A study conducted by an eminent institute of management suggests that flash game players might be more alert than their console counterparts. The study was conducted to weigh the impact of non-commercial factors on buyer purchase behaviour.
The experiment consisted of a survey designed to form two age cohorts of game players subdivided into two categories flash game players and console players. Both cohorts consisted of two focussed groups, one relating to players of flash communities and the other to those who identified as being console players.
A causal experiment was then designed to determine the responsiveness of the gaming groups in terms of ‘time to response’. Experimental observations were conducted for the two age cohorts alongside extensive metrics between players of the two groups.
Experiments to gauge ‘time to response’ ranged from simple multiple choice pre-exposed Q&A, wherein the candidates were allowed to run through question banks prior to testing, to logical reasoning and analysis. The objective was not determining the accuracy of the answer but ‘time to response’ fairly accurate.
Interestingly both groups of the respective cohorts patterned different distributions for parametric testing.’Time on Game’ seemed to fit into a statistical lognormal curve for flash games whereas a gamma curve for console games, this startling fact seems to suggest that games players gain more exposure to variety, whereas their console game counterparts are likely to get thematically stuck.
Logical reasoning and analysis, and basic math were also structured and administered into the causal analysis to further strengthen the evidence.The metrics were standardised to nullify intelligence factors and the ‘time to response’ argument established.
The implications of this are significant effecting both developer and player. Although the flash player spends the same amount of time playing, as a console player, the very fact that a flash game is structured to be a mini game and made available in abundance, motivates the player to experiment with different games thereby reducing the time spent on a single game perse. The domino effect is interpreted in terms of a larger experience of the ‘spectrum of creativity’, benefiting a larger community of game developers. This is in stark contrast to the console player whose brand and thematic loyalty is imbibed with inertia acting as a barrier to change. It is during a transition of themes that the console player exhibits thematic lethargy.
Secondly a lognormal probability distribution characterises a thinning long tail, if this is indicative of gaming addiction, then we may surmise that flash games are less addictive compared to their console counterparts.
In a nut shell it appears fair to conclude that flash games players just might be more alert and this may be attributed to the conditioning of ‘time to response’ in an environment which is not thematically stuck nor addictive.