Out and About: SPBT Conference Presentation

Posted by Karl Kapp on June 20, 2007

Just got done with a presentation titled “Games and the Gamer Generation: Realities, Myths, Traits and Training. Are you ready to engage, empower and educate this generation?” for the Society of Pharmaceutical and Biotech Trainers.

The presentation went well. I used the Turning Point audience response system. It worked pretty well and gave me a great tool for determing the make up of my audience during my presentation. It allowed me to be interactive with the audience, gain information from them and allow them to participate in the presentation. I really enjoyed using the technology. I was also able to expose mis-perceptions that would not be visible in a typical presentatoin. Here are some examples.

I learned that my audience consisted of people born between 1960 and 1980 (and even some born before 1960 since I received a rather nasty comment on the post-presentation evaluation about failure to include people born before 1960, they are pre-gamers according to my definition and so not in the chart, but I will include next time.)

I also learned that most of the audience thought the Hottest Selling Kid’s PC Game from May 2004 to June 2006 was Roller Coaster Tycoon. It wasn’t. The correct answer is Princess Fashion Boutique (for which someone commented on my evaluation that I was sexist in my categorization of video games and the gamers…I really thought I was covering male and female gamers equally.)

I also learned that most people thought the average US retirement age is 70. The right answer is 59 and the age has been trending downwards from 1910.

I enjoyed the presentation and hope the audience did as well. I got some good feedback on the presention as well lest you think it was all negative. (recommending I come back next conference, informative, eye opening, best presentation of the conferece…etc….however, the negative comments always stick with one longer and, in many cases, are more instructive for improvements.)

And, I got to meet in person fellow blogger Tom Crawford. It is awesome to meet people in person whom you’ve interacted through blogging.

So all-in-all enjoyable and the interactive technology is a great way to engage the gamer generation (male and female) as well as other learners (those born before 1960 included.)
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Posted in: Content Guide

Leave a Comment (7) ↓

thcrawford June 25, 2007

I enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to catching up in person again, and for the next presentation.

thcrawford June 24, 2007

Karl, I definitely enjoyed the presentation. You’re clearly a good speaker and the content was some of the best at the conference.

However, I kind of understand where people are coming from on the discussion about age (or gender). For example, saying that older generations are not good with “technology” is a broad overstatement. In fact, if we look back, we’ll most likely find that every generation says that about the older generations. The only difference is in what “technology” means to each of them. Nobody knows the future, but I feel pretty comfortable with a guarantee that when Gen Y hits their 30’s & 40’s some new technology will come along that will allow their kids to say they’re out of date or not good with “technology”.

If we look at Forbes or Fortune or Time or whatever magazine or newspaper that’s been around for a while, I think it will be pretty easy to find references to older generations being out of touch and younger generations being lazy and unstructured.

A similar thing could be said with the use of the term “Patient” or “Impatient”. First, I don’t think patience can be described to a generation. I know plenty of people in each generation that could have either label. Frankly, look at the gamers who play MMORPGs. I may not have ever seen a more patient bunch. They sit beside a stream or lake for 8 or 9 (real) hours at a time catching virtual fish to sell so that they can buy that next weapon they need to continue the game. If that’s not patient, I don’t know what is.

In general, I think this may come down more to personality styles then it does to age differences. If we look into the preferences of gamers, we’ll find a wide array of variations. Some prefer RPG vs. MMORPG, or FPS vs. simulations, or card games vs. board games. Having said that, I do agree with your basic premise though that the types of games a person plays can teach different lessons. In fact, that same discussion could be used to determine which type of game to use for each topic to be learned.

Whether it be patience or technology or structure or formality, I think those are more personality or style traits then they are generational. It doesn’t make your points less valid, it’s just that I’m not sure it’s as generational as many people think.

Karl Kapp June 21, 2007

Christy,

Thanks I did see that in Business Week (hard copy read in airport). I was thinking about how to incorporate those ideas and I think you hit the nail on the head. It shows the trend but clearly highlights exceptions as well. Thanks for making that connection for me.

Christy Tucker June 21, 2007

That all sounds excellent–it still lets you make the points you’re trying to make, but deemphasizes labeling people based on age and gender.

I just saw this graphic on Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach’s blog and wondered if there was a way something like this could be used to present your information. It definitely shows the age trends, but it shows the exceptions too. Maybe this will give you some inspiration.
What People Are Doing

Thanks again for your great input I think I might do something with the evolution of games and not classify people by years and just say something like, “if you grew up playing Pong-type games… they taught these types of lessons, if you grew up playing online role-play games, they taught you other types of lessons.” I will take out the age classification and just focus on the evolutions of lesson’s learned. That just might work.(although I do still need to draw the line between digital natives and digital immigrants.)

In terms of the male/female issue, I am going to add some slides about female-only Halo tournaments and well known female gamers to broaden the concept for people about the appeal of video games across genders.

Hi Karl,

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I see where you are coming from talking about Sims and Princess Fashion Boutique. To some extent you are trying to combat the stereotype that it’s only socially inept teenage males who play games, and I think you do an excellent job of debunking that myth.

There are definitely generalities with age as well, and I do think there is value in looking at those trends. Perhaps it just comes across as too much of a revolving door though. “You were born on Dec. 31, 1959? Well, you’re a pregamer. Jan. 1, 1960? Gamer 1.0.” Obviously, I’m exaggerating, but we sometimes take those mental shortcuts when someone is explaining categories to us. It is more complex than just age or gender or any single factor.

So, I guess all you need to do is figure out how to express all that complexity in a 45-60 minute presentation with a few PowerPoint slides. No problem, right? 😉

I really did enjoy your presentation (I attended your webinar on 4/20). I was surprised by the real answers to some of your questions to us (the retirement age question threw me too). I thought you were a very engaging speaker. I will look forward to hearing you again sometime, and I’m sure it will be even better!

Christy Tucker June 20, 2007

Having seen one of your presentations before, I can say that I didn’t find anything you said particularly sexist, and I think you did a better job acknowledging female gamers than is often done in the industry. I had no idea how many people playing Sims 2 were female and under 25 (guess I’m 5 years too old, but I still like it).

Anyway, even though I think overall you did fine, you might want to consider how you phrase the information about Princess Fashion Boutique. You talk about the stats for which games were popular and then assume it’s an immediate corollary that Princess Fashion Boutique is bought only for girls (at least you give that impression that one automatically leads to the other). I assume that it is primarily for girls, but I wouldn’t say it’s only girls, and I haven’t seen data to back that up. You could also acknowledge that Princess Fashion Boutique is geared towards the stereotype for what girls want to play, whether or not that is actually accurate.

Whenever you are talking about the age ranges, gender, or other groups, I think it is important to repeatedly remind people that although these are trends, these are generalizations and not absolutes. Not everyone fits neatly into one box or another, and we shouldn’t expect them to. People who were born in the 50s but have always been early adopters may share more characteristics with later generations than others of their same age.

You walk a fine line with your content because you talk about things in terms of age and gender. If you talked about your profiles just in terms of characteristics of gaming and technology (which games, how much, communication styles) rather than focusing on age and gender, you might avoid hitting some of the buttons you’re obviously hitting with your audience.

By the way, although I do enjoy Sims, and I like your analogy of the dollhouse, I threw a major tantrum at my mother when she bought me a Barbie doll in first grade. I was much happier with matchbox cars and transformers. I find the Civ games addictive, and I doubt that Oblivion (which I loved) is on your list of typically female games. Don’t assume that I can be put in a box either. 😉