Anyone notice today's GameFAQs poll?

[henryc]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3410

A whopping 34% say they haven't spent a penny on games - new or used - in the last 30 days. Let's look at some of the titles that were released during that period: Street Fighter IV, GTA IV, Dragon Quest V, Star Ocean, Killzone 2, Warhammer 40k, Fire Emblem, FEAR 2.

What can be the reason for this? My theory is that with DS, PSP, and PC piracy so rampant (and so easy to do), you'll have enough games to play for a lifetime that you won't ever need to buy one. I recall that most GameFAQs users are under 18 (not an assumption on my part, from a past poll), and so any stigma about piracy is probably nonexistant; on the contrary, they'll probably do it just to spite "the man", as Spore and the new Prince of Persia without DRM can attest.

People joke that PC gaming is d0med, but sometimes I think the game industry in general is.

[stusser]

Thanks for another piracy thread, cliffski.

My theory is that they're all playing WOW.

[copet]

I can't tell you why the poll came up with those results, but I must say that I don't put much importance on unscientific poll such as that. The only people answering questions are the ones that spend their time on gamefaqs.com, which doesn't represent the nation, let alone the gaming community.

Its hard enough to trust "scientific" statistics, let alone click of a button ones seen on sites like this, the Planet network, and many other gaming sites.

[Matthew Gallant]

People joke that PC gaming is d0med, but sometimes I think the game industry in general is.
Not the best conclusion to draw when your data is:

1. Record revenue for this past holiday season.
2. A poll of people who fill out GameFAQs polls.

[Shadari]

1. Record revenue for this past holiday season.

I wonder if there was record profit as well.

[Ben Sones]

What can be the reason for this? My theory is that with DS, PSP, and PC piracy so rampant (and so easy to do), you'll have enough games to play for a lifetime that you won't ever need to buy one. I recall that most GameFAQs users are under 18 (not an assumption on my part, from a past poll), and so any stigma about piracy is probably nonexistant; on the contrary, they'll probably do it just to spite "the man", as Spore and the new Prince of Persia without DRM can attest.

Well... it could also be true that not everyone buys a game every month. Just because someone hasn't bought a game in the past 30 days, that doesn't mean OMG PIRATEZ!1 Though it is certainly possible (and likely, even) that some are. Either way, I'd say that the people who bought nothing this past month are probably balanced by the near equal percentage that bought 2+ games.

[MattKeil]

Also keep in mind another aspect of the fact that GameFAQs has a very high population of kids and teens, whcih is that many of them have little money to spend or don't spend their own money to buy games. And I would theorize that they make up the majority of the crowd that actually bothers to respond to the Poll of the Day, so the results are skewed to all hell and back.

Sales of SFIV, The Lost & Damned and Killzone 2 would seem to indicate that this poll is not especially representative of retail reality.

[Foxstab]

2. A poll of people who fill out GameFAQs polls.

This.

[metta]

[url]
What can be the reason for this?

Maybe there's a recession and Christmas was just here?

[EvilIdler]

Playing WoW is still spending money on games :)

I've mostly bought iPhone games for my iPod, and occasional indie games for Mac. I'll probably spend lots on XBLA again soon. The past month has been a tad slow for the most pirate-infested platforms, though.

[Dave Long]

Most people are not like us. Not even close. I think this is the hardest thing for people on gaming forums to understand.

We had a couple over on Saturday night for dinner and to play some games. They have a Wii and play a lot of Wii Sports. Flower didn't impress anyone. Street Fighter IV was only played by the boys, and the male half of the couple was a button masher...and my attempting to help him get the hang of anything else didn't exactly inspire confidence. We played some Calling All Cars and that went over relatively well.

But to be honest, I had a hard time figuring out what would be better than Mario Kart and Wii Sports as options on any of the systems. Those last two got the most play time with some Wii Play thrown in. Super Smash Bros. Brawl disc was giving me problems or we might've played that.

Anyway, Wii Sports was quite honestly the best thing we played, and the female half of the couple was deadly in Wii Sports Tennis. She was as hardcore at that game as I am at Street Fighter IV or Quake III Arena.

It's just a different skill set and a completely different way to enjoy electronic entertainment that's a lot cheaper than what we do. Most people are like that with games... they don't check release lists and salivate over what they don't have. They just enjoy the games they already own to their fullest.

[Jon_Danger]

It is hard to spend money on games when your allowance is only 10 bucks a week, and your parents won't buy you the M-rated games.

[jellyfish]

something...
Your conclusions are not logically supported by your arguments.
A whopping 99% say they haven't spent a penny on cars- new or used - in the last 30 days. Let's look at some of the cars that were released during that period: Mercedes, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, Cadillac.

