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Study Finds That "Extreme Gamers" Play 48 Hours a Week 272

Posted by Soulskill from the i-blame-blizzard dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Think you're a big gamer? According to a new study from market research firm NPD Group, to be considered among the real hardcore you'll need to play an average of 48.5 hours a week — nearly seven hours a day. This group of gamers is, on average, '29 years old, and — perhaps surprisingly — one-third of them are female. They're more likely to play on consoles than on the PC, and on average they've purchased 24 titles in the past three months — a bill that could easily run over a thousand dollars. But dedicated though they may be, the Extreme Gamers are just a small minority: a mere 4% of the US's 174-million-strong gaming public. '"
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Study Finds That "Extreme Gamers" Play 48 Hours a Week More

Study Finds That "Extreme Gamers" Play 48 Hours a Week

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  • Pfft (Score:3, Funny)

    by kiwizoid ( 1531455 ) on Thursday June 03, 2010 @11:59PM (#32454632)
    Amateurs.

    • Re:Pfft yourself! (Score:5, Informative)

      by Fluffeh ( 1273756 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @12:51AM (#32454920)

      Amateurs.

      No not really, I am in one of the top Warcraft Guilds and have been so since MC was the dungeon to raid (which I wear with pride) but at the same time, playing for about 40 hours a week has just gotten too much. I can totally corroborate that article.

      To be in a guild like ours, you are expected to attend 4-5 raid nights a week, which generally last 3-5 hours. That's pure raid time though, so add a half hour before that to stock up on consumables, ensure that gear is enchanted/gemmed and that sort of thing. Then of course you need some time to make some cash to buy all this stuff, so generally add in at least a half hour a day for dailies - an hour if you want to do a random daily and get the extra badgers.

      Oh yeah, then add in time for ALT runs, or weekend (our guild doesn't do official raids on Friday/Saturday night) booze runs, and that's another good few hours (drunken runs take the longest - but are generally most fun) and soon, you are very very easily up to around that 40 hour week or more.

      For me, it just got to be too much time. I don't enjoy playing unless it's at the pointy end of the spectrum, so I have pretty much given it away. I still log on now and again to keep in touch, chat and have a giggle, but it's amazing how much time in your life you get back when you stop a schedule like that.

      FYI, I chose to stop that raid schedule when I was struggling to wake up each morning (I work Mon-Fri and leave home at 7am) and it was becoming increasingly hard to wake up on time (read: started being late 2-3 times a week) after finishing raids at midnight or later. For me, the maths was really easy - raid and have fun with online friends or keep steady well paying job.

      • For me, the maths was really easy - raid and have fun with online friends or keep steady well paying job.

        I'm glad you made the healthy choice. It's fun to just let yourself disappear into a game like WoW, but eventually you have to come out the other side. I've done the 60+ hours a week thing, I'm now down to something like 5-10 hours a week, mostly on the weekends.

      • Re:Pfft yourself! (Score:5, Interesting)

        by MachDelta ( 704883 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @01:33AM (#32455110)

        I was there too, except I was one of the idiots trying to wrangle 39 other idiots (read: guild officer). At the time I had just graduated from high school and due to a traumatic experience or two (not what you think but too long to detail) I staunchly refused to attend post-secondary or any other school-like institution. So I spent 8-12 hours a day on WoW, building my toon up and helping to run a whole guild instead. Surprisingly it was pretty good management training. In any case, we did the whole "best guild on server, #1 in MC, BWL, AQ40, Naxx, etc" thing, climbed into the top 100 NA guilds at one point, and shortly before the first expansion hit I had burnt out. I quit pretty much cold turkey and with some help from my parents and my now girlfriend, i've never been back. I feel like i've conquered the essence of that game and any new attempts would just be the same shit in a new pile. Now i've got something MUCH more challenging to worry about: University. :)

        Anyways, just wanted to say that there are probably almost as many ex-WoW addicts as there are current ones. Coca^H^H^H^H WoW's a hell of a drug.

