After I had collected all fo the questionnaires completed by my participaints I began browsing through them in order to determine whether I could discover any clear correlations (patterns) within my findings so that I would be able to conduct an in depth analysis in order to establish a concise conclusion to support any personal views and opnions.
I received feedback from forty participants, both males and females within different age categories. (twenty males and twenty females). The quantities of participants age ranges are stated below:
Males
Six (16 and under)
Eight (17-25 years)
Four (26-40 years)
Two (41+ years)
Females
Three (16 and under)
Ten (17-25 years)
Three (26-40 years)
Four (41+ years)
I have identified that twelve out of twenty female participants would 'prefer to play on handheld devices,' whilst thirteen out of twenty male participants would 'prefer to play on consoles and pc's.' Leaving only seven male participants preferring to 'play on handheld games.' Women like to be kept active so they don't have much time to play on games on consoles. They prefer to carry around with them portable devices, which they an easily access at their own convenience. Handheld devices can easily fit in their palms and slide into their pockets or handbags. Manufacturers are not stupid. They know that if they develop a phone, for example, they can be bought in different colours and have added accessories attached to the device. Women will flock in their millions to buy the newest craze that gets released. We all know that females like small, cute devices that they can glam up with added accessories to show off to their friends. Females like to follow trends set out by celebrity role models they aspire to.
There has been a new andoid phone known as 'The HTC Rhyme,' which has been specifically designed and released for females. The developers were under the assumption that 'anything girly or sporting a Hello Kitty sticker was the best way to increase sales among women buyers. This is a phone for people who want all that smartphon has to offer but don't want to engage directly with technology.' I believe that this is absolutely true as many ladies yound and more mature don't want to use complicated handheld devices. I know this as my girlfriend and her friends like to use networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook and they are all addicted to Ebay.
I have supported the theory that males like to play on consoles and pc's. There was a higher proportion who preferred t'o play consoles in comparison. Only two males 'preferred to play on pc's,' whilst the other eleven out of twenty participants 'preferred to play on consoles.' This is because males these days like to keep up to date with better, advanced technologies they can get their hands on to trial out by their selves or with friends as a sociallising network. Men like to buy the next big thing which has just been released if there has been alot of hype about it through the media for example, on the televison, in magazines or on blogging network sites. They are like kids in a candy shop.
When males use consoles such as an 'X box 360 or Playstation 3,' which was extremely popular in my results, they are given the opportunity to explore new developments. They can interat with other players online or participate in online games. I believe that not so many males like playing games on pc's because the memory capacities on them are limited. As men like to save a lot of their games on their hard drive this would mean that at some point the computer would not be able to cope with the overload so it would eventually crash. They would then have to consider getting an upgrade, which could work out expensive so it wouldn't be cost effective or decide to invest in something much better such as a console where you would choose how much memoy capacity you would like and it could always be upgraded constantly. We all know what males are like when it comes to their short attention spans they have. Therefore quick fixes are the best option so that their gaming experience will not be ruined.
I discovered that tenty out of twenty girls were casual gamers. One male stated that they were a casual gamer whilst thirteen said that they were moderate gamers and six identified that they were hardcore gamers. I stated that I believed 'females would prefer to play arcade type games' or even puzzle strategy games as they are fun to play and sometimes simple and quick. I believe that this is accurate as this is sustained within my findings.
I browsed through the Internet to provide more support to back up my theories. I realised that a study had been published by 'Sheri Pocilujko from Casual Connect Magazine, Fall 2006,' which had been downloaded from the Internet. On the publication it stated reasons why females are casual gamers. It is clear to say that casual gamers like to play short, quick games that they can play and pause easily. Sheri mentioned that if you are a stay at home mum and are actively carrying out chores and errands around the house and for other people mothers would like to be able to save and pause game play at any moment. 'You need to be able to pick it up, play 20 minutes or so, or run out the door-as opposed to a game which requires several hours of focused play to progress.' Sheri also mentioned another paramount point which I strongly agreed with. 'When you are on the go, you don't want to be penalized for leaving a game in the middle or letting it end on its own. If you are playing Solitaire, Tetris, or Checkers, it doesn't really hurt you to leave the game at a moment's notice and come back.' Women like to ply games which are simple to pick up and master. This ensures that they can be guaranteed with having enjoyed a fun gaming experience. She also went on to say 'It's the whole easy-to-learn, hard to master mantra. And if you've only fifteen minutes of play-time, you don't want to feel frustrated because it took you that long to figure out how to choose our game mode.'
A great majority of males like to play first person shooters and action packed games, whereas females don't. A lot of females like to play arcade and strategy/puzzle games, which was clearly demonstrated in my questionnaires, as they are fun to play. I believe that this is because a lot o women tend to think that realistic/first person shooters involve unnecessary violence, gruesome gore and they are utterly a waste of time.
In conclusion, I believe that focussing on female games will be a big part in making my IOS game, but I don't want to completely focus on females entirely. I will need to take females into great consideration though. My questionnaires have portrayed that males do like to play handheld games as well as females, but a greater proportion prefer to play on consoles and pc's. So therefore my aim is to make a gam which will appeal to both sexes. I not not want to feel that I will be limited.
Quotes and information for the links below have been obtained from the Internet. Any information I have used has been quoted throughout my written work.
http://casualconnect.org/content/gamedesign/pocilujko-ten.html
http://www.syn-blog.com/sync/2011/09/do-women-really-want-a-girly-phone.html
