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Good afternoon. If you're not familiar with this angry red bird or the modern day
version of Scrabble is Words with Friends, have a look at the person beside you
and they might have a guilty look on their face. We've already had Angry Birds reference in
our presentation already and as towards smartphones, well, you've ...
I've already seen how hard it was for you guys to switch them off [chuckles].
So my research is on games, entertainment software, on the smartphone.
Now my research aims to contribute both in academic and practical terms by
understanding people's connections with these games and what motivates
them to play and then we can actually look at the outcomes and that can benefit us,
the consumer, businesses, marketing and even surprisingly society itself.
Now apps, as we know them, are starting to overtake traditional internet access
and half of these apps are games. Now we think of videogames, we picture a bunch of
teenage boys in their dimly lit bedroom huddled together, fast food wrappers, you know, swearing
at the sceens, explosions happen but nothing can be further from the truth.
Almost 50% of all gamers are women. In fact there are more women over 18 who play games
than boys under 18 and the average age of a gamer is not 16 it's 36 and as for violence
only 10% of games can be considered violence.
Now the power games cannot be underestimated in terms of marketing and education or even
personal development. My favourite story is about a program for diabetic kids and after
playing the game they had better blood sugar control which resulted
in better health and a better sense of self-control. So we can see the benefits and by understanding
what motivates people we can actually shape behaviour through fun.
Now my research starts with some very, very recent research by the godfather by digital games
Frans Mayra and this is what's fundamental to my conceptual model and why my
research is a little bit different and important.
That we can ... we're all ... we're not a hardcore gamer, we are what we play,
we all have committed, casual and a social mentality. We play to play with others in social
terms, people play games they don't like to play with people they do like.
In terms of casual you've seen people playing while they watch TV, a little bit of
easy fun on the tram, and in terms of committed that's when you really get into the game and you
all know somebody who has a virtual farm [laughter].
Now the benefits of my research, well first of all in marketing and business terms the first
step is to understand your consumer. In order to utilise this research we have to actually,
you know, understand why people are playing it in order to tailor it for them.
The second one is that this hundred billion dollar industry, five billion in Australia,
needs marketing to support its continued development and the third reason
is in educational terms we can really benefit those who play the games and those around them.
Now entertainment software of video games represents a seismic shift in how we consume
media and what it is is an awesome potential that we haven't yet realised. Thank you.