Study: Average gamer is 35, fat and bummed

[BIZ]

So the study was based off of 552 people in one city?

[MrPopo]

The Seattle-Tacoma area was chosen for the study, researchers said, both because of its size as the 13th largest media market in the United States and because its Internet usage level is "the highest in the nation." The study was done in 2006; the results analyzed in 200

Oh, well theres the problem right there, they chose Seattle as a research area, of course your gonna find 35 year old fat and depressed people there, since thats one of the highest areas of suicide in our country.

Shoot, the place is cold, muggy, rains all the time, and the sun may come out about 1 month of the year. The highest it may get is like 80 degrees if that. I would know, because i lived there almost 20 years ago (my bro was born there as well).

Shoot, its been said they think the aliens are coming for them when they see the sun. BTW, who here is from seattle?...

Both JT and I are living in Seattle. I personally love the cloudy days, since it keeps the temperature down. Not like a few weeks ago when we broke the all time record with 103.

[DCsegaDH]

If they wanted to do a accurate study they should of done it in 10 random states instead of one area of Seattle. I don't believe this study this even true to most gamers, like others on here I find it a insult.

[dsheinem]

Before everyone piles on the researchers, you should probably read the actual study - which points out its own limitations. For example:

"Because this study uses a cross-sectional design, conclusions about causality cannot be made. 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."

If you want to critique it, read the whole thing (not just the shit-sensationalist news report or the abstract) and then explain why the research is good or bad.

link to the ACTUAL article:
http://www.ajpm-online.net/webfiles/ima ... E_2561.pdf

[J T]

For the record: The survey only took data from 552 people. That seems like a low number to use to generalize a very large group of people. How many gamers are there in the world again? Millions and millions, right?

Actually 552 is a good size for most research studies. I'm sure the person is right that there is a correlation between the two. The problem is that the news article makes it sound like its a causal relationship (vidya gaymz makes u FAT!). You can't infer causation from correlational data! They did put in the thing at the end that this is correlational, but the average reader doesn't know enough about research methods to realize that this does not prove that videogames make you a sad fatty.

[Limewater]

I'm glad some people have pointed out that this is just some dumb reporter's story about a research project. In all seriousness, you should probably never, ever take a reporter's story about a research paper at face value, since the report likely has no idea what he/she is talking about.

This is also pretty true for news stories in general, to use a slightly ironic generality. Reporters are great at getting stuff wrong.

[Zeonik Freak]

Both JT and I are living in Seattle. I personally love the cloudy days, since it keeps the temperature down. Not like a few weeks ago when we broke the all time record with 103.

Well, it has been a long time since ive lived there, so shows how much i know.

103 huh? Impressive...

[DaGamingMonkey]

Same site is asking it's readers to send in pictures of friends and family playing video games
Part of the title cracks me up

Fit the mold of the ‘average’ gamer who is overweight and depressed?


In case you guys feel like sending a picture



Readers of msnbc need to see pictures showing gamers are not all overweight and depressed

[DaGamingMonkey]

Follow up article to the study on MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32555719/ns ... nce-games/

[otaku]

hmm.. well I'm fat and have been diagnosed as a manic depressive but it has nothing to do with gaming at all I've had issues with depression since I was a little kid. Gaming probably doesn't help my health considering the time could be used to excercise but the thing is I still have time during the day to excercise even with my gaming habit. I game to escape for a bit to have some fun either alone or with friends on or offline. Rarely if ever does gaming cause me to be depressed. Also I'm not 35 and to be fair I think most people at that age or at least right now are depressed