Response to Email and New Conclusions on Casual Gaming

Hey,

I never got around to writing a response to the emails and my last post on casual gamers due to being sick all week. Better late than never though.

I've read over my email, my previous post, and thought about all I learned during my internship and come up with some new ideas. In the emails I described the mass market and how people are starting to realize the existence of it. I still think that the idea of a mass market needs to be spread around and that we need to stop dividing the market solely between core and casual. By simply splitting the market between casual and core a divide is created that keeps gamers from trying to cross the divide. A core gamer will not play casual games because he gets the impression they are boring and a casual gamer will not play core games for fear they are too difficult. The mass market creates a middle ground that both groups can play in where they learn that the divide between the two is not as impassable as they originally believed.

The mass market meets the criteria I proposed in my older post. Mass market games give the same experience to both casual gamers as it does to core gamers. Guitar Hero is the best example of this. Both core gamers and casual gamers get the same experience out of the game, playing rock and roll as though they are on stage at a rock concert.

The time commitment of mass market games is completely up to the player. Players can play as long as they want and they will generally get the same experience. I don't agree anymore that time alone defines the difference between a casual gamer and a core gamer. They really are completely different markets. But they are not the only two markets. The mass market is where time commitment loses its affect on who plays. I believe that the mass market games is where the majority of the industry growth will come from in the next couple of years.

I don't know if that really was a response to the emails or just rambling but it is something.

Cyaz

Email Discussion on Casual Gamers

Hey,

Over the summer I received an email from someone who read the casual gamer post in my blog and wanted my opinion on casual gamers buying a gaming laptop. Here are the email transcripts.
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Hi Doug,
i am from germany and i am currently interested in thoughts and opinions related to gaming. I just read your article on casual gamers and i think you are absolutely right with what you said about the differences between casual and core gamers. That is why i would like to ask you whether you can tell your opinion on this topic:
Do you think that a casual gamer (in your definiton) would ever buy a "gamer laptop" (like the ones "alienware" sells)?

Your answer will be treated in strict confidence and will not be passed on to third parties. This is not for selling purposes.

Thank you very much for your help!

"Reader"
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Hi "Reader",

I'm in total shock that someone else besides myself actually read my blog. I obviously have been slacking and haven't posted to it in a while. Right now I'm currently a production intern at a casual game company so I have a lot more knowledge then I did when I wrote that article. My opinion has changed a lot since then and I really should go and write some more posts now that I have some insider information.

To your question, I would say that a casual gamer would never buy a gamer laptop. The company I'm currently at has a goal of making sure their games will run on a computer 5 years old. This is because casual gamers are not technologically inclined and won't upgrade their computers until basic functions stop working. They have no need to have the newest and fastest graphics card because all they are really doing is word processing and checking their email.

I say all of this with the definition in mind that there is a three-way split in the video game industry consumer. There is the core gamer, generally male, who plays games 20 hours a week. There is the casual gamer who is, generally an older female, who plays games only a few hours a week. Then there is this new category that I have just learned about and agree with called the mass market consumer. This is where I would put consumers who like games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band but are not core or casual gamers. Clearly both of those games are not core AAA titles like Halo or Call of Duty, they are just as popular but they are not played solely by the core gamer. These mass market consumers are kind of the middle ground between core and casual gamers. The mass market consumer actually might buy a gamer laptop because they want to become more of a core gamer or are just interested in the technology.

From a completely personal standpoint, I would never buy a gamer laptop even as a core gamer. I know that laptops can now almost match desktop speeds but to get there you pay almost twice as much. I also don't plan on playing a core game while I'm traveling. I would rather have a solid desktop to play on that costs less and is faster. That is not to say that I don't own a laptop that is a little bit faster than is really needed but I would not buy a full on gamer laptop. I bought a laptop that is fast enough so that I could potentially play a game if I really felt the need to but it won't run well and might not run at all.

I rambled a little bit there but I think I answered your question.

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Hi Doug,

thank you very much for your help! Currently we are really trying to find a word for these gamers that are somewhere inbetween casual gamers and hardcore gamers. So your answer was a great help. So in the end your blog will have an influence on the video game industry!! Hope to read some more interesting things from you in the future.

I wish you the best

"Reader"
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I'll write a followup later this week more thoroughly discussing the video game markets. I'll also respond to my earlier post about casual gamers.

Cyaz