IA9 is a new report from the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia, providing data on some key metrics about Australian gamers and their habits. The full report is now available, as is a summarised version (both are PDF, sorry) which is worth a glance for some of its revelations, such as:

• 46% of gamers are female.
• The average age of an Australian gamer is 30 years.
• 63% of adults do not know that Australia has no R18+ for computer and
video games.
• 91% of adults (including gamers and non-gamers) say Australia should
have an R18+ classification for games.
• 17% of adults in game households admit to having pirated games in their
collections with nearly 10% of all games in Australian homes being illegal
copies.

It should be noted that these stats are from a sample pool of 1614 randomly selected households.

As other people have brought up about surveys like this, they really need to quantify what a 'Gamer' is.
1 hour a week is a gamer? 3 Hours a night? People that play Hearts and Solitare at work, are they 'gamers' too?

Sample size isn't exactally what you would call large either.

Still, it's an interisting read however I dont think anything (re: R18+) would be effected by something like this.

Edit: Page 22 (Full report) Fig 16 shows how often 'Gamers' play games. The 11% that play Once a month (or less) shouldn't really be called 'Gamers.' Maybe their spouse/child is a gamer and they pick it up when bored.

last edited by Scooter at 14:17:29 20/Jan/09

It should be noted that these stats are from a sample pool of 1614 randomly selected households.

It should also be noted that this randomly selected households are households who volunteer for this in order to win prices (and have signed up via the internet).

Aka, worthless.

last edited by nF at 14:18:33 20/Jan/09

both are PDF, sorry

? Would you have them publish in plain text or...

both are PDF, sorry

? Would you have them publish in plain text or...

An HTML version of the summary wouldn't be too much to ask for, imo

My favourite bit is 51% of over 65s are gamers.

Just think, next time you call someone in TF2 a "spamming c***" theres a 51% chance your gran will be listening.

I can testify for the uselessness of this survey, I never read what I answer. I just click, click, click, next.

• 46% of gamers are female

f*** yeah

how many do you know personally?

Bad surveys are bad.

• 46% of gamers are female
f*** yeah

Too bad none are in css, ohh wait... Sam??? Sam????? lol.

Sample size isn't exactally what you would call large either.

Sample size is actually large in "research" terms. Not that it matters given what nF pointed out:

It should also be noted that this randomly selected households are households who volunteer for this in order to win prices (and have signed up via the internet).

I don't see any evidence of what nF said being true; does he have any?

edit: oh, in the full report it says: "The survey was conducted in July 2008 by ACNielsen Australia in Sydney. The online survey used ACNielsen’s “Your Voice Panel” which draws from 80,000 Australian households with representation in every state and territory."

So I guess that coincides with that website. I dunno if I'd discount it just because they signed up for prizes though? Does that totally invalidate it?

Most gamers would be too busy playing games pwning noobs to respond to a survey!

Did you read the report?

The study is based on a national random sample of 1614 Australians who responded to more than 75 questions and over 300 data points in a 20-minute online survey run by ACNielsen Surveys Australia.

The national random sample telephone survey was designed by a team at the Centre for New Media Research at Bond University. It was designed to take the pulse of gaming in Australia and allow comparisons between game and non-game households, game-players and non-game players. The survey was conducted in July 2008 by ACNielsen Australia in Sydney. The online survey used ACNielsen’s “Your Voice Panel” which draws from 80,000 Australian households with representation in every state and territory. The Your Voice Panel is structured to be representative of the Australian population with the exception of online access by which surveys take place. Panellists volunteer for and are recruited to be part of the panel and are included in a benefit structure in exchange for their time and quality responses to social and market surveys.

(Emphasis mine.)

It mentions telephone survey, so I'm guessing the people in question were actually called, but that the people were selected from the Your Voice panel. Also, given the surveyors themselves cast doubt on a couple of the results (namely the piracy ones) I think theres a good chance the whole survey is broken. They are a bit brief on the methods they used.

The 2005 survey shows very different results, but they used very different methods.

The average age of computer and video game players in Australia is 24 years. Non-players are 49 years old, on
average.

Seems a bit odd to me that the average age of gamers increased by 6 years in 3 years.

So I guess that coincides with that website. I dunno if I'd discount it just because they signed up for prizes though? Does that totally invalidate it?

It's not the fact there are prizes, it's the fact that the people answering the questions put their own hand up to answer the questions. Anytime people volunteer to participate in a study or survey it becomes worthless since the sample population is 'self selected' and creates a massive bias on the results.

