Gaming is becoming an increasingly common hobby for people in the United States, the ESA has shown us (PDF). Now, a new report from the NPD Group reveals that 37 percent of the US population age 9 and up plays PC games--and they do so for an average of more than six hours every week.

The report, Understanding PC Gaming: 2014, distinguishes those people who play games into three groups: casual (those who only play non-core games), light core (those who play games in genres like MMO, RPG, or shooter for less than five hours per week), and heavy core (those who play core games for more than five hours per week). Among PC game players, 56 percent fall into the casual category, while light core accounts for 24 percent, and heavy core 20 percent. Despite heavy core being only one in five players, they've spent "roughly" twice as much on games in the last three months as casual players as of June. On average, players play for 6.4 hours per week.

"As with gaming consumers across all platforms, the PC Gamer is not a ubiquitous group, making it critical for anyone in the PC game space to understand the consumer segments and their respective behaviors," said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.

Also of note in the PC gaming space is the male/female split. 51 percent of players are males, while 49 percent are females; casual players, however, are typically women and core players tend to be men. This follows an ESA report from last year suggesting that women make up almost half of all gamers.

As you might expect, when examining people who buy physical PC games versus digital ones, those who buy digital games are "far less likely" to pay full price. (However, a previous NPD report showed that the majority of core gamers prefer physical copies of their games.) NPD also says "half of all PC gamers have grown accustomed to waiting for a sale before making a purchase."

If you're reading about video games on this website right now, you're unlikely to fall into the casual audience that the NPD described. But how does this data compare with your own gaming and purchasing habits? Let us know in the comments.