I play online games, specifically, World of Warcraft (although to be truthful...I'm taking a break from that and waiting for Diablo III to be released). I got into it because of my love for Dungeons & Dragons and decided that WoW was a way to indulge that desire without having to go through all the hassle of gathering players, coming up with stuff for everyone to do, and meeting once a week, etc. Online gaming is also extremely clean.
Basically, I could log on when I got home and play a few hours with friends who were also online and it was really fun. I like to think that a lot of what I know about life came from World of Warcraft. For example, it's extremely difficult to get people to work together but when they do, great things can happen. Additionally, another lesson that I learned are that people are innately selfish and only do something just so long as there is something in it for them. I don't think the world runs on generosity. Sure...there are one or two of those people out there...and the rest of the world sucks those people dry like a vampire starving for blood.
Anyway, here are some startling statistics regarding the gaming industry that I found particularly eye-opening:
1) 40% of computer and video game players are female. This is much higher than I would have originally thought.
2) The average social gamer is a 43-year-old woman. Again...not something I expected. However, I did have quite a few friends that were older woman that I played with (and they were fun to group with as well).
3) The average age of the most frequent video game purchaser is 40. More than 25% of gamers are older than 50.
4) 41% of social gamers work full-time jobs (I fit into this category).
5) 80% of females play the Wii as their primary console.
6) 42% of Americans play games on wireless devices.
7) Consumers bought $7.3 billion of virtual goods in 2010.
8) ROVIO has made more than $24 million selling more than $2 million Angry Birds plush toys.
9) 4,204 billion cans of Red Bull were sold in 2010 up by 7.6% from 2009.
10) $3 billion pizzas are consumed each year for total sales of $32 billion.
11) 39% of women said they would find it a "turn-on" if a man listed "video games" as a personal interest.*
So...do you play video games?
My guild that I belonged in was always number one on the server for like four years going and we held every record and achievement. Requiem on Ravencrest-US was also a top 200 guild at one point but it didn't last very long. Mostly we bobbed somewhere in the top 400 thereabouts. This was a great accomplishment considering that 12 million people played the game. Here's one of the videos we made of a hard-mode achievement back in 2009 (this fight was extremely difficult and no other guild on our server completed this so we were the only 25 that unlocked Algalon...a super secret boss in the raid dungeon). If you learn nothing else from this video, take this simple lesson--standing in fire is bad:
*SOURCE: Entrepreneur Magazine
Basically, I could log on when I got home and play a few hours with friends who were also online and it was really fun. I like to think that a lot of what I know about life came from World of Warcraft. For example, it's extremely difficult to get people to work together but when they do, great things can happen. Additionally, another lesson that I learned are that people are innately selfish and only do something just so long as there is something in it for them. I don't think the world runs on generosity. Sure...there are one or two of those people out there...and the rest of the world sucks those people dry like a vampire starving for blood.
Anyway, here are some startling statistics regarding the gaming industry that I found particularly eye-opening:
1) 40% of computer and video game players are female. This is much higher than I would have originally thought.
2) The average social gamer is a 43-year-old woman. Again...not something I expected. However, I did have quite a few friends that were older woman that I played with (and they were fun to group with as well).
3) The average age of the most frequent video game purchaser is 40. More than 25% of gamers are older than 50.
4) 41% of social gamers work full-time jobs (I fit into this category).
5) 80% of females play the Wii as their primary console.
6) 42% of Americans play games on wireless devices.
7) Consumers bought $7.3 billion of virtual goods in 2010.
8) ROVIO has made more than $24 million selling more than $2 million Angry Birds plush toys.
9) 4,204 billion cans of Red Bull were sold in 2010 up by 7.6% from 2009.
10) $3 billion pizzas are consumed each year for total sales of $32 billion.
11) 39% of women said they would find it a "turn-on" if a man listed "video games" as a personal interest.*
So...do you play video games?
My guild that I belonged in was always number one on the server for like four years going and we held every record and achievement. Requiem on Ravencrest-US was also a top 200 guild at one point but it didn't last very long. Mostly we bobbed somewhere in the top 400 thereabouts. This was a great accomplishment considering that 12 million people played the game. Here's one of the videos we made of a hard-mode achievement back in 2009 (this fight was extremely difficult and no other guild on our server completed this so we were the only 25 that unlocked Algalon...a super secret boss in the raid dungeon). If you learn nothing else from this video, take this simple lesson--standing in fire is bad:
*SOURCE: Entrepreneur Magazine