Quick Survey on Strategy Gaming.

[Right Hook]

1. What age group do you fall under?
19-21

2. How many hours a week do you spend playing strategy games?
Under 6

3. Do you prefer graphics or game play?
Gameplay

3.5 Please explain your reasoning
Graphics are nice but at the core of a good game is how it plays, a good game can look bad but play awesome but a good game can never look awesome but play bad.

4. How many strategy games do you own?
5-8

5. Would you say multiplayer is a major selling point in the majority of strategy games?
Yes

6. How often do you use mods for strategy games?
Never

7. Is a dedicated modding community a major selling point for you with strategy games?
No

7.5 Please explain your reasoning.
Just not too into modding, I think a lot of other people are though.

8. Is a dedicated modding community a major part of giving the sales of a strategy game a 'wide tail' (continue to sell)?
Yes, it's definitely part of it.

8.5 Please explain your reasoning.
If a awesome mod comes out, people will hear about it and may buy the game simply to try it out.

9. Have you ever contributed to a modding team?
No

10. What kind of games would you like to see more of in the strategy game market?
Something fresh as opposed to something that "plays like (insert popular game here)"

 

[veloper]

3. Do you prefer graphics or game play?
Yes/no

Yes.

 

[loc978]

1.What age group do you fall under?
30-40

2. How many hours a week do you spend playing strategy games?
That's a difficult one to tell for me. Sometimes I won't play all week, sometimes I'll play over 12 hours in a single session.
So I guess 12+

3. Do you prefer graphics or game play?
gameplay

3.5 Please explain your reasoning
Shoddy interface or an idiotic pathing AI are far more likely to make me set a game down and never come back than a lack of graphical fidelity. I still play games built on the Age of Empires 2 engine, but I won't touch Command and Conquer 4.

4. How many strategy games do you own?
9+

5. Would you say multiplayer is a major selling point in the majority of strategy games?
Yes

6. How often do you use mods for strategy games?
Often

7. Is a dedicated modding community a major selling point for you with strategy games?
Yes

7.5 Please explain your reasoning.
I play more often with mods than without, to the point where I become a bit bored with some of my favorite games if they're unmodded.

8. Is a dedicated modding community a major part of giving the sales of a strategy game a ?wide tail? (continue to sell)?
I'm not really the person to ask about business models. I have no idea what sells to people who aren't me.

8.5 Please explain your reasoning.
Err... I'm kind of isolated from most people and don't follow trends in anything.

9. Have you ever contributed to a modding team?
Yes.

10. What kind of games would you like to see more of in the strategy game market?
Real-time grand strategy, or anything with massive maps, effective artillery and a satellite-level zoom feature.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

1. What age group do you fall under?
19-21

2. How many hours a week do you spend playing strategy games?
6-12

3. Do you prefer graphics or game play?
Given answers make no sense but I prefer game play.

3.5 Please explain your reasoning
If a game looks a great and plays shit why would I want to keep playing? Well I wouldn't I'm not a masochist.

4. How many strategy games do you own?
9+

5. Would you say multiplayer is a major selling point in the majority of strategy games?
Yes

6. How often do you use mods for strategy games?
Sometimes

7. Is a dedicated modding community a major selling point for you with strategy games?
No

7.5 Please explain your reasoning.
While I would vastly prefer an active mod community for maps for strategy games I can live with no mods.

8. Is a dedicated modding community a major part of giving the sales of a strategy game a 'wide tail' (continue to sell)?
Yes

8.5 Please explain your reasoning.
It keeps the game fresh as it keeps on adding content such as maps or player made campaigns and in some cases graphical overhauls(while nice far from necessary) or new factions.

9. Have you ever contributed to a modding team?
No

10. What kind of games would you like to see more of in the strategy game market?
More 4x, turn based and maybe something new.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

1. What age group do you fall under?
22-25

2. How many hours a week do you spend playing strategy games?
It depends on the week and what game currently has my attention, but I rarely have more than six hours a week to play /any/ type of game, so let's go with under six.

3. Do you prefer graphics or game play?
Gameplay

3.5 Please explain your reasoning

Gameplay is always more important than graphics; good graphics are nice, but only if the time spent focusing on them does not hurt the gameplay -- that said, bad graphics can become a problem if they interfere with the gameplay, which can happen. Further, strategy gamers, in my experience, often tend to play on older computers, which can't handle the latest high end graphics. Which is okay, because the graphics in strategy games are abstractions to begin with; a good strategy game can generally be just as easily played with 2d tiles as with fully animated 3D models.

4. How many strategy games do you own?
Well into the 9+ range. I'd have to count, but the number is probably closer to 20 or 30 than 10.
5. Would you say multiplayer is a major selling point in the majority of strategy games?
No, but it's because my preference tends more toward turn based grand strategy than real time strategy; grand strategy takes too long to play for me to sit down and do it in a single multiplayer session.

6. How often do you use mods for strategy games?
Almost never. I'll occasionally download a widescreen mod if I'm playing something old enough not to support it natively.

7. Is a dedicated modding community a major selling point for you with strategy games?
No

7.5 Please explain your reasoning.

I just don't use mods much with strategy games. RPGs, sure. FPSs, occasionally, but it's just something I've never really gotten into with strategy games.

8. Is a dedicated modding community a major part of giving the sales of a strategy game a 'wide tail' (continue to sell)?

Possible

8.5 Please explain your reasoning.

I can't really claim to know the answer to this one. I know for me, buying a game years late in its run has more to do with positive word of mouth than anything else. I have yet to find anything aside from Bethesda RPGs that have positive word of mouth based largely around mods.

9. Have you ever contributed to a modding team?

No.

10. What kind of games would you like to see more of in the strategy game market?

4x games, and turn based strategy in general.