appeal to a casual audience if its transparent enough, since the rules of social interaction can be more readily inferred than abstract ones. The basic idea is there are different types of "energy" which circulate in a social manner and affect emotions, so if I can only tweak the interface to embrace that then I'll be in.

But dude, its is HARD to design something that involves social dynamics in any interesting way and keep it simple. The same goes for most systems. I'm absolutely with you that it should, hell, MUST be done, but its a lot easier to refine a genre, maybe by an order of magnitude, which would explain the ratio of true innovations versus genre refinements.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Dana Massey
http://www.mmorpg.com/
Patrick,

Totally off topic, but have you got Alpha Centuri to work on an XP machine? I found a copy in a bargain bin recently, but I cannot make it run on a modern PC, lol! I really want to play again.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Guy

My wife's Grandfather is a retired IBM'er living in a gated community in Florida. We went to visit for my first time and I found Age of Empires 2 installed on his PC next to Scrabble when we got there. I fought my Mom for the NES contoller every day after school. My Step Mom has owned both a GameBoy and a Game Gear. My buddy's Mom used to use his GameBoy as much as he did, and enjoyed PC games like the Carmen SanDiego series on a regular basis.

My Grandmother used to sit down and play Gunfight on HER Bally w/ me and my sister.

There are gamers to be found in every generation, both male and female. You just have to know where to look...

Nintendogs was a good step toward breaking the stereotypes connected to females and gaming. The whole thing wound up being a pretty big deal... from numerous female's varying in age being members of the Kennel Club forums (many of which I spoke to), to that Foxtrot comic that we all got a kick out of. Nintendo took the initiative to look/think outside the box to attract females... maybe they, or another company, will take the time to explore this avenue now.

I'm curious to see what kind of attention the Wii attracts and if there will be any real software variety there like they claim. Nintendo did say (Iwata wasn't it?) that the Wii is all about simplification... If the Wii doesn't expand their audience beyond both males and females of the current target age, maybe we'll start seeing seniors toting the DS Lite in the near future. It's proven to be a breaker of barriers already.

Cody K. made a good point though in saying that gamers have grownup but the games haven't exactly followed suit. This seems to be particularly true in the case of console gaming (which is my area of expertise). I don't agree w/ that whole primary target age of 15 comment though... I think it's slightly broader.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Patrick
http://www.kingludic.blogspot.com
Dana, yeah, been playing it on an XP machine. Speaking of complexity. Last night I beat it on Transcend mode, and for the first time I started using probe teams and other nuances. Deep deep stuff, if only it had low-end play so casual players could get into it.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: bob arctor

Of course. The other timeless game. SMAC.

"Find Alphacentauri.ini file (or something like that maybe only alpha.ini) in your game directory and change the line

"ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0" to ?ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1?.

If you cannot find the line, add it at the end of the file with the line [preferences] above it and dont forget to save. That is it. "

http://thepiratebay.org/details.php?id=3445944

Also if you have HT, so XP says in Task Manager 2 CPUs set it to only use one, set it to use only CPU0, not CPU1.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Joe

I wouldn?t mind seeing some kind of shift in game design. This focus on high end stuff is getting irritating. The recent influx of games that seem to require a high end computer, like FEAR and Everquest 2, is frustrating if for no other reason in that it easy to see how it could scare people off. Maybe getting a few developers and distributors to focus on the older generation is just what the industry needs.

It doesn?t require a new genre, just a new focus on the current ones. Simplifying the game design is a key thing. Some of the ?simplest? games I have ever played ended up having far more depth than most modern complex games have ever managed. Another must is a game engine that is designed to run at its best on a computer at least 2 years old and terms like anisotropic filtering and anti-aliasing never need to be mentioned. I have no doubt that some of those graphics terms have provided motivation for some people to move to a console.

What it comes down to is that to get more people involved things need to be simplified a lot more that they currently are. Some work has been done but its no where near enough.

P.S. Dana ? Have your Dad try Civilization IV. It can be very complicated but it can also be very automated. A lot of what you can do can be turned over to the computer until your ready to deal with it yourself. An example of this is the city manager. It?s very similar to the one in Alpha Centauri.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Cody K.

Guy wrote: "Cody K. made a good point though in saying that gamers have grownup but the games haven't exactly followed suit. This seems to be particularly true in the case of console gaming (which is my area of expertise). I don't agree w/ that whole primary target age of 15 comment though... I think it's slightly broader."

Yeah, I should have just said, non-adults. This is a snippet from an unrelated article, but has a supporting comment... "The next decade is going to be a crucial one for video games. Are we going to go the way of comic books and graphic novels and never really take off?" Frasca asks. "That only can change if we start actually making games that can be recognized as something for grown-ups. And that's a very complex issue. It deals with economics, it deals with cultural issues."

You can read the whole article if you'd like... http://www.gamespot.com/features/6143438/index.html