Online Gamers are fit - physically if not mentally.

IceDragon · 09-22-2008, 02:18 PM

Would be interesting to see the results of other games...

Quote:

PALE, overweight couch potatoes. That's the stereotype of avid online computer gamers, but these joystick junkies are actually in better than average physical condition, a new US survey suggests, although they may be less healthy mentally.

Researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the Palo Alto Research Center, also in California, and the University of Delaware in Newark, quizzed 7000 players of the role-playing game EverQuest II about their physical and mental health. Participants were offered a specially created virtual weapon as an incentive - the "Greatstaff of the Sun Serpent". The researchers then combined the survey responses with statistics about players' online activities and playing habits.

The results suggest that adult gamers have an average body mass index of 25.2, compared to the overall American average of 28. The average gamer also engages in vigorous exercise once or twice a week, which the researchers say is more than most Americans. The reasons for this are not obvious, although the team suggest it may be because more educated, wealthier people are attracted to computer games, and these people also tend to take better care of their health.
"Average gamers engage in vigorous exercise once or twice a week"

The downside, however, was that the gamers reported more cases of depression and substance abuse than their compatriots. "They may be drawn to use the game to help deal with emotional distress," says team member Scott Caplan of the University of Delaware.

The work also suggested that young men do not dominate such games, as they are often assumed to: there were more players in their thirties than in their twenties, and older players tended to spend more time in the game. Furthermore, although fewer women played the game, those who did typically played for longer than men (Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol 13, p 993).

Mark Griffiths at Nottingham Trent University, UK, has found that most gamers simply exhibit healthy enthusiasm for their hobby rather than obsessive addiction, and says the new results sound about right. But he adds that since the research only studied one multiplayer online game, its conclusions may not be true for single-player console games. "They involve very different psychologies," he says.

Taken from New Scientist.

Tomili · 10-13-2009, 06:26 PM

Idk about that lol. Back 2 years ago when I was raiding in WoW about 6 hours a day 4 times a week there wasn't much time to do other things, most of the people I knew were fat if not small. Some guys that I knew were fit but most of them were fat. And allot of those gamers that I raided with were pretty doggon intelligent.

strawser9 · 10-14-2009, 12:40 PM

I'm still trying to figure out whether my amazing hand-eye coordination can be somewhat attributed to playing certain video games, or whether I was good at the games because I had great hand-eye coordination...

What comes first, the chicken or the egg?

Either way, it isn't the video games that are bad, in my opinion you're better off playing games and keeping your mind functioning than watching most tv shows.

I don't think either one has much effect on physical health, considering most kids that sit there for countless hours wouldn't automatically do something active if they didn't have the TV...

Valkyrie · 10-14-2009, 10:30 PM

I love New Scientist - great article!