Gamer categories, strategy guides, etc.

according to parks associates, gamers fall into certain categories, at least in a business sense. the article states --

" -- Power gamers represent 11 percent of the gamer market but account for 30 cents of every dollar spent on retail and online games.

-- Social gamers enjoy gaming as a way to interact with friends.

-- Leisure gamers spend 58 hours per month playing games but mainly on casual titles. Nevertheless they prefer challenging titles and show high interest in new gaming services.

-- Dormant gamers love gaming but spend little time because of family, work, or school. They like to play with friends and family and prefer complex and challenging games.

-- Incidental gamers lack motivation and play games mainly out of boredom. However, they spend more than 20 hours a month playing online games.

-- Occasional gamers play puzzle, word, and board games almost exclusively."

i understand that it's important to break down the market to better capitalize financially, but in agreement with joystiq, you can't really exclusively put most people in these categories. there's a lot of overlap for sure.

according to these figures, i'd definitely have to label myself a really casual gamer. there's no way i average even an hour a day usually, and i've even been proud of myself for playing a wider array of games lately. so i guess i'm a cross between leisure and dormant cuz i like to really get into the games i play, but i also don't have ridiculous amounts of time to play them. not like i'm out coaching little league baseball with all my free time or something, but shit i do have other hobbies.

another heavily blogged item lately was the notion that strategy guides yield increasingly difficult games. i could see that as being true, although i don't think it's some giant industry secret that should keep us up at night. personally, i used to be more of a purist and think any guides to help you through a game were a cop-out, not necessarily cheating, but taking some of the fun out of it. i've certainly changed my tune on that now. in fact, most adventure-type games i play, i end up consulting either a purchased guide or GameFAQs at least to get me through ridiculously obtuse parts quicker.

it comes back to my argument above. when you're an adult, you've got, y'know a "real job" and "a wife" and "bills to pay" and "things to clean." you don't have time to run around in circles to figure something entirely unobvious out just to advance further in a game. call me lazy, i just don't have time to essentially "hump every wall" or read through ridiculously general clues to have a good time. based on what i've read online, many others seem to agree.