Slashdot Mirror
This Just In - Gamers Are Human
A new study by the Entertainment Software Association reveals that, amazingly, gamers are regular human beings. The study shows that avid game players are just as religious, artistic, and social as anyone else. From the article: "Gamers are everywhere and they're everyone. They are your friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and kids, they lead responsible and caring lives, balancing their enjoyment of interactive entertainment with many other activities important to a well-rounded lifestyle...Indeed, those who continue to portray the game population as single-minded loafers are living in their own fantasy world."
I am human? Jesus why didn't someone tell me? Next thing I know they will tell me I'm white.
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
Now if only someone could convince my wife...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I am a gamer and most certainly a "single-minded loafer".
Wait, so was the general oppinion that they are some wier zombie-like creatures who play Vice City and drink the blood of mortals?
well duh!!
In other news: 1) Slashdot.com is a Website! 2) Apple makes computers! 3) Chickens are just birds! 4) Microsoft is a company! 5) Water is wet!
DAMN YOU OCTODOG! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
This sounds more ominous in print that I think was its intention. It's the pod people! Or iPod people, maybe?
Honor Among Slackers. A veri
So... Gamers are normal and non-gamers are the exception?
They are your friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and kids, they lead responsible and caring lives, ...
Crap, maybe I should become a gamer afterall.
All these so called "normal" gamers are wrecking the image of the true, harcore loafer!
NoClue
..but that doesn't include slashdotters ;)
Egads, they are everywhere. Even in the State Department. I cannot continue to sit back and allow gamer subversion, gamer indoctrination, and the international gamer conspiracy to sap and impurify, all of our precious bodily fluids.
Unknown host pong.
You know what, maybe you are human and your parents and most of the people you deal with on a daily basis...BUT
I am a mushroom-eating, fireball spitting, red-blooded plumber!
We have feelings too.
IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
I mean we were aware that we were human. I'm suprised that the whole 'eating, breathing, speaking' thing didn't tip them off.
I just knew I was human! No one believed me! Thank goodness we have all those think-tanks like the Entertainment Software Association. Now we can get laid (let the jokes begin)!
Hopefully the next thing they figure out about gamers is that violent games to not creat violent people......
1. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend.
2. Do not eat iPod shuffle.
So no they're all responsible all of a sudden.
"We can confirm that Debian does *not* ship the version with the trojan horse. Our version predates it." [CA-2002-28]
Something I can post on the basement door to keep my parents from bothering me while I'm playing Halo 2 online! Thanks, Entertainment Software Association!!!
Forty-five percent of gamers volunteer at an average 5.4 hours per month.
Sixty-one percent of game players engage in some type of religious activity for several hours each month.
Ninety-three percent of game players read books or daily newspapers, while sixty-two percent often attend cultural events, such as concerts, museums, or the theater.
Fifty percent spend time painting, writing, or playing an instrument.
Ninety-four percent follow news and current events, and 78 percent report that they vote in most of the elections for which they are eligible.
Yes my religious activity involves the porceline gods.
I noticed that I didn't see a number for the amount of gamers going out on dates? So is that like 0% go out on dates? Given a margin of error of 2-3%, so are we to say that maybe 3% of gamers go out on dates?
I mod down so you can mod up. Your welcome.
Here's some other points of interest from the ESA...
1/ U.S. computer and video game software sales grew eight percent in 2003 to $7 billion - a more than doubling of industry software sales since 1996.
2/ In 2003, more than 239 million computer and video games were sold, or almost two games for every household in America.
3/ Half of all Americans age six and older play computer and video games.
4/ The average age of a game player is 29 years old.
5/ The average game buyer is 36 years old. In 2003, 94 percent of computer game buyers and 84 percent of console game buyers were over the age of 18.
6/ Thirty-nine percent of game players are women.
7/ Eighty-five percent of all games sold in 2003 were rated "E" for everyone or "T" for teen. (For more information on ratings, please see www.esrb.org.)
8/ Ninety-two percent of parents surveyed who have children under the age of 18 say they monitor the content of the interactive games their children play, and 55 percent of parents say they play interactive games with their kids at least once a month.
9/ Forty-three percent of game players say they play games online one or more hours per week, up from thirty-seven percent in 2003 and thirty-one percent in 2002.
10/ More than half of game players expect to be playing as much or more 10 years from now as they do today.
