Josh H

You always seen in articles that the average age of console gamers is 27 or so.

That seems like BS to me. Tons of kids play games, and their low ages would pull the average down lower than 27.

I think it's overstated as the age is probably calculated to responses to surveys, and even more likely from registration cards for games and systems.

Obviously, kids and even teens, aren't likely to mail in cards (if they go in at all their parents probably filled them out in their name and further f'ed up the average).

I'd say the average age is probably more likely somewhere between 16-20.

~~ PAL ~~

Video games has been around for 20+ years now. It's not so inconseivable that the average gamer's age is increasing yearly.

Yes, lots of kids play games, but guess who bought them the video games? This is especially true for kids under 5, since really young kids wouldn't even know to pester mom and dad for new console or games, it's really the gamer parents that are trying to get their kids into gaming at a young age.

As for the "true" average age, your guess is as good as anybody's. I don't think we'll ever find out exactly what it is for the reasons you've stated.

Josh H

You're right in that we'll never know. I really don't see it being 27 though.

There's a lot of gamers under 15, and a good bit that grew up playing games that are 25 or older now.

Those probably balance each other out and put the average somewhere in the high teens to low 20's.

the aftermath

As a counter for the argument that a lot of gamers are ones who've been playing since their youth, there are also a lot who've completely quit gaming.

I agree with Josh, average age is probably high teens.

fumanstan

27 sounds high to me too. I agree, the amount of kids should bring down the average.

young

27 sounds right to me.

this kind of statistic isn't too hard to figure out and any error corrections would be taken into account.

but, based on anecdotal evidence, most of the xbox live people that i play w/ are over 30.

Josh H

BTW, I was just curious as I work with stats all the time so it stuck out like a sore thumb when I saw it in an article the other day.

tonyc3742

I think 27 may be a bit high, but I could still see the average as being something around 18-25. For everyone 35 year old who's quit gaming, there's a 18 year old picking up a new Medal of Honor, and of course the legions of little ones who buy [or are given] Nintendo just for Pokemon.
But then, not to get to anal, the question itself is somewhat misleading:
'Average age of a console gamer'.
Define console gamer--up until Christmas, the most recent console I had was the Dreamcast, which I still played. Still played PSX also, haven't bought a game in close to a year. After moving and getting furniture set up, I even hooked up the Sega Gen/CD/32x to play some games. Haven't bought anything from an EB in 1.5 years before then, but I would still count myself a console gamer.
And yes, I have some friends who gamed a LOT, but due to real life, can't keep up. Still pop in Shining Force or Micro Machines or something just to goof off with; they'd probably count themselves as gamers.
And how is this measured--by who buys games in the stores? I would assume people over, say, 15, buy most of the games, even if they're going to give them to their little brother or child or what have you.
I was watching G4 last night with my `15-month old on my lap, and they were reviewing Midway Arcade Classics. I was like 'Those are the games your daddy grew up on! See the little ostrich? The man has to fly it into other ostriches and catch the eggs.' I felt old ; ) Although he has already gone to the PS2 and held the controller like he's seen his mom and me do....cute : )

Josh H

Kids aren't going to be likely to play X-box live, so that's not representative. They can't pay for broadband on their own, and their parents my not want to pay for it or want them playing games with "strangers."

Plus, your wrong as this is very tough to figure out as there's no way to know how many kids play games as they're not going to be taking surveys, mailing in registration cards etc. nearly as much as older gamers. There's really no way to statisically correct for this kind of sampling bias.

Josh H

Console gamers are people that play games on any console that hooks up to a TV.

PC gamers are excluded as the article I saw it in was in EGM which is a console only magazine. Plus including PC gamers would skew the average higher as I bet the average age of PC gamers is higher than console gamers.

young

um, ok... i ask you to back that up instead of speculating. can you email the company and ask how they deal w/ that?

the average age statistic is used in pretty much every industry from gaming to car ownership to magazine subscriptions. i very much doubt that businesses would be basing decisions on inaccurate data.

but, hey, since you brought it up, maybe you're right.

Josh H

Kids don't own cars, so it's not an issue.

I'm am speculating to a degree, but it's tough to get kids in survey samples.

If you're doing telephone surveys, you have to talk to a parent and get permission first if the person is under 18, and for things like registration cards, kids aren't very likely to fill the out themselves and send them in.

I have some experience as I'm a research assistant/grad student.

