Understanding the Casual Gamer
What exactly is a casual gamer and how does one make a game that will appeal to them? In order to understand this demographic more completely, we polled executives from some of the leading companies in the casual games market.
Please note that the panelists answered the questions individually by email, without seeing any of the other responses.
Interviewee Bios:
Steve Meretzky is Principal Game Designer at WorldWinner, the leading global provider of online games for cash and prizes, where the outcome of each competition is determined by the player’s skill.
Duncan Magee is the Senior Director of Content at RealArcade, RealNetworks’s consumer games product. RealArcade is the worldwide leader in down-loadable games for grown ups.
David Rohrl has spent the last 5 years as a Producer and Game Designer at Pogo.com, EA's online casual gaming portal. Since winter 2002, he has served as the creator and production and design leader of Pogo To Go, Pogo's downloadable games service.
Don Ryan is the General Manager for Microsoft Games Studios (MGS), overseeing the Online Games and Simulations studios. The Online Games studio is responsible for the MSN Games Channel, Messenger Games Channel and Xbox Live Arcade service.
Stephen Smith formed FreshGames in 2002 to specifically develop and market Casual Games through electronic distribution. Their first game Cubis® was a runaway success, followed by Word Mojo™ and FreakOut™ and in 2004, Cubis®2.
John Welch is the co-founder and President/CEO of PlayFirst, a publisher of popular games. Previously, John spent five years at AtomShockwave Corp. as the company's VP of Games and Product where he drove the product strategy and acquisitions for Shockwave.com.
OGQ: How does your organization learn about the people who play your games? What specific efforts do you undertake?
Steve S: Mainly we learn from the people who call our tech support line. We talk to them about their likes and dislikes of our games. Currently we do not undertake any additional measures to profile our users.
Dave R: At Pogo, we require users to register to play most of our games. Players are required to give their age, gender and zip code during the registration process. We also conduct a variety of primary research on the demographics and psychographics of Pogo players.
Steve M: In order to compete in cash competitions on WorldWinner (www.worldwinner.com), you must create an account linked to a credit card, so that automatically gives us some demographic information about each player, especially geographic data. In addition to analyzing syndicated data, such as Media Metrix, we hold focus groups of players in different markets around the country. Also, our players have the option of filling out a player profile page, visible to other players, that contains various biographical data. Finally, we always have a weekly poll on our home page, asking things like "Where do you primarily play WorldWinner games? At home/At work/Both." Neither the profile pages nor the poll constitute a scientific form of data collection, of course, but it still provides some useful information about players' behavior.
Duncan M: RealArcade tries to understand our users at multiple levels of usage and behavior. We utilize online user surveys segmented by behavior, in person focus groups, message boards, as well as third party research to get a complete understanding of our customers' situation and how they use RealArcade and play our games.
Don R: MSN Games tracks demographics in a number of ways. We rely fairly heavily on an annual demographic survey that goes into great depth regarding who our gamers are, what they expect from us, as well as their interests outside of gaming.
John W: PlayFirst undertakes several routes to understand our game players. First, we consumer test all our games during development to ensure we understand consumer preferences and have made best efforts to meet them before the game is released. Second, we work closely with our distribution partners, such as Shockwave.com, MSN Zone, RealArcade, Trygames, and Big Fish Games, to understand consumer response to our games. Finally, we both monitor and commission industry research to ensure we understand demographic trends in the online games space. Looking forward, we will put two major initiatives in place. First, we are starting to build up a sizeable beta test community to provide additional market insight during the development process. Second, we are working with marketing and PR professionals to deliver the message of popular games to the mass market, so as to actually affect the demographic of people exposed to our games.
OGQ: What have you found out? Give us a general breakdown of your player demographics.
Steve S: Surprisingly, we have a lot of retired male and female users. They tell us that they have time to play games and are frequent purchasers of other games. We also look at our online sales log and can see that 75% of the people who purchase our games are women. Although we cannot track the age of our buyers, we can assume they are over 18 years of age.
Dave R: Like a lot of casual game sites, our audience skews older and more female than most core gaming offerings. Pogo.com's audience is 65% female and the average age is 32.
Steve M: Because WorldWinner hosts online game tournaments with cash prizes and entry fees, we require all of our players to be 18 or older. Our player community, which consists of 14 million registered members, is primarily based in the U.S., but about 15 to 20 percent of our players live in other countries. Our most significant demographic is gender; roughly two-thirds of our players are women. Also, casual gamers tend to be slightly older than their counterparts playing hard-core games. Specifically, 61 percent of WorldWinner's players are over the age of 35, 35 percent of our players are over 45, and almost 9 percent are over 55.
