Expanding the videogame audience.

[Alf-Life]

In the same way as the US Army put an Xbox into every barracks, why not put them (more arcadey ones at least) in places like hair salons where people wait to get their hair done, tanning booths, Hollywood/British TV dressing rooms/trailers while makeup is applied, etc etc etc. Anywhere where people wait and can be 'converted'/hooked. (Delete as applicable).

I know many people who drop into game to have a quick go on whatever's at the booth while their other half is doing the 'boring shopping', why not extend this, entice more people?

[Sketcz]

No. Just no.
The last thing the industry needs, is more people being interested in it. Thanks to mass marketing, things are suffering now.

I say bring back the late 80's when only children and serious adult games geeks played games. Most kids who played games were basically serious game geeks anyway, except with less time/money on their hands.
Mainsream gaming has meant that now, kids who play today, are the not same kind of breed of kid as back when most of us were youngsters.

Please, no more of society becoming interested in our.... no, MY hobby, thank you very much. Otherwise I will be forced to bury myself under several tons of retro, forever.

[chevkoch]

Anywhere where people wait and can be 'converted'/hooked.

Brothels, I say. Get hooked before you get hookered.

[InsideOutBoy]

It?s a nice idea to try and increase the mass-market appeal of videogames (of which I am fully in favour of), but I doubt it would work unfortunately.

Most people would glance at the demo pod and ignore it. They?re not interested in videogames, so why would they want to play one even if the opportunity presented itself? Why would I want to go gardening just because I have a garden?

It could work if the demo-pod was something like the Eye-Toy, but it didn?t involve flinging your arms around like a spasmodic monkey. That might have the necessary interest hook for passers by, especially as they don?t need to hold a joypad, which seems to terrify any one who hasn?t used one before.

But even so, there aren?t many places you could put a demo-pod without it getting vandalized and/or stolen sadly.

[delb3k]

Gaming needs to increase its size, it really just needs to find ways to do it. Demo pods and so forth dont work because few games are developed for quick blasts and never bring any real sense of quality home. What needs to happen is that software needs to diversify, appeal to a braoder mass and then be more media savy. Adverts still cater to men and still follow the same lines, if it could learn to target its audience for the title better then said title has a far better chance to succeed.
If it can, and grows well enough then these types of games can sit with the more hardcore and extreme examples we are all used to. To be blunt, if we dont have these so called `casual` games then the hardcore variety will die as there is nothing to support them and thats something none of us want.

[Manta Ray vs Guitar]

No. Just no.
The last thing the industry needs, is more people being interested in it. Thanks to mass marketing, things are suffering now.

I say bring back the late 80's when only children and serious adult games geeks played games. Most kids who played games were basically serious game geeks anyway, except with less time/money on their hands.
Mainsream gaming has meant that now, kids who play today, are the not same kind of breed of kid as back when most of us were youngsters.

Please, no more of society becoming interested in our.... no, MY hobby, thank you very much. Otherwise I will be forced to bury myself under several tons of retro, forever.

What the crap?

Where does it say 'Expand the market to include stupid people'?
It's like everybody who's not already into games is just obviously some kind of retard.

[Sketcz]

What the crap?

Where does it say 'Expand the market to include stupid people'?
It's like everybody who's not already into games is just obviously some kind of retard.

No, there are plenty enough retards already who are into games.
I just dont want their fold to increase.

Anyway, before so called casual gamers, think back to the 80's, apart from serious-gamers, there were kids who played games and controlled buying power.
Except, from what I rememeber, they didnt play so much mass market drivel, they played the same games as hardcore serious-gamers, except less often, and not in the same quantity.

Ive said it before, and Ill stick to my guns, more mainstream gaming would be bad.

More mainstream gaming, means more mainstream gamers.
More mainstream gamers, means companies aiming at that market slice for more profit.
More companies aiming for that new bit of pie, means less resources going to traditional gaming outputs.

People can call me insular and snobbish, but I wont kowtow or change my views, I believe gaming was better when the core audience was kids and serious gamers. People who cared about gaming FOR gamings sake.

Does anyone honestly believe that people who will end up "aving a go" on said games in Salons or maybe Pubs or whatever, will actuually care or understand gaming? No. Theyll get a small buzz, but theyll never move on.

