An article on gamer demographics.

[Master]

Originally posted by Johnpv
i think they spent way way way way too much time on the math and equations and weighting of what a ahrdcore gamer is IMHO

also i really despise this one

"4. Prefer violent/action games"

BAH

its applying to much wasted energy on something thats so simple

They do this math for EVERY game and make sure it will be profitable. You are a number man, get used to it. Its by no means "simple". Especially when we are talking millions of dollars and your playing with the house's money.

[Brotherman]

A quick bump for those that may have missed this.

[Shin Johnpv]

i think people ar emissing my point

im not saying you shouldnt have an indepth article about something lioek this but to bust out complex math equations to determine that the "hardcore" gamers account for a small percentage of the industry is IMHO just a waste of time

i think its quite obvious to anyone with 2 brain cells that the hardcore account for a small percentage of sales

everything follows the natural bell curve

with sales on both ends of the extreme being small and the majority of your sales falling in the middle

[Brotherman]

The importance of finding where those lines and percentages fall however help in that developers can approximate sales based on the userbase they focus on.

For instance, a company wouldn't expect a game aimed at hardcore gamers to sell as well as a game aimed at the casual market (assuming they get everything write and create a game that doesn't turn off the demographic).

[rezo]

I'll add that a defined "hardcore" demographic would better influence decisions that involves that group of people.

hmm. . .

i think its quite obvious to anyone with 2 brain cells that the hardcore account for a small percentage of sales

this goes without saying, as a general idea, but there is no accurate representation, which a demographic would supply to a greater degree. is that fringe percentage 5%, perhaps 13% or perhaps just under 20%?
Each represents a small number of gamers, but I imagine, given the large comparative differences between them, the knowledge of what the actual representation is could make a big difference, provided it doesn't match current assumptions.


yeah.

and I've just realized what I've said was summarized in Brotherman's first sentence. " =/ "

[Diff-chan]

Originally posted by Johnpv
i think people ar emissing my point

im not saying you shouldnt have an indepth article about something lioek this but to bust out complex math equations to determine that the "hardcore" gamers account for a small percentage of the industry is IMHO just a waste of time

i think its quite obvious to anyone with 2 brain cells that the hardcore account for a small percentage of sales

everything follows the natural bell curve

with sales on both ends of the extreme being small and the majority of your sales falling in the middle

Bah. Speaking as a guy who will most likely spend the rest his professional career working with numbers (I am studying mathematics in school), I can tell you that there is no such thing as "common sense" when it comes to economics and millions of dollars of your company's money.

Sure, common sense exists... but its not enough to say that its "common sense" that hardcore gamers dont make up a huge percentage of gamers, but for it to be known to be perfectly true it must be proven. In my math/physics classes I have seen some proofs for some pretty dopey things that make perfect sense, but they make all the more sense when you have an equation behind them. If I am making a pitch to the VP of development for White Trash Hunter 3, I will have a better chance of selling the game if I have the equation behind me.

This is the truth. I doubt the Bell Curve didnt even come into existence without some rigorous mathematics work behind it (I dunno, unfortunately). Mathematics is the building block of common sense. There's very little that cannot be explained with mathematics (an academic in Austria is even doing research into piano playing) and that which can be expressed by math must be.

And yes, I am biased...

[Space Pirate Roberts]

If I am making a pitch to the VP of development for White Trash Hunter 3, I will have a better chance of selling the game if I have the equation behind me.

Best. Game. EVAR!!!

I'm comin' fer ya, Tonya Harding... me and ol' Bessie here [lovingly strokes shotgun]...