A study in the Journal of Communication found that women who engage in a role-playing game online actually spend more time in the alternate reality than the guy players do. Karen Hopkin reports.
Picture a gamer, someone who spends countless hours immersed in one of those online role-playing alternate realities. And what do you see? Is it a physically fit female closer to 40 than 14? If not, you may need to rethink your assumptions about geekdom. Because a study in the Journal of Communication shows that when it comes to dominating the virtual world, women are actually more hardcore than men.
Scientists conducted a survey of some 7,000 players who were logged on to a game called EverQuest II. And they discovered some interesting things. First off, the average age of the gamers surveyed was 31. And that playing time tended to increase with age. Which is also where the sex differences come in. The female gamers actually logged more time online: an average of 29 hours a week, versus 25 for the males, with the top players putting in 57 hours a week on the girl’s side, and 51 for the guys. What’s more, it looks like women are more likely to lie about how much they really play. The researchers found that the gals tended to lowball how long they spend glued to the screen.
So, never ask a women her age. Or how much time she spends defeating the dark elves to rebuild the world of Norrath.
Goals description: We want to develop a new range of online Flash games (board games, role playing games and party games), inspired by existing games that are running on Web Social Media and Mobile. The supplier will have the mission to search and inventory web games.
- These games must be very popular with good graphic design.
- These games are running or could run on the Social Media sites or/and mobile.
- The supplier shall conduct a study involving 10 games.
- He’ll provide an analytical report that will detail the reasons of the success of the games. The internal reasons (scenario, graphic quality, earnings,) and the external reasons (marketing, communication).
- He will write a report outlining the strengths and weaknesses of each game, as well recommendations for improving each game.
Estimated workload: 5 days. The budget is now $350 to $750usd
If you are interested, follow these steps: first, click on this banner and sign up to this site (free):
Second, I need you to contact me. Email me , or use any social network inbox message method is fine, or even just comment under this post so I can connect with you. Let me know you've signed up and I'll send you the job info.
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Here is the description:
Goals description: We want to develop a new range of online Flash games (board games, role playing games and party games), inspired by existing games that are running on Web Social Media and Mobile. The supplier will have the mission to search and inventory web games.
- These games must be very popular with good graphic design.
- These games are running or could run on the Social Media sites or/and mobile.
- The supplier shall conduct a study involving 10 games.
- He’ll provide an analytical report that will detail the reasons of the success of the games. The internal reasons (scenario, graphic quality, earnings,) and the external reasons (marketing, communication).
- He will write a report outlining the strengths and weaknesses of each game, as well recommendations for improving each game.
Estimated workload: 5 days. The budget is up to $250usd.
If you are interested, follow these steps: first, click oin this banner and sign up to this site (free):
Second, I need you to contact me. Email me , or any social network inbox messae is fine, or even just comments for this post so I can reach you. Let me know you've signed up and I'll send you the job info.
-----
Keywords: analytical report, android, board games, english, english writer, flash, flash game, flash games, free games, games, games board, games design, games project, games role playing games, gaming, graphic, graphic design, graphic quality, inventory, inventory web, line games, marketing communication, mobile, myspace, online flash games, party games, project, project manager, report, role playing games, search, social, social gaming, social media, web, web games, whitepaper, write, Facebook, Game Design, Report Writing, Research, Testing / QA
A survey of 400 companies found that 94 percent of enterprises plan to maintain or increase their investment in enterprise social media tools such as blogs, wikis and microblogging tools from providers such as IBM, MindTouch, Socialcast, Mzinga and Jive Software. The results seem counterintuitive in light of the recession, but it shows the importance of these tools for social networking and collaboration, and proves that they are not just a fad in the enterprise. Social analytics tools are also part of the trend.
Despite the nagging recession, a new study found that 94 percent of enterprises plan to maintain or increase their investment in enterprise social media tools such as blogs, wikis and microblogging tools.
Deloitte, Beeline Labs and the Society for New Communications Research surveyed 400 companies that have cultivated internal social networks or online communities, finding that only 6 percent plan to decrease their investment in the recession. The communities surveyed ranged from fewer than 100 members to more than one million members.
Ed Moran, director of product innovation for consultancy Deloitte Services LP and one of the report authors, called the results counterintuitive in light of the recession, noting that while IT, marketing and public relations departments are being cut, companies continue to spend on social software for networking and collaboration.
Companies that go against the grain of belt-tightening by spending on social software underscore the importance of these tools, proving that they are not just a hip trend or fad in the enterprise.
"We call it the anti-fad because people have always been social, talking about companies, products and services," Moran said. "They just never had the mechanism for doing it at any kind of scale. This is not going away and it's not just for kids."
Most of the companies Moran surveyed said they are using social media tools to engage with customers, partners and employees for marketing purposes, with word-of-mouth, customer loyalty, brand awareness, idea generation and customer support quality comprising other community objectives. The need to meet these goals presents great opportunities for enterprise social software makers.
Tools such as Twitter and Facebook are so popular that software makers such as IBM, MindTouch, Jive Software, Socialtext and Socialcast have all created comparable tools for businesses.
Instead of going on Twitter or Facebook to talk trash about competitors, or to endorse products and services they like (although people still do that, to the chagrin of employers), employees are using blogs, wikis and Twitter-like status update services their companies purchased for them from the aforementioned providers.
Moreover, Moran said he is seeing an uptick in the adoption of analytics software that tracks both active and inactive members to derive insights, something that was barely mentioned even a year ago. Socialcast, Jive and Mzinga, among others, offer this software.
"The enterprise is waking up to the fact that it needs to listen and that it needs business intelligence" for the communities, Moran said. However, this is happening in pockets and is not yet widescale, presenting opportunity for analytics tools providers.
Those survey respondents that are using these tools are paying attention to non-active users or "lurkers," people who observe the community, but don't participate in the discussion. Thirty-two percent of respondents are capturing data on how these individuals derive value from the community. This points to a maturation of the enterprise's use of communities and social media.
Moreover, 20 percent of companies Moran surveyed said they have set up "ambassador" programs, which give outsiders preferential treatment in return for being more active in the community.
Despite this maturation in enterprise social media, companies still report having a hard time getting people to join, remain and/or return to the online communities. Few companies are tackling these challenges, paving the way for dedicated online community manager roles.
"New management strategies and practices will be critical, including redefining the scope and role of alliances as well as the overall boundary of corporations," Moran said.
