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MMOs, the recession, and you - YOU are the bright spot in the economy
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Who doesn't love pie charts?
Today is Recession Day at the Examiner network, and for my contribution, I turned to... you! Over six hundred of you filled out my survey, and we've got an interesting little snapshot of the state of the playerbase right now. The short version? We ARE the bright spot in the economy. Go us!
I already knew from my time on the inside (most of the big publishers have done some research into their typical consumer) that MMO players tend to be better educated and more financially secure than the average North American. Broadband internet access, the powerful computer necessary to play these games at a competitive level, and the knowledge base to adapt to the esoteric interface of even the simplest MMO are the outward signifiers of education and success.
Whether our education makes us successful, or successful people are the ones who pursue education, or whether it's just that our overwhelmingly middle class background sets us up for success and education... look, it was a six question survey, I can't possibly make a call on that stuff. I also didn't ask anyone how much money they made. I just wanted to know how financially comfortable we *felt*. Here's how we think we're doing.
Interesting facts, courtesy of my survey.
36% feel fine, and 39% are fine "assuming nothing goes wrong." Yep, that's 75% of our survey takers saying they're basically doing all right. Money's a little tight for 17% of our merry band. We've got 5% of the group freaking out, and 3% is... well, screwed.
Compared to a year ago, 52.2% of you say you're spending less time on MMOs, and 35.4% are putting in about the same number of hours. My survey can't answer why that is - but anecdotally, many of the people who sent me comments said that nothing really good has come out in the last year, and the games they do enjoy are several years old and therefore not as all-consuming as a new love can be.
Only 14% of you have stopped subscribing to an MMO because of your financial situation, but you're prioritizing your MMO habit higher than other forms of entertainment - 25% of you have cut out cable, or restaurant dining, or going to the movies. (Fortunately for the rest of the entertainment industry, only 4% of you have cut out cable, restaurants, AND movies.)
Sadly for the free-to-play MMO niche, only 7% of you decided to try a microtransaction model for your MMO jones. Judging from the comments and the emails, that's because some of you realized you were actually spending MORE money that way, when you added up the dollar here and the fifty cents there.
If you want more survey data, check my bio and email me.
20% of you said you'd pay your MMO bill before you paid some other kind of bill.
Some of the people who said they would pay their MMO fees first only meant that they'd pay their MMO provider before paying their cable provider. I speak from experience, however, when I say that some people will pay the MMO bill before we'd pay, say, the water bill.
Hey, don't judge. My roommates and I were crazy broke, ten years ago. But when we looked at the numbers, we realized that we could cut out everything else we did for fun - couldn't afford anything that cost money, anyway - and shower at work, and thus keep the power on and our subscription to EverQuest going. The CPUs kept the basement nice and warm, too. EQ kept us in touch with dozens of friends around the world and kept us too busy for self-pity. Ten bucks a month, when a single movie ticket cost eight dollars, was a great deal, too. In hindsight, indoor plumbing probably should have been prioritized a little higher, but what the heck.
But I digress. The MMO players who are doing fine are still making cuts. Whenever I try to explain the hobby to outsiders, I point out that it usually takes the place of watching television, and that in fact it's superior to television, because we're interacting with our fellow humans. And the survey seems to bear that out - 23% of the people doing fine, and 20% of the people doing "fine, unless" have cut out their cable bill.
If money's a little tight for you, your MMO is the last thing you'll cut. 43% of you in this niche have stopped going out to eat, and 37% of you have said farewell to multiplex evenings with their sticky floors and stale popcorn. Only 30% of the people with tight budgets said they cut out cable - but a few of you wrote to tell me that cable was cut out long ago. 28% of you stopped paying for an MMO subscription... but again, some of you wrote to let me know that you stopped paying for *a* subscription to save money, not all of your subscriptions! Apparently, when times are tough, you stop paying for that game you used to love, or the game you wanted to support during their ramping up phase.
Finally, while I don't want to assume too much since the groups were so small, it looks like "freaking out" makes you more likely to take action. Half of the people freaking out have cut out movies and dining out, as well as at least one MMO subscription. But the people who defined themselves as "screwed"? 40% cut out movies and restaurants, and only 35% canceled an MMO.
As I said, the people in trouble are less than 10% of the MMO players who took this survey. The vast majority of those surveyed are doing all right. We are the shining star of these economic times. I hope that stays true, y'all.
Thanks to those of you who got the survey from this column, my blog, or my Twitter feed - I couldn't have written this without you!
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