        • Re:Pfft yourself! (Score:5, Funny)

          by pcolaman ( 1208838 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @02:07AM (#32455260)

          But dude, they are about to release a new expansion!

        • Re:Pfft yourself! (Score:4, Interesting)

          by beowulfcluster ( 603942 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @03:51AM (#32455812)

          Coca^H^H^H^H WoW's a hell of a drug.

          It sure is. My epiphany came one day when I realized it had been 2 years since I last picked up my guitar, something I was quite serious about before I started playing WoW. I quit cold turkey too. I've been back now and then since then to chat and fool around but I'm also one of those who wants to play at the so called top or not at all. Since the top is something I know I can't do anymore, I've hardly felt the pull at all. It's quite a nice thing that getting back on that hardcore raiding horse with WoW is not that easy. You can't just call your dealer in one second if you get the urge on a tuesday night. You have to put time in to catch up gearwise from where you where when you left off. Even if you manage that on your own (they've made it easier but having to grind heroics for badges with random idiots is an experience that can cure any addict) you have to find and apply to and convince a proper raid guild to take you in. So once you manage to quit for long enough, it's not something you can pick up again on an impulse since it's not just up to you. You'll still have quite a bit of time to consider what you're doing.

      • Re:Pfft yourself! (Score:5, Funny)

        by Lord_of_the_nerf ( 895604 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @01:45AM (#32455172)

        FYI, I chose to stop that raid schedule when I was struggling to wake up each morning....

        I chose to stop when I realised the smell I complained about to my landlord was me.

      • Haha! I can relate. During my residency I was playing Guild Wars for 6 hours a night. Near the end, I had to sell my computer in order to study for my board exam.

      • Re:Pfft yourself! (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 04, 2010 @03:02AM (#32455554)

        I don't mean to one up you, but I feel I should share a story from the top 1%.

        I'm a former world first raider from EverQuest 1, and have been a top north american FPS competitor since back in the Quake 3 days until about 2 years ago in Counter-Strike:Source and 1.6. I've run 8-9 hour raids in EQ 1, and farmed things (ie. ToV key, stuipd fucking rare skeleton) for over 60 hours before straight. If 40 hours qualifies the top 4%, I'd consider myself formerly in the top 1%. Some years back (2006?) I quit EQ1 for WoW because I couldn't do it anymore. I'd gone to rehab for EQ1 and, the first day after getting out I walked nearly 2 hours in the middle of the night to a friends place (didnt have a car at the time) who was up all night to borrow his EQ 1 cds, walked home and was playing again before dawn.

        It probably sounds odd to think of someone saying Molten Core and BWL (never did Naxxramas though) were "casual" for me, but that's exactly what it was. I was in the 2nd place guild on my server in Vanilla, the first on alliance in early TBC, second on server (horde) in late TBC, first (horde) in early WotLK, and now first (alliance) in late WotLK. I raid 3-5 nights a week as you say, for 4 hours of pure raid time per night, I have 5 80 alts - 4 of them ICC geared, 2 of them 2k+ rated in pvp on all 3 teams. I know this is abnormal, "extreme" but looking back on my EQ1 life I still feel casual by comparison. That shit was crazy.

        Probably my favorite EQ 1 story of addiction (favorite as in the most telling, imo) was 2 wizards (husband and wife) in my guild, who were hooked on meth - started playing EverQuest 1 - and just one day completely forgot to score more meth because they couldn't leave EQ - and quit cold turkey, having completely forgotten about Meth.

        The thing is - as human beings we are attracted to certain things more than anything else. When you get really into a game and start thinking about the bonding experiences of difficult situations in raids or pvp - and how you couldn't have accomplished that without them, or would be dead were it not for another gamer - that to me is comparable to a blood brother borne in a foxhole in a war. The foxhole might be a dragon raid, and the blood brother might be a virtual priest avatar - but the bond can be identical I think. At the same time, the surreal worlds where we are all so much more than mere men working 9-5 is impossible to deny the simple attraction of. Any sense of hopelessnes, weakness, loss that you might experience in the real world is caused by a tangible entity in a game world - and is usually solved by severing the head of some dragon or god - would that it be so easy in real life - perhaps games would not hold the bond that they do.

