Something has to be said for the climate of these social circles, though. Gamers are generally very violent and display anti-social characters when communicating in these online communities and games. X-box Live games are either silent, or riddled with angry swearing assholes. This isn't the few: It's the rule.

While I agree that all gamers aren't shut ins, we as a community have to be able to admit our faults so that we can heal and work on them. We have a growing problem with attitude and anger in the gaming community, and it is indicative of the non-intimate experience of gaming. We'd be lying if we said otherwise.

Not sure I can handle this. More Positive things about gaming and nary a doomsayer (JBT) in sight.

Though I think the type of game one plays might have an impact. MMORPGs come to mind. Very social; yes. In-person social; No. Talking to each other through a headset still does not get them out of their basement and away from the eyes of those that would shun them. Whereas sports games will be played amoungst local friends. In that regard (A)D&D (another severally slammed game) was very social (and apparently devil worship).

H3 and other "popular" titles (since the SNES days) does gave common ground between those that would not have anything to do with each other otherwise. For all we know online games could well be paving the way to future world peace through understanding and common ground.

Another more positive article about gamers.

Indeed, many individuals find various "cliques" or "communities" that they have various things in common with. They tend to pal around with people they have things in common with.

Here's an intereing point, though:

The "cliques" and "communities" that receive a negative stereotypical attribute as "anti-social" are groups such as "goth", "nerds", "video gamers", even "gay" or "".

BUT, the "cliques" and "communities" that receive little to no negative stereotypical attribute such as "anti-social", such as "jocks", "popular", and certain other "popular groups" (depending on where you are), are actually doing THE SAME THING: getting together with "like minded" people, shunning other "cliques" or "communities". Indeed, they actively verbally, mentally, sometimes even physically attack the so-called "anti-social" "cliques". So, uh, how are THEY any less "anti-social"?

Nightwng2000
NW2K software

Great article :) .

@Nightwing2000:
Tru.dat :p .

congratulations! scientists are just now discovering that games help children to socialize. now.... how long did it take them to find it out? UO's already reached the 10 year mark and there's been online multiplayer games long before that one.

honestly, its nice to see some of these 'non-gamers' figure things like this out (better late than never, imho).

Some non sensationalism from the BBC is always good (brit here) and a very honest article. The best fact is that here is a reporter that is going by the actions of gamers not the stereotypes like a certain bat-shit-loco lawyer we know.

in fact amaraderie is the reason I enjoy the latests Battlefield games, the game is purely multiplayer in its entirety and you live or die, win or lose by how well you work together as a team which if you know the people well is a great social experience.

Of course on the flip side there 12 year olds with pretent tourettes trying to mow you down with a C4 jeep but you gotta take the good with the bad.



In fact to move this towards the arguement as a whole, the social aspect of modern games helps to santise and remove the negative aggression that cna be built up from game frustration. The fact that no one gets hurt and its all just for fun in the end makes the only lasting effects of gaming online social and competative rather than violent. Jack couldnt understand likely he has few friends as spends all his time trolling and spreading his hate. Jack, pick up Bf2 and join a squad, might be healthier for you.

With over 5 million copies sold, I think "millions of hours" is a sore understatement.

Good article

@Terminator44
those idiots tend to be the "populars" or anyone else that think that any minute not spent talking about football/hockey/skateboarding/snowboarding/anything-else is a wasted minute

"Reporting from the dark and lonely confines of his small studio apartment in San Diego, GP Correspondent and hopeless introvert Andrew Eisen"
LMAO, this had me laughing for a good minute. The sad thing is people take comments like that seriously, and even when it is the truth, the fact that you know about your "problem" and joke about it means that your not that bad off.

"He also says that gamers are likely to be more adept at sports, an inarguably social activity, thanks to video games’ ability to increase reaction time and improve hand-eye coordination"

But as soon as addiction kicks in what might have been gained is lost rapidly.

