27 replies to this topic

[Shadowmoon~]

Oh, by the way, I'm not sure if I posted this topic in the right forum, (Gamer Lounge?), so, please move it if I am wrong. Thank you.

---

Source

I saw this article in Yahoo!, and I was wondering if this was really true.

Since ... I am a gamer as well.

Edited by Shadowmoon~, 21 August 2009 - 08:11 AM.

[Sakura Blossoms]

Are you depressed?

That should give you your answer.

If not the article said that people were depressed before they started playing, and only used the games as a form of escapism.

But seriously now, come on. Are you really going to give this article even a shred of credibility? "The average gamer is THIRTY FIVE and 'overweight.'"

Please.

The average gamer is aged 15-28, is fairly young, and comes in ALL shapes and sizes.

This article is just like all those other articles that call videogaming the worst sin on earth, because videogames make people 'violent.' Videogames don't make people anymore violent that TV, movies, or books do. "Zomg, I watched ALL the Harry Potter movies, and nao I feel teh urge to go Avada Kedavra someone!1!"

Utter rubbish.

Don't pay articles like this any creed, Moony. They're self-serving and full of utter nonsense, and will rot your brain...just like articles like these says TV does

[Shadowmoon~]

Don't pay articles like this any creed, Moony. They're self-serving and full of utter nonsense, and will rot your brain...just like articles like these says TV does

Hai, Shauna-chan! <3

I guess my endless curiousity got me posting this article. I wanted to know what would the gamers here think about this.

I mean, I play video games almost everyday, and I'm seriously not depressed. I actually feel satisfied everytime I defeat my enemies, move up a level, or even level up in those games. No loneliness here.

Thanks for your awesome post.

(And, does this mean that I posted this topic in the correct forum?)



---

Are you depressed?

That should give you your answer.

If not the article said that people were depressed before they started playing, and only used the games as a form of escapism.

But seriously now, come on. Are you really going to give this article even a shred of credibility? "The average gamer is THIRTY FIVE and 'overweight.'"

Please.

The average gamer is aged 15-28, is fairly young, and comes in ALL shapes and sizes.

This article is just like all those other articles that call videogaming the worst sin on earth, because videogames make people 'violent.' Videogames don't make people anymore violent that TV, movies, or books do. "Zomg, I watched ALL the Harry Potter movies, and nao I feel teh urge to go Avada Kedavra someone!1!"

Utter rubbish.

Quoted for truth!

Edited by Shadowmoon~, 21 August 2009 - 07:20 AM.

[shadow_Uzumaki]

Actually, the fact about the average gamer being 35 is quite accurate, but yeah...The overweight thing isn't really close.... Female and Male gamers shouldn't really have a difference except what genre they might be more likely to play, and even that isn't accurate. I'm a gamer, I'm not depressed, I'm pretty sure Illmatic, EarlyMik3, and Shauna-sama up there aren't depressed. If anything, Gaming should at least help prevent depression, relieving stress and worry at times.

Edited by shadow_Uzumaki, 21 August 2009 - 07:27 AM.

[Sakura Blossoms]

Actually, the fact about the average gamer being 35 is quite accurate, but yeah...

Actually that's not accurate.

