The first time Ms Adelina Ong tried a first-person shooter game at an arcade, she threw up.
'My friends had a good laugh. After that, I decided - no more,' recalls the 29-year-old social enterprise manager, who sells education programmes.
The game was not atrocious. In fact, first-person shooter games - where a player sees a scene as his character in the game sees it - are a mega-hit with many gamers. Hot titles include Xbox's Halo and Gears Of War series.
But Ms Ong could not get around the controls and perspectives of game-play. Then she discovered online strategy Role-Playing-Games (RPG) such as World Of Warcraft (WOW) and was hooked.
'If I could, I would play it seven days a week,' says Ms Ong, who gets into the gaming seat about five times a week for up to two hours each session.
Five years ago, you could say she was an anomaly. But today, she is just one of the many thousands of players who are shattering the stereotype of the gamer as either a geeky kid or a hardcore, socially inept male techie.
'That image really has to change. It's ridiculous. Some of the most faithful gamers are housewives nowadays,' adds Ms Ong.
Indeed, the gaming industry is seeing a new breed of users, who come from all walks of life. They have become such important consumers that the industry has a name for them - the casual gamer.
While exact figures are not yet available, analyst and consultancy firm IDC says casual gamers may account for more than 90 per cent of users here, based on surveys of online PC gaming alone.
Loosely defined by industry observers as someone who plays games for under 20 hours a week, developers are wasting no time targeting this group of consumers, which includes women and senior citizens.
And industry players, who are in town for the Games Convention Asia 2008 - which is held at Suntec City and will run till tomorrow - are expecting casual gamers to help boost visitor figures for the three-day event to an expected 100,000. This is a 43 per cent increase from last year.
Once thought to be mostly limited to online PC games that have been a hit since the 1990s, casual gaming is fast catching on in video-consoles, thanks to Japanese gaming giant Nintendo's Wii.
Experts say the market has always been there, but the Wii, with its innovative format which engages a user physically in a game, took it a step further.
Mr Jason Chu, chief operating officer of game development school DigiPen Institution Singapore, says: 'It's the whole virtual experience - about getting back to the basics of human nature.
'This is a trend that will continue. It's no longer about pressing buttons anymore.'
With the success of the Wii comes an onslaught of add-on controllers from wheels to guitars that people can use to play games.
Perhaps the most theatrical is the Wii's Cooking Mama game, which comes with controllers in the form of, you guessed it, cooking utensils.
Mega-hit franchise Guitar Hero is another console game that is played on a guitar-controller.
Simplicity wins
Guitar Hero 3 - the latest version launched last October - is the second best-selling title in the United States with 8.2 million units, according to research firm NPD.
Mr Alan Chou, a spokesman for Xbox in Southeast Asia, says such titles with quirky controllers help attract casual gamers: 'You don't have to be a hardcore gamer to experience the enhanced appeal of a game.'
Mr Ang Wee Keat is one such gamer. He plays Guitar Hero with his two daughters, aged five and eight. He says of his kids: 'Their fingers are just starting to get long enough to stretch and press the buttons, and when they see me play, they want to play too.'
The 33-year-old, who serves in the Navy, says he likes the game because 'it makes you feel like you're playing a guitar, even if you don't know how to play one in real life'.
In fact, the realistic nature of virtual-experience games has seen even the elderly work up a sweat.
Retiree Ho Chee Kan, 68, has been playing sports games such as tennis, bowling and snooker on the Wii for seven months.
He says: 'My son got me interested, encouraging me to play with him rather than just sit and watch.'
Over at Peace-Connect, a community activity centre at North Bridge Road, groups of senior citizens partner with student volunteers to take on gaming opponents on the Wii in regular sessions every Friday.
Chairman Foo Chee Meng, 55, says: 'It's hard to find a platform where both young and old can enjoy.
'You should see them cheer each other on when they play. It's very heart-warming.'
According to Mr Foo, the centre encourages its elderly members to play the Wii because it helps with motor skills and agility, and is generally good fun for all.
Casual gaming has also gone big on the small screen.
Games developer Electronic Arts (EA) has teamed up with toy giant Hasbro to produce a line of games for the mobile phone.
IDC analyst Claus Mortensen says: 'For the casual gamer, it's much more about convenience. So mobile gaming becomes more and more important. We'll see more of it in the years to come.'
Mr James Gray, director of sales and marketing at EA Mobile Asia - which has a 25 per cent share of the local mobile gaming market - says it has seen a growth of up to 15 per cent from last year.
He adds: 'The most popular games are some of the most simple ones', citing Tetris as an all-time favourite among consumers.
It is simplicity which is contributing to the rise of casual gaming. Nintendo's family-friendly sports games, as well as a slew of mostly arcade or puzzle-type titles for PC, mobile and consoles that stay clear of blood and gore, offer endless choices for casual gamers.
Student Lien Xiuwen is an avid mobile phone gamer and cites Puzzle Bubble as her favourite.
She also likes the games of yore. Says the 22-year-old: 'The mobile platform could allow for a retro-comeback, like BomberMan.'
Says DigiPen's Mr Chu: 'Casual games are typically simpler to play. But they are what we call wellbalanced. You want to make it just enough to challenge the player. That's the beauty of a game like Tetris, which has been around for so many years.'
The universal appeal of simple games also means the whole family can get in on the act. Parents and children or couples can play. Observers say this promotes family-bonding.
Public servant Roy Eng, 33, plays his PS2 with his wife every weekend for about three hours.
Besides puzzle games, the couple enjoy a mix of other genres such as sports and racing titles.
Others like Ms Ong however, prefer to stick to her Role-Playing-Games. She says with a chuckle: 'I'm really bad at racing games.
'I failed my driving 10 times in real life - five times riding a motorcycle and five times driving a car, so I'm not going to be able to start driving on a computer any time soon.'