Anyway the way I see it, is that you can play video games instead of watching TV. Only with video games you are actively participating in what's on the screen instead of juist sitting there lazily. But then again we have no video game version of the colbert report.

Pfft! A lot of my social activities IS gaming. And I'm not talking MMO, I'm talking about having all my friends over, a couple o' Xboxes and pluggin' away at Halo. I prefer LAN parties over Internet gaming any day.

Jack Thompson, Attorney (and you're not) says:

Blah blah blah, industry apologist/stooge, blah blah blah, study is wrong, blah blah blah, predicted Columbine, blah blah blah etc. etc...

@abadox50:

It's like JT Mad Libs!

Also, great article. I'm also awaiting the hissy fit he's gonna throw after reading it... :P

But, Nintendo HAS voice chat for some games...

@ Gameboy

I seriously need to get a PSP. FF Dissidia might just put that argument to rest.

As welcome as it is to see these things being said in the mainstream media, ir is still somewhat of an annoyance that it is presented as a revelation.

I had been trying to explain to my parents (before I left home) that I wasn't becomming an anti-social "internet addict" by spending an hour or so a night on the PC. I was rather, talking abd gaming with upwards of 20 people from the school I attended.

Maybe I'm just jaded, but when I see these kind of articles, they set off the DUR DUR DUR reflex.

Eh...I'm not convinced this doesn't state the obvious. On one hand, I fly in the face of it. I freely admit I'm an anti-social gamer. My social skills are weak at best; that being said, it's a chicken or the egg problem, am I anti-social because I've been a gamer all my life or was I always anti-social? My father was anti-social.

That being said, I disagree with the notion that talking about games in public is a good way to practice your skills. For the most part, I try to leave it alone. Most people are so quick to whip out the stereotypes it's really better to let them think what they will. Now, if the subject comes up, I don't deny it; but it's still safer to just not mention it at the office coffee pot.

@xzero87

That still goes to show that even though Nintendo doesn't want to be seen as a "Kiddie company", their mentality is still that of a kiddie company.

Where's "Grand Theft Mario"? "Gears of Mario"?
They've never produced a game rated higher than E on their own.

People who still try to say that Nintendo is a "Kiddie Company" really just haven't bothered looking.
Yes, nintendo has more "mature" gamage available. On the other hand, if you think that games can't be fun if you're not blowing people's brains about or knee deep in "sexual themes" than maybe your own "maturity" is the problem...

On the topic of the actual post; I think for gamers this is kind of a "No duh." Games have been social activities for a loooong time. Hell, even Pong had multiplayer. Really, the perception that gamers don't do things with others has pretty much always been wrong. It's due to people not being able to move past the adolescent viewpoint that if you're not out hanging with a ton of people you call "friends" but aren't actually really deeply connected to, you're not "social."
Once again, the maturity thing comes in....

@ Pierre-Olivier

Was that Metroid Prime?

@Mystik Tomato

You're partly correct

Metroid Prime was developped by Retro Studios.
Metroid Prime Hunters (on DS) was actually developed by Nintendo itself.

The one I was thinking about was The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. EVERY Zelda games (except the Oracles games (developed by Capcom) and the CD-i games (developed by Philips)) were developed by Nintendo itself.

And Twilight Princess is rated T (and it's well earned).

@Kharne

I originally considered them as third-parties because I didn't knew they were owned by Nintendo. Still the guy above asked about games Nintendo made on THEIR OWN, so I was a bit more picky.

Enough proof that Nintendo is not a kiddie company anymore, but most likely do things because of parent complains.

I still remember the "old" days when the only real "Gamers" (before the term even came into vogue) were primarily socially awkward males...

It's amazing to me how far Videogames have come. Most of the employees at my company are 20-somethings and nearly all of play games. Actually, the socially inept guys are the ones who don't really play games and have less common ground to connect with their peers (amongst other things of course).

My college-age friends tell me they see similar things within their environment too.