The average gamer may be 35 if they are a computer gamer. But the average age for gamers of all systems, that is incorrect as the average gamer started playing video games in the mid-80's, when the original Nintendo NES system revolutionized gaming. Atarti gamers started playing earlier than NES gamers yes, but for the most part the average gamer is not older than 28-29 years old.

~~~

(And, does this mean that I posted this topic in the correct forum?)

Lol, and yes you did XD

Edited by Sakura Blossoms, 21 August 2009 - 08:05 AM.

[dl316bh]

What that particular link doesn't tell you is that this particular study was done with only 552 participants. All of those polled in Washington state, in Seattle and Wacoma in particular. These are areas that have long been known to house higher numbers of overweight and depressed people. Not to mention that this particular study was done over three full years ago and has only just now been published.

In other words, this is complete bull****. Frankly, I suspect that this study was skewed towards a desired result instead of an accurate one, the desired being a negative result for video games. Some might think I'm being overly suspicious of the entire thing, but I find the whole thing very fishy.

Edited by dl316bh, 21 August 2009 - 08:06 AM.

[Shadowmoon~]

What that particular link doesn't tell you is that this particular study was done with only 552 participants. All of those polled in Washington state, in Seattle and Wacoma in particular. These are areas that have long been known to house higher numbers of overweight and depressed people. Not to mention that this particular study was done over three full years ago and has only just now been published.

In other words, this is entirely overblown. Frankly, I suspect that this study was skewed towards a desired result instead of an accurate one, the desired being a negative result for video games. Some might think I'm being overly suspicious of the entire thing, but I find the whole thing very fishy.

How did you know that this certain study was conducted three years ago, and that it only had 552 participants?

Edited by Shadowmoon~, 21 August 2009 - 08:09 AM.

[dl316bh]

I'm sexy. That's how. =P

... What's that? You want a serious answer? That's no fun! D:

Fine...

http://www.gamespot....adlines;title;2

Snippets:

The CDC study surveyed 552 adults--4,448 less than a controversial Game Informer survey on console reliability--aged 19-90 in the environs of Seattle and Tacoma, Washington.

Conducted in 2006, the CDC study findings weren't analyzed until 2008 and apparently not published until this year.

[Shadowmoon~]

^
^
^



And yes, I did want a serious answer.

>8D

---

Thanks for the snippets! Since I don't go to GameSpot that much, I would have missed that article.



I was shocked that they concealed information about this. If it was only conducted with 552 participants, they wouldn't get so far. I mean, there are other gamers too that are 'fit', and are definitely not overweight. In simple terms, the statistics of this study was way off, and is not evenly distributed since they had only checked gamers in a small radus ... which shows that gamers in that area are only like that. How about in other states/countries? That would have been so much better!

That article in Yahoo! was featured today, so, if that study was conducted last year, it wouldn't be very accurate. They should have posted it instead last 2006/2008, so it would seem more believable.

If it was only published this year, due to some conditions, they should still indicate that in the article!

I guess the article I linked there didn't have enough information, so, it wasn't really credible.

EDIT: There is still something that bugs me ... Why do the researchers in the study think that video games is just a way for depressed people to 'let go' of their loneliness? I didn't even think that everyone who actually plays video games are depressed. We play it for the enjoyment and fun!

Edited by Shadowmoon~, 21 August 2009 - 08:48 AM.

[dl316bh]

Not a problem. I go to quite a few sites in order to get different takes on things and gobble up all the news (I visit places like IGN, Gamepro, Gamespot, Newsarama and Comicbook Resources daily). So I usually tend to know the specifics of certain stories that crop up; if one site leaves details out, it's unlikely all the others will. I'm more shocked that Yahoo left that information out.

What really made me do a double take was when I read the line that said thet did the survey in Washington; and only two cities within it at that. That's one state out of fifty in the United States. That they would make blanket statements on Americans through such means is ridiculous. Add on the disgustingly low number of people surveyed and other things and the credability of the study just goes right out the window.

Basically what the survey is trying to tell you is that a survey using a little over five hundred people in two cities of one state out of an estimated 170 million gamers in the US alone has proved gaming is linked to obesity and depression.

If you can read that sentence aloud without bursting out laughing that you have more restraint than I do.

I mean, there are other gamers too that are 'fit', and are definitely not overweight.

