Due to some scheduling confusion, it’s still unclear which panel I’ll be moderating, but meanwhile I’ve been asked to be a panelist for the “Digital Distribution Revolution” session at 3pm on Friday. Hope to see some of you there!

Parks Associates has unveiled a study that seeks to eliminate the meaningless terms “hardcore gamer” and “casual gamer”. Kudos to Parks; I’ve always felt that the game industry’s limited vocabulary for describing customers has hobbled design and marketing creativity. (It’s like trying to describe the natural world with just three words: “plant”, “animal”, and “mineral”. You could do it, but you’ll definitely lose something in the process.)

The Parks study revealed six segments:

• Power gamers: 11% of the market, but account for 30% of current spending.
• Social gamers: 13% of the market; enjoy gaming as a way to interact with friends.
• Leisure gamers: 14% of the market; spend 58 hours per month playing mainly casual titles. However, they prefer challenging games and show high interest in new gaming services.
• Dormant gamers: 26% of the market; love gaming but spend little time because of family, work, or school. They like to play with friends and family and prefer challenging games.
• Incidental gamers: 12% of the market; play mostly online games for 20 hours a month, mainly out of boredom.
• Occasional gamers: 24% of the market; play puzzle, word, and board games almost exclusively.

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