We’ve been following gaming research firm Quantic Foundry the past few months as it’s been hammering out its Gamer Motivation Model. This week, it released an article calling all of you old.
Just kidding. Actually, the blog post by Dr. Nick Yee says that the first generation of gamers who really truly grew up on games isn’t stopping, which has pushed the average gamer age up to 35 over the last 15 or so years, and it’s a demographic he says is worth exploring.
“Among the 12 motivations we measure in our model, the interest in Competition changes the most with age,” he argues. “In our framework, Competition is the appeal of competing with other players in duels, matches, or team-vs-team scenarios. The gender difference in Competition is large at first among younger gamers, but then disappears with age. As gamers get older, the appeal of Competition declines, but this happens more rapidly for men than for women. Thus, by the time we’re past 45, the difference between men and women largely disappears.”
Yee posits that strategy gameplay is the most stable motivation for gamers across ages but that overall, motivations decline with age. Why? Gamers might be less likely to “rate any particular gaming activity as ‘extremely important/enjoyable'” as they age, he writes.
So today’s Daily Grind is two-fold: Do you think your age has changed how and what you game? And do you find that your preference for strategic and/or competitive gameplay has decreased or increased as you grow up and the years roll on?
Every morning, the Massively Overpowered writers team up with mascot Mo to ask MMORPG players pointed questions about the massively multiplayer online roleplaying genre. Grab a mug of your preferred beverage and take a stab at answering the question posed in today’s Daily Grind!
