+Frank B. Subscriber² Posted June 4, 2010 Subscriber² Share Posted June 4, 2010 Study: 'Extreme Gamers' play 48 hours a week Think you're a big gamer? According to a new study from market research firm NPD Group, to be considered among the real hardcore you'll need to play an average of 48.5 hours a week -- nearly seven hours a day. Even dedicated gaming blog Kotaku finds that "pretty extreme." So-called "Extreme Gamers" average 29 years old, and -- perhaps surprisingly -- one-third of them are female. They're more likely to play on consoles than on the PC, and on average they've purchased 24 titles in the past three months -- a bill that could easily run over a thousand dollars. But dedicated though they may be, the Extreme Gamers are just a small minority: a mere 4% of the U.S.'s 174-million-strong gaming public. And though seven hours a day seems like a lot, it's only a little more time than the average American spends watching TV. The figures come from a study which polled some 20,000 members of an NPD Group consumer panel. It broke the gaming population of the US into six other segments, including avid PC gamers (who tend to be older, and buy more games online) and young heavy gamers, the largest segment, who prefer portable systems like the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Overall, time spent playing games rose from an average of 12.3 hours per week last year to 13 this year, the survey found. Both console and PC games posted increases, with the PC growing significantly faster than the consoles -- but portable gaming hours, on the other hand, dove 16%. The most popular platform overall, in terms of time spent, was the good ol' PC -- and if that surprises you, you probably haven't looked at Facebook lately. Source: Yahoo! Games via Slashdot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3ntury Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Hmm.. so people like myself (who play more on weekends then on weekdays but average out at 1 hour per day gaming) are casual gamers? Nice to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pablo2008jedi Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Don't you just hate it when statastic throw in one-third of them are female I know many many female gamers, hard core gamers too....its not that unusually these days :angry: @c3ntury I know if I dedicate 14hrs on a Sat and Sun, I'm not hard core then ??? ...sheesh! Some of us work for a living :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrian Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Only 48 hours? Ha! When I was younger I used to play closer to 12-18 hours a day. Kids these days have no stamina. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singh400 Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Hmmm interesting. I did consider myself a fairly hard core gamer. I play around atleast 3 hours a night during the week, so that 15 hours right there. And then on weekends at least 12 hours (with plenty of breaks) over the course of the weekend. So around 27 hours give or take. Blimey, I see that as a lot. Guess I aren't as hardcore as I thought. I iz noob? :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metal_dragen Veteran Posted June 4, 2010 Veteran Share Posted June 4, 2010 Seems I'm one of those who also thought of myself as a heavy gamer, but am not even close. I play around 20-24 hours over the course of a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riceBox Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I usually play an average of 133 hours per week on vacation. Only now that I knew that I'm a bit much more than a regular gamer. :no: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chasethebase Reporter Posted June 4, 2010 Reporter Share Posted June 4, 2010 36 hours in the past 2 weeks, so nowhere close :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
addc182 Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I usually play an average of 133 hours per week on vacation. Only now that I knew that I'm a bit much more than a regular gamer. :no: haha i remember pumping a similar week into oblivion back when it came out, good times. But i cant imagine doing stretches of 130 hour weeks lol according to this i havn't been an "extreme gamer" for a couple years :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raa Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Okay, so i'm not an extreme gamer. What about a hardcore gamer? lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawr_boy81 Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I find these classifications stupid because it never takes into account the fact that some may replace television watching with playing computer games. I know that when I listen to television I am on my computer at the same time either doing assignments or looking at websites, I have a mate who watches next to no television in favour of playing his XBox 360. