CDC Study on Video Games and Health

[Sforza]

Here's the link to the results of the study.

Findings about the average gamer in the US (sample size, 550):

- 35 years old (more likely to be male by just 10%)
- More likely to be any of the following:
overweight, aggressive, introverted and depressed

Study also shows that children and teenagers who play games trend toward physical inactivity which continues and even worsens upon reaching adulthood.

Other results:

- Games are played in 65% of households
- 50% of gamers are between 18 to 49 years old
- 12% of gamers aged 8 to 34 showed multiple signs of addiction disorder

- 4/10 females play video games
- Females play games as a distraction
- Males play games for social interaction

HOWEVER!

Ars Technica raises some serious issues with the method used.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/...friend.ars

Opinions?

[Mjting]

im pretty healthy and active while still being a gamer. dunno. therefore there can be a lot of exceptions. most of the results here do fit the usual view on the "gamer" stereotype.

[Grim]

There will always be exceptions, and usually they're the vocal ones (i.e., people who talk on forums). But then again, there are exceptions to that exception as well. Uh.

And it's a pretty small sample size too. While that may be representative of the US population, the small number makes me inclined to believe it'd be a bit wrong.

[Hempire]

Here's the link to the results of the study.

Findings about the average gamer in the US (sample size, 550):

- 35 years old (more likely to be male by just 10%)
- More likely to be any of the following:
overweight, aggressive, introverted and depressed
Opinions?

hmmm fat fuck, yes but i'll lose weight in vancouver.
Agressive? only in fighting games =D
introverted? yes but i do fine in social gatherings, especially in smoking culture =D
depressed? fuck no

[Aruren]

CDC's going to get trolled.

[atdsutm]

dont worry guyz



this is only applicable in the US, lol.

[Aruren]

Yeah, but the point is the statements they've released are all-too-general.

The more conservative parties is going to use this as live ammo or something, so it's better to shoot it down asap.

[Shintetsu]

Stereotyping is shit.

Not everyone who is a Gamer is a (insert adjective here).

You can also be all of what they say a Gamer is, but not really play games like a Gamer does.

[atdsutm]

Yeah, but the point is the statements they've released are all-too-general.

The more conservative parties is going to use this as live ammo or something, so it's better to shoot it down asap.

but that will their best silver bullet for an argument, not the best one since the survey is just in US we have to take culture and a lot of stuffs into consideration when applying that kind of model here.

[Twin-Skies]

Here's the link to the results of the study.

Findings about the average gamer in the US (sample size, 550):

- 35 years old (more likely to be male by just 10%)
- More likely to be any of the following:
overweight, aggressive, introverted and depressed

Study also shows that children and teenagers who play games trend toward physical inactivity which continues and even worsens upon reaching adulthood.

Other results:

- Games are played in 65% of households
- 50% of gamers are between 18 to 49 years old
- 12% of gamers aged 8 to 34 showed multiple signs of addiction disorder

- 4/10 females play video games
- Females play games as a distraction
- Males play games for social interaction

HOWEVER!

Ars Technica raises some serious issues with the method used.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/...friend.ars

Opinions?

Just my two cents on the survey:

The over-generalizations aside, the study used a pitifully small sample size of 550 volunteers.

That's no more accurate than me randomly grabbing a guy off the street, asking him his opinion on video games, and concluding that everybody in the area has the same opinion as said random guy.