[o]_O
Eleven out of ten doctors do believe that slashdotters might be human too...
except for us robots...
--
You have been warned. Do not touch my danish again.
I mean, really.
> The study shows that avid game players are just as religious, artistic, and social as anyone else.
I'm a tolerant dude, and all, but...
> From the article: "Gamers are everywhere and they're everyone. They are your friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and kids, they lead responsible and caring lives, balancing their enjoyment of interactive entertainment with many other activities important to a well-rounded lifestyle...
> Indeed, those who continue to portray the game population as single-minded loafers are living in their own fantasy world."
How much longer until comic book store owners are declared human?
Now what excuse am I gonna use to explain to my girlfriend why I lock myself in my room to "Play video games." Damnit why don't you just teach her how to find .mpg and .jpg files on my system.
Tell that to the people trying to get level-ups in evercrack.
I'm a single-minded loafer.
Intolerance for ambiguity is the mark of the authoritarian personality.
- Forty-five percent of gamers volunteer at an average 5.4 hours per month.
- Ninety-three percent of game players read books or daily newspapers, while sixty-two percent often attend cultural events, such as concerts, museums, or the theater.
- Fifty percent spend time painting, writing, or playing an instrument.
- Ninety-four percent follow news and current events, and 78 percent report that they vote in most of the elections for which they are eligible.
Is this actually in line with other 'regular human beings'? Looks to me like we scored a fair bit better, but then, I don't have anything to compare it to. Anyone got a control group poll?Sixty-one percent of game players engage in some type of religious activity for several hours each month.
Just think of all the horrible events in history that can be attributed to one group of people persecuting another group. Regardless of what group you belong to, you're not all that different from anyone else. The more we realize that, the better off we'll all be.
maybe we need more studies telling us obvious things.
What doesn't kill you only delays the inevitable
Gamers are human? I knew that.
Now, Slashdotters, on the other hand....
In other news, Microsoft products are human too. To err is human, after all.
Well.... come on. :-)
I spent all this time building myself up to the ideal geek stereotype. And all this time, they've lied to me. LIED I TELL YOU!
All this time chasing the perfect stereotype, ruined!
People Talking in Movie shows.. people smoking in bed.. people voting republican.. GIVE THEM A BOOT TO THE HEAD!
I hear the CTA (Crack Trafficing Association) did a study which showed crack users are kind to animals and generally charming party guests.
We get a story like this ("Many Gamers Not Psychopaths!" or "Games Good For A Small Part Of Your Brain!") twice a week, always with this triumphant spin as though something significant has been rebutted.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
News for Nerds. Stuff that kinda sorta maybe matters but mostly kinda sortof just doesn't. ;)
Thank you, Captain Obvious. I still doubt that this guy is human, though.
Something I've noticed is that it's become okay to be a gamer, even a computer gamer. When I first got into computers in the seventh grade, you were a nerd if you chatted with your friends via text. A mere three years later, and it was hip to be chatting your friends on Yahoo or AIM. Jocks and trendy girls were sending e-mails to each other, and it was okay.
;) The nerds of nerds.
While it was kind of hypocritical, it is cool because the result since has been that the image of a gamer is more mainstream now. In fact, I've noticed a lot more older gamers these days, which is natural since the people who first played Super Mario Bros. in the 80s are grown adults now, often with families, who still follow gaming. But I think the barriers of age, social class, and so on have kind of broken down. Though you still have gamers even other gamers won't touch, like EQ2 players.
All in all, though I think gaming companies are in trouble, the gamer is doing pretty well these days. And yes, we are human.
Forty-five percent of gamers volunteer at an average 5.4 hours per month. -
I'm always volunteering to go on these quests for people... finding their lost dog, their lost son who ran off into the woods, slaying the dragon haunting the village
Sixty-one percent of game players engage in some type of religious activity for several hours each month. - All these games I'm playing (mostly Japanese RPGs) make me fight some Judeo-Christian God in the end!
Ninety-three percent of game players read books or daily newspapers, while sixty-two percent often attend cultural events, such as concerts, museums, or the theater. - Yeah, I attend Nobuo Uematsu's Black Mages concert
Fifty percent spend time painting, writing, or playing an instrument. - I spend time writing my own game fanfics
Ninety-four percent follow news and current events, and 78 percent report that they vote in most of the elections for which they are eligible. - I voted in the Spike TV Video Game awards... Does that count?
Hehe...
