"Average gamer is 35, often overweight and sad: study"

"In short, they literally 'take their minds off' their worries while playing a video game," the researchers said in a statement."

Digital Narcotics?

That entire article pisses me off. Seriously, is it even possible anymore for a person to have the freedom to do something of their own choosing without someone else "analyzing" it as being "detrimental" to them?

Jozef|8.24.09 @ 8:35AM|#

The average book readers "literally 'take their minds off' their worries while reading a book".

The average movie goers "literally 'take their minds off' their worries while watching a movie".

Isn't this what entertainment is all about?

|8.24.09 @ 8:38AM|#

No, I blow up internet spaceships to work off the frustrations and anger that are part of life. Society frowns upon the whole workplace killing sprees (which "THEY" so richly deserve).

Also it's fun.

Rich|8.24.09 @ 8:39AM|#

Seriously, is it even possible anymore for a person to have the freedom to do something of their own choosing without someone else "analyzing" it as being "detrimental" to them?

Nope. The freedom to analyze behavior and label it detrimental is one of our basic rights.

Also, researchers "take their minds off their worries" while engaging in such studies.

Cartman|8.24.09 @ 8:42AM|#

Mom! More hot pockets!

Astrid|8.24.09 @ 8:43AM|#

And I thought I was 25, thin and happy.

|8.24.09 @ 8:47AM|#

I remember when "gamers" carried dice in a felt bag. [sigh] Those were the days.

Now get off my lawn.

Warty|8.24.09 @ 8:48AM|#

Miss Hare, you'd have to be at least 35 to remember that.

|8.24.09 @ 8:55AM|#

"In short, they literally 'take their minds off' their worries while playing a video game," the researchers said in a statement."

Well we can't have any of that can we? They say that in such an ominous way. If you have problems, the last thing you are supposed to do if forget about them or escape from them. You are supposed to be miserable and obsess about them at all times.

Some Guy|8.24.09 @ 8:56AM|#

I'm just going to go ahead and call bullshit right now based on the first 4 words alone. How many 50+ year old games would it take to create an average age of 35 when 90% of kids play games? How many 50+ gamers have you ever met?

|8.24.09 @ 9:01AM|#

you'd have to be at least 35 to remember that

Actually I never got above level 16, even with my half-orc barbarian.

[rimshot]

|8.24.09 @ 9:09AM|#

I like that the study says the average age of a gamer is 35 while excluding anyone under 19 from the study.

I also like that they found greater than average depression among a group selected from people in SEATTLE, the home of moping for well over a decade.

|8.24.09 @ 9:10AM|#

I mean, that's almost like saying "it sure is cloudy in Northeast Ohio in the winter!"

|8.24.09 @ 9:15AM|#

Good point Timon. WTF?

Video games might be regarded as an obsession for youngsters but in fact the average player is aged 35

THEN

Researchers ... looked at the behavior of 552 adults aged between 19 to 90

short, fat bastard|8.24.09 @ 9:16AM|#

I'm fifty-something and literally take my mind off my worries by drinking heavily.

|8.24.09 @ 9:33AM|#

Average is a pretty meaningless statistic. One fifty year old gamer is worth five ten year old ones. The proper figure to use would be median not average.

robc|8.24.09 @ 9:41AM|#

I blow up internet spaceships to work off the frustrations and anger that are part of life.

I blow up internet spaceships because I hate them alien bastards.

|8.24.09 @ 9:43AM|#

Wouldn't it be fairly accurate to say the average American is 35, overweight and sad?

That Guy|8.24.09 @ 10:00AM|#

Wasn't their a study done a little while ago that showed the average adult MMO player was actually in better physical shape than the population as a whole? Oh right...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19926746.400

Art-P.O.G.|8.24.09 @ 10:01AM|#

brotherben,

Yes. Well, OK, I'm not 35.

|8.24.09 @ 10:11AM|#

As a working member of the gaming industry (I make things like blowey-uppey sounds), I feel a need to speak up.

Well.

In sum,

This article is nothing but pure pap.

Zeb|8.24.09 @ 10:12AM|#

Miss Hare, you'd have to be at least 35 to remember that.

I'd say 30.

T|8.24.09 @ 10:17AM|#

Or you could play something like The Sims, and realize how pathetic and meaningless your life is in comparison to your avatar. Would that make the researchers feel better? That sounds like way more fun than blowing up aliens and Nazis.

|8.24.09 @ 10:19AM|#

Hmm...I'm 36, have never been called out-of shape by anyone but me, am pretty content with life, and am a gamer. Of course, I don't have TV, and average one movie every two weeks or so. So, the 10-12 hours I spend on LOTRO, is likely less than the average 36yr old male spends on TV each week by a fair margin.

Any of these behavior studies are useless in my opinion. Even if there are a large number of mid-thirties gamers sitting in front of their game being depressed, that is after all, their choice, isn't it? Doesn't is occur to the studiers that if they weren't playing games, they'd likely find something else to hide in? There have been a few other options out there for a while, TV, alcohol, drugs, sports, cross-stitch...Yeah, we know those cross-stitchers!

|8.24.09 @ 10:39AM|#

Ugh, that is some terrible work. I love the misuse of the word "literally." How do you literally take your mind off something?

Anyway, my way to relax is to load up Team Fortress 2 or Left 4 Dead. I'm communicating with others (gasp!), coordinating strategies on very short notice, and keeping my reflexes sharp.

Everyone has to relax, and there's no superior way.

|8.24.09 @ 10:42AM|#

Everyone has to relax, and there's no superior way.

A bj and a cold beer seems pretty superior to me.

tekende|8.24.09 @ 11:03AM|#

Seeing as the mind is not a physical object, it's not possible to "literally" take it off anything.

