The New Gaming Audience

[Jamba]

This has cropped up a hot topic recently as a result of comments from Sega and Wedbush Morgan. So I thought we have a thread for debating what the new gaming audience is and how the industry is/should approach them.

 

I had an exam last week, in which I wrote an essay replying to the comment "Are video games bad for your health?"

 

So after listing a lot of the negative physical and mental symptoms of playing games I started to counter my own points. After writing about dance mats, GameTrak and the benfits of social gaming I wrote a LOT about the Wii. Much more than I thought I would. As a system alone it almost destroys all bad health symptoms (if the user wants it to be a healthy experience). The design of the controller, the more physical nature of the software and the fact that Nintendo (and hopefully 3rd parties soon) are actively pursuing fitness software are really important factors.

 

This led me to realise that the Wii addresses almost all of the persistant and absolute reasons why people don't play games. People naturally enjoy playing games, we do it every day in our lives and it is part of how humans learn effectively and doing so gives us pleasure (I suggest reading Raph Koster's A Theory of Fun for Game Design). So there must be reasons why people don't play video games. Inaccessible control systems, being bad for your health, inaccessible game design or subject matter, a reclusive tendancy and "waste of time" have all been serious reasons why people don't play. But the Wii has addressed these individually. Gaming can be healthy, social, easy to enjoy. You can use it for helpful things as well, like surfing the net but with the right software it can be good for playing helpful games or more applicable mental exercise (I'm looking at you Brain Academy and Cooking Mama!) in terms of not being a waste of time.

 

But people say that the Wii doesn't have good graphics or some of the online capabilities that the other systems have. This is true, however does it matter? To Nintendo and in terms of the Wii "winning" this generation then yes. But to the average person in the new gaming audience (which should be everyone alive and able) then I'm not so sure. Also these are comparitive statements between systems and show no evidence of changing people's habits from one generation to the next. Expanding the definition of what gaming can/could be has far more impact. For example, people don't (and remember we are talking generally here) disciminate against handhelds for their worse graphics. If you want a handheld, you get fun handheld gaming, regardless of the graphical capability in comparison with a console.

 

Ever since the early days of games, the industry has driven deeper into what games are and only broadened their definition or appeal very slowly. I think this needs to change. We need to address why people aren't playing in equal measure to refining what we already have. Thankfully, I feel we are approaching a time when this is the case but the importance of this balance should be recognised and supported industry wide.

[jammy2211]

People don't play games for the most part because of their reputation. in the 90's they were very much seen as a kids toy, and something which people 'grew out of' when they're older. Nintendo have made software which is changing this though, all the touch generation games and Wii Sports / Wii Play is appealing to people outside the teenager demographic.

Couple this with Nintendo using a marketing campaign which targets the older audience (sponsering shows like Friday Night Project, Peep Show) it means Nintendo can get their name out. Alot of it just spreads by word of mouth even, but it's certainly having an effect.

 

As for what companies should do, well, they should do what they're best at. I would hate to see a company like Epic Games try and make a casual Wii game, I'd hate to see Capcom make a minigame compilation. We're already seeing plenty of third parties make great games for this expanded audience, and the real challenge for them is going to be marketing them. MySims and Boogie are two great examples, and they could easily replicate the success of something like Animal Crossing if they're marketing to the right audience.

I know for a fact Capcom aim with every game to make something has a cross-over appeal to everyone. I think with RE:UC is a great example, they have the simple control method for the less hardcore gamer, but for anyone more into gaming there will be a harder difficulty and probably alot of depth into what you can unlock etc. It's a bold tactic but if companies can make games which appeal to everyone then the Wii is going to be absolutely huge.

 

I don't think Nintendo are worried about the graphics / online. They're slowly introducing people into the online gaming world, and it won't be long before it's common for a Wii game to be online. Companies need to take a leaf out of Mario Galaxy's book and focus games around unique art styles, as well, no game can look dated if it's graphics are something like Mario Galaxy's, or Windwakers, or Okami's etc.