Study: Average gamer is 35, fat and bummed

[Limewater]

As someone who cares a lot about his body and spends a good ammount of time keeping it in shape, I am offended by these type of generalizations about gamers...

But that's just the thing-- it is a generalization. You are an individual; you are not a generalization. If you spend as much time and effort as you claim keeping fit, and I have no reason not to believe you, then you aren't really the average American, either.

If they're claiming a causal relationship, then that's just silly, but their description of the average gamer could well be accurate. It's not really a huge leap to say that someone who spends all of his free time playing a video game will likely have a higher BMI than someone who spends all of his time outside playing sports. I know that if I reallocated all of the time I spend exercising to playing video games I would be in much poorer shape.

BMI is pretty questionable by itself, though.

[Hatta]

Woohoo, I'm under average!

[Funk, E]

Saying BMI is 'questionable' is a vast understatement.

[onemanfilmcrew]

You know, you could replace "Average Gamer" with "Average viewer of Jon and Kate Plus 8" or "Average viewer of American Idol" and get the same result...

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I'm not 35 yet, but im not depressed, im not so introverted as that i never get outside, and im physically fit, if underweight (because I go days without eating and just play games of course )

[Luke]

At my local game store, the average gamer is 12, obnoxious, slender, black, buys games based on cover art, and loves cursing in front of their fat parents who just don't seem to give a shit about anything besides the call they're taking on their cell phone while their tattoos of their own name in cursive fade on their flabby arms.

Whew. That was a run-on sentence.

[glynnahab]

This article is complete bullshit. The author's opinion of the subject is in plain view within the first couple sentences. It really bothers me that a "reputable" site like MSNBC would publish an article rife with stereotypes and generalizations about people who play video games without some seriously strong evidence.

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?

[Zeonik Freak]

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?...

[Reverend]

Considering how I'm 16, in great shaped, and have a ridiculously positive outlook, I find this hilarious. This seems to be just another way to have videogames demonized.

[BigTinz]

I'm 20, fat and loving life.


Fuck your statistics.