Captivating Connections.

how did you become so addicted to games?

Anyone who has played me in Scramble knows it's all gameface when it's time to connect those tiles. However, I'm also proud to admit that I've never played Angry Birds. Fruit Ninja, though, is another story....

The real question is, how did we go from being gaming geeks hanging out at the arcade to all of us now keeping our heads down and we play away on our smartphones and tablets? How did we get so addicted?

The NYTimes has a great article looking at the history of addicting "stupid games," and how, "in the nearly 30 years since Tetris’s invention — and especially over the last five, with the rise of smartphones — Tetris and its offspring (Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Fruit Ninja, etc.) have colonized our pockets and our brains and shifted the entire economic model of the video-game industry. Today we are living, for better and worse, in a world of stupid games."

For something considered "stupid," there's a lot of interesting thoughts. For example, "game-studies scholars (there are such things) like to point out that games tend to reflect the societies in which they are created and played. Monopoly, for instance, makes perfect sense as a product of the 1930s — it allowed anyone, in the middle of the Depression, to play at being a tycoon. Risk, released in the 1950s, is a stunningly literal expression of cold-war realpolitik. Twister is the translation, onto a game board, of the mid-1960s sexual revolution. One critic called it 'sex in a box.'" Aggressive.

Wait! Does this mean our "stupid games" come from our culture of stupidity? Did reality TV win?!

This is my favorite idea from the article: "Stupid games, on the other hand, are rarely occasions in themselves. They are designed to push their way through the cracks of other occasions. We play them incidentally, ambivalently, compulsively, almost accidentally. They’re less an activity in our day than a blank space in our day; less a pursuit than a distraction from other pursuits. You glance down to check your calendar and suddenly it’s 40 minutes later and there’s only one level left before you jump to the next stage, so you might as well just launch another bird."

What do you think about "stupid games" and how most people love to call them stupid but wouldn't dare give them up?

mobile gaming's freemium strategy has hit the mainstream.

'Freemium' is a trend that we've been talking about for a long time, the idea that brands can give away something of value (be it a product, service, or perk) to their consumers for free, and how giving them a premium gift for free (versus something useless and not worth hanging on to despite the price tag) can really help increase brand affection and love. It's a big idea that has been percolating for a while, visible in random brand executions.

The notion of freemium has hit mobile games, as marketers recognize that consumers no longer equate 'free' with 'cheap'. Why is this model working for mobile games, you ask? As Natalia Luckyanova, part of the team behind the successful moble game "Temple Run," "When you tell a friend about it and they go to the App Store and it’s free, they download it without thinking about it. Then there’s stickiness and the addictiveness and people talking about it.”

So here's the question AND answer to what I think is on your mind at this point: "But how does the free version of Temple Run make money? Inside the game is a virtual store to buy new characters, different backdrops and power-ups, or special boosters. While players can use the virtual coins they collect inside the game to buy these bonuses, a dedicated few use actual money to buy virtual currency and get them faster." So you can pay with your time to watch ads, but then enhance your game experience by buying actual components in the game.

Talk about an interesting risk/reward model!

What do you think? Do you play freemium games? Are you not paying money for a game but paying with your time and watching ads?

the kids gaming market is only getting larger.

According to aThe NPD Group, "the rate of kids who are playing video games is far outpacing the segment’s overall population growth, meaning the market is only getting bigger."

Wondering how that's possible?

NPD's “Kids and Gaming 2011" study claims that "the gaming population of kids between the ages of 2 and 17 has grown nearly 13% since 2009, while the population growth has only increased 1.5%.

In 2011, 91% of kids (equating to approximately 64 million people) play games in the U.S., up 9% from 2009, according to the report. The biggest driver of that growth: preschoolers (kids between 2 and 5 years old), who have increased gaming incidence 17% compared with 2009."

everyone plays mobile games, but what's their real level of involvement?

According to new research from Flurry, who analyzed time spent playing mobile games vs. money spent on games, Gen Ys "account for the most minutes spent, 32%, followed by ages 25 – 34 who represent 29% of usage."

Meanwhile, Gen Xers seem to accoutn "for 49% of total dollars spent, next followed by 35 – 54 year olds at 28%."

mobile gaming revenue continues to grow (and grow and grow)

According to ABI Research, "mobile gaming revenues, which are expected to be just under $5 billion worldwide this year, are expected to more than triple to $16 billion by 2016."

WOW!