What can be the reason for this? My theory is that with car theft so rampant (and so easy to do - you can learn hot-wiring on Wikipedia), you'll have enough cars to drive for a lifetime that you won't ever need to buy one. I recall that most of the worlds population are under 18 (not an assumption on my part, a statistical fact), and so any stigma about car theft is probably nonexistant; on the contrary, they'll probably do it just to spite "the man", as any stolen automobile without laser guided missile defense systems can attest.
Do you see the flaw in the logic?

[MattKeil]

Most people are not like us. Not even close. I think this is the hardest thing for people on gaming forums to understand.

Dave, we're talking about a poll on GameFAQs. You know, the gaming forum and strategy guide site? I agree with your points, but they're not relevant here.

[Hanacker]

Do most people here spend money on games every 30 days? When I'm not on a monthly subscription plan, I often go stretches of over 30 days without picking anything up.

[Dave Long]

Dave, we're talking about a poll on GameFAQs. You know, the gaming forum and strategy guide site? I agree with your points, but they're not relevant here.
Yeah, I know. But even GameFAQs posters probably don't fit the mold of people here at this forum, at GAF or maybe even places like IGN.

I dunno... I just think too many people are out of touch with what's really going on outside the Internet (and even on it...) so went off on a tangent.

Even on this forum I'll bet there are a lot of people who don't buy that many games. Those of us who do are just plain weird or collectors, which also makes us weird.

[MattKeil]

I would say a lot of people on Qt3 buy one or two games a month minimum, but that's hardly representative of the public at large.

Yeah, I know. But even GameFAQs posters probably don't fit the mold of people here at this forum, at GAF or maybe even places like IGN.

I agree with that also, but I don't think they're different in the way the people you describe in your post are different, unless that woman who was really good at Wii Sports is willing to (internet) fistfight anyone who says Virtua Tennis is better than Wii Tennis. GameFAQs' population strikes me as a very polarized "my system/game is better than anything else" kind of demographic, primarily because they only have a limited amount of money to spend on this stuff so they spend a lot of time after their purchase convincing themselves they made the best investment. I did a similar thing when I bought a Game Gear instead of a Game Boy back in the day, but luckily there was no internet around for me to immortalize my bad buying choices on in 1992.

[mkozlows]

I would say a lot of people on Qt3 buy one or two games a month minimum, but that's hardly representative of the public at large.

And even there, the "whopping" percentage who didn't buy any games in the last month was: 34%. Two thirds of respondents did buy a game. Is it really that hard to believe that in a single, post-holiday month a third of people wouldn't have bought a game?

I mean, I didn't buy any games in the last month (I have zero interest in any of the games that came out, mostly, plus I'm still working through the Christmas pile), and I'm probably on the far right of a general population bell curve when it comes to game buying -- I probably bought 10-15 games in the last two months of 2008.

That poll response strikes me as entirely unsurprising, and not saying anything about piracy or the economy or what-have-you.

[Dave Long]

I agree with that also, but I don't think they're different in the way the people you describe in your post are different, unless that woman who was really good at Wii Sports is willing to (internet) fistfight anyone who says Virtua Tennis is better than Wii Tennis. GameFAQs' population strikes me as a very polarized "my system/game is better than anything else" kind of demographic, primarily because they only have a limited amount of money to spend on this stuff so they spend a lot of time after their purchase convincing themselves they made the best investment. I did a similar thing when I bought a Game Gear instead of a Game Boy back in the day, but luckily there was no internet around for me to immortalize my bad buying choices on in 1992.
Yeah, you're right there. I think I just wanted to make the discussion more interesting... or at least about something other than GameFAQs' youths.

She might actually fistfight someone over that, though. She seemed to really love her Wii Tennis. :)

[henryc]

Not the best conclusion to draw when your data is:

1. Record revenue for this past holiday season.
2. A poll of people who fill out GameFAQs polls.

I didn't say it was going to happen soon. It would have to be at least until the millennials have grown up, maybe old enough to have their own kids. Broadband penetration is always improving. Today's kids are used to getting stuff for free. Hell, adults are even used to getting stuff for free - when was the last time you paid for porn?

The industry will die when there are no more people who don't know how to use a computer and have never played a video game.

Maybe there's a recession and Christmas was just here?

As most of the respondents are under 18, they're the least affected by the recession. I concede that it has been a while since I was 18, but I can't really imagine a parent saying to their kid, "Times are hard, son, we're going to have to cut your allowance" when most kids get $10/week?

It is hard to spend money on games when your allowance is only 10 bucks a week, and your parents won't buy you the M-rated games.

When my allowance was 10 bucks a week, I still bought at least one game a month. Check Gamestop or eBay: there are plenty of great games you can get for under 20 bucks, many of which are even current gen.