You'd be surprised at who plays video games these days. A lot of fit people with jobs, kids and a regular workout play video games. It's just a hobby, but some people are always out to make gaming out to be so much more than that, like some kind of spawn from hell itself.

That article in Yahoo! was featured today, so, if that study was conducted last year, it wouldn't be very accurate. They should have posted it instead last 2006/2008, so it would seem more believable.

I found it particularly odd that this survey was taken in 2006 and was only published three years later. Exactly what were they doing in that time? It wasn't like this was a large group; I've seen larger turnouts for a small publisher magazines survey. I wonder if they simply couldn't get it published or they decided to sit on it.

Why do the researchers in the study think that video games is just a way for depressed people to 'let go' of their loneliness?

It's armchair psychology, really. The study was obviously pushing an agenda, because no serious, unbiased study would have operated like that. So it's not surprising that they would push the suggestion of such a condition. It serves their purpose.

Edited by dl316bh, 21 August 2009 - 09:07 AM.

[Yakatsu]

I ain't beating the dead horse and I ain't gonna be pro-gamer because I like being the opposite side of the coin sometimes.

Here's the deal.

Back in the 70's rock was the work of the devil.
80's was hip hop was the work of Beelzebub.
90's was homosexuality was the work of Lucifer.

DING , FLOOR 2000, GAMING IS THE DEVIL.

Now. I know what you're thinking.

" Oh Yaka , you wannabe-troll, yer' such a moron. Why games considered to be such a forbidden fruit. It's easily sold and traded among millions of people. "

Well.



This guy sums it up for me in a nice way and gives you a nice example of what I'm talking about.

Games are the new scapegoat. Just like rock n' roll , rap music , racial interrelationships and homosexuality back in the day. Solution?

There's no solution. Just wait until 2010. Probably we'll be invaded aliens. Then intergalactic relationships are gonna be the next scapegoat.

/AWESOMEFACE

[True]

To an extent I can agree that those who play games such as Second Life, WoW religiously, and...(was it Elder Scrolls the game that classified as sucking your soul away?), use these games to escape from real life problems which potentially lead to depression. I remember during my Abnormal Psychology class a couple years back we had a few students come in that spoke about how they used "cyber" games to reconstruct how they wanted to feel since they weren't satisfied with their real lives. Video games can offer this opportunity since it essentially is this virtual world where you have almost complete control and are able to create something that will soothe your mental psyche and put you at ease. That however can lead to problems in your real existence and poor life style choices that brings a negative impact upon yourself eventually when you find that video games can't solve your real life problems and can dwell you into further depression once you realize that fact.

People who are depressed use many means of escapism to get away from what is keeping them depressed. Some use conventional help such as therapy and medicine, others may use recreational drugs, and then you have those who use video games. Video games seem to be a good target nowadays since we already have enough people telling you how bad drugs are. dl316bh already pointed out how the survey classifying your average gamer is constructed in a bias way so it looks to reflect poorly on the gaming fandom. The article should switch around that it's depression that can lead to gaming, not vice versa!

Haha Shadowmoon~ I feel like you are prepping me two weeks in advance for going back to school

[Dreamer]

It depends on if ya play games only after when you get bored or you play video games all day long with a bag of Cheetos and get bored from that's how i see the problem/solution.

Edited by Uzumakikage, 21 August 2009 - 06:14 PM.

[Cloud]

I'm 21, a gamer, and I'm certainly overweight.

Gaming, in fact, makes me happy. It lets me kick back, relax and just melt all my stress and fatigue away. It's a relaxing hobby for some and a competitive streak for others. Hell, those pro gamers are happy shooting each other at tournaments. I see no way in the fact that video games make people sad.

Unless the said 'people' have "issues". My first gaming experience started with the fat gameboy, and then Gamegear (frustrated me since it took 8 AA batteries to run that thing!)

[Dreamer]

The same hear, i started off with a Gameboy pocket, bumped up to Super Nintendo/Sega Genesis, Playstation, N64, and well you get the picture.

[Xabsol]

Oh.. Thats what it was...

[Nate River]

Yes.

Everytime someone beats me at a game I'm depressed. Then I play again, and if I win I'm no longer depressed.

[Sir Whirly]

The only time I feel depressed because of Video Games is when I spend 60 dollars on one and it sucks. Then I cry tears for many days. Then I get over it.

[Nate River]

The only time I feel depressed because of Video Games is when I spend 60 dollars on one and it sucks. Then I cry tears for many days. Then I get over it.

Yes, that is also despressing.

[shadow_Uzumaki]

Very....
HI SHRINER-SENPAI!!!