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Field Researcher
Original Poster
#1 Old 16th May 2017 at 7:06 PM
Default Concept for a Game - Target Group: 50+
Hello everyone!

I'm studying Games Engineering and as the title says, we have to develop a concept for computer or mobile game this semester and our main restriction is that our target group is people aged 50 and older. As I know that there are quite a few people that fit into that age group in (at least) the TS2 community, I'd like to ask for your help.

Our first task is to try and understand our target group, so if you are fitting the age group and willing to answer the following questions, I'd be really thankful.

How old are you? (Doesn't need to be the exact number, if you don't feel comfortable sharing your age.) Which games do you like playing and why? Are there any other games you tried and didn't like? How did you get into playing games? What would you say is your main motivation for playing? Do you know other people in your age group that are playing games? How do your friends and family feel about you playing games? What about other people in your age group in particular? Do you know other people in your age group that might be interested in games, but haven't ever tried playing one? If yes, do you know the reason they didn't? What kind of computer are you playing on? Optional (if you feel comfortable sharing): What is your general family situation? (e.g. living alone or with family/children, single or married)

Those questions are mostly meant as a guideline, so that you know which kind of information I'm looking for. But if you have anything else you want to share (if it is of course somewhat related to the topic ), feel free to do so.

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Mad Poster
#2 Old 16th May 2017 at 8:29 PM
I'm 72. I've played Sim1 and 2. I've messed around with other games; not interested at all in war type games. I guess Sims is complex enough to hold my attention (LOTS of mods!), but if Sims3 & 4 had actually ADDED things I want (graphics, more personality options, more ages, more surprises, etc) I would have gone to them. I like being able to create and maintain a world I WANT, while being able to also create drama and be as politically bad as I want. I don't know ANYONE who plays ANYTHING; I feel like I have a secret addiction (but I CAN quit anytime I want ). If people knew how complex the game is, they might try it!
I'm on a desk-top, Windows 10; I had to order a new one, with all the upgrades.
I'm a gramma, happily married to my fourth husband. Not disabled or a recluse, I do lots of other things; but Sims is still my entertainment of choice - and I'm commonly on it 5 hours a day. Never created anything for upload, it just feels too much like WORK.

Stand up, speak out. Just not to me..
Mad Poster
#3 Old 17th May 2017 at 12:08 AM
[QUOTE=TheFlyingRaccoon]
Quote:
How old are you?
Mid 50s

Quote:
Which games do you like playing and why? Are there any other games you tried and didn't like? How did you get into playing games? What would you say is your main motivation for playing? Do you know other people in your age group that are playing games? How do your friends and family feel about you playing games? What about other people in your age group in particular? Do you know other people in your age group that might be interested in games, but haven't ever tried playing one? If yes, do you know the reason they didn't? Optional (if you feel comfortable sharing): What is your general family situation? (e.g. living alone or with family/children, single or married)
Just on the computer? I love the Sims. For the longest time, I'd play some Sims everyday and then recently, I stopped playing daily. But now I'm back to it. My favorite Sims is Sims 1 & 2, but I play Sims 4 quite a bit. Sims 3 is interesting, but I don't quite enjoy it to the same degree. I also like Age of Empires.

I've also enjoyed some console games in the past: Mario 64, Mario Sunshine, Donkey Kong, Bustin' Out, Sims 1. I have Sims 2 and The Urbs, but never got the hang of it. I used to enjoy Animal Crossings and Pokemon Snap. I've played some Mario, Pokemon, and Sims games on the gameboy and gameboy DS. I haven't kept up with getting the latest consoles or handheld game systems. I did try a VR game at a friends' home that belonged to their adult son (who walked me through it). The game wasn't all that layered, but it was still really cool. I would love to have a set up for that, but I'd need a bigger place, for starters.

Explaining why I like a game isn't straightforward. I like the Sims because I love to play scenarios with little people. I got into The Sims (1) in the first place for my son, after hearing friends rave about it. When we first heard about it, we didn't have the right kind of computer to support the game. When we got a new computer, it seemed like an opportunity to get the game. My son created a family and moved them around a bit and then ran into trouble with them. They weren't happy. They didn't like each other. The son kept missing the school bus. He was about to delete them and move on. I asked for his family and the addiction was born. This was with the base game only. We struggled with ourselves before we broke down to buy Living Large and later House Party. It seemed like a lot of money and we were very careful with money. But after buying our first expansions, we became those people who eagerly awaited each new expansion as it came out.

