New Poll!

Please if you have 5 minutes to check out this POLL about "Target Audiences" for games that we as designers design...

*Bump*

We voted as well. This is an interesting poll, and the results should be interesting as well. Right now, with such a small crowd, the results do not seem comprehensive- we need more people to vote :) I think that games will be more popular with millennials, though I hope that all people like, play, and appreciate games. Many times, you see people enjoy games as a family (multi-generation), because their older sibling likes a game, or because they played the game with their parent and remember fun times. Probably the least interested party today are the "kids", since the technology is winning the war of entertainment. I hope that changes :)

-Austin

Yes, I think that "Kids" is the ultimate goal- I would love for kids to play games, problem solve, be creative, use their brains, and have fun! However, currently, I am not sure if going straight to the "kids" (a very broad category to be sure) is the most successful way in reaching them. Perhaps older teen siblings, young adults, parents, or "that weird but awesome uncle" might be the best key to that path. It is not that the kids won't like the games, but it is that they need introduced to the game/ and or have some kind of spark that will make the game playing experience awesome! to them. Should the games be aimed directly at kids? Or at parents/older generations with the hopes of pulling in the kids?

It's helpful to keep a couple terms in mind:

Target consumer: the person you want using your product
Target customer: the person who actually pays for your product

This creates one of the thorniest problems with marketing to "kids" (which I would define as anyone who isn't spending their own money to acquire the game).

This is just some thoughts here, but I think that games are targeted to different audiences for a reason.

Age is on the box for a reason. And I think its totally fine to target different ages for different games.

I think that games are a bit like food. Everyone has their preference. (though some people don't like games, and I guess there are some people out there that don't like food though I haven't met them;)

When designing games I find that I like to focus on the "fun" of the game and if the mechanics get complex.. I move closer to an audience that likes complex games. If the game is simple, I simplify the art, the appeal and would normally attribute to a younger audience.
Games like chess work toward a wide variety of people, however that abstract "easy to learn life time to master" type of game might not work for your type of game.

There are connections to games that fit in with the times. Games have developed tremendously in popular culture, though there have always been "better than monopoly" games even while "1 dimensional games like monopoly" thrived in popular culture. ( I know, I opened the monopoly door)
From my experience, Games are fun with different groups of people. When I play hungry hippos with kids, it is an entirely different experience than when I play Euchre with my friends family.

To wrap up and summarize:
Games are fun. Games come in all shapes and sizes and people like what they like. So the question then becomes:
How do we target game A to this audience?

Anyway, just some thoughts

My point about customers and consumers was that it needs to attract the customer, entertain the consumer (while hopefully enticing more to become consumers), and respect the customer's sensitivities enough that the game doesn't get tossed.

That last bit is fairly easy so long as the game is well-described on the box... anyone who decided to buy the game gets what they actually expected. That is, if there's any risque art or mature themes, make sure that's hinted at on the box's exterior.

Of course, the big box game I played with my friends was Axis&Allies, so things might be different this century ;-)