Something

The flaw in your logic is that you assume piracy is theft when most pirates don't. No one's ever been arrested for downloading a game, as far as I know.

[Tim James]

The real explanation here is that their girlfriends bought them those games for Valentine's Day, so they didn't have to spend a penny on them.

[EDIT] Shit, I didn't get my joke into the thread before someone started a theft-piracy word analysis. Oh well.

[BobJustBob]

Do most people here spend money on games every 30 days? When I'm not on a monthly subscription plan, I often go stretches of over 30 days without picking anything up.

I spend money on games about every 7 days.

[extarbags]

This is ridiculous even for the piracy argument. Who here hasn't gone a month without buying a game? Shit, I bet I went six months out of last year without buying one.

[WarrenM]

I go a long time myself. I'll often re-visit old games before committing to buying a new one.

[Tim James]

Way to pretty much admit that you are pirates.

[WarrenM]

So now you're a pirate if you don't buy a game each and every month. Man, this industry is getting rough.

[Aeon221]

I didn't say it was going to happen soon. It would have to be at least until the millennials have grown up, maybe old enough to have their own kids. Broadband penetration is always improving. Today's kids are used to getting stuff for free. Hell, adults are even used to getting stuff for free - when was the last time you paid for porn?

The industry will die when there are no more people who don't know how to use a computer and have never played a video game.



Porn is doing rather well for itself, despite the existence of an entirely free substitute known as sex with other people.

[Morberis]

I just bought a game, Puzzle Quest Galactrix. It's been 2 months since I bought my last game.

I often go several months without buying a game and then I buy 2 or 3. When I was a kid I only bought a game every 3 months or so because that's how long I played them.

[extarbags]

Porn is doing rather well for itself, despite the existence of an entirely free substitute known as sex with other people.

Come on, entirely free?

[Jon_Danger]

Thank you for analyzing my joke post.

[Tim James]

Porn is doing rather well for itself, despite the existence of an entirely free substitute known as sex with other people.This reminds me of a great simile I read somewhere comparing the decadence of something with watching porn while your girlfriend was in the next room. Now I don't remember where I saw it.

[henryc]

Porn is doing rather well for itself, despite the existence of an entirely free substitute known as sex with other people.

No it's not, amateur porn is killing it. In any case, people don't stop watching porn just because they're sexually active, so save your snark.

Look, all I'm saying is that the game industry would be in dire straits if games were as easy to duplicate as music is. Where I seem to lose all of you is when I say that it will definitely happen one day.

[Aeon221]

Come on, entirely free?

Yeah, I know, I should really charge money for it.

[nlanza]

Look, all I'm saying is that the game industry would be in dire straits if games were as easy to duplicate as music is. Where I seem to lose all of you is when I say that it will definitely happen one day.

Oh good, one thread (http://www.quartertothree.com/game-talk/showthread.php?t=50769) on this wasn't nearly enough.

[Aeon221]

No it's not, amateur porn is killing it. In any case, people don't stop watching porn just because they're sexually active, so save your snark.


It's good that you're so up to date on the state of the adult entertainment industry. I must admit to being woefully ignorant of the same! Do you happen to have the latest sales figures for dildos? I believe it could be of material interest to this discussion of the relative merits of sex and porn!


Look, all I'm saying is that the game industry would be in dire straits if games were as easy to duplicate as music is. Where I seem to lose all of you is when I say that it will definitely happen one day.

And and and yet people keep buying games! Could it possibly be that there is some value to be had above and beyond what is downloaded from TPB? Perhaps! Just perhaps! But then again, porn!

[bigdaddygamebot]

I would say a lot of people on Qt3 buy one or two games a month minimum, but that's hardly representative of the public at large.




Correct about the representation of the gen. pop.

I think you're being a bit generous with the term "a lot". I would wager that less than half of the people posting here buy a minimum of two games a month.

[WarrenM]

No it's not, amateur porn is killing it.
Maybe I'm alone in this opinion but most amateur porn, well, sucks (har! But seriously it blows).

[malkav11]

Not everyone buys even really awesome games the moment they hit shelves (or Steam or whatever), y'know. I've bought games in the last 30 days - stupid Steam and Amazon sales, reaching into my wallet with their good deals - but none of them were released in that time frame.

For some strange reason I dislike paying $50-60 for a game that I can have much cheaper if I simply exercise a bit of patience.

[malkav11]

And I should add that I could easily see someone a) not wanting to blow $60 on the hot new stuff and b) not having anything else they want to pick up this month. I've never been in that situation because I have a very wide range of gaming tastes and tend to spend waaay too much of my income on them.