Back in those days, my son and I would share a neighborhood and even some households. It was wonderful when the first expansion gave us extra neighborhoods so we could each have our own. We shared ideas and inspired one another. We played all kinds of themes. I used to dream about being a Sim and about discovering new little Sim houses. The game pulled me in as much as electronic pets and as much as playing with dolls as a child. I cared about my little pixels and I lived out many different lives playing with them.

Age of Empires appeals to me because of the music, the landscapes provided, and the strategy. I usually play it alone or cooperatively with my son, who is now an adult. Similarly, I like the Sims because of the idealized landscapes and living situations, the music, and the whimsical nature of the Sims themselves. I also enjoyed geeking out with the community on the BBC and getting very excited about each expansion.

When I started with the Sims, I was married and had a son around the age of nine. Now I am single. My son lives on the other side of the country. My ex hated my addiction to the Sims because he felt it took me away from him. He was controlling and mean and the relationship didn't last. My current boyfriend doesn't seem to care one way or the other. He just accepts that this is something I do. His kids used to play The Sims, so we had something in common and I turned them onto Sims 2 and 3 and helped them with their games. I play Age of Empires weekly with my son online, cooperatively. My boyfriend will sometimes join us for a game, but, typically, the game acts glitchy with three computers and often drops. Not sure why that is.

I've tried many games that never really took for me and I think the reason they didn't take is because I don't have endless amounts of time to give to gaming and any time spent on games that aren't my favorites means less time to spend on my favorites. I tried Goat Simulator. It's amusing, goofy, and I kept getting stuck. I have The Elderscrolls and would love to get into it, but I ran into problems in the game and didn't know how to get my character out of the same loop in the map that he was stuck in and forgot how to use the controls, so that game has mostly sat. Morrowind and Elderscrolls has the most beautiful music and lovely landscapes. Sometimes, I lose patience with all the reading that is required to go forward in that game. I have a few other games on my computer, but none of them has the appeals of The Sims or Age of Empires.

Do I know any other adults my age that play games? Only ones I've met online. I mention games to my peers and they all start talking about solitaire or Facebook games or Words with Friends. I'm not sure if I have any friends that would want to play games the way I do. Most of my peers are so work driven. They always talk about what they accomplish each day and focus on getting chores done. I don't think I know anyone who is as playful as I am.

I'd like to try Pokemon Go, but I don't have dedicated internet on my phone, so I'm not sure how much I could get out of it.

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What kind of computer are you playing on?
Right now, I play on a laptop with Windows 10. We've gone through a number of computers over the years with whatever operating systems have been available for Windows since 2000. My current laptop has more power than that first computer did that we were first able to play The Sims (1) on.

Did I answer your questions?
Mad Poster
#4 Old 17th May 2017 at 7:17 PM Last edited by Esmeralda : 18th May 2017 at 2:52 PM.
Sounds like an interesting project, hope you get enough feedback to help out! Will give it a try:

Age: 50s.

Which games do you like playing and why?
I mostly play RPGs, they're my fave type of game. Also enjoy some adventure games and some 1st person shooters. And The Sims games, which are the only simulation games I play. I only play PC games. No console stuff nor online casual stuff like Facebook games or similar. Examples of my fave games include the Deus Ex series, the Fallout series, the original Thief series (not the recent remake) Bioshock, System Shock 2, Dishonored, Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines, and The Longest Journey. Basically, I like games with a good story and a strong immersive quality.

Are there any other games you tried and didn't like?
I've tried playing console games but dislike using controllers and having checkpoint save systems instead of using keyboard & mouse and saving whenever I want to, so lost interest in those. Tried a few anime games, fighting games and 'platform' games in the past but didn't find those genres engaging.

How did you get into playing games?
Started by playing arcade games in pubs in the 1980s before home PCs became a common thing. Space Invaders, Galaxians, Asteroids, etc. Then when I got my first PC in the early 1990s, I started playing adventure games, RPGs and shooters that were coming out for that hardware, such as Doom, Wolfenstein, the Monkey Island series, Duke Nukem 3D, System Shock, Heretic, Hexen and so on.

