By Ken Y-N ( March 4, 2008 at 22:16)
· Filed under Gaming, Internet, Polls
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One online game I see heavily advertised in Japan is a free online RPG Maple Story, although I’ve never actually played it myself, and I take no responsibility from any addiction caused by clicking through that link! To see what the average Japanese person plays at online, MyVoice performed a survey on online games.
Demographics
Over the first five days of February 2008 15,447 members of the MyVoice internet community completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 54% of the sample was female, 2% in their teens, 16% in their twenties, 37% in their thirties, 28% in their forties, and 17% in their fifties.
I used to play online games, starting with the sadly departed Meridian 59, then beta testing Ultima Online, Everquest as both a beta and a paid-for player, then finally Asheron’s Call for quite a bit until I found out that being an anti-social git meant I didn’t get very far ahead. I still miss Meridian 59, as it was small enough to form real friendships, in fact even leading to a real-life meeting with a bunch of other people once. I don’t think I’d ever do that again as there seems to be far too many weirdos about these days, or maybe it’s just I’m a bit older and less naive.
Research results
Q1: How interested are you in online games? (Sample size=15,447)
| Really interested |
6.1% |
| Quite interested |
20.7% |
| Can’t say either way |
12.4% |
| Not very interested |
26.5% |
| Not interested at all |
34.3% |
Q2: On what sort of device do you usually play online games? (Sample size=15,447, multiple answer)
| Windows PC |
27.3% |
| Portable games machine |
14.5% |
| Home console |
12.9% |
| Mobile phone |
9.9% |
| Macintosh |
1.1% |
| Other |
0.4% |
| Don’t play online games (to Q8) |
59.9% |
Since the last survey in November 2004 the percentage of all kinds of games players has increased, with the biggest growth being in, not surprisingly, the portable game segment.
Q3: For how long have you been playing online games? (Sample size=online gamers)
| Less than a year |
23.7% |
| One to two years |
16.9% |
| Two to three years |
15.6% |
| Three to four years |
8.4% |
| Four to five years |
5.3% |
| Five or more years |
18.5% |
| No answer |
11.6% |
This and subsequent questions have over 10% no answerers, but the reason for this is not obvious.
Q4: About how often do you play online games? (Sample size=online gamers)
| Almost every day |
11.3% |
| Four to six days a week |
7.5% |
| Two or three days a week |
13.1% |
| Once a week |
16.9% |
| Less than that |
39.1% |
| No answer |
12.1% |
Q5: About how much do you spend per month playing online games? (Sample size=online gamers)
| Play free games only |
66.3% |
| Up to 999 yen |
11.5% |
| 1,000 to 1,999 yen |
5.1% |
| 2,000 to 2,999 yen |
2.4% |
| 3,000 to 4,999 yen |
1.5% |
| 5,000 to 9,999 yen |
0.8% |
| 10,000 to 29,999 yen |
0.4% |
| 30,000 to 49,999 yen |
0.0% |
| 50,000 to 99,999 yen |
0.1% |
| 100,000 yen or more |
0.0% |
| No answer |
11.8% |
Q6: What kinds of online games do you play? (Sample size=online gamers)
| Puzzle game |
36.1% |
| Table game |
34.6% |
| Card game |
28.2% |
| Action game |
11.3% |
| Simulation game |
10.7% |
| Sports game |
9.6% |
| Shooting game |
4.5% |
| Race game |
3.9% |
| War game |
3.2% |
| Other |
10.8% |
| No answer |
12.6% |
Q7: What caused you to get started playing online games? (Sample size=online gamers, multiple answers)
| Saw it on an internet game site |
38.8% |
| Friends, family recommended it |
23.3% |
| Saw internet advertisement |
10.7% |
| Software came with PC, mobile device |
9.9% |
| Game I wanted to play had online element |
8.2% |
| Saw family members playing it |
6.7% |
| Saw an internet word-of-mouth site |
4.8% |
| Saw a television advertisement |
3.5% |
| Saw a magazine column |
1.8% |
| Saw it on television news or other program |
1.5% |
| Saw an advertisement in a magazine |
1.0% |
| Saw a newspaper column |
0.6% |
| Saw an advertisement in train, station, etc |
0.5% |
| Saw a newspaper advertisement |
0.4% |
| Saw it on a flyer being passed out on the street |
0.2% |
| Other |
3.4% |
| Can’t remember |
7.7% |
| No answer |
12.5% |
Q8: What image do you have of online games? (Sample size=15,447, multiple answer)
| Geekish |
25.6% |
| Easy to get into |
23.1% |
| Expensive to play |
21.6% |
| For young people |
20.8% |
| Lots of bad-mannered players |
17,2% |
| Fun intercourse between players |
14.5% |
| Complicated instructions and difficult to understand |
13.4% |
| Lots of trouble between players |
13.2% |
| Can design my own avatar |
11.4% |
| Lots of system trouble |
10.1% |
| Beautiful graphics |
7.8% |
| Insufficient user support |
6.6% |
| Lots of things to do so won’t get bored |
6.4% |
| Difficult to register |
6.2% |
| None of the above |
14.9% |
| No answer |
3.6% |
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