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Gaming’s Getting Old: Average Player Age Rises

Submitted by on August 18, 2009 – 2:19 am6 Comments

Gaming's Getting Old
Another day, another pointless survey of video game players.

Research undertaken by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the age of the ‘average’ video gamer – 35 – is much higher than previously thought. And not only is it the age on the rise: the number seems to be creeping up on the bathroom scales, too. Gamers were – flatteringly – described as “fatter, less healthy and more depressed than non-gamers”.

Good to know, guys. Thanks.

Researchers analysed data from 500 adults aged 19 to 90 in the Seattle-Tacoma area of Washington state (selected, apparently, because it has the highest internet usage levels of the entire US), and more than 45% of those polled reported that they enjoyed video games. This conflicts with research undertaken this side of the water in 2002 which put the average gamer between 25 and 34 years old. The research also found that the age of the more ‘keener’ players – presumably those ‘extreme’ players we’ve talked about before – is also on the rise.

The research examined people’s perception of their “mood, personality, health status, physical and mental health, body mass index (BMI) and quality of life”. Female video-game players reported greater depression and lower health status than female non-players, while male gamers reported a higher BMI and a greater reliance on the internet than non-gamers. Apparently, the results don’t come as much as a surprise.

“Health risk factors, specifically a higher BMI and a larger number of poor mental-health days, differentiated adult video game players from non-gamers,” said Dr. James B. Weaver from the CDC. “Video game players also reported lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status.”

Now, whilst there’s no denying that some of us living a more sedentary lifestyle may have a slightly larger waistline (although mine’s got decidedly smaller this year – does no-one in Washington state area own a Wii Fit or EA Active?!), the depression bit surprises me. I wouldn’t have thought that gaming made one iota of difference when it came to mental health – but seems I’m wrong. What do you think?

Source: BBC | Image source: Switched.com

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  • http://www.aeropause.com ShaneW

    It seems as though the study should have been with a wider population. Just 500? C'mon!

  • JoeFourhman

    Yeah, a 500-person survey is, like, the intern's job.

    I also question using Seattle as a base for the very opposite reason they cite… if an area has more-than-usual internet use, it seems to follow that it would have more-than-usual game use. So the entire age conclusion is suspect.

    Although more of these studies end up around age 30 for reasons outside of our little world, mainly that they want to define “gamer” as anybody who may have once considered getting sudoku on a cell phone.

  • Vixx

    ^ I know. Not a particularly convincing piece of work.

    And Joe, I thought exactly the same thing. Carrying out a survey in an area where you know there's atypical behaviour hardly seems much of a basis for a credible piece of work. And yet it's being reported as fact!

  • http://www.aeropause.com ShaneW

    It seems as though the study should have been with a wider population. Just 500? C'mon!

  • http://www.fourhman.com Joe Fourhman

    Yeah, a 500-person survey is, like, the intern's job.

    I also question using Seattle as a base for the very opposite reason they cite… if an area has more-than-usual internet use, it seems to follow that it would have more-than-usual game use. So the entire age conclusion is suspect.

    Although more of these studies end up around age 30 for reasons outside of our little world, mainly that they want to define “gamer” as anybody who may have once considered getting sudoku on a cell phone.

  • http://silenthillheaven.com Vixx

    ^ I know. Not a particularly convincing piece of work.

    And Joe, I thought exactly the same thing. Carrying out a survey in an area where you know there's atypical behaviour hardly seems much of a basis for a credible piece of work. And yet it's being reported as fact!