What would you say is your main motivation for playing?
For escapism, challenge and fun. My other motivation is that I create custom content for a few games (Sims and Fallout), so that adds an extra layer of motivation.

Do you know other people in your age group that are playing games?
Only ones I met online, like another poster mentioned above. Nobody 'IRL'.

How do your friends and family feel about you playing games? What about other people in your age group in particular?
They don't really feel anything one way or another - they admire me for creating content but are not interested in playing games.

Do you know other people in your age group that might be interested in games, but haven't ever tried playing one?
No.

What kind of computer are you playing on?
HP ProDesk PC i3 3.40GHz running Windows 7 64-bit.

ETA: I also meant to add yesterday but got interrupted and had to go off and get involved in something else: Something to bear in mind is that simply because people are over 50, it doesn't mean that they/we all have one hive mind and all have the same tastes in anything, including games, so it does seem maybe a little pointless to focus on a game aimed specifically at over-50s. Whatever age someone is, some will like more serious games while some will like funnier games, some will like games that require a lot of thought or strategy while some will like games that are just easy-to-play timepassers, and some will like all of the above depending on what suits their mood at the time. I really don't think any of it is age-relevant.

Hope that helps a bit - good luck with your project!
Field Researcher
Original Poster
#5 Old 18th May 2017 at 11:00 PM
Sorry for getting back to you kind of late, but life's been busy. ^^"

All of your comments so far have been really interesting too read. Thank you very much for taking the time to write them!

@Esmeralda I definitely agree with people over 50 not actually being one target group, but rather many different target groups. As for any other age group as well. As I mentioned in my first post, our task at the moment is to understand our target group and to achieve that we first have to find out which kind of people there are above the age of 50 and what they may want or like. And how we can make them buy our game. Getting input from as many people as possible helps tremendously to achieve this. So, thank you again. <3

Visit My Test of Time Challenge: wordpress & livejournal
Mad Poster
#6 Old 19th May 2017 at 11:39 AM
Quote: Originally posted by TheFlyingRaccoon
I definitely agree with people over 50 not actually being one target group, but rather many different target groups. As for any other age group as well. As I mentioned in my first post, our task at the moment is to understand our target group and to achieve that we first have to find out which kind of people there are above the age of 50 and what they may want or like. And how we can make them buy our game. Getting input from as many people as possible helps tremendously to achieve this. So, thank you again. <3

I think the big problem with this is the idea of targeting something which isn't an age-relevant type of product, blanketly at 'people over 50'. Would a 55-year-old have the same tastes as a 95-year-old? Many people my age and older have remarked to me that they don't really feel or think differently than when they were in their 20s, and that's also how I feel. How well will an 'over 50s' product appeal to those people? Most of the games I play are 18+ or 17+ rated, and that suits my tastes fine. A game rated 50+ would just seem... weird. Really, the best thing to do is to make a great product that would appeal to all of the adult market.

Another factor is that people over 50 could feel patronised by an 'over 50s'-targeted product, especially produced by young people who think they know what older people should like. On a TV reality show I saw recently, a group of would-be entrepreneurs in their 20s decided to make products that would appeal to over-50s, and the stuff they came up with was so stereotyped and cliched and just plain wrong, that it had my hubby and I in tears of incredulous laughter at their naivete. I'm sure you don't want to get that kind of response! If you think of it in reverse, it's akin to a bunch of out-of-touch middle-aged suits thinking they know what 'the young folks' want in their games and coming up with stuff that the young folks find cringe-worthy and corny. See what I mean? LOL. Good luck!
Née whiterider
retired moderator
#7 Old 19th May 2017 at 3:04 PM
I saw that episode of the Apprentice too, it was like watching them all walk backwards off a cliff without looking!

What I lack in decorum, I make up for with an absence of tact.
Mad Poster
#8 Old 22nd May 2017 at 6:19 PM
Regarding "age" as a target group, I can see the relevance. "Older" people tend to have more money. They don't usually have the time-demands of kids, or even jobs. They can be very busy with their lives, but time is more flexible; I don't have to get up to go to work, so I can choose to play all night. While our friends/family can be more critical than those of a teenager gamer, we are less concerned about peer-pressure. We can keep it our secret, or flaunt it; "why yes, I AM still poll dancing".

Stand up, speak out. Just not to me..
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