The stereotype of the young goth gamer with few outside interests has been shattered. A number of reports over the past six months have found that middle-aged women are more likely to be heavy video game players than teenage boys. Now a new study from Ziff Davis Game Group finds that heavy gamers, far from disdaining interests out side of games, are also heavy shoppers for the hippest consumer goods. The study found that core gamers, those who buy eight or more games per year and play at least 10 hours per week, spent $710 on clothing over the last six months, nearly double the level found for casual gamers, those who bought fewer than one game over the last six months and play five or fewer hours per week. Core gamers dropped $116 on DVDs the last six months, compared with $64 for casual gamers, and spent more in general on athletic shoes, CDs, online music downloads and consumer electronics. They’re also likely to have a car or purchase one in the next six months. Ziff Davis concluded that gamers, long perceived as loners or recluses, are actually extremely engaged consumers. Scott McCarthy, president of Ziff Davis Game Group, talks with Media Life about core gamers’ influence, when gaming will hit a saturation point, and when gamers are most receptive to ads.
 

The study finds that core gamers spend the most money on consumer goods in general. Why is that?
 
Well, I think you have to start off by looking at who gamers are, that makes a lot more sense. There’s a perception of gamers being teenagers locked in the basement, but that’s not the case.

The average age is 27 on the video game side, 32 on the PC games side. Household incomes average up in the mid $80,000s, and I think there’s a bigger percentage of females than most people assume. So you couple that with the fact that the core gamers are passionate about gaming, and they spend a lot of money on that passion—they’re shelling out $60-$70 for each game, etc.

So from what we’ve seen, this jumped out a little bit more this year. Not only do gamers spend money on that passion, they’re aggressive consumers with electronics, clothing, buying stuff online, etc.
 

Why is it important to core gamers to stay on the edge of what’s hip – in CDs, DVDs, shoes and more?
 
I think because, if you look at all of the things gamers are interested in, it’s not just gaming, it’s also music, TV, movies, they’re very much into entertainment in particular. So they tend to be up on what’s hot, and plus there’s more crossover now between music and games and movies and games.

It’s all interwoven together, and these are things that they’re passionate about anyway.
 

What common traits do core gamers share? What about less-engaged gamers?
 
I’ll rattle off a few: spending money’s one and influencing others is another, they jump on things sooner and they have the ability to influence. And we see that big-time on the gaming side, but it’s true also with clothing, electronics, etc. Gamers, generally speaking, are an intelligent and competitive  group. It’s challenging, and it can be an intellectual thing. It’s not Pong anymore, it’s very evolved from that.

Put another way, one thing they aren’t, they don’t consider themselves loners, reclusive, or whatever the perception is they are. Most of them prefer to play with friends, either online or at home. It’s probably more of a social group than you might expect when you think of a gamer.

For less-engaged gamers, I’d say everything we talked about, just to a lesser degree. Casual gamers to us mean people who play less often and buy less, but they still own the hardware and play a few hours a week. They’re not as engaged as the core guys but still relatively passionate about gaming. Beyond that, they still have the interests in clothing and entertainment.
 

What did you find most interesting or most surprising about this study?
 
We’ve been doing this for a number of years, so a lot of what we’ve seen this year are reinforcements of past trends. But gamers are broader consumers of other goods. We’ve been touting that for years.

So to companies like Gillette, Ford, Warner Bros., we say these are people who are engaged [with gaming], but they’re likely to buy your type of product. It’s been a trend for a while but it kind of popped a little bit more this year.
 

Why are we seeing such growth in general in video game playing?
 
I’d say two reasons. Time is one. You go back to when this business started and really got going. It wasn’t that long ago, but 15-20 years ago now was the birth and real growth of the industry, so all those people who grew up playing are parents now, or at least older, and there’s also a whole new generation getting into it. It’s just part of your entertainment experience.

The other thing is the experience has gotten better and better every year in terms of capabilities of hardware, quality of software, etc. It’s pretty amazing, especially this next generation of games.
 

What makes someone move from a moderately to thoroughly engaged gamer?
 
Probably friends more than anything. If you’re kind of into it and have an Xbox and your buddy gets an Xbox 360 and a few cool new games that you can’t play on your old Xbox, you might get more interested and engaged. As kids grow up, all forms of entertainment become a little more important.

A little bit of age, a little bit of peers, and just the fact that gaming is becoming more a part of society. You hear of NFL players who travel with their games and play Madden with their buddies. You never heard of anything like that in the ‘80s.

 
Do you expect people to become more or less engaged gamers in general over the next few years?
 
[The growth is] not going to go on forever. At some point you start to saturate, but the industry just isn’t that old compared to radio, TV or any other kind of entertainment. I think there’s more growth ahead of it, and certainly the new hardware is going to enable more incredible gaming experiences, plus there’s more companies getting involved in the production of games.

I certainly think in this country the growth will continue for a while, and certainly throughout the rest of the world there’s probably pretty significant growth potential.
 

How receptive to in-game advertising are gamers? Are the more engaged ones more or less receptive?
 
I don’t think it matters how engaged they are, I think it comes down to how intrusive it is. It’s just like anything, pay TV like HBO versus ABC, etc., consumers recognize, “If I’m going to get this with an ad, it’s probably free.” The internet has changed that a little, but the fact of the matter is that consumers realize they’ve got to pay for the game some way or another.

If we’re talking about a billboard or sign on the side of a bus in a driving game, I think it adds to the realism, and that kind of ad is perfectly acceptable to a gamer. But it’s also probably ignored more often too.

On the flip side, you don’t want to be playing Halo 2 and get a 10-second spot for McDonald’s. If the gamer thinks it’s intrusive they’re going to think, “What am I getting in return?” I think it’s difficult, they have to be very careful as to how far they push that, but I think the publishers realize that.