Notes on Phase 1 Sample

It is difficult to get a representative sample of gamers across genres and platforms due to the breadth and variation of gaming. Recent controversies have also shown that what constitutes a “game” or “gamer” is itself a matter of debate.

Here at Quantic Foundry, we recognize the generalizability problem and hope to work on it in two ways. First, we’ll provide descriptive statistics around each sample so readers can interpret the findings with the sampling biases in mind. Second, we’re hopeful that the profile tools will allow us to attract more representative samples of gamers over time.

Descriptive Statistics of Sample

The Phase 1 sample consisted of recruiting gamers from the existing Daedalus Project mailing list (heavily skewed towards older MMO gamers) and gamers we recruited via Facebook/Twitter. There were 1,127 participants in total, of which 568 were existing respondents on the Daedalus Project mailing list, and 559 who were participating in the survey study for the first time.

69.8% of the sample was male and 30.2% of was female. The average age of the sample was 36.7 (SD = 10.6). While the age seems high, it is mostly in line with the ESA’s report that the average gamer is 35 years old.

75.8% self-reported as core/mid-core gamers; 10.5% self-reported as casual gamers, and 13.7% self-reported as hardcore gamers. We asked participants to rate their enjoyment of different game genres. The most highly-rated genres were RPG, MMO, and Turn-Based Strategy. RTS was ranked 6th; Shooters were ranked 8th. At the bottom were Racing, Dance/Exercise, and Sports games.

In short, the sample consisted primarily of core gamers, but with a moderate bias towards older players and players who prefer RPGs and MMOs.