New Survey Finds Desire for Competitive Gaming Wanes as Gamers Grow Older

Upon polling more than 140,000 players, analytics firm Quantic Foundry has found the desire for competitive gaming tends to wane as gamers get older.

According to the survey, competition is the variable that changes the most with age, with the game type defined as competing with other human players — either offline or online — in matches and team-based situations.  

Nick Yee, the author behind the report, suggested that “as gamers get older and have a broader range of responsibilities and pursuits, they are less likely to rate any particular gaming activity as ‘extremely important/enjoyable.’ Thus, their overall gaming profiles might appear deflated, but the relative order of their motivations would still be revealing.”

The one genre that remains strong irrespective of age group is strategy, with older demographics citing “careful decision-making and planning” as enjoyable factors. 

Second, lower scores on these motivations aren’t necessarily “less” of a motivation. For example, low Excitement implies a specific kind of gameplay, and calm/stress-free gameplay is no less valid than fast/stressful gameplay. The same is true for preference for solo play (as opposed to highly social play). The appeal of solo play isn’t any “less” of a gaming motivation than social play.

Here’s an illustration of Quantic Foundry’s cross-section of how competition wanes with age. Notice the spike post-50. 

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What do our readers think of Quantic Foundry’s survey?

[Source: Quantic Foundry via GamesIndustry.biz]

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