Teenage Male Gamers No Longer Biggest Demographic

snowfi6916

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http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/female-adults-oust-teenage-boys-largest-gaming-demographic/

The schadenfreude here is so sweet. And I am glad there are going to be whiny male gamers crying into their soup over this.

The 21st century is here. Get on board or get out of the way.
 

Thebazilly

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But it clearly doesn't count, because they're filthy casuals playing mobile games, and are not true for-realsies hardcore gamers.

As a side note, what does "casual" even mean any more? I saw a thread a while back calling Assassin's Creed "casual." I guess people just want to feel even more elitist about liking Dark Souls?
 

snowfi6916

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Least now we don't need to hear about how girls aren't a major force in the game industry. The majority I would say has a pretty big voice.

The whole "we are the biggest demographic so there shouldn't be more female representation in games" etc. argument was getting old.
 

Wulfram77

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Teenage boys weren't the largest demographic before

Going by the linked stuff from ESA, and using a bit of maths, it's 36% adult women, 35% adult men, 17% under 18 boys, 12% under 18 girls.

And it mostly reflects that so many people play video games of some sort that it's not a very useful statistic. You can't target a product at 59% of the population.
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

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hoo-boy, I can already see people trying to find ways to discredit this. Of course I very much doubt game makers are going to start diversifying as they've shown they're comfortable jerking off the "hardcore" for all eternity despite it being a shrinking demographic.


Thebazilly said:
But it clearly doesn't count, because they're filthy casuals playing mobile games, and are not true for-realsies hardcore gamers.

As a side note, what does "casual" even mean any more? I saw a thread a while back calling Assassin's Creed "casual." I guess people just want to feel even more elitist about liking Dark Souls?
I have no idea; I think it mostly just means any game that isn't stuck up its ass. I don't get what the elitist attitude gets either. Any sort of opening of the "white, male, heterosexual club" is seen as some sort of attack on "traditional" gamine, unaware that stuff like Pong was catered to adults in bars and in fact was a hit with women due to females having better control over minute finger movements. I think gamers still don't GET that "casual" gaming is not some sort of danger to "hardcore" gaming. They don't get that all it means is we're going to have these games in ADDITION to those we've always had. I think that's ultimately the thing; it's not about TAKING space it's about them having to SHARE space and nerds have repeatedly shown to be greedy, selfish twits who refuse to share or tolerate newbies.

If anything the industry isn't casual and inclusive ENOUGH, way too complacent with just selling the same titles to the same customers despite that pool steadily shrinking. Not a good way to expand the industry. And it looks like the industry is going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future
 

God'sFist

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Well the argument against the whole casual scene as I see it is the fact that as more people play the games the less the games are worked on. Most of the games I've played in this so called "future" have been feeling like they are incomplete not full games and the trend is going towards locking more content behind pay walls which the hardcore gamers tend to be against while the casuals couldn't give two shits what the companies do. Once they become the majority games won't be a complete package anymore you will buy the software for $60 then buy the game for an extra $40 then you get to have fun with the game for a monthly fee of $10. Companies love money and fuck the consumer and when the consumer base is a bunch of people on mobile phones and the like then guess what good full games will be dead. I'm not against sharing the medium I'm happy that people are playing games but still no one has to like where the gaming industry is headed regardless of who plays them.

captcha: save the day

how captcha how do we save the day so we keep getting good games that don't cost an arm and a leg.
 

Phasmal

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Jun 10, 2011
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Something something casuals.

That's what this thread will become. Don't worry about it, we've seen these stats before.
It's always encouraging to know that more women are getting into games.
Those of us who are apparently invisible will just keep playing our games and listen to people spout `Girls don't play REAL games!`.

I'm sure this is going to translate into more and more ladies playing so called `real` games.

In other words-

Brace yourselves.
Women are coming.

*ominous music*
 

Maximum Bert

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I can believe it but a lot of these are playing games very different to what I imagine most on this site would play it really is trash games for want of a better word time killers such as candy crush thats what most adult females play now I know there is a lot of adult females who I would consider gamers as in they have an active part in the hobby and want something that provides a bit more meat to it but the adolescent market will always be a big focus for games companies because they have the revenue and time to devote to the hobby and will buy a lot.

The biggest demograpic isnt always the one that will get you more money you really need a demographic that is devoted to you in some way you may get lucky and hit it big but a lot of these people play just to kill time and will drop the game as soon as something better comes up its really a lottery aiming a game at such a demographic basically all or nothing.
 