"Gamers Are Human Beings!"--announces Industry Group
"People with money are people"--reveals Las Vegas Visitors Bureau
"Bill O'Riley isn't an evil git"--proclaims his mum
"Gays aren't people, too!"--admits Karl Rove
"Moderators are nearly human"--slashdot
"first posters are fairly human"--slashdot
"A sufficiently patched hack-job is indistinguishable from actual security until later notice"--Microsoft rolling out any new release
"Will Eisner, still dead."--everyone BUT slashdot
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Does anybody have a link to the full study?
This article doesn't seem especially informative. It basically just says that gamers spend more time non-gaming than they do gaming, and that they participate in many of the most common mainstream activities.
What it doesn't provide, however, is any comparison to statistics for non-gamers, including obesity rates and total time spent partipating in cultural events.
It also doesn't provide definitions for many of its activities. Does "theater" include "movie theater"? Does "daily newspaper" include Slashdot?
No, we really need more information...
game players spend more than three times the amount of time exercising or playing sports, volunteering in the community, reading, or engaging in religious, creative, and cultural activities than they do playing video games.
Is sex a religious, creative, or cultural activity?
Read any good sonnets lately?
But it is good to know that so many gamers exercise and are involved in sports, and that their love for games has not made them sedentary
My chair takes offense to that. We have been through better and through worse then these "scientists" come with "research" to say we are not "sedentary".
BLASPHEMY !
WHAT YOU SAY?!
Are game-playing computers considered human, too?
Give a man fire, and you warm him for the night. Set a man on fire, and you warm him for the rest of his life.
I for one welcome our new human overlords.
:(
ok, that sucked. This would have been more kickass if the news was tha gamers were aliens, robots, or at least some sort of mildly aaggressive animal. Human... just no punch to it
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
Zagreus sits inside your head, Zagreus lives among the dead, Zagreus sees you in your bed and eats you in your sleep.
At the risk of saying something other than, "Well duh... who posted this?!"
I think the great engine behind the "popular" image of gamers as loafers stems from marketing rather than popular experience. I see "gamers" depicted in television advertising regularly. It always has 2-3 guys in their early 20's sitting in a dark room, on the couch, surrounded by junk food and illuminated by the blue glow of a television. I see this almost every time I turn on "The Simpsons."
By contrast, in real life I've only seen this environment a handful of times. Now why exactly the marketing folks think telling me I can be like the balding guy on the couch is going to get me to buy their game, I don't know. Maybe the answer is that gamer/loafers tend to wind up in marketing?
Trying to use sarcasm in text-based forums does not work.
So, even though video games can be compared to movies in terms of sales (I know its often misleading,but the fact that they can even compare is noteworthy) people think that so-called 'gamers' are another culture?
wow.
+1 Interesting.
"Martha Stewart can lick my Scrotum......do i have a scrotum?" -- Sharon Osbourne
I just don't know what to believe!!! Earlier today slashdot tells me that gamers are delusional but now slashdot tells me they are regular! Thus, am I to conclude that regular people are delusional? But that contradicts the definition of regular. This is very troubling.
Gamers ... balancing their enjoyment of interactive entertainment with many other activities important to a well-rounded lifestyle.
As opposed to chatters, I assume. My roommate discovered ICQ and hasn't been seen in public for about 9 months now. He eats while standing in the kitchen because presumably going to the dining room to sit down would take too much time from in front of his computer. After coming home from work, it's straight to the computer and when getting up he's usually a hurry to get to work on time because morning chats run to the last possible second.
Walking around Wal-Mart the other day, I noticed that all the kids in the electronics section were overweight (shorter and fatter than even me). I live in an area with below-average obesity rates, and, in general, there should have been a mix of regular-sized people with one or two fat people. Please tell me the statistical correlation here is imagined.
-- Microsoft is the most expensive commodity operating system and office suite vendor in the marketplace.
Bullshit, Gamers, Richard Stallman and his followers are a bunch of sick perv satanic aliens!
WARNING: DO NOT LET DR. MARIO TOUCH YOUR GENITALS. HE IS NOT A REAL DOCTOR!
With real living flesh-and-blood girlfriends? Naaaawwww. You are trolling my leg
Table-ized A.I.
