Study: Average Gamer is Overweight, Depressed

[brother shrike]

I love how they say the average gamer is 35 when they only survey adults.

 

[B16CXHatch]

Not surprising but sounds kinda BSish anyway. Me and my roommate are both gamers. I play FPS's, Race sims, and JRPG's and my friend plays WoW, JRPG's, and some other crap and neither of us fit that. I'm 21, he's 20 we both get out, admittedly I'm a tad overweight but not enough to hinder my mobility (I'm an overall active person).

Playing games online and talking to other gamers in person, I meet very few over 28 and often times, they tend to be skinny, scrawny little boogers.

Maybe it helps that I'm automotive enthusiast though. Working on my car and track days get me out a lot.

 

[r0x0r]

BMI is a poor method of determining health levels. I am 26, go to the gym 5-6hrs a week, 191cm(6'3"), 90kg(200lb) and I'm nearly in the overweight zone.

What if some of the people with an "overweight" BMI were American football players or weightlifters?

 

[Impulse Fire911]

[citation][nom]krasno[/nom]Well, I'm 20, good fit, practice martial arts and pretty much happy. Take that you obnoxious study! (?)Oh, wait. North America. Where 1 out of every 3 people is fat and one out of 10 is depressed. That's totally not related to this study, or gaming. Right.[/citation]

it was a joke.... but you know w/e

 

[airborne11b]

I love the fact that they base the study on the "average gamer". Why not do a study on the Average American, who spend 95% of their free time watching TV, eating fast food, and sleeping.

Personally I'm in the US army and I love the game and build my own PCs on my free time. But I still find time to do a 4 or 5 mile run 2-3 times a week, and maintain very active.

Depression, obesity, diabetes, are not symptoms of being a gamer, they are the cause of being a typical American. Sitting around all day watching MTV and American idol can make you just as fat and depressed as killing noobs in Left 4 Dead.

Actually I think American Idol might be more depressing. At least when you're gaming you stand a chance to win at some point. What do you win when you watch TV?

 

[Zingam]

[citation][nom]v1ze[/nom]We just tell everyone it rains here all the time so you don't move here. We average ~35 inches per year, not even close to the top 10. Now if we're talking overcast that's a different story! Which is my point. Of course people in Seattle spend more time indoors![/citation]

Too much sex, eh? That's your problem!

 

[LLJones]

First it was D&D, then EverCrack, now it is WoW. The problem isn't middle aged overweight depressed people, it's shrinks with to much time on their hands and a government with to much money, so they waste it on idiotic research like this.

How come we never see stats on shrinks??!!

 

[DjEaZy]

... what about casual hardcore gamer?

 

[Clintonio]

1) Study was just done in one place - bad science
2) Study was only done on adults - bad science, lots of gamers are teens (and children)
3) Small sample - bad science
4) It also leaves out the obvious link that overweight causes depression, yet, it seems to be linking more games to depression, ignoring the link that more games indeed does tend to increase weight - bad science
5) "Gamer"? What qualifies? I used to play min of 40 hours a week, now I plan on average 2/3. Am I a gamer now?

It's just a bad report in general.

 

[Black$heep86]

I am an avid gamer, fit and healthy. The sample they did the survey on should of been higher at least 1000 - 2000 gamers to get a good over all result. The problem with a lot and not all gamers is the lack of physical activity they lock themselves in there rooms and just play and eat junk ( this being the extreme cases ), rather play a little in small chunks and not long periods, then go do something and by that i mean not watch tv...

 

[anamaniac]

[citation][nom]agentjon[/nom]Guess I'm not the average gamer or American.6'1 male @ 173lbs.[/citation]

Canadian.
6'4" male @ 155lbs.
Me neither I guess (partly being Canadian and under 35 also).

I would like to see a wider test range however. Such as 500+ people from every state and every city.

 

[Thurin]

Apparently everyone read past this but EDIT:
"According to MSNC, the areas was chosen..."

This should be...
Either: The area was chosen...
Or: The areas were chosen...

