Lies About Gamers That People Still Believe
Not all gamers are stinky, fat introverts dwelling in a basement. Not all gamers are socially awkward teens with four eyes and greasy hair. In fact, if we all took a step back and ignored the depiction of gaming enthusiasts, we might come to see that most video game fans are just normal folks who want to be entertained. You might roll your eyes and think, “Stereotypes exist for a reason.” Yes, on some level that is true. Stereotypes don’t form in a vacuum and it would be dishonest to say that stereotypes can’t be true. However, stereotypes are contextual — perhaps true in a given time period or setting but never across the board. The worst gamer stereotypes often develop based on a vocal minority . It’s not so much that gamers are jerks. Rather, jerks who play games are the most likely to be vocally prominent, making it easy to assume that they represent all gamers.
The basement dwelling stereotype is one that all gamers belong to one of this groups: hackers, programmers, etc. The common link is that these people enjoy spending their time in front of a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. Some call them introverted. Others call them socially awkward. Yes I game hard, but I party as hard as hard as I game. But does an affinity to computers necessarily imply that one is either introverted or socially awkward? Maybe, not. It’s easy to point out gamers who lack social sense when we see them, but how many “normal” gamers pass us by without us ever realizing it? The recent ESA gaming report showed that 54 percent of frequent gamers feel their hobby helps them to connect with friends, and 45 percent use gaming as a way to spend time with their family.
Here are some of the worst stereotypes that just aren’t true in this day and age.
Gamers Are Lazy
This is one stereotype that really bogged me down during my own childhood . On the one hand, it’s very unfair. Binging on Netflix and watching entire seasons of television at a time? Is that Normal?, Reading book after book after book? Admirable. Sinking hours into Facebook, Twitter or Instagram? Everyone does it!!. Yet once you invest time into video games, suddenly you’re a lazy loser with no passions or life goals. Not to say that gaming is any better than other forms of media, but it certainly isn’t any worse. Of course, some people do find themselves addicted to video games because they offer a safe form of mental escape. However, isn’t that the same for all forms of entertainment? Just as Netflix, books and Snapchat all provide a moment of fresh air in the busyness of life, so does video games. I know a lot of gamers that are the exact opposite of being lazy. So it's unfair to think of all gamers as lazy.
Gamers are all Young Boys
The traditional view of a gamer is a teenage boy who comes home from school, throws down his backpack, and plops down in front of the television to play his Xbox One or PS4 for hours on end or a boy who comes back from school and branch Game Centers. Does that happen? Of course it does. Does it represent the entire industry? Not quite.
According to the Entertainment Software Association’s 2014 video game industry survey, 59% of Americans play video games. Of them, 71% are over 18 years old with the average age being 31 years old. And if you thought the demographics were dominated by men, you may want to reconsider: 48% of gamers are female.
My Final Opinion
More than 1.5 billion people worldwide play games, and the figures are growing every day. The industry has created hundreds of thousands of jobs around the world — while providing entertainment for nearly 2 billion people globally. The results of gaming are all around us. If it weren’t for video game enthusiasts and the commercial need to keep them happy with ever-improving graphics requiring ever-higher processor speeds in new consoles, advanced computer graphics would still be found only in the high-priced computers in the business and science worlds. The recent ESA report shows us that gaming has moved well out of the realms of a niche pastime into the mainstream, and as a result, stereotypes about gamers have been blown out the water.
There may have been a time when lazy and socially awkward boys were a vast majority, and while those kinds of gamers do still exist, they are no longer an accurate representation of the group.
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