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+jamesyfx Subscriber² Posted June 4, 2010 Subscriber² Share Posted June 4, 2010 That's a lot. I feel I play Fallout 3 to the extreme and I feel like I've been on it forever - I've had it for a few years now and I've only just managed to rack up 40 hours on it in total, yesterday. Extreme gamers must have no life in this case! :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argi Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Wow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan- Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I actually end up feeling sick if I sit down and play for too long, I don't understand how you can go for that long. Maybe I just like the outdoors too, I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Veteran Posted June 4, 2010 Veteran Share Posted June 4, 2010 I actually end up feeling sick if I sit down and play for too long, I don't understand how you can go for that long. Maybe I just like the outdoors too, I don't know. Same for me, but if the game is REALLY good (Red Dead Redemption comes to mind), it's VERY hard to put the controller down. I play around 24 hours a week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cupcakes Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I played way more than that per week when I was heavily into Halo 3 doing tourneys and whatnot. I'd be playing from 5pm until about 3-4am in the morning. Every day. Usually weekends I'd go out and have a life. lol. I would like to play more than I do now, which is a couple hours a week, if that. Just waiting for MOH to come out and I'm sure it'll be back to heavy gaming sessions :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treemonster Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 way back when i used to be pretty heavy into counterstrike i'd play it religiously around 4 hours a night browsing the web between maps. on weekends would spend the whole day playing with several 15 minute breaks during that time, between 2-3 different games. then i got into mmo's and at first would only spend around 4-6 hours a night playing and all day each weekend with the occasional all nighters but then took a few months off work to play 8-16 hours a day everyday due to the time commitment demands of mmo's. then i got back to enjoying irl for a few months before trying wow which i initially didn't like in part due to the class i first picked and also being in a crappy drama filled guild with little kids in vent so no casual swearing allowed. so back to irl for a few months there with casual gaming in between. then i played wow for a year, 3-5 hours a night after work, several days off a week due to 12 hour shifts meant 8-16 hours online on my 4 day weekends. changed jobs and went back to 3+ hours each night 5 days a week and 8-16 hours online each day of the weekend. since then i've become alot more casual. depending on the guild i join i'll play as little as 2 hours a day or as much as 6 hours a day. but most new mmo's only last a month or two tops for most of the people i play with even if i find brand new guilds each time. i've also seemed to have lost interest in single player games. i bought metro2033 the other week and have only spent a couple hours with it, even though i have no active mmo or other online game right now. a few of my irl friends have really gotte into zynga games on fb. i dunno if they actually spend irl money on them or not, but a couple of them have invited over 3000 people to their freinds list as a result of mafia wars over the past few months. on average around 20 ppl per day added according to the news feed. they play it like i used to play lineage 2 back in the day. and they used to tease us for playing mmo's just a few years ago. lolz. i don't know how a person could spend so much time playing console games per week. single player only goes so far nowadays, and consoles aren't exactly known for their fps online communities and support for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cupcakes Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 i don't know how a person could spend so much time playing console games per week. single player only goes so far nowadays, and consoles aren't exactly known for their fps online communities and support for this. *headdesk* I'd ask you to take a gander around some of the "console" games that are available and aren't just a 3-hour one time deal. And.. "aren't exactly known for their fps online communities," lolwut? Do you live under a rock? Perhaps just open up a bit past your PC MMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 i don't know how a person could spend so much time playing console games per week. single player only goes so far nowadays, and consoles aren't exactly known for their fps online communities and support for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treemonster Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 *headdesk* I'd ask you to take a gander around some of the "console" games that are available and aren't just a 3-hour one time deal. And.. "aren't exactly known for their fps online communities," lolwut? Do you live under a rock? Perhaps just open up a bit past your PC MMO. a freinds list is hardly a game community imho. good game communities have clans/regular public servers/etc etc so on and so forth. sometimes even leagues. the games i come from have very strong communities to scoialize in and talk about the game and other stuff outside of the game. you think built in voip makes a community? or adding random players to your friends list? that's like calling myspace a community. i spent 300+ hours on console games last year, but it tended to be in 1-3 hour spots. i can't see someone playing mw2 or halo for 48 hours a week. although with some of the rpg elements these new fps games have that reward grinders i guess it's possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 a freinds list is hardly a game community imho. A friends list with real friends and those friends you meet online in games or on forums are part of a community. good game communities have clans Tons of clans are on consoles. regular public servers Some console games do have regular public servers. The games i come from have very strong communities to scoialize in and talk about the game and other stuff outside of the game. We do that here as well as many other communities on the www. i spent 300+ hours on