Other than that, I would have to agree with the above statement:
"Most likely the test group was already depressed and use video games as an escape. The study should have been, "Are video games a healthy outlet for people with depression."

To be really honest, all this video game bashing that the government and various institutions and organizations have been doing makes absolutely no sense at all.

Even my 5 year old nephew can tell the difference between video games and reality, so by no means should it ever be an excuse as to why a particular person does something they shouldn't. Don't blame video games, blame the individual and/or the parent.

As for depression, two of my friends play games like wow almost non stop, do not go to school or work and seem to only seek out games such as the aforementioned, because it's a social outlet. Meaning that in my opinion it's a double bladed sword.

On the one end video games provide the depressed and lonely part of our society with social interaction that might possibly help them overcome their depression. (sort of like a group therapy thing)

Or on the other hand it may very well be what is keeping (some of) them from interacting with people in the "real world".

That's just the way I see it.

PS: Although if you think about it, if there were no video games these depressed individuals would simply find another medium.

 

[r3t4rd]

34, 6', 240lbs (a bit overweight)....married, kids...played games since Mac Number Munchers to Sega to Nintendo....and love PC Gaming. PC Gamming is "MY" time away from my kids and nagging wife.

I am so depressed now that my hard earned tax money is being spent on more stupid stuff like this. Great work NoBama. WAIT!!...I now fit into the "Gamming and Fat" Category. FTW?!?!?!?!?!

BTW..I Let my 5yrs Old play L4D and all the Valve Games with me all the time. He stil fishes, playes Baseball, Soccer, and run around like a normal kid..cept he's just really good with FPS. All these stupid research are demented and meaningless.

 

[Guest]

I wouldn´t worry too much about this study, there is a staticstic study about a zombie pandemic (I´m not kidding, the study is real and it is about a hipothetical zombie pandemic) where a few humans would survive if in isolation, guess they would be the gamers!!! Besides the study should have been done in an average statistical american city, otherwise you won´t get a fair accurate statistical result. I´m 30 and slghtly overweighted, have a good jood, studied in college, got a hot girlfrind and play a lot of games, and i´m happy.

 

[Duesouth]

this is so true. when I read this. I am like, ya this fits the profile of a few people that I know.

so I am laughing since it is the truth. and forget about trying to get him out of the hole since the guy that I am referring to needs a lot of help since he is so dug himself in so deep that he has lost touch with reality and no one wants to be around him. and he does not understand why everyone does not want to be affiliate with him. he even lost his wife since he find the personal computer more interesting than his own wife that love him for more than 20 years. he can not figure out why he got divorce. work, home, where is my food, computer games, then past out in front of the screen. wakes up, where is my breakfast. oh I know how to place my woman in her place. where are my clothes he says in the morning. you see she does everything for me... hence why he is now divorce and everyone is running far away from him...

 

[descendency]

And I'm personally happy being over-weight, depressed, and lacking any touch on reality.

Thank you very much.

 

[DEEB0rider]

any research that uses BMI as a means to determine if someone is overweight is garbage from the start. If you lined up 50 people that were all 5'11" and 180 lbs...Im willing to bet less than half of them would be considered overweight by a doctor, but according to BMI, they are all overweight. Beyond that, if all those people were a half inch taller, none of them would be overweight according to BMI.

 

[Guest]

You commenteers are missing the point of the study: on average gamers are MORE likely to be fat, introverted, and depressed than non-gamers. Several make the point well, though, that gaming could just as likely be a symptom as a cause (or both). Either way, it doesn't seem to be good news for gamers and gaming.

 

[dreamphantom_1977]

I'm 32. I looked down today, and i noticed im getting fat. LOL. I guess it's time to hit the gym. 😀

 

[JumpKickJoe]

yeah im slightly overweight thats cause i changed jobs (higher pay and less time at the office) and the only time i get depressed is when i play DoTA or HoN on a team with best heroes and no team work.....

I have a g/f, a very active sex life and i got out regularly.

and i'm 25.