From: Slashdot Users To: Entertainment Software Association You must be new here... I'm really supprised I didn't see a post saying that already... gamers are comprised of mechanical robots, software bots and teenagers, which are definitely not human... (well, maybe the mechanical robots)
I burned out and needed to be replaced. I thank whomever took my place in handing $,$$$ each year over to the fine people who make and sell games. With whatever is left of my hand/eye coordination I do crossworld puzzles and drink a lot of beer.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
This story seems to be about how people perceive video games and the people who play them. Since a huge slice of Slashdotters likely are also gamers, this probably is of interest to more people than you might think.
One of the reasons I like Slashdot is that it goes beyond the same tech stories I could find at any number of other sites. Slashdot is an online magazine of geek culture, and that culture includes plenty of things beyond new *NIX applications.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
NOOO! I'm surrounded by them! Help!
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Quit yer bitchin'.
/. -- don't we get enough of that from the rest of the world? -- but wherever it comes up, it's useful to have this kind of information to counter it.
As a gainfully employed 35-year-old techie (not so much a gamer, but that's largely due to lack of time) who exercises and bathes regularly, owns his own home, and has a sex life, I get really goddamn tired of all the geek stereotyping (fat smelly unepmployed virgins living in their parents' basements, etc.) It's especially annoying here on
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
IMHO, it would be great if more people remembered that:
Drug addicts are humans.
Gays are humans.
Alcoholics are humans.
Smokers are human.
Disabled/handicapped people are humans.
People that don't agree with you are humans.
People with different religions beliefs are humans.
People of other races are humans.
These are people who need to recognition the most and society tends to forget their humanity when convenient to do so.
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
What is it about mainstream culture that has made entertainment something you watch rather than participate in. Isn't it more likely that sports fans are the ones that are not execising, going to church and voting. "Can't right now babe, the game is on." OK that is probably a personal bias since I don't watch sports. Still I do not get this attitude that gaming is somehow bad for you. Where did it come from?
Insert Generic Sig Here:
If Pat Robertson had published a study saying that 83% of all gamers are pedophiles, we would have screamed that the study was obviously biased. Well, if we're going to convert over people who are actually against games, we're going to need studies that aren't going to appear totally biased to the Censor-Happy crowd.
Oh... well I certainly dont do games and other activities on that ratio.. perhaps probably the opposite :x
How many gamers did the person study anyay?
):
"...the Hart research found that 79 percent of all game players report exercising or playing sports at an average of 20 hours a month.
...but only if Dance Dance Revolution counts as exercising.
In all seriousness though, I remember someone on slashdot reported successfully using DDR as a way to work off some excess fat. What I'm *really* waiting for though, is a full body motion simulator so I can play Counter Strike "in game". There's no better form of exercise than running for your dear life.
Dammit, I became a gamer because I wanted to be an elitist, antisocial, slacker motherfucker.
Now what the hell do I do? Get a Mac? >:)
I put on my robe and wizard hat... :-)
42
/.'ers don't have wife's. They can't get a girlfriend. Oh wait, was it a mail order bride?
I get really goddamn tired of all the geek stereotyping (fat smelly unepmployed virgins living in their parents' basements, etc.)
Right on, man! I shower daily and I live in the attic (our house doesn't even HAVE a basement!)
No, I don't think so. I think the typical Slashdotter (myself included) falls into a different category that I like to call "Creepy CS."
... so far nobody has answered "Yes" .. they usually answer with "Slash WHAT?!"
I give people I meet in real life that show a bit of computer/coding proficiency a test shortly after meeting them. (New co-workers, etc)
The test is simple, "Do you read Slashdot?"
How creepy is that?
Anyways, going to social events and playing musical instruments cuts into my coding time.
That report is also kind of biased -- most creepy CS wouldn't allow any information about them to be taken.
Ok, I'll leave now.
So are sexual deviants and Republicans [I think] but they're still stereotyped and riddiculed throughout society...
Well that would be according to people like Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois at least. (Who secretly probably plays way too much Leisure Suit Larry)
News Reporters Make Tasty Polar Bear Treats!
The problem with this is that the average person is fucking stupid. I once heard a person remark "Video games? Well, I don't have anything against them..." when people should just realize that VIDEO GAMES ARE ANOTHER ENTERTAINMENT MEDIUM. I was so stupefied by that remark that I didn't reply "Books? Well, I don't have anything against them..."
When you look at the state of the world, how can you not become a radical, liberal anarchist?