        • Re:Pfft yourself! (Score:4, Insightful)

          by somersault ( 912633 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @03:48AM (#32455806) Homepage Journal

          Speaking as someone who has both spent many years of my life as as an isolated gamer type (and a couple of times had to go on anti-depressants), and also some periods of my life actually going out and doing things.. I have to say that if you put as much effort into real life as you do into gaming, you would get far greater rewards.

          I'm not saying you can't also play games and chat online as these things are fun and definitely still have an element of sociability, but if you joined some kind of real life club or spent some time doing exercise to level up your real body instead of your avatar, you'd be feeling a lot better both mentally and physically (the two are very linked anyway.. simply being more fit really helps your mood and concentration levels), and more able to cope with the "real world" you seem to be so scared of.

          • Re:Pfft yourself! (Score:5, Insightful)

            by Fluffeh ( 1273756 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @06:40AM (#32456570)

            I don't mean to one up you, but I feel I should share a story from the top 1%.

            Speaking as someone who has both spent many years of my life as as an isolated gamer type (and a couple of times had to go on anti-depressants), and also some periods of my life actually going out and doing things.. I have to say that if you put as much effort into real life as you do into gaming, you would get far greater rewards.

            Interesting, that the two replies to this post of mine take up such a small circle of people.

            You haven't 1'up'ed me. Our guild was in the top 1% of guilds and has consistently been there. Server firsts, few world firsts, but at the same time, I have spent time on mood stabilizers (I have bipolar disorder - check the sig). At the same time, I have been someone who has been into online gaming since the days of Ultima Online, and have worked for Epic Games with the development of Unreal Tournament, so I have been "in as much as can be" in games and games development - but having said that, I can't help but totally agree with the second poster's comment which I have quoted below this:

            I'm not saying you can't also play games and chat online as these things are fun and definitely still have an element of sociability, but if you joined some kind of real life club or spent some time doing exercise to level up your real body instead of your avatar, you'd be feeling a lot better both mentally and physically (the two are very linked anyway.. simply being more fit really helps your mood and concentration levels), and more able to cope with the "real world" you seem to be so scared of.

            While I have been pouring my efforts into both online gaming and my RL work (which is currently a Senior Performance Analyst for a multinational retailer) I have noticed that for every hour I spend honing my e-toon, I can spend the same effort at work and increase my salary. You know all the stuff you do in your guild/clan? That works in RL too. Get a job in an office. They appreciate that common sense just as much and they pay you a lot more than your guild can offer - and in dollars, not in gold.

            As someone who has been through both sides of the spectrum, I can just say, games are meant for entertainment. Play them, have fun, but don't confuse entertainment with real life.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Lumpy ( 12016 )

              you worked on UT?

              You realize how much of my life you have sucked away with that game???

              Too bad the franchize fell apart.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Lumpy ( 12016 )

            Yes and no. Gaming CAN be highly social and rewarding... I'm taking 4 player gaming at home or in a lanparty setup. Alone home in your underwear covered in cheetos dust surrounded by Bawls bottles... that is not as rewarding...

            My racing group get's together to do gaming nights. we have 4 xbox 360s hooked to 4 55" plasmas and have a ball playing MWII and other games. when you can trash talk your buddy next to you, or throw things at the friend that is constantly lobbing grenades at your location an

            • Yeah one of the most fun times of gaming I ever had was when they let us set up like 40 PCs to play some LAN games in the last week of term.. these days people tend to forego the local aspect because our connections are so much faster, but I definitely agree that if you can get a bunch of people over then it's more fun. Rock Band/Guitar Hero is really good for that if you only have one TV :P

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Maxo-Texas ( 864189 )

          8-9 hour raids.

