Future Foundation: What’s the name of the game?

It’s summer, and the spirit of fun is upon us at the Future Foundation – so this month’s article focuses on games, gaming and just how serious the business of fun has become…

Gaming: sub-culture no more

It will come as no surprise that the best-selling ‘current generation’ in-home games console is the Nintendo Wii, which is, in our opinion, the first casual games machine to successfully broaden gaming’s appeal and propel game culture (and hardware) into households previously untapped by the industry. Coming this Autumn, Sony’s Playstation Move and Microsoft’s Xbox Kinect (devices compatible with the manufacturers’ consoles) will create further appeal for the fast-growing casual gamer demographic.

Indeed, looking at the bigger picture, we see a compelling success story for the gaming industry. By 2008, combined UK software and hardware sales reached £4 billion for the first time, a figure substantially higher than music and DVD sales combined (and four times UK cinema box office takings). Indeed, it has become commonplace for blockbuster games titles – launched at red carpet events attended by celebrities and games fans alike – to dwarf first-week takings of new films. Within just five days of its release in November 2009, the hugely successful Modern Warfare 2, for example, had grossed over half a billion dollars globally and was owned by one in 49 people in the UK.

Our own nVision Research demonstrates that gaming is on the rise, especially among the older demographic. 40% of the UK population now owns a games console of some kind and the proportion of 45-54 year olds in possession of a games console jumped from 37% in 2007 to 48% in 2009.

Smart Boredom

So where does this burgeoning passion for gaming stem? We suggest in our trend-analysis Smart Boredom that gaming, particularly while on-the-go, appeals to a strong impulse within the modern consumer mindset – the impulse to fill moments of downtime (time that would once have simply been lost) with rich and entertaining experiences. Indeed, according to nVision, four in ten UK adults already say they would prefer to play games on a phone or handheld device if they have 20 minutes to spare while waiting for public transport (see chart below).

This is not to be confused with a sense of genuine boredom, apathy or slothfulness; these are still viewed as ills to be avoided. Indeed, more than half of us admit that – “one of the things I dread most is to be bored, or have nothing to do” (nVision Research) and when compared with the rest of Europe, Britain stands out as having one of the lowest boredom thresholds. This new form of downtime intelligently converts quiet time into something even modestly constructive and beneficial.

The social heart of gaming

The internet has long since emerged as a play destination . More and more games software offers the option of online play with others; according to data released by ComScore in July 2010, 217 million people worldwide play online games.

One area we monitor with particular interest is ‘social gaming’; casual online games that operate entirely within social networking communities and are played amongst friends. Games such as Pet Society, Cafe World, Mafia Wars, Farmville (which had a monthly active user base of circa 82m in May 2010) and Happy Farm (the most popular Chinese social game to date) feature heavily on social networking profiles, placing games at the heart of online social interaction. Gaming is a serious source of social capital accumulation and personal skills development.

We also nod here to the emergence of social networks designed specifically with gamers in mind. Personal profiles on Playfire, for example, are filled with the user’s collected gaming achievements; Raptr features a live feed of games being played right now by other community members. Will all personal profiles soon carry a measure of how well we can play? And indeed is Facebook itself not a kind of human boardgame, with pictured players moving in and out, as the lead player’s moods and needs change?

Savvy brands are tapping into the instinct to play

Innovative companies are already looking into ways that play can be incorporated into the services we use and the products we buy. As just a few examples:

• Play can be used as a device to deliver quite complex or dry information in more digestible formats. For example, the Government, in partnership with the Personal Finance Education Group, has launched an online board game called Fortunity to teach 11-18 year-olds about day-to-day financial decisions.
• Location-based gaming is providing a wealth of opportunities for innovation. Sensing an opportunity in the mobile market, Starbucks has teamed with GPS-game Foursquare to reward customers who ‘check-in’ to one of its physical coffee outlets. Similarly, premium shoe brand Jimmy Choo recently rolled out ‘Catch-A-Choo’, a virtual treasure hunt designed to encourage consumers to search for a pair of high-end trainers which revealed their location via FourSquare
• The charitable sector has adopted playful mediums to engage people more effectively with their cause. CauseWorld uses location based check-ins to connect users to the stores around them, then uses the points they get for checking in to support a variety of charitable causes. Like Foursquare, there is an gaming element in the form of badges and other virtual rewards, with a focus on collecting ‘karma points’ which can be exchanged for donations to participating charities
• And the green movement is taking a slice of the action. Take, for example, the SmartGauge digital dashboard in Ford’s Fusion Hybrid car. Green leaves visually appear on the display as a reward for eco-friendlier driving (moderate acceleration, gradual braking), making the drive a more playful experience

There is nothing trivial about the modern evolution of play. Indeed it is one of the most powerful social and commercial vibes in the universe.