Engaging Gaming Research
Something funny that struck me tonight was the unintentional innuendo that followed this Tuesday morning's online gaming research presentation by MTV and their research colleagues. It happened during the Q&A session...
An ESOMAR attendee asked a question to understand if there were differences with male and female gamers.
The presenters described that both genders played online games to the same extent.
However, there was a variance in that women prefer games akin to the timing of Pride and Prejudice, while men preferred Die Hard timing! This meant women will play seemingly long and (more complex) games styled with "peaks and valleys" over the course of gameplay, while men prefer a "strong crescendo" throughout. The presenter also said that men find it hard to stay engaged with a game that is played differently, as they will eventually lose interest and dropout.
He was humorously cut-off before he could say anything further.
On a more mature note, this particular presentation struck a chord with qualitative researchers when they mentioned that gamers like branded games better than "generic" games without a brand tied to them.
Branded games (with a :15 promo prior to gameplay) approach 80% recall. That got me thinking about how to get involved with branding my favorite online games, like my favorite sushi game: Youda Sushi Chef. <-- It's a relatively short, free and addictive little game where you run a sushi shop!
Please subscribe if you would like to read more of my posts.

