Why Don't People Play Games - Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games - page 65

Life and such environments are real in a sense that appeals to a great number of
people who also think Big Games are not. Why should that be so? Certainly for
many people, not wasting time is a major concern and thus researching and design-
ing interactive entertainment that does not waste time would seem to make real
business sense.
Many more people—participants of all ages, genders, and cultures— are active
on social networking sites than are ever playing online games or inhabiting Second
Life. Why network with people or nonplayable characters (NPCs) descended from
lizards on a fi ctitious postapocalyptic planet when you can network with real(er)
people on Twitter? Why play a strategy / trading game when you can go online and
actually sell stuff on eBay? Why?
Given the way the DS and Wii have been marketed and sold recently, it would
seem that Nintendo are well aware of the signifi cant number of people who fi nd
alternative forms of interactive entertainment very attractive.
Of course, really thinking about why people don't play games is very informa-
tive about all those who do. If you play a strategy/trading game it could get serious,
but you can always turn the console off and walk away. On eBay you're a providing
a real retail service and have to maintain value for money and customer satisfaction.
You have access to local sources of new stock and generally try to keep up with
your competitors. For all the reasons why people won't play games there are
numbers of people who will play games; for exactly the same reason.
Finally, notice that while game genres and activity profi ling apply just to games,
aesthetics do not. The aesthetic model we have been using applies to all forms of
digital interactive entertainment. So whatever the specifi c interactive medium, all
users share similar pleasures and can thus be compared and contrasted on this basis.
CONCLUSIONS
At the time this chapter was written, the recession was biting hard and compound-
ing several years of dramatic changes for both the Big Game industry and the wider
casual games industry. For instance, Sony has lost its dominance of the console
market to Nintendo's Wii and DS and Microsoft's Xbox 360 seems to be taking
over as the hardcore gamers' console of choice. The DS and Apple' s various
phone and music players are going head to head for domination of the handheld
market. Even Microsoft now sees the need to invest in the casual market. What is
going on?
One thing that is going on is that more people who did not previously play
games or engage in any sort of interactive entertainment are now playing and major
industry players now see money in developing games for them. Another is that the
fragmentation of the industry we noted at the beginning of this chapter is continuing.
Yet another is that new business models—new to the games industry, that is—such
as brokerages, Xbox Arcade for instance, are online and doing business. Nintendo
does not advertise games any more. Instead, it advertises people of all ages and
demographics playing all types of games and interactive entertainments on their cool