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Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

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Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#71

Post by ZephyrBlu »

prophesi wrote: post #19
jpxw wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m just saying that if you count anyone who has ever played Candy Crush, your stats aren’t going to be particularly meaningful, and you’ll end up with a number like “three billion”. If the same number was cited for beer drinking, I’d be saying “sure, if you count anyone who’s ever had a Budweiser”, and it would be a valid criticism.

I get what you're saying. It would be interesting to see the statistics on how many people play non-casual videogames. And how many people drink craft beer. Though with videogames, it's still a meaningful statistic to include "casuals" considering it used to be taboo to play videogames at all as an adult.

> Though with videogames, it's still a meaningful statistic to include "casuals" considering it used to be taboo to play videogames at all as an adult

There's a difference between a casual Candy Crush player and a casual Overwatch player though.

I wouldn't class the Candy Crush player as even a casual gamer.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#72

Post by throw149102 »

fuzxi wrote: post #34
rsynnott wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is such a weird attitude. If someone was to say (figures made up) "over two billion people worldwide now drink beer" then "if you count Budweiser then sure", would be a bizarre response. Candy Crush is clearly a game; this isn't really ambiguous. It's a mass market game that game connoisseurs sneer at, sure, but it's a game.

I get your point, but I think it's more accurately framed like so: "Over three billion people are now drinkers" "If you count having a glass of wine once a week then sure" The perceived snobbery is less about whether these people are playing games and more about whether they can be accurately described as "gamers", a term which has meaning beyond simply "players of any game(s)" due to its many (largely negative) conn…

Adding onto this, imagine how you would feel if someone said

"There are 3 billion Spanish speakers worldwide"

But then you learned that only 500 million were really fluent, and the rest ranged from broken Spanish that was enough to get by in a Spanish speaking country to people who were forced to take a Spanish class in highschool and never used it again.

I think this concept of "fluency" in games is probably a more useful metric. The question is, if I dump you in front of a game that you've never played before, but it conforms to the language of video game design, how quickly can you beat it? I would imagine that someone who only played Candy Crush would not understand how to move their camera around in a 3D environment, for example.[1]

You could extend the metaphor further, for example Spanish is spoken in many different ways around the globe, and therefore some people who speak one dialect of Spanish can't understand another dialect of Spanish. The same could be true for games, and we would need to classify and understand these dialects.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax7f3JZJHSw Interesting video talking about what games are like for a non-gamer, shows an example of not understanding how to move the camera and the player at the same time.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#73

Post by chansiky »

HenryKissinger wrote: post #46
bitxbit wrote: post #36

This is a trend that will continue to accelerate. And I think we grossly underestimated how much time and money people are willing to spend on video games. Although, I think production has somewhat plateau’d in the past five years. There’s VR, but I believe there will be a new category introduced within the next five years that will change the gaming landscape.

I'm more skeptical. VR will remain a niche, and future games will feature improved graphics. The new haptic feedback on the PS5 controller will add a minor feature. Other than that, games will remain the same on the fundamentals. Couch co-op may make a comeback.

I'm extremely skeptical as well, but the fact that Facebook, Apple, and Google are all dumping tons of money to develop some form of it makes me convinced that its an upcoming market that has the potential to hit big time.

Half the stuff I see people do online goes against any logic I ever thought people would do. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes off for something completely out of left field. Like what is the weirdest, dumbest thing you could think of doing with vr technology, for example - watching 2d movies with your friends, or playing minesweeper, and I bet that's going to be the thing that makes it hit big.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#74

Post by neixidbeksoxyd »

bitxbit wrote: post #36

This is a trend that will continue to accelerate. And I think we grossly underestimated how much time and money people are willing to spend on video games. Although, I think production has somewhat plateau’d in the past five years. There’s VR, but I believe there will be a new category introduced within the next five years that will change the gaming landscape.

> There’s VR, but I believe there will be a new category introduced within the next five years that will change the gaming landscape.