          Surely you've forgotten the cleric epics in sky fire and Fear.

          We raided Fear 39 hours straight over memorial day weekend in 2003 (4?). Every 14 hours. We could predict the order the mobs would spawn in. It was a brutal, brutal break.

          I left work twice and woke up sometime in the early AM once for cleric epics in Skyfire. Then there were the little casual things like the 20+ hours spent getting jboots and similar insane quests with drop rates over 12 hours. No quest step in EQ should have

      • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

        by Custard Horse ( 1527495 )
        Dad? Where have you been? I've been worried.

        • Dad? Where have you been? I've been worried.

          Good god, I wish I could mod and post int he same thread. That's the funniest thing I have read in weeks :)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by bronney ( 638318 )

        RL is just AFK brah, you know it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Lumpy ( 12016 )

        I "technically" play far more than 48 hours a week, but most of that is farming bots and autoplayers responding to attacks while I auto farm.

        I did have a Xbox360 playing UTIII automatically once. I used a video capture card to detect basic elements like notice when a game was done and join a new one or was in game.. and it basically ran around randomly (gotta love bluetooth to make it easy to have linux-> xbox360 controls. Basically a python script.. not hard to do if you know python and look up the xbo

  • 24 games in the past 3 months? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by CMontgomery ( 1238316 ) on Thursday June 03, 2010 @11:59PM (#32454634)
    There haven't been 24 games released in the past 3 months worth playing for 7 hours. Let alone 7 hours a day.

    • Apparently a ton of people disagree with you.

      • Re:24 games in the past 3 months? (Score:5, Funny)

        by skine ( 1524819 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @12:16AM (#32454722)

        Apparently several tons of people disagree with you.

        FTFY

      • Not necessarily. It could be that they play a few titles 30 hours a week, and go through 24 other titles quickly and get bored of them.

        Who buys 8 games a month anyway? I wonder if they just asked how many new games they played and assumed they bought them.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Dahamma ( 304068 )

        No, if you read the summary these people make up less than 4% of the gaming population. Sounds more like a small minority than a "ton of people".

        Unless you literally meant 2000 lbs of people, which in the case of those playing more than 47 hours a week doesn't add up to very many.

      • Apparently a ton of people disagree with you.

        Yeah, the whole *4*% of all gamers.

    • WoW

      Though I honestly don't know how this correlates with the finding that it's more consoles than PC gamers. But that could explain how they can play 24 games for about 600 hours (which means about 25 hours per game).

      • It can't be WoW since the study found that consoles dominate among such players.

        I usually make sarcastic remark that consoles would always win PCs in time spent playing metric, because in a usual console game one spends disproportional amount of time watching cut-scenes and flashy move animations or simply getting from A to B.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Stormwatch ( 703920 )

      There haven't been 24 games released in the past 3 months worth playing for 7 hours. Let alone 7 hours a day.

      So what? There are countless old games still worth playing. Get yourself some emulators, a bunch of fullsets, and a decent USB controller -- you'll get years of gaming right there.

      • So what?

        So it clashes with the notion that those gamers bought an average of 24 games over the last 3 months (and presumably played those games)

    • While that's an opinion, and as others have pointed out, a highly subjective one, you're missing some points.

      1) You don't have play all of them for 7 hours, let alone 7 hours a day. If you buy 24 games, it's entirely possible that half or more of them will be played for less than 7 hours, and you could just play the best ones a lot. I know several people that buy all kinds of hype, will get games on launch day, not like them, and trade them in a few days later. These games probably don't get more than a

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      Blur is quite addicting.. Mariokart meets Forza..

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) *

      There haven't been 24 games released in the past 3 months worth playing for 7 hours. Let alone 7 hours a day.

      Don't you get it? This "study" was done by "market research firm" the "NPD Group".

