Why Don't People Play Games - Game Invaders: The Theory and Understanding of Computer Games - page 66

consoles in all sorts of places. The DS chart for a number of years was dominated
by Brain Ages games, casual games, and interactive entertainment. Not a hardcore
Big Game to be found in the top ten.
Maybe in a few years time there won't be anyone who doesn't play games or
at least interactively entertain themselves, and the question that is the title of this
chapter will simply be the wrong question. But fi nding games and interactive enter-
tainment to satisfy such a demanding and diverse set of markets and very particular
demographics is only going to get harder and harder.
One (perverse) answer to the question “Why do people play games?” is that,
unwittingly most of the time, players play games in order to make it harder and
harder for publishers to produce future games that people really want and that pub-
lishers can make money off of. You could think of it as players' revenge. If players
don't buy and play a game then publishers won't know why. But if players do buy
and play a game and it becomes really popular, publishers are little wiser. What was
it about that game that made it so popular? It's still largely guesswork. So, any kind
of theory, analysis, data, or knowledge that can lead to deeper insights into why
some games work and others don't must surely be benefi cial.