Sure theyll bring in revenue, but so what, it all end up going to making more games catering to people who dont and wont care about games, more games for them, and a whole viscious cycle starts.

To be honest, Ive tried before, and I simply do not feel like educating the average man about gaming anymore.

Gaming should be for gamers.
If they have the potential, they'll seek out gaming, gaming shouldnt seek them out.

If on the otherhand someone comes to me asking about gaming, because they're totally new, I will always try my utmost best to help them out, because they showed the innitiative and put the effort in.
Salon goers will not put the effort in.

[Ady]

Gaming should be for gamers.
If they have the potential, they'll seek out gaming, gaming shouldnt seek them out.

But anyone who plays a game is a potential gamer, surely? And if a potential tries, but isn't interested and decides to move on, then what exactly is lost?

Gaming is a hobby, not a secret little club with treehouses, passwords and secret handshakes.

[Manta Ray vs Guitar]

I'm all for making games that appeal to people beyond usual gamer stereotypes. Many of the best games are like that. They don't have to be more 'mainstream', just different.
All that writing and not a ****ing bit of sense.

[dataDave]

In the same way as the US Army put an Xbox into every barracks, why not put them (more arcadey ones at least) in places like hair salons where people wait to get their hair done, tanning booths, Hollywood/British TV dressing rooms/trailers while makeup is applied, etc etc etc. Anywhere where people wait and can be 'converted'/hooked. (Delete as applicable).

I know many people who drop into game to have a quick go on whatever's at the booth while their other half is doing the 'boring shopping', why not extend this, entice more people?

If people can't be arsed playing 'Enter the Matrix' on an X-Box pod at a cinema I doubt the ladies will ever fancy a go at the salon. If it's ever turned on that is.

The music and film industries are over-saturated with mass-market garbage, why do videogames have to be any different?

[Geoff D]

A hair salon in my town has a PS2 installed for waiting customers - seems to be very popular; last time I walked past, 2 peeps were battling it out on Soul Calibur 2.

[Ady]

You know those popular touch-screen machines you get in pubs and stuff? Nintendo needs to adapt Wario Ware and stick it in one of those.

Sorted.

[Sketcz]

I'm all for making games that appeal to people beyond usual gamer stereotypes. Many of the best games are like that. They don't have to be more 'mainstream', just different.
All that writing and not a ****ing bit of sense.

Not understanding my posts again?
Damn, Im sure we had a similar discussion in another topic, oh well, Ill humour you again.

Concise sense:
I dont want gaming to become more mainstream. I dont want it to be mainstream FULL STOP.
More mainstream, means the type of games I like, are not made as often.
More mainstream = what I used to like about gaming, changing.
I dunno, its a different world today, everything seems crazy and upside down.


Many of the best games are ones that appeal to people beyond usual stereotypes?
Oh please, do elaborate Mr MantaRay, because being the simple person that I am, I dont see how moving beyond pre-1995 stereotypes has done any good.

[YOUWIN]

No. Just no.
The last thing the industry needs, is more people being interested in it. Thanks to mass marketing, things are suffering now.

I say bring back the late 80's when only children and serious adult games geeks played games. Most kids who played games were basically serious game geeks anyway, except with less time/money on their hands.
Mainsream gaming has meant that now, kids who play today, are the not same kind of breed of kid as back when most of us were youngsters.

Please, no more of society becoming interested in our.... no, MY hobby, thank you very much. Otherwise I will be forced to bury myself under several tons of retro, forever.

by god, you really are an eliteist twat, it makes me cringe when i read crap like this.

[Max M]

He'd be the first to admit he's a snob (look at his sig!) but he has a point when he says "More mainstream, means the type of games I like, are not made as often", why do you think you don't see as many shooters or 2D fighters as we used to, for instance? Because your average gamer would rather play generic licensed games.

I found Edge's theory that if gaming got more mainstream than the more quirky/inventive games would stand a better chance of doing well interesting. However, it did kind of seem like wishful thinking to me as I've certainly seen no evidence pointing to this fact. As gaming gets more and more popular, original games seem to sell less and less; not the other way around.

You may be perfectly happy with the way things are going, but don't slag people off because they prefered the gaming scene in the 80s and early 90s when gamers were generally more knowledgeable and dedicated.