      You've got a marketing outfit that works for the game industry coming out with this study, which I'm sure was done under the most rigorous standards of scientific research, claiming that to be a "real" "hardcore" gamer, you have to play 48 hours a week, PLUS you have to spend over a THOUSAND DOLLARS every few months on

  • 48 hours? (Score:5, Funny)

    by santax ( 1541065 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @12:05AM (#32454670)
    Pff sissies, I play that every day.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by Velorium ( 1068080 )
      Love the informative rating on this.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by f3rret ( 1776822 )

      Your time warping skills are impressive, do you give lessons?

      I've tried drinking a lot of red bull but I still have not been able to bend the very fabric of time to my will and it saddens me.

  • I have few friends (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I have a few friends that play games this much. On consoles. The thing is, however, that it doesnt make them good. Console players IME tend to have a lot less 'skill'; ie- twitch reflexes and battlefield awareness.

    Moral of the story, play PC games if you want to have a challenge. Consoles are fun if you like games with stories.

    • Moral of the story, play PC games if you want to have a challenge. Consoles are fun if you like games with stories.

      Unless you count emulators, no. Consoles get more arcade ports, and the true challenge is there. Now, here's a test: go play Ikaruga, and don't say a thing about challenging games again until you one-credit it. ;-)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      Moral of the story, play PC games if you like games. Consoles if you dont.

      TFTFY

    • I have a few friends that play games this much. On consoles. The thing is, however, that it doesnt make them good. Console players IME tend to have a lot less 'skill'; ie- twitch reflexes and battlefield awareness.

      I think that has little to do with who plays what and more to do with the environment they choose to play in. A PC gaming rig is much more likely, historically speaking, to have a higher fidelity in display, audio, and input devices.

      I don't need a whole hand to count the number of console games that support multiple displays, and I'd wager more people use stereo instead of positional audio with their TV. A console is more likely to be played at a lower resolution on a bigger display, sitting back on a cou

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Lumpy ( 12016 )

        Last I checked many console games are in the home theater setup. which always has far better speakers, properly set up surround sound, and at least a 900X better amplifier than any PC setup.

        5.1 or 7.1 surround on a pc always balffled me. unless you set up a dedicated room, you cent set up the speakers right.

  • ...can they keep a job? And maybe even have a life outside the computer?

    48 hours a week is about what I work (ok, it's usually a bit more, but not really much). And considering how I usually do NOT have another 8 hours per day left to play games (even I tend to sleep, eat and move about from time to time), where do you squeeze those 48 hours in when you try to keep a job?

    A week has 168 hours (which is, coincidentally, also about as much time as you work per month on a full time job. Think about it...). Now,

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by HBoar ( 1642149 )
      8 hours work, 8 hours gaming, 6 hours sleep (many could live on much less) leaving two hours for other stuff -- plenty of time. Remember that you can eat while working and playing games.
      • Yeah, when I was in the 24-29 age range (where most of these gamers seem to be) I could easily exist on 3 hours sleep per night, and wouldn't think too much of playing the odd 30 hour session of CS over a weekend. Actually if they spend 12 hours per day at the weekend, that's about 5 hours a day during the week. I'd say I still occasionally do this when I'm really into a game, but more often than not I lose interest too quickly, real life intrudes or I just don't have the stamina anymore.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jack2000 ( 1178961 )
      Sleep mostly, hardcore gamers can have a life, i know amazing. But yeah. Sleep usually gets the axe. After a while you learn and adapt. Not before long you move through life in a sort of haze between sleep and being awake. You learn to control your body's urges and can keep awake for as much as you want or fall asleep on the spot.

    • Just figure the weekend 2x15 hours, and that means only 18 hours to disperse among the week 3.5 hours at the end of the day. It's doable although I wouldn't want to sit there and be the one doing it.

      OTOH, I can see a lot more people doing the internet for more than 48 hours a week, and wasting job hours at it. It's a bit harder to play actual games on the job, unless you're a game programmer or something (not their own games, more like WoW or Starcraft or something).

      • Hah, I used to work a job doing tech support where I'd play my PSP while assisting customers with their net problems. Seriously, Disgaea helped me get through some of the more painful days.

