RockYou reveals four social gamer personality types

The stereotypical gamer is long dead. Recent research shows that both genders participate in gaming and it’s not an activity carried out solely by teens in darkened bedrooms.

A report by IGN earlier this year found that 80% of Generation Z, 50% of Generation Y, 15% of Baby Boomers and 30% of Generation X are all gaming.

RockYou and Interpret reveal that social gamers in particular can be categorized into four distinct types:

1. Affluent players – happy to spend in-game to get ahead.

2. Competitive players – the hardcore set who play to win and like to broadcast and boast about their in-game achievements.

3. Newbies – less tech-savvy and want to play for free.

4. Devotees – power users who prefer not to have to spend a cent to play.

Furthermore, social gamers were found to be even more socially active online than was expected spending 13 hours per week on socnets. Of those 13 hours online 9.5 were spent playing games.

Social gamers were also found to be highly receptive to in-game advertising. Advertisers should know that almost half (42%) said they would be more motivated to play a social game if they were rewarded with ‘real-life’ benefits such as coupons or gift cards. A quarter of social gamers said they had clicked on an ad in a social game and gone on to make an online purchase.

“RockYou is investing in the development of the social gaming landscape and its growth as a powerful advertising medium,” said Julie Shumaker, SVP and GM of Media at RockYou.

“This study enables us to better understand social gamers and their motivations and provide advertisers, agencies, and social game developers with actionable information they can leverage in a rapidly evolving social economy.”

A study recently conducted by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) in the UK found that brands are largely ignoring in-game advertising opportunities despite the rise in the number of IP-connected gamers, across a multitude of devices, and the high-levels of engagement within games.

“The Gaming Britain report proves that playing video games is a mainstream activity enjoyed by over half of the UK population. Demonstrating incredibly high levels of engagement compared to other media. It’s a premium opportunity for brands to reach consumers when they are at their most focused,” said Jack Wallington, the IAB’s head of industry programs.