With the kids away, moms will play

“I usually play around 8 or 9 at night, after I’m done with dinner, dishes, and sports. It doesn’t interfere with my family,” says Kelly Wetterhus, a Puyallup mom. She calls her interest in social online games “my time” and “a good way to unwind after a busy day.”

“It’s no different than watching TV, but instead I spend my time planting and harvesting virtual crops. I also help others with their online farms and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had,” says Ginny Marguese, the mother of two school-age children in Redmond.

“FarmVille never interferes with my job or the activities do with my kids,” says Rene Ostrom, “but with all three of my children back in school today I’ll celebrate with a few minutes of uninterrupted computer time.”

Kelly, Ginny and Rene are a part of the largest demographic of social and casual gamers – women in their late 30s to mid 40s. These kinds of games don’t require special skills to play. While most video games are played on consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox or Nintendo’s Wii, casual games are usually played on computers or portable devices like the iPad and smart phones.

The three moms also play the most popular social game in the world – FarmVille. I wrote about the FarmVille fad when it reached more than 80 million users. It’s still huge. Wetterhus says she’s attracted to the game because it’s a “brainless” way to relax at the end of the day.

Starting with a small plot of land like this…

and ending up with something elaborate, gives users a sense of accomplishment too.

Pop Cap, a casual gaming company based in Seattle, has studied the profile of the average social gamer. More women than men are playing games like FarmVille – 54 percent women compared with 46 percent of men. About 41 percent have fulltime jobs, and the majority are only playing the games for about 15 minutes a day.

“It’s not a huge part of their time, but it does suggest that this is becoming a new facet of people’s lifestyles,” says Garth Chouteau, Pop Cap VP of public relations. “People are playing these games online or on their phones the same way they’d look at a paper in the morning, check their email, or look at a sports or gossip website. It’s a part of their routine.”

Why do so many people play these games? About 53 percent say it’s just for fun, 45 percent say it’s for stress relief, and almost as many people say it’s for the competition. For Zynga – the company that makes FarmVille, Mafia Wars, FrontierVille and others – it’s for the money.

While gamers can plant virtual crops and take care of online animals for free, they can also pay for upgrades. An estimated 15 percent of players spend real money on social games. Zynga is expected to make $450 million this year alone. Incidentally, the chief technical officer of FarmVille is a former Microsoft engineer.

Confess. Do you play some kind of social game online?