      • I had a job where I worked at a call center doing tech support. Played PSP (especially turned based strategy games like FFT and Disgaea while on calls helping people fix their net problems. Was hilarious because not only did managers know about it, but as long as you did your job, they didn't even mind it.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Therilith ( 1306561 )

      What exactly do you mean by life?

      A hobby?
      Social interaction?

      As sad as it might seem to some, not everybody needs to spend several hours/evenings every week with friends "down at the pub" or whatever the kids are calling it these days.

    • Re:I know it's silly to ask, but... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by mjwx ( 966435 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @02:38AM (#32455418)

      ...can they keep a job?

      Yes, this is how I can afford to be a PC gamer. I work 9 hours a day, another 1.5 hours traveling, I play between 4 and 1 hours a night depending on what else I have on (guitar practice, gym, pub). On the Weekends I can play up to 14 hours a day between other things (meals, going out, shopping, etc...). I normally get 6-8 hours a day of sleep unless a new CIV has been released in the previous 2 months.

      And maybe even have a life outside the computer?

      Currently posting from Thailand, 6000 KMs from my gaming boxen and most of my games. I will spend this time drinking, eating, carousing and other stuff one does on holiday. I'll be here for another 3 weeks. My laptop is really just for banking and browing the web, it has an Intel IGM so it wont play any recent games (cant even handle CIV).

      So what do they give up for gaming? Life, job or sleep?

      Many people find a balance. Someone who spends 4 hours gaming per night is no different to those who spend 4 hours watching TV, playing cards or working on their car.

      I dont watch TV so this may be where I'm getting all this time from.

      • Do you find you play more in teh winter time? I have a similar lifestyle to you (although, since the Mrs moved in, I game less..) I work 9-5, but my commute is only 5-10 mins. I find in summer I game less, because being the UK I want to enjoy what little nice weather we get. In the winter it's already dark when I get home from work so I easily clock 1-3 hours in the evening.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mjwx ( 966435 )
          I live in Perth, Western Australia. Our winter time is about 15-5 degrees C at night, jacket weather really and occasionally raining. I'm a bit of the opposite, I dislike hot weather so I spend more time indoors in the air conditioning during the summer months (35-40 C easy).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Its like tv time. 6 pm to 12 pm with dinner.
      If work is local call it 5.30 to 12 pm with dinner and a few breaks? Get up a ~7 am, 1 hours play, at work by 9 am bright and happy with ~6-8h sleep

      • Its like tv time. 6 pm to 12 pm with dinner.

        I hope you meant 6pm to 12am or that's one hell of a TV veg out session :)

    • Right now I'm in that 4% of gamers. I'm new to the US, I got my green card not too long ago, and right now I'm just a "housewife" that cooks and play games around 50 hours a week, because is hard for me to get a job without a car. My husband really doesn't care if I play all the time as long as I'm happy doing it. I think I won the jackpot by marrying him haha.

      I used to play WoW all the time. And I was in the top alliance guild of my server, so I was raiding hardcore. But I quit because the guild master w

  • 7 hours a day? (Score:2, Informative)

    by Centurix ( 249778 )

    I didn't do that everyday, but I do recall one 10 hour session on Manic Miner in the 80's sometime...

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      It's because the submitter can't do maths. During weekdays, you can easily get in 4 hours, and in the weekends 14½ hours per day, yielding 49 hours per week > 48½ hours per week. This magically turns the "hardcore gamer" into nothing very spectacular.

      • Nothing spectacular, but still significant, since weekends can be used to do tons of other stuff..

        • But then you could say that about any other activity that takes up a lot of your time - some people might enjoy going to the pub, or playing football, or learning guitar, some might pick and choose a little of each, others like games. To a hardcore gamer, the amount of time a hardcore footballer or musician spends on their hobby probably looks significant (just imagine how much gaming you could get done!), the key thing really is to just do what you enjoy in your free time. Sleep is the real pain, if they c

  • Are they employed? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pathological liar ( 659969 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @12:20AM (#32454748)

    The article doesn't look like it says, although I only skimmed. I spent several months unemployed last year and I'd easily hit 40 hours a week playing video games, frequently more. It was shameful, but that's the way it was. When you're living hand-to-mouth for months on end, utterly sapped of any energy or confidence to do anything meaningful, video games are a way to kill time.