For example someone who pirates a lot of games may not be as likely to volunteer to participate in such a survey. Also someone who plays a LOT of games may not have time to volunteer for such surveys. Heaps of little things like that.

Gamers are younger than non-gamers by half in Australia. Another way of putting it is that there is a clear generation gap between those who play and those who do not.

Now either the demographics of gaming has changed massively in 3 years, or the surveys are now reflecting a massive sampling bias. I think the later is more likely.

The Your Voice Panel is structured to be representative of the Australian population

Straight of the bat they are saying that their sampling is biased in some way. If it wasn't, a random selection of the 80,000 households would be a fine. Instead they have to select randomly from individual groups within the sample to meet their criteria (which presumably is to match BOS census data). Given its a survey technology related and the survey was taken with people of a certain tech ability, theres definately a sample bias there. They also don't mention this bias at all in their report.

Now I'm assuming theres a correlation between tech ability and gaming, but I'd be very surprised if there wasn't one between a 80 year old who can sign themselves up to an online survey and whether or not they have played Bejewelled in the last year.

With the sample they've used they've got a bias because of the base level of technical ability required. So the sample bias will be even more pronounced in the segments of the population with the least technical ability, aka over 60s. Theres also biases related to available spare time, someone who signs themselves up for a web survey is less likely to be a small business owner. They're less likely to be a single working mum.

So the survey itself is pretty useless imo. Though, its pretty clear the industry is pushing hard for R18+ ratings, and this sort of data helps their case.

Definitions (pg 59):

A game household was one which had in it any device for playing a computer or video game, excluding mobile phone, smart phones/PDAs. A gamer was a person who indicated they play computer or video games, simply “yes” or “no.” The response rate was 88%, demonstrating a very high effectiveness of the Your Voice Panel.

I can't actually see any sort of statistical analysis on any of the data.

DATA ANALYSES
ACNielsen provided the CNMRE with raw data from the survey for statistical analysis at the CNMRE. The data were analysed by study authors Jeff Brand and Jill Borchard. The data were analysed using SPSS V15 in the Windows operating environment. Statistical procedures included simple descriptive statistics such as frequencies, cross-tabulations, means and tests of significance such as Chi-square and One-way ANOVA. For the purposes of including results for all members of a given household, the Vars-to-Cases procedure was used to create individual records for all persons identified by the participants in the study. Data reduction procedures included reducing range for some questions to simplify presentation of responses. Some measures were combined into indices where obtaining a frequency or mean across a combination of measures simplified the presentation of findings. Missing values were eliminated for analysis on a per-question basis unless multiple measures were examined conjointly. For these, the case-wise deletion method was applied.

So, obviously there was some analysis, but it is strange that these analyses were not included (nor were any of the stats quoted). My guess is it's because of the report itself - it seems to be targeted towards people who will blindly accept whatever big numbers are thrust in front of them. I certainly wouldn't put too much faith in the facts and figures represented here.

And it is hard to trust someone who says they are a gamer, that they are infact a gamer. Some crazy nut might think any sort of interactive software, screensaver, or world of warcraft constitutes a game.

In the gaming literature that I have read, gamers are operationalised as people who play games for at least 1 hour for at least three days a week. The studies that I have read involved FPS, but for some reason they included Mario Kart.

Please take the following survey. It only takes several seconds to complete, and is more accurate than above. Responses will be presented in 24 hours.



BTW, sorry if it's in German for you (my computer is in German). For full effect you should understand 'Erforderlich' means compulsory ;-) 'Senden' means submit which is pretty obvious.

---The average age of an Australian gamer is 30 years---


Sweet, I'm average...

God damn that was a s***ty survey Pinky.

1614 households
weaksauce

Red Alert or other RPG

You're a gamer if you know Red Alert isn't an RPG

needs an 'all of the above' option

wow isnt gaming so cut that by 30% ;)

God damn that was a s***ty survey Pinky.

You're telling me. I design/write surveys and collect/manage/report on survey results at work so it's depressing that i actually read that and thought about the technicality behind it.

That you for your constructive comments, Bats***.

Here is the summary of results:
http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/6591/64065562zq5.jpg

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/372/17447298fs1.jpg

You're a gamer if you know Red Alert isn't an RPG

Ha didn't notice that.

You might not be a gamer but you're def. a nerd if you know this number 1010011010.

last edited by 3dee at 12:03:42 29/Jan/09

Seems a bit odd to me that the average age of gamers increased by 6 years in 3 years.

Interesting thought that. Though if you look at the increased versatility in gaming consoles over that period, it may suggest that older people have been lured by media and internet capabilities. Just a thought.