据CNN消息，一般情况下会将游戏玩家定义为十几岁的男孩子，比如《魔兽世界》的玩家。但是Facebook等社交游戏重新对游戏玩家进行了定义，有了一个惊人的新发现：大龄女性玩家正成为社交游戏主要用户群。

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这些新型玩家登陆Facebook这样的网站，无数次沉迷于Zynga旗下农场游戏FarmVille以及CrowdStar旗下Happy Pets，这些游戏的创造者正通过此大发横财。

Facebook前高管Net Jacobsson称，“社交游戏不是传统意义上的游戏，这种游戏更像娱乐。社交游戏带来了全新的玩家群体，很多人是我们之前想象不到的。社交游戏是台潜在的赚钱机器。”Net Jacobsson下个月即将推出游戏公司PlayHopper。

市场研究机构NPD在今年8月份进行的一项调查发现：多达35%的社交游戏玩家表示此前从未玩过任何形式的数字游戏。大约2000万美国人第一次接触这种新的消遣方式。

Information Solutions Group今年1月份在对宝石迷阵游戏开发商PopCap Games用户行为进行分析时发现，平均来看，游戏玩家是43岁的中年妇女。

乍一看，大部分社交游戏针对于十几岁的少女，而不是她们的母亲：鲜艳的颜色、闪烁的符号等。这些游戏经常围绕日常生活展开，比如养奶牛、养宠物等。Net Jacobsson称，“这些游戏主要是培育方面的，玩家会在游戏进展中获得小的、积极的鼓励。如果你获得奖励，你就很想继续前进。”

当Slide公司战略执行总裁Keith Rabois发现公司2009年推出的游戏SuperPoke! Pets用户中有很多大龄女性用户时感到很惊讶，但是这部分用户正变成最有利可图的一部分：SuperPoke!是一款免费下载的游戏，但有很多装饰品和虚拟物品可以出售。

Keith Rabois上个月在接受采访时称，“人们希望在Facebook找到点诙谐和有趣的东西，花点钱也无所谓，我们给了他们这样的工具。”当时Slide还没被谷歌收购。

游戏制造商EA在2009年收购了游戏开发商Playfish，Playfish正计划推出《大富翁》类的游戏，主要吸引大龄玩家。大龄玩家更乐意花钱，从而成为游戏开发商的主要目标。Playfish全球联络主管Tom Sarris称，年长女性不是唯一愿意支付的玩家，但是是重要的组成部分。社交游戏中的社交因素拓展了概念，开发者们必须对此作出反应。

事实上，愿意为社交游戏支付的用户寥寥可数。市场研究公司Think Equity分析师Atul Bagga估计，只有大约1%至3%的社交游戏玩家实际支付。社交游戏开发商Zynga估计3%至5%的玩家是潜在付费者。

但目前仍是社交游戏模式的早期阶段，而且大部分社交游戏开发商是私人公司，要分析其收入来源不是很容易。即使社交游戏开发商自己也对此也很迷惑，WildTangent创始人兼游戏公司hi5总裁Alex St. John也对大龄玩家这一趋势感到怀疑。他说，“孩子们没有自己的信用卡，他们当然得使用自己妈妈的。公司们只看信用卡数据，而不是去看谁在真正地玩游戏。这一衡量标准是不准确的。”

Alex St. John称，自己公司发现各个年龄层游戏用户很平均，女性在20后开始有对游戏失去兴趣的趋势，30岁后又重拾对游戏的兴趣。

当大龄玩家重拾自己的爱好，hi5以及其竞争对手将看到大好“钱景”。

The stereotypical “gamer” is a teenage boy locked in his basement, playing World of Warcraft  with a cube of Mountain Dew at his side. But games on social networks like Facebook have redefined the genre, and they’re reaching previously untapped customers: Older women have become a key fan base.

They’re logging onto sites like Facebook to play countless rounds of Zynga’s FarmVille and CrowdStar’s Happy Pets — and game creators are racing to cash in.

“Social games are not really games in the traditional sense — it’s really more like entertainment,” says Net Jacobsson, a former Facebook executive who is launching gaming company PlayHopper next month. “It’s bringing in a whole new audience of gamers, from demographics we wouldn’t expect. It is a potential cash machine.”

A whopping 35% of those who play social games say they have never played any type of digital game before, according to an August report from research firm NPD Group. That’s almost 20 million Americans who are new to the pastime.

A January study from Information Solutions Group, conducting research on behalf of Bejeweled publisher PopCap Games, looked at American and British social gamers. The average player? A 43-year-old woman.

The lure for new audiences: At first glance, many of the social games seem targeted at teen girls rather than their mothers. Bright colors abound, with sparkly animations and superfluous exclamation points. Games often revolve around mundane activities like raising cows and feeding pets, versus the shooting and blood found in the typical bestselling video game.

“These games tap into a nurturing aspect, and players receive small positive encouragements,” Jacobsson says. “It’s like Pavlov’s dog — if you get rewarded, you want to keep going.”

Keith Rabois, executive vice president of strategy at app maker Slide, was surprised when his company’s 2009 game SuperPoke! Pets found a big fan base among older women. But that audience turned out to be a lucrative one: SuperPoke! is free to download, but some decorations and virtual gifts are for sale.

“People want to look witty and cool on Facebook, even if it costs a little money,” Rabois told CNNMoney last month, shortly before Slide was acquired by Google. “We give them the tools to do that.”

Cashing in on Mom: Playfish, a developer that Electronic Arts (EA) acquired in 2009, has seen such a swarm of older players that the company is planning to digitize long-loved games like Monopoly to cater specifically to that demographic.

Older gamers tend to be the ones with money to spend — and that makes them a prime target for game creators.

“Older women aren’t the only ones paying to play, but they’re definitely a significant component,” says Tom Sarris, Playfish’s director of global communications. “This social aspect has broadened the notion of gameplay, and developers have to respond to that.”

Users willing to pay for social games are few and far between: Atul Bagga, an analyst at research firm Think Equity, estimates only about 1% to 3% of social gamers actually shell out cash.

That’s in line with estimates from Zynga, the industry’s current Goliath. The company finds that 3% to 5% of players are potential moneymakers, Zynga chief game designer Brian Reynolds said at an industry conference earlier this year.

But it’s still early days for social gaming business models, and since most of the game makers are privately held, there’s a fair bit of guesswork in analyzing the industry’s revenue streams.

Even the companies themselves struggle with it. Alex St. John, a WildTangent founder and current president of gaming company hi5, has his doubts about the older-gamer trend.

“Children don’t have their own credit cards — of course they’re using Mom’s,” St. John scoffs. “Companies are looking at the credit card data instead of who’s actually playing the game. It’s not an accurate metric.”

St. John says his company sees a “pretty good mix along all ages” in the gaming market — though women tend to lose interest in their 20s before resuming the habit again in their 30s.

When older gamers do pick up the habit, hi5 and its rivals are banking on them also reaching for their wallets.（source：cnn/techweb）