"...and in other news, three repeated blows to the head can cause brain damage. This, as reported by the medical journal 'Duh'"
-paraphrasing Norm MacDonald on SNL's "Weekend Update"
Q: What did the comedian say to the crowd?
A: If I knew, this joke would be funny.
It seems like us real disfunctional gamers are being washed away by a mass amount of regular gamers. We are indeed a dying breed.
Gamers are everywhere and they're everyone. They are your friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and kids Scary, isn't it?
When I was in high school in the 80s it was really only kids who played console games or went to arcades. It was really strange to see someone past high school playing games. The older people I saw in the arcades were usually college aged bums wearing jean jackets who smoked alot. And parents... they never played games back then. Unheard of!
This just in! (white | black | asian | hispanic | *) (female | male | *) (democrat | republican | *) (christians | muslims | buddhists | *) that (use drugs | are homosexual | are unemployed | have differing beliefs | *) are human, too!
Unfortunately, until those studies come out, we'll just have to keep assuming that they're evil and deserving of whatever persecution we deem necessary.
They are your friends, neighbors, co-workers, relatives, and kids, they lead responsible and caring lives, but in the night....
So, the 'causual' gamers who spend about 6.8 hours spend 23.4 doing other stuff. And the avid gamers who spend 11+ spend 34.5 doing the other stuff. But when do they reach the threshold of the 3:1 ratio they are talking about? It would seem like the more time you spend on games, the less time you would have doing everything else. It be even more interesting to see what that first group is doing with the other hours not being used to game, exercise, be social, etc.
First the WoW non-story, then the Grrl Gamer non-story, now this complete and utter non-story. Seriously, Slashdot may be the news for Nerds... but it's certainly no Blue's News. Can't we just leave the gaming news stories to someone who can actually cover it?
We're far superior to humans in everyway. We survive on caffine rich soft drinks and pizza constantly and don't see sunlight for months
How many avid gamers cheat? Cheating can be related to lieing, thus how many avid gamers lied about how much time they spend outside of gaming... Realistically 80+ hours a week gaming, and 1 hour/week in religious service, though sometime 45 because you leave after communion to get online at the same time as "Texican" in MK Deception. The 20+ hours a week of exercise and other activities include riding the tony hawk wannabe skateboard to the mall, via bus stops A and B, where B stops at the mall and A is a block from the house; in order to check gamestop if the newest "game" has arrived yet. The other few hours of exercise include loitering at the mall between trips to the magic shop, arcade, and hot topic during the afternoon after school and before the evening curfew. ~CYD
//Nothing to see here, please move along.
Industry lobby group comissions a study that says it's products wonderful and it's customers the picture of humanity!
Film at 11.
Study sponsored by: Entertainment Software Association
Dairy Association says Butter good for you... Philip Morris says Cigs are good... etc, etc....
JEEEEZ!
"you were a nerd if you chatted with your friends via text".
When I was a kid, if you wanted to chat via text, you had to put it on a 5 1/2" floppy written in Basic and pass it to your friend. Sure there was IRC, but you had to hook up your 9600 baud modem to make it work.
I have been a gamer though throughout. Back then it was Brickout and Lode Runner. For me today it is SOCOM II (I am biased against Halo) and Doom and various RTS computer games. In my experience, the most successful games are 'social'. There is a community or clan that hangs out as much to be around other people like you and to be social, as anything else. Everquest works because of the group dynamic. The advent of voice communication makes that even more powerful, and makes computer games more like a fun phone call or chat line.
Up to date video cards, system boards, disk space, games, subscription MMORGs, broadband...
Sheese, maybe I'll go back to 2nd Edition AD&D...
---
Yea, yea, I'm sure I'll come up with a snappy sig soon
Some people have addiction issues with MMORPGs. Someone I know exists more 'online' than in our world. He will binge, connected to WoW or Everquest for 20-30 hours at a stretch. Sometimes he and a friend will 'tag team', with one napping while the other 'skills up'. His 'real world' relationships are few and far between - he has very immature social skills, more used to 'bashing a rat for a copper coin or scroll' than 'engaging in a discussion during a meal with others'.