console games last year, but it tended to be in 1-3 hour spots. That's you. I spent about 10 hours on PC games last year, in two 5 hour spots. I have 300 hours in just one of my many games in less than 6 months on the console. Think outside of the PC box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cupcakes Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 a freinds list is hardly a game community imho. good game communities have clans/regular public servers/etc etc so on and so forth. sometimes even leagues. the games i come from have very strong communities to scoialize in and talk about the game and other stuff outside of the game. you think built in voip makes a community? or adding random players to your friends list? that's like calling myspace a community. i spent 300+ hours on console games last year, but it tended to be in 1-3 hour spots. i can't see someone playing mw2 or halo for 48 hours a week. although with some of the rpg elements these new fps games have that reward grinders i guess it's possible. Who said a "friends list" was a "game community." Actually you know what, do you even play on the console or no? Have you ever been apart of any clan/guild/etc that's based around a console game? Is your answer no? Yeah that's probably why your assumptions are so far off base. Just because you can't "see" someone playing that many hours does not mean it's not true. In the couple years I just played Halo 3 alone, I racked in over 4500+ HOURS of matchmaking, custom games and campaign. I was in two different clans and god knows how many online communities solely based on MLG and Halo 3. The rock you're sitting under can use a turnover every once in awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hedon Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 Who said a "friends list" was a "game community." Actually you know what, do you even play on the console or no? Have you ever been apart of any clan/guild/etc that's based around a console game? Is your answer no? Yeah that's probably why your assumptions are so far off base. Just because you can't "see" someone playing that many hours does not mean it's not true. In the couple years I just played Halo 3 alone, I racked in over 4500+ HOURS of matchmaking, custom games and campaign. I was in two different clans and god knows how many online communities solely based on MLG and Halo 3. The rock you're sitting under can use a turnover every once in awhile. Cupcake and I on the same page? WOW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treemonster Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 A friends list with real friends and those friends you meet online in games or on forums are part of a community. Tons of clans are on consoles. Some console games do have regular public servers. We do that here as well as many other communities on the www. That's you. I spend about 10 hours on PC games last year, in two 5 hour spots. I have 300 hours in just one of my many games in less than 6 months on the console. Think outside of the PC box. since you spend so little time on pc games then you admit to being ignorant of the level community inherent in many pc games. they're really not even in teh same league, and this is emphasized by the made for console games such as mw2 which have attempted to dumb down pc games to the console level of community. a clan on a console game is a far cry from a clan on pc game. especially when league play is involved. so please don't compare console communities to pc game communities. a pc game community has a website a vent server and possibly several games to choose from. has many years of playing together and even after not playing together for years still keep in touch often times. they go far beyond a simple gamer tag. they often have irl meetings, among other extra game activities. i still get xmas cards from one person i haven't played with in 5 years. it's not like l4d where you get some people on your friends list you play THAT particular game with fairly regularly. not to mention the mod communities that spring up in games that support them that keep these games alive for many years. even wow with it's options to guild hop and change your name to reset rep/ drama aggro and easily transfer servers has more community than the average console game. and last i checked consoles DO NOT have dedicated servers. which is the basic requirement for regular pubs and clan only servers. you might have options to play with a regular group of people or a clan only game, but it's really not the same considering the server side mod options for pc games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killa_chain Posted June 4, 2010 Share Posted June 4, 2010 I used to skip school for 2 weeks every month because I needed my battlefield 2 fix. Then I got addicted to oblivion and skipped more weeks playing for the whole day for a week. Then Titan Quest. After a few more addictions later with the school kicked me out because I developed anger issues from lack of sleep. And now I've started my own mining business, I'm still getting addicted to Torchlight even though I ditched my pc and got a netbook. This addiction is hard to stop even though you ditched the source of the problem. If Extreme gamers play 7 hours a day, what category would I fall into? (The civilization games probably took more of my junior high school time as i like to role play being the leader of the world.) sorry if the scentence isn't that well done. Its almost 12 am here and i just finished up playing torchlight. Fun game to play over. Can't wait for diablo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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