Q&A: The future of Aussie gaming

Interactive Australia 2007 report author Dr Jeff Brand talks about the move to mainstream, females taking over, and why games are becoming more like literature.

Interactive Australia 2007 author Dr Jeff Brand.

The Interactive Australia 2007 report, commissioned by the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia, is the first major study in two years on gaming trends down under. Author Dr Jeff Brand from Bond University's Centre for New Media Research talked to GameSpot AU at the report launch about the changing face of Australian gaming.

GameSpot AU: There's plenty of statistical information in the Interactive Australia 2007 report about Aussie gamers. What do you think the most important finding is?

Dr Jeff Brand: I think the highlight is that gaming is now mainstream. The old myth that games are a fringe medium isn't holding water at all. We've seen an increase in households in Australia that have games devices from 76 percent in 2005 to 79 percent in 2007. That's very good growth, and it means that basically most households have a game device. The other thing I think is very critical is that gaming is social, thanks to the Internet and some really great products by some game companies. The digital world is becoming a digital playground that allows us to play together. And I think it's really cool that gamers seem to think that games are a more positive aspect of our lives [than do] non-gamers... It just shows me that ignorance isn't bliss. If you don't know about gaming, you fear it.

GSAU: The stats may say that games are mainstream, but is it fair to say that the general perception is that games are still for kids?

JB: Absolutely, and this is natural. First of all, we have a millennia-old view that games are play, and that playing is for kids, and that serious adults--real adults--worry about productivity, growing crops, looking after kids, building industry, that sort of thing. We have a bias that kids play and adults don't. The fact of the matter is that gamers are increasingly adults. I think we're about two or three years away from totally quashing the myth that games are just for kids.

GSAU: Your report found that the number of female Australian gamers is shooting up rapidly. Why?

JB: I love the way you used the term shooting up rapidly, because women aren't shooting. If you look at first-person shooters--which, by the way, are always the games that are reported in the mainstream media and usually maligned--women don't play those games. But games in general are changing--they're becoming more context-based playgrounds where women can play. Women find their own joy in games, and I think that's why strategy games, puzzles, simulations, and that sort of thing are taking off.

GSAU: One of your predictions is that pretty soon the average gamer will be female. What else can we expect in the future?

JB: I can see that in several years, the games package on the store shelf will disappear. We'll be getting our games through episodic delivery, like we used to watch television in episodes. There will be a lot more casual gaming, as more adults will dip in for a quick 10-minute play during lunch, go back to work, and get back to the game later that evening.

GSAU: Another interesting statistic we found in the Interactive Australia 2007 report is that nearly all Australian gamers are holding onto their games after they've finished them. Why do you think that is happening?

JB: Let's face it--some games are 30- to several-hundred-hour-long experiences. How can we not in the course of that time become emotionally attached to the game? It's part of us. It's like a great television show that we have watched for years--we end up loving the characters. How can we afford to part with that? In much the same way that in the mid-19th century, when novels really started to take off, people would get a novel and then put it on the shelf. People were asking the question back then: "Why are you putting it on the shelf? You're not going to read it again."

Well, that's wrong. The view that you're not going to read a book twice or play a game twice is ludicrous. So people don't get rid of their games because some are so beautiful and enjoyable that they might want to go back and show their kids, or somebody else. One of the joys of playing games is sharing them with people that you care about.

GSAU: Dr Brand, thanks for your time.

47 Comments

  • doodeeman

    Posted Mar 8, 2007 1:21 pm PT

    you can still play banned games in Australia, its just they aren't legally allowed to sell it to the public, and with Manhunt, it was banned AFTER it was released, so in many Game hire and borrow joints, you can still get it, and i say, in a year or 2 50% of Ozzie gamers will be female.

  • Cniinc

    Posted Feb 6, 2007 5:35 pm PT

    Australia is trying to advertise to get more game companies to invest in her, even as they are well known for banning games from rating and making them unbuyable. Meh, whatever. I'm from california, so it's all same to me

  • Chief_Kuuni

    Posted Feb 5, 2007 11:18 pm PT

    what big bad byron said, exactly

  • big_bad_byron

    Posted Feb 4, 2007 9:43 am PT

    I can't see gaming ever becoming completely downloadable, artificial and episodic.

