The Profiles of Paying Adult Gamers

An Analysis of the Preferred Values in Games

Abstract

Individuals constantly make consumption decisions, which impact not only the consumer, but also the entire chain that participates directly or indirectly in the creation of that product or service. Thus, there is a need to better understand the profiles of consumers of digital entertainment games, so that local developers can produce games that arouse and maintain the interest of these gamers, making this the main objective of this research. For this, Cluster Analysis was used, through the K-means method for categorical variables, where four personas were found, which were translated by their reference profiles (detailed in D descriptions), and represented a set of similar profiles in the sample space of the respondents, with homogeneous characteristics to this “focal profile”. The groups composed of the oldest age group (31 – 40 years old) and with a monthly income of BRL 2,200.01 to BRL 4,400.00 expressed a prudent behavior in relation to spending on games (they spent from BRL 0.00 to BRL 100.00 in the last 6 months). The other two remaining groups, formed by the younger age group (21 – 30 years), had different financial characteristics: the one with the lowest monthly income (up to BRL 1,100.00) was not the one who spent the least on electronic games in the last 6 months. (BRL 101.00 to BRL 250.00). The survey also concluded that “autonomy to follow several paths” was highly valued by the 4 profiles, named “withdrawn player”, “passionate player”, “nostalgic player” and “willing player”" to reflect the main characteristics of each profile.