Aiddon_v1legacy

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God said:
Well the argument against the whole casual scene as I see it is the fact that as more people play the games the less the games are worked on. Most of the games I've played in this so called "future" have been feeling like they are incomplete not full games and the trend is going towards locking more content behind pay walls which the hardcore gamers tend to be against while the casuals couldn't give two shits what the companies do. Once they become the majority games won't be a complete package anymore you will buy the software for $60 then buy the game for an extra $40 then you get to have fun with the game for a monthly fee of $10. Companies love money and fuck the consumer and when the consumer base is a bunch of people on mobile phones and the like then guess what good full games will be dead. I'm not against sharing the medium I'm happy that people are playing games but still no one has to like where the gaming industry is headed regardless of who plays them.

captcha: save the day

how captcha how do we save the day so we keep getting good games that don't cost an arm and a leg.
Except "hardcore" games do that anyway. They DO lock content behind walls, which is what most people call DLC. And they HAVE fucked the consumer over before due to rushing things to market, putting their games together sloppily, or doing the whole DRM thing. I really don't get how "real" games are somehow less of trash than "casual" games as crappy "hardcore" games are as old as the industry itself.
 

God'sFist

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Aiddon said:
Except "hardcore" games do that anyway. They DO lock content behind walls, which is what most people call DLC. And they HAVE fucked the consumer over before due to rushing things to market, putting their games together sloppily, or doing the whole DRM thing. I really don't get how "real" games are somehow less of trash than "casual" games as crappy "hardcore" games are as old as the industry itself.

I agree with that and totally understand that as well but if we just have a bunch of people who don't care about the industry coming in then we will see a faster decline of quality because everything will be marketed to the person who doesn't care they're being ripped off to play games.
 

xaszatm

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Sep 4, 2010
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I feel like I should paste this here so people get a better idea how the male/female demographic is split up.

Some Notes:

Football is soccer
Voitures is Racing
Cartes is Cards
Autres is Others

People say that females are only large because of social games but it actually is fairly evenly split. Sure, there is more groups that favor males over females but it isn't as big as people might think.
 

Xeorm

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Err, looking at the information source they have, it only mentions that women older than 18 represent a larger number than boys under 18. That's hardly the same as being the biggest demographic, especially as demographics are almost always done in smaller segments than older or younger than 18.

Aka, it's a media article designed to get page views rather than be informative or correct, aka rubbish.
 

Wulfram77

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Xeorm said:
Err, looking at the information source they have, it only mentions that women older than 18 represent a larger number than boys under 18. That's hardly the same as being the biggest demographic, especially as demographics are almost always done in smaller segments than older or younger than 18.

Aka, it's a media article designed to get page views rather than be informative or correct, aka rubbish.
Well, doing the maths it does seem like women over 18 are the biggest category if you divide people up that way. Though probably that's within margin of error.
 

Erttheking

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To be honest, teenage boys were never "The" demographic. They were just the most obvious ones and I think we've learned that publishers are kind of like people who think that the Earth is flat in that they're very reluctant to accept ideas that aren't their own.
snowfi6916 said:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/female-adults-oust-teenage-boys-largest-gaming-demographic/

The schadenfreude here is so sweet. And I am glad there are going to be whiny male gamers crying into their soup over this.

The 21st century is here. Get on board or get out of the way.
Also, can we not have the attitude? I like this as much as you do but it's stuff like this that gives ammunition to the "All feminists are man hating nazis" crowd. And I'd rather not do that.
 

MeTalHeD

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The_Kodu said:
snowfi6916 said:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/female-adults-oust-teenage-boys-largest-gaming-demographic/

The schadenfreude here is so sweet. And I am glad there are going to be whiny male gamers crying into their soup over this.

The 21st century is here. Get on board or get out of the way.
I think people might need to re-read the article before rejoicing

"both consoles and mobile devices"

"The spike in the number female gamers is likely tied to widespread smartphone adoption. In addition to traditional PCs and the Nintendo Wii game console, women were more likely to game on their mobile devices"

I'm all for more people in gaming but not through Candy Crush Saga.




snowfi6916 said:
Least now we don't need to hear about how girls aren't a major force in the game industry. The majority I would say has a pretty big voice.

The whole "we are the biggest demographic so there shouldn't be more female representation in games" etc. argument was getting old.
Except it's in the mobile market. This won't influence AAA PC and console titles if an audience is a major force on mobile.

Thebazilly said:
But it clearly doesn't count, because they're filthy casuals playing mobile games, and are not true for-realsies hardcore gamers.

As a side note, what does "casual" even mean any more? I saw a thread a while back calling Assassin's Creed "casual." I guess people just want to feel even more elitist about liking Dark Souls?
Casual = you play games merely for fun and don't try to look at or learn far deeper aspects behind their mechanics.

Being casual is fine to an extent. you don't have the drama or have to care about gaming you just see one you like and buy it then play it.


Aiddon said:
hoo-boy, I can already see people trying to find ways to discredit this. Of course I very much doubt game makers are going to start diversifying as they've shown they're comfortable jerking off the "hardcore" for all eternity despite it being a shrinking demographic.