    It's the same reason mp3 or "non-cd/vinyl" will never completely take-over. People want to physically be able to hold the album booklets/discs and lovingly insert them into the disc drive to be played.

    We as Humans, like our possessions... Solid-State downloadable content (non-physical) would take away.

    -End Rambling-

  • CookiesCream

    Posted Feb 2, 2007 6:14 pm PT

    Thats Australia mate. Great.

  • nickbakopoulos

    Posted Feb 1, 2007 2:13 pm PT

    doesnt matter how many games get banned in australia guys, just buy em from the UK, and a lot of 360 games are region free anyway.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Feb 1, 2007 9:52 am PT

    ...... And when games become all downloaded episodic games (no doubt just 5 hours of fun for your $30+) and you have no packaging you will not have the 30 hour plus games you fall in love with and you won't have the packaging to put on the shelf and so gaming will stop being a loved hobby and become a pastime, which will be the end of it - so he's predicting the end of gaming downunder really!

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Feb 1, 2007 9:01 am PT

    it's great to live in the south pole region ... penguins don't ban your games!

  • Israfel856

    Posted Feb 1, 2007 8:36 am PT

    "oh no more female gamers = more sims games an WOW. Is this the end of quality gaming?"

    Funny that you list two quality games as examples....

  • muscrat_01

    Posted Feb 1, 2007 4:57 am PT

    LoL dont worry about banned games in Australia - its a rare occurance.

    Besides look how much pressure there is for an R rating.

  • blackhammer77

    Posted Feb 1, 2007 1:52 am PT

    What is a book? Could someone please explain what a TV is as well?

  • Morkilla

    Posted Feb 1, 2007 1:28 am PT

    Umm... I just moved to new Zealand, so am I allowed to read this article? Ya know, the whole rivalry thing... lol

  • TeMpLaR0

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 11:57 pm PT

    and the only reason i am keeping my ps2 is 4 god of war II to come out

  • TeMpLaR0

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 11:55 pm PT

    I really really really hope GTA IV doesn't get band over here in australia i really want to play it

  • Samulies

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 10:49 pm PT

    i dont know anyone who doesnt keep there games.

  • Silicon_Noob

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 10:23 pm PT

    oh no more female gamers = more sims games an WOW. Is this the end of quality gaming?

  • 4dragonscasino

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 9:40 pm PT

    MGS4, MGS4 OI OI OI!!!

  • Gmacrusher

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 7:11 pm PT

    I keep my favorite games....good thing that they keep theirs too..We are alike!

  • renagadez187

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 4:39 pm PT

    AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE, Oi, Oi, Oi!!

  • soulessblade

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 2:30 pm PT

    Vorlin - I totally hear ya. At least the EB guy pointed it out though. When I used to work at K-mart I was told off by my boss for refusing to sell a MA game to a unaccompanied 12 year old. The ratings seem to mean nothing to most people.

    Unfortunately most parents still believe that games are for kids and use them as babysiters. But now that late Gen X'ers and Gen Y'ers are starting their own families, attitudes are starting to change. We really need that R18+ rating though.

    Good article though, I love that gaming is becoming so prevalent! Especially in Australia.

    Re-ensurer - "What's up with all the news about Austrailia lately? " The US is not the centre of the Universe, stuff does happen outside of it, and not all of Gamespot's subscribers are Amercian. Simple.

  • Vorlin

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 8:43 am PT

    diablobasher: I can see the issue with buying 18+ games but it's not with a parent buying it for their parents, it's a parent buying something like GTA:SA for their 10-year old. That happened in line at an EB when I was buying something (I'm 31) and this kid wanted GTA:SA. His mom picked it up without even looking at it and when they went to the counter, the guy said to her "you do realize this game involves killing people, beating hookers, and other violence, right". She said "Yeah, just go ahead" and didn't even LOOK at him when she said that. She was far too engrossed in her own little world. And now we have yet another 10 year old playing a game like that. I'd f'ing laugh my ass off if I read about him in a domestic violence dispute later on...

  • drbob

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 8:00 am PT

    79% seems very high. I'd like to know what he means by "games device" most mobile phones or pc's have the potential to be a "games device" - that doesn't mean they are used as such.

  • Darth_Tyrranus

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 7:09 am PT

    diablobasher What's wrong with a parent buying a 18 rated game for their own parents? Their parents are grandparents and are obviously old enough to play those games.