It makes sense though. As touchscreen devices and smartphones continue to grow, there's more opportunity to access mobile games. Here's where it gets interesting for brands:

"Much of the revenue growth, however, won't come from the sales of games themselves, but rather from in-game purchases, such as buying access to additional levels or accessories within the game. In 2011, these in-game purchases account for a third of the total revenue base, Markkanen says. By 2016, they'll account for half of the total. In-game advertising will also increase considerably as more marketers view casual mobile gaming as a mass media."

who do you consider to be a "gamer" nowadays?

The definition of a "Gamer" is quickly changing as the mobile gamers face off against the core gamers.

"According to the NPD Group, Core Gamers, once the leading segment of people playing video games, are starting to be challenged by more casual gaming segments, particularly those playing mobile and digital games.

While the Core Gamer segment spent the most amount of time playing games (18 hours a week), the Digital Gamer segment is close behind, playing 16 hours a week. When it comes to acquiring games, Digital Gamers outpace the Core Gamer segment, acquiring an average of 5.9 games a week (compared with 5.4 a week for Core Gamers).

Although the Digital Gamers are becoming an increasingly important segment, Core Gamers still represent the highest amount of gamer identification (23%), followed by Family and Kid Gamers (22%), Avid and Light PC Gamers each represented 15% of gamers.

With so many places to play games, from smartphones, music players and PCS, most of the players in these segments are playing games on at least three platforms. 'The name of the game in 2011 seems to be choice. Gamers are increasingly branching out to methods of play other than those that the industry has traditionally expected them to use,' said Anita Frazier, NPD industry analyst, in a statement."

kidlets driving ipad purchases.

Forget Gen Y...Gen Wes are what's driving tech adaption:

"Pre-teen and even pre-school children are key drivers for adoption of the iPad and other tablet computers, and a substantial number of kids, including two in five 11 and 12 year olds, now regularly use social networks even though they're technically not allowed, according to the LMX Family study conducted in early February by Ipsos OTX.

Ipsos also found pre-schoolers adopting digital habits or being exposed to new devices even faster than tweens, a sign of the speed with which digital technology is reshaping media and marketing habits for the youngest children. Of households with preschoolers, 38% had handheld gaming devices vs. only 24% among those with children aged 6-12. Preschool households also held an edge in laptops (82% to 76%), gaming consoles (76% to 63%) and internet-capable cellphones (69% to 65%)."

believe it or not, gamers do more than game.

According to IGN Entertainment, "while tweens still make up the majority of gamers, this growing group is getting older, and taking its attention-deficient, rapid-response ways with them."

What does this mean? Among consumers who consider themselves to be 'gamers', "62% report exercising heavily; 41% go out to the movies; and 38% go to bars with friends," while "46% report watching live sports; 73% watch movies on cable or TV; 76% listen to the radio; 70% watch online videos; and a full 73% report checking out at least one social network."

Gamers also "span generations, including a not-insignificant 15% of baby boomers; 30% of Gen X; 50% of Gen Y; and 80% of Gen Z, or consumers 14 years old and younger."

are moms the new gamers?

According to Manny Anekal, Zynga’s Director of Brand Advertising, not only do "1 in 5 Americans play lots of Zynga’s games," which include Farmville and Cityville, but "the 40 year old mom spents the most amount of time playing these games, and also spends the biggest amount of money."

As Anekal pointed out, "55% of all social gamers in the U.S. are women, and 53% of Zynga players are women between 25 and 44."

Go Moms!

gaming is no longer a dudes only sport.

Thanks to mobile, gaming isn't a guys-only event anymore.

"Popular smartphones, like the iPhone and Android devices, are turning gaming from a male-dominated stronghold into a mass-market form of entertainment, according to a new study. Perhaps nothing illustrates that more than runaway popularity of 'Angry Birds.'

In addition, new findings from mobile app advertising and analytics firm Flurry show that people playing games on mobile devices are more likely to be younger and female and more affluent and educated than the average American.

The average age of the mobile gamer is 28 compared to 34 for their traditional counterparts, and 53% are female versus only 40% of gamers on game systems like the Nintendo Wii or Sony PlayStation. (Console game sales slipped 5% last year from 2009.)

'There is also greater density in the 18-49 bracket, which indicates that [Apple] iOS and Android devices are attracting users during their earning years versus, in particular, their teenage years, where they likely cannot afford more expensive mobile devices,' according to a Flurry blog post today.

Among mobile gamers, females tend to skew older, with a higher proportion of women than men playing in the 26 through 65 age bracket. But boys and men slightly outpace girls and women in the 13 to 25 age range.