Slashdot's name? When my compiler sees
Can a 36 year old married father of two who just finished half-life 2 call himself a gamer? Maybe Im just to old or is being a gamer Hip? Yeah :) first post
Although gaming is becoming more mainstream, it is because the companies are focusing their efforts to the majority. Sure, now it is fine to play high profile games like Halo and GTA, but playing RPGs and side scrolling shooters still isn't something looked at as normal. Now the term "gamer" means something different. There is a big gap between gamer and the kind of people who put most of their free time in a week into a game and the people who pick up and play a game for a half hour a day. We are human, but which "we" is being talked about?
this makes sense on the surface, until you live with a gamer and you realize that they are in fact lazy loafers who never clean up after themselves and disrespect everyone else around them because the game is more important.
What's the server lag on this fantasy world? Do they allow PvP? And can I sell my items IRL?
Otherwise, this "fantasy world" of theirs is just another doomed MMORPG...
The game industry sponsored a study that found that games are OK. Isn't this the kind of "study" at which we rightfully jeer and jest when, for example, Microsoft funds one that finds that Windows is {more secure, lower TCO} than Linux? Thus, I jeer and jest. If the game industry has to fund (bias) a study to find that gamers are human, then they patently are not.
I guess that means I lose my +1 INT, DEX and WIS. On the upside, the -2 STR was getting rather annoying.
paintball
More gamer $$$...
1. Create mind-numbing, time-wasting interactive audio/video drug.
2. Advertise as fun.
3. Profit.
4. Watch profit growth plateau as video-game-drug culture gets generalized as teen lamer geeks.
5. Flatter current customer base and allay fears of potential new customers - "Gaming won't make me less human? Okay, here's my entertainment $.".
6. Hope profts resume upward growth near previous rates.
Take the 90-Day Challenge! http://rwmurker.bodybyvi.com/
Because I'm still pretty sure my wife is a troll.
paintball
Indeed, those who continue to portray the game population as single-minded loafers are living in their own fantasy world.
So does that mean G4TechTV's marketing department is fired?
They're either single or maried, but never have a girlfriend.
paintball
I think todays nerd/geek is basically anyone who is overly passionate about their hobby.
I mean tons of people play games but as said there are even the nerds amoung nerds... those who eat sleep and breathe the stuff. And that can be said of any technology or hobby. It use be that anything computer related was nerdy, because that in itself was out of the norm... but now that PC's are the norm the "nerd" is one who is overly involved to the point of affecting their social behavior or even just involved way more than any of their peer group.
we are a demographic which can be a good thing as companies start thinking of us a targe audience.
This might mean more games.
Like hell.
What it'll probably mean is more gamer-oriented ads for chips and soft drinks.
Mario gets home after a long day of eating mushrooms and popy-flowers and goes to the fridge for band-y sugar-loaded carbonated water, stuff like that.
Being a demographic just means that they are figuring out ways to get at your wallet, not to provide you with quality products. Just effective advertisement.
You can't take the sky from me...
Well, no shit.
I'm mortaly insulted!
Chances are any disscution on Slashdot will degrade into a flamewar about ID/Christianity within 14 posts.
Who the F cares? Really, I mean if you like games you like games. Who cares what anyone thinks. Also where do you all get the idea that gamers are thought of badly? Go into any house in the usa with kids and 2/3 of them will have video games whether on a console or pc. Sheesh.
Could this work?
[prompt]
>north
The Troll Room
This is a small room with passages to the east and south and a forbidding hole leading west. Bloodstains and deep scratches (perhaps made by an axe) mar the walls.
A nasty-looking troll, brandishing a bloody axe, blocks all passages out of the room.
>moderate troll -1
The troll vanish, humiliated by your geekdom superpowers.
>
[/prompt]
Yahh, hiii haaaaa! -Major Kong, from Dr. Strangelove
I get really goddamn tired of all the geek stereotyping (fat smelly unepmployed virgins living in their parents' basements, etc.
That *is* the average geek, by definition. Geeks *aren't* normal, otherwise they'd never fit the criteria for geekhood. The fact that you have a sex life with something other than your hand is proof positive that you aren't a geek.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
seriously
Define human.
Just like the way terrorists respond truthfully when asked "Are you a terrorist?".
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
Well, of *course* gamers are *human*...I think what this survey was possibly talking about was whether or not they are what most of us would define as *normal.*
;-)
;)
;)
My answer to that question is that FPS/RTS gamers in particular probably are for the most part from what I've seen...although the hard-core FPS crowd *seems* a little more anarchic/aggressive than most...which then again isn't surprising given most FPS subject matter.
With regards to MUDs in particular however...I have strong suspicions that Eugene Tooms was probably an excellent representative of the archetypical MUD enthusiast.
