>ландшафткомпютриoptical communicationsoptical communicationst it was music, then web video, and now it is time for MySpace to turn the attention of its 100-million plus members to casual games. The company has signed a deal with Oberon Media, and two companies will create a new casual gaming channel on MySpace. MySpace Games will launch in January 2008.

MySpacers will be able to play games play free with friends, and they will also be able to embed game widgets on their profile pages. Social networks and games have been on a collision course, and we have written about this trend previously. Start-ups such as King.com, Boonty, You-v-Me.com and Kongregate have been slowly turning their casual game portals into quas-social networks. MySpace is coming from the opposite direction. Games, like Scrabulous are quite popular on MySpace rival, Facebook.

By Stephen Errity

Once thought of as an alienating and isolating influence, computer games are now becoming a favoured means of bonding among families.

This is the finding of a new survey of ‘casual gamers’ by PopCap Games, the results of which were released on Tuesday. The survey found that 92 percent of casual gaming parents and grandparents used computer games to bond with their children or grandchildren, while 66 percent of them would welcome the use of computer games in schools.

Seventy percent of respondents also cited the many possible benefits of computer gaming for their offspring, including improved hand-eye co-ordination and manual dexterity, improved memory and recall, opportunities for learning and cognitive exercise, stress relief and relaxation and confidence-building. Any Nintendo Wii-owning families can add a comprehensive physical workout to that list.

Professor Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies at Nottingham Trent University agreed with the survey’s conclusions. “Empirical research has consistently shown that in the right context, computer- and videogames can have a positive educational, psychological and therapeutic benefit to a large range of different ages and sub-groups,” he said.

Psychologist Dr. Carl Arinoldo commented: “The universal appeal of casual games makes them a great activity in which the whole family can participate, with each generation enjoying the games in different ways while also enjoying the interaction with other family members.”

Last week I received a press release from Zylom, part of RealNetworks. It is a (casual) game portal and a leading producer and distributor of online games in Europe. Monthly 10 million people play games, ranging from word games to Sudoku, from puzzle games such as Majhong. No less than 80 percent of the visitors are women and older than 22 years of age. That calls for a market survey.

So a marketing bureau was asked to do a survey in the Netherlands. According to the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics, there are 6.262.449 women above 18 years in the Netherlands over against 6.138.440 men above 18 years. The marketing bureau selected 1001 women; a curious figure as it relates to the stories told during the 1001 Arabian nights.

The first conclusion of the market survey is that female gamers or gameHers are prominent in online gaming. Online gaming is not just a pastime for men. In the Netherlands 86 percent of the women do play online occasionally. Projected this is half a million more women than men.

The women were also asked to rank their favourite activity out of thirteen listed ones. The front number indicates the ranking in the list of thirteen activities:
1. Reading (18%)
2. Watching television (14%)
3. Online gaming (12%)
8. Sex (6%)

Does this say anything about the Group of respondents? The survey demonstrated that the majority of the gameHers was older than 25 years and 11 percent was only younger than 25 years. In fact 31 percent of the gaming women is 55 years or older. And they do spend time on games. No less than 28 percent spent one to three hours a week online and 38 percent tops the three hour a week milestone easily

The researchers have identified three types of gameHers:
a. Lara Switch-Offs. Forget the overactive and aggressive Lara Croft. The majority (73 percent) female gamers play regularly online games to relax. Lara Switch-offs log in to enjoy a moment for themselves.
b. Davina Codes. The Davina Codes like to puzzle and crack codes. Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code would be easy fort hem as online puzzles are addictive.
c. Brain Fonda. This Group of women believes that games and puzzles keep their mind active and in shape. One third of the respondents game to keep their brains fit.

One thing is clear: women can not be typecast any longer as technophobes and games are no longer just toys for the boys.

I suppose it might be a little intense for a family to go raiding together on WoW. Family discussions around who’s letting their character drop behind in levels might get fairly heated.

Popcap games released a survey yesterday which found that 92 percent of casual gaming parents and 66 percent of casual gaming grandparents will use casual games to bond with their children. Considering that you can pick them up and leave them with little effort, it makes sense that they would be a source for family gatherings.

“The universal appeal of casual games makes them a great activity in which the whole family can participate, with each generation enjoying the games in different ways while also enjoying the interaction with other family members,” Mark Griffiths, Professor of Gambling Studies at Nottingham Trent University, said in an article on ElectricNews.net.

Increased broadband capabilities have created more of a demand for casual games now that more can be downloaded in such a short time. Not only that, but developers are competing for the marketshare of casual gaming, which holds more sway than MySpace, YouTube and Facebook.

Board games might be in trouble.

7,500 adult respondents were a part of an international survey, with 31% indicating they had children less than 18 years of age playing casual games at home. Parents and grandparents alike play these games with the kids in their homes, and they cite many instances of benefits from the games. From improved hand-eye coordination, memory strengthening and confidence building to stress relief, families find great benefit in playing video games. Moreover, the adult’s surveyed felt playing games with their children fostered a stronger relationship within the family. This sounds a bit contrary to the propaganda of games being fairly worthless and mind sucking forms of entertainment.