Social gamers more valuable to developers than non gamers, claims MocoSpace

There's one major reason why mobile developers are increasingly turning to the social gaming model, according to MocoSpace: social gamers are far more valuable.

A survey of 10,000 users of MocoSpace's mobile gaming portal has revealed that consumers who brand themselves as 'social gamers' are incredibly active in terms of pursuing their hobby.

Crucially, the company's findings suggest they're also willing to dedicate large portions of their time playing any games they happen across.

Time well spent

Carried out in March, MocoSpace's survey revealed that social gamers have more friends on the network and spend more time playing games than those who identify as 'non gamers'.

On average, social gamers spend 141 minutes on the site more than three times the 45 minutes non gamers devote to MocoSpace.

Social gamers also have an average of 50 friends each to the non gamers' 18.

"The study validated our decision to prioritise games over user-generated content as a means for engaging with other members on MocoSpace," said co-founder and CEO Justin Siegel.

"By the end of the year, we will give advertisers access to the game related inventory, which is something we are getting continued requests to do today."

Stating the obvious?

There's no doubt that MocoSpace's survey highlights one of the major reasons why social gaming has enjoyed a surge on mobile of late.

Social games are able to engage their audience to a greater degree than many other titles, and in this genre, engagement generally leads to players parting with their cash on a regular basis.

But MocoSpace's decision to compare the activities of social gamers with those of so-called non gamers makes the company's findings rather unremarkable when put under the microscope.

It could easily be argued that, to suggest consumers who brand themselves as gamers - a self selecting term without well defined attributes anyhow - spend more time on their hobby than those who identify as non gamers isn't the most insightful of revelations.