What Would Matt Do

Ok, before you do anything else, check out the image I borrowed from Gamespy’s article to the right.

Done? Some quick observations can be drawn. First, it looks like 20% of the players are female. I didn’t expect it to be that high. Second, compared to the general population, EQ2 player are a lot more depressed. Third, they are thinner than the general pop.

Highly interesting stuff. But it only leads to a LOT more questions. One, does this kind of demographic apply across all MMOs? Does it extend to other types of online games? We know the age is a pretty normal for video games these days, so does the rest of the information hold across the board?

Another question occurs to me…how does Sony know all of this about their players? Did the research staff get access to players and get to ask them more questions? Because if not, I’m now wondering what exactly Sony does keep track of. How would they know the BMI or education level? Do they know what I had for breakfast too?

Whatever the case is, this is some highly interesting stuff. Because it goes a ways to disproving the normal geek myths. It makes me want to ask so many other questions. For instance, are all gamers so depressed? In both women and men, it’s a LOT more than the general population in this study. I wonder.

If I were reading this as a potential advertiser, I’d be gleaning a lot. If were reading this is a game designer, I’d be gleaning a lot. So will anyone pay attention to this information at all? The sad, but most likely true, answer is no.

What Would Matt Do: I’d love to see this sort of info on all MMOs, and compared to country specific and worldwide data. On a side note, if Empire doesn’t shape up soon (i.e. – quit crashing on me), I’m going to give it quite the stinging review on this very site. I’m loving it, when the game doesn’t crash every third turn.