  • diablobasher

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 7:00 am PT

    "The fact of the matter is that gamers are increasingly adults. I think we're about two or three years away from totally quashing the myth that games are just for kids."

    Let us hope that myth is quashed soon, idiot parents are still buying 18 rated games for their parents, it needs to stop.

  • BranKetra

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 6:58 am PT

    Cool stuff. I guess this doesn't flow with Joe Liberman's agenda of censorship.

  • Re_ensurer

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 6:37 am PT

    What's up with all the news about Austrailia lately?

  • PackersRock

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 6:14 am PT

    "It just shows me that ignorance isn’t bliss. If you don’t know about gaming, you fear it."

    Enough said.

  • cjcr_alexandru

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 6:11 am PT

    So games are becoming mainstream... good.

  • Rect_Pola

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 5:41 am PT

    I never got getting rid of things after you were done. You spent money on it. It's yours. Unless it was so bad that the very sight of it disgusts you.

  • darkDemyze

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 5:24 am PT

    Surprising figures. It's good to see that games are becoming more accepted in the mainstream instead of being outcast as a small group of people.

  • diangelogrey

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 4:51 am PT

    Definatly a interesting article. I dont understand why people are commenting about games being banned when it doesnt even relate to the topic. This is a report showing that the attitude of people to gaming is changing and the population are accepting it as mainstream.. Surely anyone can see this as a good thing... *sigh* I wish people would simply read the articles before commenting..

  • zdptheman2b

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 3:33 am PT

    Anarchicgoth..... obviously he/she doesn't know much about anything. The only game banned in Australia at the moment is Blitz: The League, a game which us Australians have no interest in. Manhunt is also banned but if you wanted to play the game you would have played it. Hmm but this interview brought up interesting points. I doubt that women will be the average gamer as most games are FPS, RTS or Adventure-esque games, the girls only like MMO's (WoW) and puzzle? games. Also if games do start to get released in episodes like TV it will be death to the hardcore gamer and I personally will stop playing games and start another hobby.

  • ketsuatama

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 3:20 am PT

    Hardly startling revelations or predictions. I wonder what sort of grant money he got for this ground-breaking report?!

  • sharpshooter188

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 3:06 am PT

    im surprised they have gaming at all with all the banning they do. same goes for germany.

  • aus_pride

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 3:06 am PT

    anarchicgoth = goth =negitve about everything

  • Doolum

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 2:07 am PT

    now this is what i call an interview.

  • elektrixxx

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 1:49 am PT

    The Wii will also influence the chick gamin' community.

  • darksusperia

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 1:30 am PT

    anarchicgoth you obviously have no idea. first you say that gears of war was banned, which it isnt. then you say we ban too many things? dude. how bout u shut it and speak when you actually have something useful to say..

  • anarchicgoth

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 12:21 am PT

    Hmm Aussies- i dont know about them- they like to ban way to many games

  • D1c3_GaM3

    Posted Jan 31, 2007 12:07 am PT

    AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!!!!!! OI! OI! OI!

  • the-very-best

    Posted Jan 30, 2007 11:52 pm PT

    That is very good growth, from 76% to 79%. Surprising figures. He also says "I think we're about two or three years away from totally quashing the myth that games are just for kids." That's also good to know, and I'm sure GTA has a lot to do with that (even though millions of kids play GTA).

  • jpurcell35

    Posted Jan 30, 2007 11:17 pm PT

    i doubt that 50% of aussie gamers will be female in the next few years

  • RaiKageRyu

    Posted Jan 30, 2007 11:11 pm PT

    Interesting interview.

  • gta11

    Posted Jan 30, 2007 11:10 pm PT

    Thats awesome news, go Australia!!!

  • aus_pride

    Posted Jan 30, 2007 11:04 pm PT

    Wow thats greats news , i didnt think that there was a console in 80 percent of australian homes. I really like the talk about how games arent just for kids, there for adutls to. QUOTE--- "The fact of the matter is that gamers are increasingly adults. I think we're about two or three years away from totally quashing the myth that games are just for kids."
    The future looks bright indeed!!

  • horioricorious

    Posted Jan 30, 2007 11:00 pm PT

    forward.

  • games5522

    Posted Jan 30, 2007 10:39 pm PT

    Cool!

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