Duncan M: Overall RealArcade users are 65% female, and 35% male. Over 90% of our customers are over the age of 30. This tells you a lot about our customer and their lifestyle and personal situation. We have lots of busy parents who have children in their household who are looking for a quick break from the daily grind!
Don R: Last year's data showed that MSN Games has a high proportion of female gamers. As gaming continues to become a mainstream form of entertainment, we expect our demographics to reflect the general population. MSN Games is constantly adding content to appeal to a wide variety of audiences.
John W: Overall, PlayFirst games appeal to a broad, mainstream audience, though there are specific elements of each game that appeal to unique demographics. We know that Diner Dash, as an action puzzle game, and Spellagories, as a word game, appeal to women in their 30s and 40s. However, the fantasy element of Spellagories proves popular with younger male word game players as well. Oasis, which we think of as 'Minesweeper meets Civilization', is targeted more at male 30+ 'ex-gamers'. While each game has a primary target, we strive to make all of our games interesting and accessible to the widest possible audience. We view our player demographics in parallel with the demographics of sites where our games are played and sold. For example, we know women make up the majority of consumers playing at online game destinations today. Specifically, 2 of 3 players on MSN Zone and RealArcade are women, 55% of Pogo players are women and 70% of AOL game players are women (publicly quoted statistics).
OGQ: To what do you attribute that demographic? Have you specifically marketed to them? Is there something about your products that you feel appeals to them especially?
Steve S: Published data has supported the core demographic to be 60% females, ages 24-54. It's also known that females tend to like puzzle games, which comprise a lot of the "casual" game market. We tend to make our games appeal to females with color usage, graphics and intuitive interface design, although not so feminine as to alienate the male users.
Dave R: Pogo games are specifically designed to be accessible and easy to play. We cater to a more mass market, less tech savvy user. Pogo also attracts players who are more drawn to online social interaction and cooperation, and we make strong efforts to tailor our multi-player offering to support these tendencies.
Steve M: Our predominance of female players is mirrored by all the major casual gaming portals (e.g. Pogo, Yahoo Games), and since many of our players come to WorldWinner directly from our partnerships with these sites, our similar demographic is not surprising. More generally, why do casual games attract a more female (and an older) audience? I attribute it to several factors: these games are less intimidating - you can learn them quickly without having to read a manual or wade through a long tutorial. There's also a low cost barrier to entry; you can generally try a game for free, and only when you know you like it are you committed to spending money on it; different from the typical retail channel for hard-core games. Finally, the shorter playing time and less-violent themes are appealing to this demographic.
Duncan M: Our casual games appeal to a more gender neutral demographic who are in a mature (read: older) phase in their life and who appreciate games that are intuitive and immediately rewarding. The consumers driving the casual games market do not see themselves as "gamers" looking for a deep challenge. They are looking for an immediately fun and positively rewarding entertainment experience similar to the benefit one receives when tuning into a trusted primetime TV show that provides a mental escape with a minimal learning curve.
Don R: Currently, many of our games are quick, fun, distractions that appeal to those looking for a break from their daily routines. Across the market, as many studies have shown, women often look to games for that kind of escape. MSN Games is continually adding new puzzle and word games to keep gamers' experiences fresh and exciting.
John W: We believe PlayFirst games appeal to a mainstream audience because they are simple to pick up and impossible to put down. As 'popular' games, or 'games for the rest of us', consumers can get involved in minutes, not hours, yet the games are very rich in metaphor, character, and story. We believe PlayFirst games such as Diner Dash appeal specifically to women because of the high emotional interaction between player and character. According to researcher Nicole Lazarro of XEODesign, Diner Dash has broad appeal because of the 'People Factor.' This means players get more involved in games that 'go beyond character and story' and also 'take advantage of emotion from doing' the role of the game character. (Note: You can find information on Nicole Lazarro's report at GDC this year.)
OGQ: Do you think that the demographic for web/downloadable games has changed over the past few years? If so, how?
Steve S: It seems like more females are buying with the ever-growing puzzle market. Until there is a broader mix of games such as arcade and action games, I don't see the demographic changing very quickly.
Dave R: While the Pogo audience has grown over the years, the demographic profile has not changed. We have made some efforts to broaden our audience by developing sports and arcade games but Pogo's core audience continues to skew older and female.
Steve M: The average age of players has gradually risen, as computers and the Internet have crept into the homes of older consumers who didn't grow up with computers. 46 percent of U.S. seniors (people 50 or older) have been using the Internet for over five years, and 35 percent of all seniors play games online (according to a 2003 SeniorNet survey). These players are turning to their computers to play their favorite classic games - hearts, spades, backgammon, bridge, etc. - whenever the desire for friendly competition strikes.