I think MUDs/MMORPGs and AD&D are probably largely responsible for the stereotype that contemporary gamers are socially/psychiatrically maladjusted. I've noticed myself that roleplaying in particular and normalcy seem to be inversely proportional to each other...ergo, a hardcore roleplayer is more likely to also be a hardcore freak as well.
I think the larger body of PC/console game players are relatively ordinary individuals...it's Battle.Net, UO/EQ, D&D mailing lists, and most especially the MU* sphere where the true basement-dwelling mutants are likely to be found.
In related news, Microsoft claims Windows less expensive than Linux, the NRA claims that guns don't kill people, people kill people (and so do monkeys, if you give them a gun! - thanks eddie!), tobacco companies claim that smoking is not that bad for you, and SCO claims that they own linux.
Although I obviously agree that gamers are normal people (duh!), shouldn't we question the source of this investigation?
I'd like them to address the sexuality issue, personally. I mean, it seems as if gamers are more willing to "out" their fellow gameplayers. Like 99% of Counster-Strike players are apparently. some variety of homesexual.
[shrug] Very few of us meet the original definition for geekhood. I know I don't make my living biting the heads off live chickens; do you?
... "geek" is what we make it. I consider myself a geek because of my interests. I enjoy programming, science, science fiction, history, and offbeat music -- all the classic geek stuff -- much more than I do, say, football and MTV. Yet somehow, I've managed to surround myself with good people who share my interests. What bothers me about the geek stereotype, more than anything else, is the assumption that we're asocial. We don't have to be; we may let ourselves be that way, but it is in fact a conscious choice.
So with that out of the way
As for being fat and smelly (which pretty much guarantees the lack of a sex life) -- that too is a choice. The truth of the matter is, most of my geek friends are clean and reasonably fit and attractive; I think the stereotype, like most stereotypes, has a grain of truth to it, but is far exaggerated. The few I do know who live down the stereotype make me want to grab them and shake them and say, "It's okay to shower! It's okay to exercise! It's okay to put on clean clothes! No one's going to take your geek card away! You'll still be smart!"
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
A new supplement's about three quarters of the cost of a new PC title. I picked up two new supplements today to feed my habit-$90 CDN in total, including the drop in exchange rate on one of them, and my frequent customer discount on both of them. Add in the cost of munchies and a few other things, and it's about as expensive to play D&D these days as it is to play a MMORPG.
The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. -Anais Nin
It is dark. You are likely to be pwn3d by a campx0r1ng f4g grue.
The study also shows that avid gamers are also as drug-addicted, violent, sexually perverse, and prone to suicide as everyone else.
In other news, Soylent Corp announces a new flavor.
__
Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
Ya I'm human, but Hollywood Video still creates a dark dungeon atmosphere for the video game section. Let me live the surreal life, I don't want to be human. Back to the basics, have we all not heard about this everyday for the last couple of years? I get the point, gamers are no longer your dungeons and dragons people. They're sexy man beasts like me!
laf eim hukd on fonix!
:(
/. grammer/spelling nazis busy!
swear that "create" was all there when I previewed and "to not" said "do not" must be a M$ typo virus
anyway, something to keep the
1. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend.
2. Do not eat iPod shuffle.
So in other words what's being said here is that because I'm a gamer who is a single minded loafer living primarily in a fantasy world, that I'm actually not like every other gamer out there? That's excellent, I always thought I was just 'one of the crowd', and that most gamers were into ther gaming more than anything else. Now I have proof that I'm special.
Are you more of a nerd if you played Adventure and Star Trek (anyone remember shooting down Klingons on a teletype machine?)
I'm a gamer. I played X-Wing 8 hours a day for a whole summer. I was lapping up Doom while Eric and Dyllan were blasting up Columbine. I mowed down pedestrians and policemen while playing all the GTA's (starting with the original 1 & 2). I understand why games are fun and I certainly don't think they are bad.
But I can definately see why people who don't play games would view them as bad. I mean, look at the habit from a distance. You aren't getting any excercise. The imagry is amdittedly horrid in most cases. Arcade/action style games rarely build any kind of life skill or healthful mental attribute. Games can appear sort of like highly addictive mental masturbation that leads to obesiety and a disconnect with reality.
Of course, those people are wrong. Games kick fucking ass. But I'm just saying, I can see where those types of people are coming from.
