Video Game Addicts Are Not Nerds, Study Finds

Well, something like that. A recent study conducted in Australia found that 15% of adults were “problem gamers” - that is, people who spend over 50 hours a week playing video games. Of these 15% only 1% were found to lack good social skills, which contradicts the notion of game addicts as lonely geeks that use video games as an escape from social interaction.

“Our findings strongly suggest that gaming doesn’t cause social problems, and social problems are not driving people to gaming,” said Australian psychology graduate Daniel Loton.

The study was conducted via online survey and received 621 respondents, most of whom were male. That doesn’t seem like a very good study. Those people who are addicted to gaming are probably too busy gaming to take an online survey. And of course one must take into consideration all the people who lie on the internet. That’s not to say I think video game addicts are socially stunted geeks. I just think this study isn’t necessarily conclusive.

However, it’s always nice when a study finds something positive about gaming so hooray for that.

Via | World of War

Image courtesy of SXC.