Hell, look at that Cho guy from V-Tech. He was so antisocial that he didn't even have that to connect with others with (along with him generally being a psycho). His roomates even found that to be odd.

"But, Nintendo HAS voice chat for some games…" -PEfish

True, but only for the DS. Wii still barely features online at all, let alone voice chat.


Andrew Eisen

I hope people would understand that we gamers aren't ready to bite their heads off. We're humans too, you know.

Voicechat is nice and all, but not if the person talking is a screeching fanboy.

But sometimes it does have it's moments, like when you have 3 person in your Jeep in WarHawk singing the tune of the A-Team or Ride of the Valkyre when you go into a zone and wreck havoc.

Yes, that was nice.

Ah yes, Mark Griffiths, he was mentioned previously on his works on MMOs. I'd to like to comment that adding socialization into gaming can be a good source of support among gamers in need of help and, of course, parents or adults can teach kids good in-game manners.

Hmm. I'm not sure I buy the "gamers have MORE friends" bit as any sort of rule beyond the correlational, or that games make you better at sports because of increased hand-eye coordination. I think we've all seen where that argument goes (or tries and fails to).

But I do agree that gaming can absolutely have a positive social impact.

The first quote, including the reference to golf, is questionable. For starters, one can easily argue that gaming allows for socialization when one plays and chats with others online. In fact, the same argument can be given for the Internet or any device that involves communication, including cell phones, telephones, etc. And yet there may be a difference when people see others physically and play with a minimum of distance. In which case, there is a major difference between playing virtual golf with a player online and actually playing golf.

The second quote proves my point: the fact that making friends simply means "talking" to someone online may lead to the conclusion that almost any activity that involves talking will not make someone lonely. So what does that make of many other activities where people talk, including those that don't involve computer games at all?

Finally, the claims that gamers have more friends than non-gamers and that the former do better in sports because of increased reaction time, etc., is highly questionable, unless making friends simply means chatting with others online and the sports referred to involves only finger movements. Furthermore, such claims contradict the points I raised earlier.

In general, the article does not say much except that gamers are "social" beings because they get to talk to other gamers online. And yet there are many other human activities, and some much cheaper and less expensive than playing computer games, where the same socializing takes place.

@ DeathEaterX
... wait. We DON'T want to bite people's heads off? You sure? I didn't get that newsletter. I kind of have a hankering for some cranium. Lightly sauteed in garlic, with just a hint of lemon... mmm thats good noggin.

@ ZeRu

Fortunately, today the "average" people ARE the gamers, and the others ostracized. Well, no, they're not, because most gamers could care less what other people want to do in their off time as long as those people aren't causing real harm or messing with or denigrating what we want to do in our off time.

@ lumi

See, if most people understood science, you wouldn't even have to voice such a concern. Most games (I can't think of any that don't, offhand) have gameplay experiences that exercise and improve hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, and often strategy and other skills incredibly useful in all walks of life. For a reasonable person, that shouldn't bring up any suggestions that "videogames train killers", and it should be accepted as a neutral activity that can increase general hand-eye coordination, like catch.

It should be obvious to any informed and intelligent person that things like hand-eye coordination are value-neutral skills, that can translate to any activity requiring it, good or bad. Unfortunately, the point you bring up is a valid concern because most people believe the hype and when they see that videogames teach core skills with such wide application, those people draw the illogical and senseless conclusion that this somehow equates to "training" or "conditioning" in killing and such.

I do wonder about such people; one of the best things one can do to prepare for rock climing without actually climbing is to play the piano seriously. In a comparison like that, it becomes easy for any reasonable person to see that even though the piano training greatly benefits the unrelated rock climbing skills, it is in no way "training" one to be a rock climber. Yet the same people make the irrational extrapolation that because videogames improve hand-eye coordination to move a character or object through scenes, they're somehow "training killers".

Great news about the social thing, but I personnaly feel that Nitronomad is a silly little twisted nipple. I wish I could suck his dictatorship...