    If they hold down a job I don't know whether to be concerned or impressed. If they're "homemakers" then it's no big deal. If they're unemployed I'm disappointed you needed a survey to figure that out.

  • The report (Score:2, Informative)

    by cappp ( 1822388 )
    The report seems to be buy-only, but I found the press-release which has a little more information. It's over on http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_100527b.html [npd.com] if anyone cares to look.

    What I found most interesting was the methodology section which reads:

    In January 2010, The NPD Group fielded an online survey that was completed by 18,872 consumer panel members ages 2 and older. Responses for individuals ages 13 and older were captured directly, and responses for individuals ages 2-12 were captured

  • If the study is only done in the US, then I don't think it do the name "Extreme Gamers" justice. Come to Asia, hell, go to Korea's "internet cafes", and you will find people who never leave the place. There are a lot more local mmorpg games here than there are in the States, and those are the type of games that suck your life away. And they are all PC games too, which will debunk the more console than pc claim.

  • I play about 10 to 12 hours a day during the week, sometimes more on the weekends. "Hardcore gamers" my ass.

    Granted I also work overnight so I have an advantage on playing. ;)

  • . . . the real question is, how much do XTREEM GAMERZ play?

    Wow, typing that just made me want to punch myself.

  • perhaps surprisingly -- one-third of them pretend to be female online.

    FTFY.

  • Feh to your pitiful hardcore Definition (Score:3, Interesting)

    by moniker127 ( 1290002 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @02:48AM (#32455470)
    Heres why i'm hardcore:



    -The only time I stop playing my game is when not doing so would be to the permanent detriment to my gaming environment. This means times when Its absolutley necessary for me to go pay rent, to go get food, to go to sleep. Things that, if not taken care of, would stop me from playing.
    -When i'm sleeping, i'm dreaming about my game. Often I post suggestions I dreamed up in the game's forums the next morning.
    -I'm obsessed. When I physically cant play the game, I research the game, and do the math to figure out what would work better how.


    All in all this means I play my game about 18 hours a day. Thats right, 18 goddamn hours. I sleep for the other 6.

    I'm really, really starting to think that theres something wrong with me. But this is what I am- hardcore- theres no denying that. By the way, I play anarchy online, the heroin of mmos.
  • I was worried that I was playing too much at around 10 hours per week. Thanks, hardcore people! I salute your lack of personal hygiene

  • 174 million gaming public? (Score:3, Informative)

    by martin-boundary ( 547041 ) on Friday June 04, 2010 @04:21AM (#32455962)
    I find that extremely hard to believe. The population of the US is about 300 million, and 174 million is more than half that. However, the average US family size is just over 3, two parents and a single child in the most common case. There is no way that over half the members of most US families play computer games, and that's before we factor in all the millions that live in poverty.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Bugamn ( 1769722 )
      Well, maybe that depends on the definition of game. Some people consider Farmville to be a game. Maybe that increases the nummbers a bit.

    • There is no way that over half the members of most US families play computer games, and that's before we factor in all the millions that live in poverty.

      Users have probably collectively spent more time playing Solitaire than running any other program on Windows save for possibly Aieeee! Further, you will scarcely find a welfare home without a video game console, typically a current-generation one. I know that when my mom was working two jobs to support me because my father was playing alky deadbeat I had a NES and my best friend on welfare had a Genesis. That's right, y'all bought him a system a whole generation after what my working mom could afford. If th

  • ... can we ban them from posting on forums, commenting on blogs and -most importantly- beta testing games??

    IMO that would improve drastically quality of games and the game community.

  • until you've bought your first pack of adult diapers

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