Thebazilly said:
But it clearly doesn't count, because they're filthy casuals playing mobile games, and are not true for-realsies hardcore gamers.

As a side note, what does "casual" even mean any more? I saw a thread a while back calling Assassin's Creed "casual." I guess people just want to feel even more elitist about liking Dark Souls?
I have no idea; I think it mostly just means any game that isn't stuck up its ass. I don't get what the elitist attitude gets either. Any sort of opening of the "white, male, heterosexual club" is seen as some sort of attack on "traditional" gamine, unaware that stuff like Pong was catered to adults in bars and in fact was a hit with women due to females having better control over minute finger movements. I think gamers still don't GET that "casual" gaming is not some sort of danger to "hardcore" gaming. They don't get that all it means is we're going to have these games in ADDITION to those we've always had. I think that's ultimately the thing; it's not about TAKING space it's about them having to SHARE space and nerds have repeatedly shown to be greedy, selfish twits who refuse to share or tolerate newbies.

If anything the industry isn't casual and inclusive ENOUGH, way too complacent with just selling the same titles to the same customers despite that pool steadily shrinking. Not a good way to expand the industry. And it looks like the industry is going to have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future
What it is, is a relation to "Call of duty Syndrome".

People are concerned one game will be a success and then rather than diversify companies will focus on that aspect.

e.g. Call of Duty influencing Kaos studio (makers of Frontlines fuel of war) to have Homefront more like Call of duty with killstreak rewards etc.
Modern Military shooters being the reason Timesplitters 4 wasn't picked up by publishers.

Yes it's stupid but unfortunately so is the AAA industry as their previous obsession with rhythm games shows.

I'd suggest it's not that people don't want diversity it's that people don't trust the AAA industry to provide it.

I mean even films have that a bit. Godzilla had to have a human interest love story thing as did Robocop because it's the thing to do now. Even the Expendables film has a love story in it.
I'm not saying don't have a love story but so often it feels forced in because it needs human interest rather than trying to actually portray it's themes more.
Ah! Someone who makes sense, finally.

Keep in mind, folks, that your grandmother playing solitaire on her single core, Windows XP machine is still considered "gaming". They tell you most of the gamers today are women, but until it's broken down (like xaszatm did) this doesn't mean the bulk of them are playing first person shooters. Games are everything from Mahjonng to Modern Warfare (these days Mahjonng has greater complexity though and is more challenging).

As for the hardcore gamers and casual gamers issue, think about it this way. How many hardcore solitaire tournaments are there around the world? Or, how many levels do you gain from grinding away, card by card for hours? That would be a big indication whether it's hardcore or not. Some games have a nice mix, but generally speaking if your game needs lots of practise to master (lots of time, effort and grinding) it's catering to a more hardcore market.

If someone can pick it up, button mash, swipe or tap their way to the end of a level in a few minutes, it's more casual territory. The issue with military shooters is how generic they have become. This kills off creativity and a market saturated with spunkgargleweewee makes it hard to swallow after a while. If the developers want to turn their hardcore games into more casual games to broaden their market for more money, it means they don't care about the soul of the product and will gladly sell out for more cash, making it bland and killing its original appeal. Too much spunkgargleweewee in your system makes you sick, bored and yearning for them to stop ramming their spunkgargleweewees down your throat. There is only so much you can take before you spit it out and go looking for something else to consume.
 

Bombiz

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xaszatm said:


I feel like I should paste this here so people get a better idea how the male/female demographic is split up.

Some Notes:

Football is soccer
Voitures is Racing
Cartes is Cards
Autres is Others

People say that females are only large because of social games but it actually is fairly evenly split. Sure, there is more groups that favor males over females but it isn't as big as people might think.
I dont know why this is but I find iy kinda surprising that they're more female rts players then male ones.
 

StormwaveUK

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I see loads of females playing Candy Crush Saga on their phones when I'm out. Most of my Facebook crappy game invites are from females.

Candy Crush Saga isn't even a game. Every level has a slight chance of success, designed to fail most of the time to keep you paying / marketing for them. There is absolutely no skill or puzzle solving involved at all. The game makes me really annoyed with the games industry, particularly mobile games. What I think is worse is that a lot of people actually believe there is some degree of puzzle solving involved, when there really isn't. You can't get better at Candy Crush Saga, you can only pump more money / advertising into it to advance.
 

Mikeybb

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Aug 19, 2014
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snowfi6916 said:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/female-adults-oust-teenage-boys-largest-gaming-demographic/

The schadenfreude here is so sweet. And I am glad there are going to be whiny male gamers crying into their soup over this.

The 21st century is here. Get on board or get out of the way.
No whining here.

It's a good thing.

I still get my turn based strategies now and again, games still get made.

Plus, some of these games that are meant to be targeting the casual demographic...
They're actually quite a fun way to fill a fifteen minute break.