I could be wrong, but I don't see how they could get kids in the survey. And there's really no proven statistical method to correct for sampling bias. It's something you try to eliminate in the research design phase.

tonyc3742

Not to mention, any numbers based on volumtary disclosure are suspect anyway. Tjhe harder you make it to participate, the fewer people who will do it, and the less representative your participants are.
It would be interesting to see what methods they used to get the info their conclusion is based on.

Josh H

Exactly, that's another type of sampling bias you get when you don't do randomization.

There will be errors because the people that choose reply may be different than the people that chose not. I.E. they may be older, better educated, etc.

young

well, why are you limiting the sampling to some sort of direct means?

all those potential errors you mentioned can be and is taken out in population statistics. not to 100% certainty, but within +/- 5% easily.

again, i understand you're a grad student, but if you're really concerned w/ this, i really suggest you ask whoever says it's the magic age is "27" and find out. they may very well have a white paper that discusses all your concerns.

--
lol, ok.

for those of you that doubt the age, i'd like to see your white papers and statistical analyses. prove it instead of just guessing or feeling that "27" is too high.

Outlaw

That number definitly is overstated. The average gamer are still teens 16-24ish, and it will probably never deviate much from that. They have the most free time, they have a source who has the money they don't (parents). Just the general trend in mainstream games also cators to teens. I also took a statistical analysis class too, however they came up with 27 for the average is whacked. The popularity of titles like GTA and ETM further proves this, kids love violence, sex, and profanity, what kid didn't see The Matrix or Kill Bill? Its part of growing up. But in terms of sample size most of them won't care to fill out the survey, I know I didn't care when I was a teen (sorta still am by a little bit , and can't see why anyone else in the same situation would either.

Feneant

I think 27 is right for pc's especially. If you take some games like Everquest, the average age there is probably a lot higher than 27. I dont know more for consoles, but on pc's the average gamer is probably much older and it increases their results. In fact, I believe I'm one of the very few gamers at work under their average.

Josh H

I was just curious, not enough so to bother writing the magazines.

Another way to make a unscientific estimate, is to just look at people in game stores and especially game sections in stores like BB, CC, Wal-mart etc. that sell more games. No way is the avg. age of everyone I see in there 27.

Plus, if the avg age was 27, I'd think we'd see a lot less cartoony games, and games with themes (tits and ass, etc) that are aimed at kids and teens respectively and see more games like Morrowind and the various MMORPGS that cleary appeal to an older crowd. But then again, it seem like a lot of people here that are in their mid-20's really like the stuff like DOA-XBV that to me seems aimed at pubescent teens so maybe that's a baseless argument.

What do you mean by limiting sampling to direct means? How else are you going to find gamers ages. It has to be from surveys (either phone, mail, or people asking people in game stores their age) or from registration cards or something.

You can't get it indirectly.

Feneant, I agree that PC gamers age is higher. That's why I said console gamers as the article I seen the 27 avg. mentioned in was EGM which is a console only mag an specifically said the avg age of console gamers.

sniper308

That's because we as older, wiser gamers are too busy raping web sites when they have pricing errors, to acquire our games

gcribbs

I play games and I am 42 in a few days. My dad plays games on his PC and is 63.

why would it be so hard for the average to be 27?

I like some games that seem to be targeted at younger people. Heck animal crossing looked like a kids game. I still had some fun with it.

I get my T&A from porn so I do not need to see that in games.

gcribbs

so true

Josh H

Law of averages. The two extremes cancel each other out and the average falls in the middle.

The gamers 15 and under (and especially 10 and under) balance out the gamers 25 and up (and especially 30 and up) and the average fall somewhere more in the middle.

Again, PC gamers are excluded, their average age is definitely older as there's not many under 10 PC gamers (lots of parents don't want kids that young screwing with their computers).

sniper308

Because we parents using the computer to check out DVDtalk looking for deals on DVDs and Games

khai

Another way to look at it is thinking about the people that buy the game. As mentioned earlier, large retail stores like Walmart, Target, etc.

I'm employed at a Target near a University. You'd expect to see majority of 20+ yr olds buying games.. but nope, it's pretty split evenly with young teenagers and 21+yr olds, which makes the average age in my area in the upper teens. The GBA market by itself is huge and a majority of GBA gamers are children. I'm willing to bet a majority of GC gamers are younger too. I'm willing to bet Nintendo's consumers are way less than that 27yr old average.

trigun

Wouldn't it be handy to link the original article in question?

I had been hearing that 18-22 was the average gamer's age.