I have been dreaming of better interfaces (controllers) for games for decades. The Wii, despite it's limited power, was a huge leap forward in how we played games. Unfortunately Nintendo is the only gaming company taking risks while Microsoft and Sony keep doubling down on graphics with the same controllers from 30 years ago. If someone made a non-VR console with VR-style controllers it would be a huge leap. Instead we keep getting the same old immersion-killing 4-button-mashing consoles and games with upgraded graphics cards.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#75

Post by zzo38computer »

klyrs wrote: post #70
WoahNoun wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's amazing is that solitaire isn't a single game with a set rules. It's an entire category of card games. The "game developers" of the past were just people agreeing on a set of rules.

True, but my great grandma played the garbage one that was implemented in win3.1

Do you mean Klondike solitaire?

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#76

Post by zzo38computer »

ashtonkem wrote: post #53
harimau777 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue that ultra-casual games like Candy Crush have so little in common with "core games" that it's not particularly useful to consider them the same thing. A similar situation: If I was discussing "board game culture" I think that most people would recognize that I'm referring the culture associated with games like Catan or Pandemic as opposed to people casually playing Tic Tac Toe.

I really dislike any attempt to draw a distinction between “casual” (a dismissive term) games from “core” games. This is pure gate keeping behavior; an attempt to diminish some games (and therefore their players) as being less real than others. If you wish to separate “core” gamers, do it by device or by category, since that is much clearer and carries less of a value judgement.

I agree, there are many better ways to categorize them, e.g. puzzle games, text adventure games, etc.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#77

Post by Godel_unicode »

harimau777 wrote: post #44
rsynnott wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If I was discussing "board game culture" No-one's talking about 'board game culture', though. This is about whether people play video games. If you were talking about the board games people play, Catan would be a barely visible blip; it'd be all about things like Monopoly. Now if you were talking about people who consider playing games part of their identity, I'd be inclined to agree (though there are edge cases; P…

My point is that "people who play video games" doesn't mean much if you define it so broadly that it includes both people who play primarily core games and people who play exclusively casual games. From a business perspective, they are unlikely to be the same target market. Gaming related memes and similar cultural artifacts are unlikely to be shared. Etc.

It certainly means that if you're a video game making company, the market of potential customers is huge. That seems valuable.

This argument seems popular with people who like Very Serious Video Games, and are affronted by being associated with filthy casuals (the gamers, not the brand).

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#79

Post by maroonblazer »

neixidbeksoxyd wrote: post #74
bitxbit wrote: post #36

This is a trend that will continue to accelerate. And I think we grossly underestimated how much time and money people are willing to spend on video games. Although, I think production has somewhat plateau’d in the past five years. There’s VR, but I believe there will be a new category introduced within the next five years that will change the gaming landscape.

> There’s VR, but I believe there will be a new category introduced within the next five years that will change the gaming landscape. I have been dreaming of better interfaces (controllers) for games for decades. The Wii, despite it's limited power, was a huge leap forward in how we played games. Unfortunately Nintendo is the only gaming company taking risks while Microsoft and Sony keep doubling down on graphics wit…

Keep in mind that 1/3 of the population suffer from motion sickness, so for them (I'm in this group) VR isn't an option for the most part.

Of course if this is a solvable problem - those who otherwise suffer from motion sickness are symptom-free in any VR application - then I agree VR could have a bright future.

Re: Over three billion people worldwide now play video games, study reports

#80

Post by ArtWomb »

Ghosts of Tsushima may be the best Playstation game I have played EVER. It's a testament to how late in the console release cycle, developers are just now mastering internals. It's the ideal video game: open world, 13-century feudal Japan, Age of the Samurai. High contrast "Kurosawa" mode, 4K HDR is cinematically photoreal. I really hope it remains a Major IP for many years to come ;)

https://blog.selfshadow.com/publications/s2020-shading-cours...

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