Master Kan|8.24.09 @ 11:07AM|#

Seeing as the mind is not a physical object, it's not possible to "literally" take it off anything.

When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave.

|8.24.09 @ 11:20AM|#

You say that, but then you make him walk on rice paper without leaving a trace and make him pick up that cauldron full of burning coals. Lying bastard monk.

hmm|8.24.09 @ 11:39AM|#

I'll stick with Nick Yee's observations over the CDC.

More gamer information aThe Daedalus Project. I wish he would get back to it. I was generally happy thin and not wanting to head shot people IRL when gaming. Now running is enough to wear myself out and help me not want to strangle stupid people. I've been known to log in and pwn a noob or two just for kicks. I miss the trash talk.

|8.24.09 @ 11:45AM|#

Average is a pretty meaningless statistic. One fifty year old gamer is worth five ten year old ones.

Huh? The average age of that group is under 17 (100 years total age divided by 6 people).

|8.24.09 @ 11:52AM|#

Average is a pretty meaningless statistic. One fifty year old gamer is worth five ten year old ones.

Huh? The average age of that group is under 17 (100 years total age divided by 6 people).

I think it has less to do with math and more to due with sexual proclivities. At least I hope so, because that math is atrocious.

|8.24.09 @ 11:56AM|#

The average person is 35, often overweight and sad.

And stop using the word "literally" to emphasize your metaphor.

|8.24.09 @ 12:07PM|#

Everyone has to relax, and there's no superior way.

Ugh... may I suggest snorting a line of coke off Kiera Knightley's ass?

Hugh Akston|8.24.09 @ 12:10PM|#

Assuming for the moment that the methodology and results of this study have any validity, and that correllation is causation, the proper response is to ban video games. That way these pasty, flabby rejects can (literally) escape thier problems in more socially acceptable ways-alcohol, prostitutes, health and self image obsession, and, of course, looking out for the best interests of their fellow citizens.

Craig|8.24.09 @ 12:14PM|#

Once again we find a group of government employees obsessing over the possibility that somewhere, somehow, someone just might be enjoying life.

T|8.24.09 @ 12:39PM|#

may I suggest snorting a line of coke off Kiera Knightley's ass?

There's a difference between relaxed and exhausted. Just sayin'...

|8.24.09 @ 12:45PM|#

Average is a pretty meaningless statistic. One fifty year old gamer is worth five ten year old ones.

Huh? The average age of that group is under 17 (100 years total age divided by 6 people"

Yes, the average is 17, which would indicate that it is an activity done by teenagers when in reality it is something that ten year olds and the odd wierd old man do. The average tells you nothing. The median would be 10, which is much more meaningful.

jtuf|8.24.09 @ 12:54PM|#

"In short, they literally 'take their minds off' their worries while playing a video game," the researchers said in a statement.

In other words, researches discover that video games are a form of entertainment. Once again we see the value of tax payer funded social science departments.

B|8.24.09 @ 12:56PM|#

"Average gamer is 35, often overweight and sad: study"

Recently other studies have found that Jupiter is really fucking huge and that the sun is really fucking hot. So much so that the word fucking was actually used in the title of the papers describing the conclusions of these studies.

Ska|8.24.09 @ 1:04PM|#

A bj and a cold beer seems pretty superior to me.

A bj, a cold beer, and a few games of CoD sounds even better.

|8.24.09 @ 2:00PM|#

"I'm just going to go ahead and call bullshit right now based on the first 4 words alone. How many 50+ year old games would it take to create an average age of 35 when 90% of kids play games? How many 50+ gamers have you ever met?"

Kids playing games aren't "gamers". One is only a "gamer" when they are old enough that they shouldn't be playing games anymore. Old men are supposed to get drunk on their sailboats, not play elfquest.

Nash|8.24.09 @ 2:30PM|#

"I remember when "gamers" carried dice in a felt bag. [sigh] Those were the days."

Crown Royal of course.

Gwennie|8.24.09 @ 7:36PM|#

Ugh, that is some terrible work. I love the misuse of the word "literally." How do you literally take your mind off something?

As near as I can tell, "literally" has come to mean something along the lines of: "ZOMG lololol i are really emotionals about this!!!!11111"

I hear about people literally turning green, bouncing off the walls, blowing their tops off, and steaming down the road in their sneakers. The world is an amazing place. It sort of makes me desire to smash things with an axe. Literally. In Azeroth.

Or I guess I could figuratively drown my sorrows in some Mountain Dew. Meh.

http://literally.barelyfitz.com/

art|8.24.09 @ 7:36PM|#

ArsTechica did a pretty good job debunking this study.

The survey relied on an Internet-sourced panel maintained by e-Rewards Marketing Research. The authors selected participants in the Seattle area and, given an 18 percent response rate, wound up with 562 individuals, 249 of whom were gamers ranging in age from 19 to 90 years old.

This limited sample is not a definitive representation of gamers in general, and mainstream reports have ignored the study's own admission to this: 'The fact that the sample was drawn from a population concentrated in western Washington State and from an Internet-based panel may limit generalizability of the results.'

Kate|8.25.09 @ 10:44AM|#

doesnt seattle-tacoma have the highest suicide rate in the country? when did scientists get so shitty at designing experiments? oh wait...

FatLoss4Idiots|9.6.09 @ 6:04AM|#

A new study says that "extremely obese people" (which is defined as being more than 80 pounds overweight) die as little as three years and as much as twelve years sooner than normal weight individuals. There could be a lot of reasons for this. The more obese a person becomes, the less they are probably moving around, exercising, and taking care of themselves. It's like a snowball effect on your health and something that needs to be addressed now.

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