Duncan M: There has been a slight shift to more females using our games over the last 3 years, but this is mostly a factor of us having more gender neutral games in our catalog.
Don R: Absolutely. Years ago, MSN Games was focused on enthusiast gamers, who pioneered online computer gaming. As Windows PC's and the Internet became ubiquitous in homes as well as offices, more and more people were exposed to the fun of playing games either solo or with friends. Most recently, women over 25+ have been the largest group of adopters of casual content as they've become more comfortable with online social interaction. As technology evolves and high-speed connections become more common, content developers will look to provide richer gaming experiences, and that new content will attract new audiences.
John W: When looking at video and PC games, we know that games have gotten more mainstream, with 40% of traditional "gamers" being women (ESA, Oct 2004). In the web/download space, we believe the shift has been more psychographic than demographic. In other words, while the majority of game players in this space were and are still are women, they have changed their preferences for game experiences. Instead of being satisfied with commoditized 'first-generation' web and then downloadable games, we believe players now demand a more immersive, contextual 'second generation' game that was not available in 2001. The obvious impact is that richer, more beautiful games cost more to develop. There are also many kids and teens playing web games (but not necessarily buying downloadable games). The trend here is that the better free games are now advertisements for downloads or advergames. We suspect advergames will continue to represent some of the only decent free games, as advertisers need to find ways to reach the 'elusive' teen market that is migrating from television to the Internet.
OGQ: Is there a demographic difference between those who play your games and those who purchase them?
Steve S: I really don't have hardcore data to support my theory, but it seems there may be a younger demographic on some sites that support our web games. Some users seem to complain if there's not a web version upon the release of the Win32 version, because they post messages saying, "I don't want to pay for the game; where's the online version?" So I can only assume that they are under the age of 18. Other, than that, I would assume that most of the users fit into the demographic profile of the buyers.
Dave R: Our research to date shows a good deal of similarity between Pogo web game players and Pogo To Go downloadable game purchasers.
Steve M: In our case, no. Although "purchase" isn't really an applicable term, since our players spend money to enter tournaments, not to acquire the game.
Duncan M: No there is negligible demographic difference between the freebie players and the paying customers.
Don R: More women tend to purchase games (internal survey data).
John W: Because our first games were released into the market in January 2005, we are still analyzing these trends. However, we do know industry-wide, genre-specific statistics: puzzle and strategy games have the highest trial-to-purchase ratio, while word game players convert to purchase at a lower rate. Kids play games, but they are not buying them, at least not downloadable games.
OGQ: How do you use the demographic information you have to improve your product(s)?
Steve S: We pretty much stick to the formula that we started with: 1) good game design, 2) great colors, 3) intuitive interface design, and 4) point-and-click mouse driven game-play. We also look at other games to see what trends are emerging to see where the market is going.
Dave R: When starting products, we try to look at the demographics of players in that game's genre to see if it suggests any general design approaches. We also maintain an acute awareness of our users' demographics and psychographics during our product planning process.
Steve M: Here's one example: last year we released a game called Blockwerx. It had a sound design that could be described as "industrial." It was a good set of sounds for a game with a male audience, but it turned off a lot of our female players. The game's initial revenue was a little disappointing, and we got a lot of negative feedback from our players about the sounds being too "unpleasant" or "harsh;" so we created a second, more soothing set of sound effects, and gave players the option to customize the game for the audio set of their choice. And now we're more careful to make visual and audio decisions with our female demographic in mind. Another example: although most of our prizes are in the form of cash, we also have frequent special tournaments where the prizes are in the form of merchandise, and we take pains to make sure this merchandise is appealing to both genders, or sometimes err on the side of merchandise with an appeal to women. When the original Star Wars trilogy was released on DVD last fall, we were thinking about a tournament where the first place prize was a portable DVD player plus the trilogy. But when we looked at data indicating that Star Wars fans skewed heavily male, we went with a different prize selection.
Duncan M: While demographic profiles are important, overall user behavior is (in my opinion) more important when it comes to affecting our games and service. We focus on general usability ensuring we listen to all our customers regardless of demographic profile.
Don R: MSN Games is dedicated to providing dynamic content for all demographics based on what they want, not who they are.
John W: After consumer testing a game or watching purchase trends through a channel partner, we analyze the feature set of a game and its appropriateness to a certain demographic. For some games, we tailor overall design, game-play elements, and in-game and marketing copy to align with demographic preferences. As a full-service publisher, we provide our developers with market intelligence, allowing them to focus their creativity. If we don't hit the mark at first, we can work together on future modifications of the game, or even sequels, to maximize our mutual return on investment.
OGQ: What would you like to know about your players that you currently don't? What turns them from a demo user to a paying user?
Steve S: Since the average conversion from downloading the demo to a paying customer is 2-3%, I would like to understand what makes them buy our games over other games.
