I don't get Second Life. I've been in there and felt lost. Is this because I am not a gamer?
Apparently 69% of American heads of households play computer and video games. And 30% of broadbanded Australians over 25 play games online. Ever since dabbling in Civ in '94, I've never really been into games.
So a few questions:
- What are the demographics of gamers? (i.e. who is likely to be one)
- Are gamers more likely to be users of virtual worlds?
- Is the % of gamers on the increase and what does that mean for the acceptance of virtual world environments?
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3 comments:
"I don't get Second Life. I've been in there and felt lost. Is this because I am not a gamer?"
No. Most gamers don't care for Second Life because there's no "game" to it.
"What are the demographics of gamers? (i.e. who is likely to be one)"
While you could probably find a study, I suspect the demographics are changing right now (because senior citizens are increasingly playing games). Last I recall the 18-34 white male bracket was still going strong. And the big surprise was the under-18 crowd was weak.
"Are gamers more likely to be users of virtual worlds?"
Depends on your definition of "virtual worlds". World of Warcraft is both a game and a virtual world according to most people. Second Life, Kaneva, MTV LB, and the like aren't. Gamers are are generally okay with vw's that are also a game, and often less interested in other vw's.
"Is the % of gamers on the increase and what does that mean for the acceptance of virtual world environments?"
I would say yes, based on the reported growth in gaming among the older demographics. My mother might be called a gamer at 72, she's been playing now for about 15 years and if we can find a Wii that will be her Christmas gift.
I'm in my mid-40's, worked in an arcade in the 70's when the first wave of videogames hit (Pong, Pac-Man, etc) and have played videogames ever since; but don't consider myself a gamer. I might jump into HL2 or load up Age of Empires on occasion, but I don't have time to both play games regularly and pursue my other interests... in non-game virtual worlds.
Matt,
Call me Web 1.0 (or worse) but I prefer Monopoly and Scrabble as games. In my rugby-playing days I wasn't averse to beer games but that's another story...
Nowadays, I spend too much time as it is looking at a computer screen. I just don't want to spend a lot of my leisure time playing computer games and even more screen time.
Regards,
Brad
I'm even less inclined. I've seen the screenshots, I've read the stories, but I don't have an account and I'm not about to get one.
Real life is about as exciting as I can handle, growing wings and 6 new appendages while building my dream home in SL holds zero attraction.
My ONLY interest in SL would be if I could create a pandemic and then watch what happened. World of Warcraft did that back in 2005 and it produced some very interesting results, doing it in the apparently anodyne, real-world analogue of SL would be fascinating.
One last, I saw a list of the highest rated VW's by traffic the other day, SL: was about 7th, and pretty well all those in front of it were for kids under about 12.
Maybe THAT tells us something.
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