Dave R: We would like to know more about their offline behaviors and activities as we look to expand the types of games and features offered on the service.
Steve M: Our players' hardware is always a recurring question, especially since it's a moving target: What percent have broadband? What percent have their displays set to at least 1024x768? What percent have a processor speed of at least X? What percent have installed Windows Service Pack 2? And so forth. For example, we are currently moving into larger download games, with our cash competitions of Wild Tangent's Polar Bowler, and knowing precisely what percentage of our players still have a dial-up connection would help us a lot.
Duncan M: I'd be very interested in knowing more about where they play, what other types of games interest them, what the decision making process is around selecting where and what game to play, and what their interest is in playing more multi-player or social games.
Don R: MSN Games is constantly listening to its audience, but you can never have too much feedback.
John W: 1) How many minutes/levels does it take to decide if you’re satisfied with the game? 2) How many minutes/levels does it take to decide if you will consider purchasing the game? The first 60 minutes of play are the most critical to tune to perfection - we need to make sure we offer enough to hook the player but not enough to fully satisfy. Once the user purchases, she will be more patient in getting through parts of the game that are a bit too easy/hard for her.
OGQ: Do you think "casual" is an accurate term for describing players of downloadable games? Explain your answer. Is there a more accurate term?
Steve S: I think the term "casual" works for the time being since most downloadable games aren't really that complex. The users can casually play the game, have fun for 5 minutes to several hours and then quit. Plus, most of the games appeal to a broad market, which also makes the term "Casual" fitting.
Dave R: I'd say "mass market" or "family gaming" is a more apt description of this category of gaming. In the Pogo experience, we have seen that there is a significant overlap between our online and downloadable gamers. These gamers tend to be heavy players, in some instances playing up to 18 hours per week. "Casual" gaming suggests that users aren't as engaged in the activity
Steve M: "Casual" is the term that I always use. I like the definition, first put forward by Dave Rohrl at Pogo, that casual gamers are players who would never list "playing games" as one of their primary interests. I also like to say that for a casual game to be successful, you should be able to write everything you need to know to play the game on one side of an index card.
Duncan M: "Casual" works well for an industry term to contrast our games to traditional core games. However, to the customer I believe the term casual is irrelevant -- our games are just FUN GAMES they enjoy playing that are very well suited to their lifestyle and entertainment needs.
Don R: "Casual" may not be the best term for MSN Gamers as we know that many of them are spending upwards of 10 hours per week on our site. MSN Games is fortunate to have millions of gamers who are committed to the type of casual content we offer. A more accurate term might be broad appeal games.
John W: No, we do not believe 'casual' is an appropriate term when describing players of downloadable games. This is a term that originated from the traditional games industry, which viewed time and money spent as key indicators for segmenting consumer audiences as 'casual.' Ironically, 'casual' game players often spend more time per week with a game, though they may not spend as much money on games (yet). As a category, we see 'casual' games as low-budget web games and circa-2001 downloadable games. We believe 'popular' is a better description for downloadable games, as they appeal to a mainstream audience which is far larger than the traditional PC/console market. Popular games are those five-minute games you play for a quick break and end up spending two hours with - by no means a 'casual' experience. 'Popular' games provide rich character, story, metaphor - a much more beautiful experience with a deeper level of immersion and escape.
OGQ: Does the staff mix at your studio/organization reflect your player demographics?
Steve S: Not really; our staff is made-up of all males in their 30's. But we have outside testers that fit more of the demographic profile of retired and female users. When you develop a game over several months, sometimes you have tunnel vision regarding game design and interface design. Outside feedback provides valuable information that we may overlook.
Dave R: Broadly speaking, our development teams are certainly older than the average EA console team but generally younger than the core Pogo audience.
Steve M: Unfortunately not. Only about a quarter of our staff are women, and there are a number of us here who are hard-core gamers. Fortunately, I've found that hard-core gamers generally like playing casual games, even if the reverse isn't the case. However, I'd love to have more women here, especially on the development side - we might have avoided a few missteps like the Blockwerx example I mentioned above. We do try to use our female staffers as a sounding board when considering new games, tournament offerings, and so forth. Oh, also, I'm really in touch with my feminine side.
Duncan M: Not really - our staff is around 10 to 15% female.
Don R: MSN Games has a diverse team with extensive experience in the gaming industry.
John W: If you consider our demographics as a mainstream audience of popular game players, then yes, our organization matches our demographics. If you consider the larger industry demographic (50%+ female), we are moving to approximate this percentage. Currently, one-third of our total staff (including extended contract team) is women. Overall, PlayFirst is an equal opportunity employer and we look for the best talent in the industry, regardless of gender!