I work for a major computer game company. Let me say, "major." Please tell me that this isn't true. We spend a lot of time targeting our demographic, and if gamers have a normal girlfriend and/or children, we're fucked. It's a really perverse aspect of the industry, but we make money when our customers don't have people in their lives to "tune them in to reality."
Yeah, I'm posting as "Anonymous Coward," but that doesn't mean I'm not who I say I am and that what I'm saying isn't true. Money talks. Sad, but true.
I remember playing those. Was always the last back to the PL/1-course after breaks as I was playing Star Trek at every opportunity. :-)
Not nerd, possibly dinosaur?
I'd be more surprised if the "*Entertainment Software* Association" found us to be PC-potato troglodytes. In their best interests not to, really.
Don't get your hopes up. It said Gamers are on average normal human beings. Nobody is claiming Slashdotters are.
I'm not sure all gamers are completely human though. With all the aimbots and wallhacks in use in just about every first person shooter with multiplayer capability, it seems some gamers would rather be bots than play the game themselves.
With cheating spreading like wildfire, it's going to start affecting the mainstream gamers more and more. The gaming companies are going to have to start dealing with it, or risk losing profits when frustrated gamers give up on online multiplayer gaming altogether.
I most certainly am NOT human! This pathetic piece of rotting meat is only a temporary host.
"Potpourii doesn't taste as good as it smells." - Dark_Link2135
>> Forty-five percent of gamers volunteer at an average 5.4 hours per month. /. for providing the news and the daily polls!
Writing blogs, FAQs and game walkthroughs
>> Sixty-one percent of game players engage in some type of religious activity for several hours each month.
What can I say, LAN parties are GREAT! If I could afford it, I would have gone to CES and E3 as well!
>> Ninety-three percent of game players read books or daily newspapers, while sixty-two percent often attend cultural events, such as concerts, museums, or the theater.
Well, game guides ARE books and slashdot is a daily news publication.
>> Fifty percent spend time painting, writing, or playing an instrument.
Isn't it sick how people love playing the SIMs?
>> Ninety-four percent follow news and current events, and 78 percent report that they vote in most of the elections for which they are eligible.
Once again, thanks to
http://worldofwarcraft.gameamp.com/forum/showTopic /4753.php
An old brontosaurus here...
Moderators: Please note that "bonch" is a known fanatical psycophant whose obnoxious offtopic rants are legend here on Slashdot. It doesn't matter what the topic is, he'll find a way to scrape in some pointless Microsoft shilling. While nobody expects us to love Microsoft in any way, his particularly tepid style of calling anyone he replies to "troll" or "liar" because he happens to disagree with whatever they're saying is well documented and should not be rewarded. If anything, bonch is the type of person that should not be part of the open source/free software community. He is an anathema to all that is good about free software.
/. subscriber, I invite you to look through some of his posting history. I guarantee that you'll be hard pressed to find someone that is more "out there" than bonch. You'll also probably notice he's got quite an AC following. Don't just read his posts, make sure you go through the replies.
I'm posting this so that you (the moderator) have some context to consider bonch and not mod him up whenever he posts his filler preformatted rants about installing Windows or whatever that unfortunately get him karma every single time and allow him to continue posting his trademark toxic crap (read on) day in and day out. You may consider this a troll - I consider it community service. And I ain't kidding.
If you're a
For example, in this recent post bonch not only calls the OP a troll but attempts to "tell it like it is" while making some vague argument about "MS". Yes, if you're confused, you're not alone. The reply (modded +0) proceeds to simply destroy his bogus argument. You will notice he did not reply. This is what some people call "drive-by advocacy". A sort of I'll just leave you with my thoughts here and move on to the next flamebait kind of deal. In fact, he almost never replies because he knows that his fanatical arguments simply do not hold up to any sort of discussion. It's not that he's chosen the wrong cause - he's just going at it in a completely wrong way.
More? Just read though this post and the subsequent replies. I guess this stands on its own.
More? Bad spelling in astounding conspiracy theories, more offtopic FUD and uninformed "I'm right, look at me" rants, promptly proven wrong. Worse even, bonch wants to be Bill Gates, apparently (that first one is a winner). I mean, really. You think?
FUD, FUD, FUD, FUD, offtopic FUD, and more FUD. This guy is like the Monty Python SPAM skit, but with FUD and more FUD instead of canned meat. Amazed yet? Don't forget that KDE and Gnome make you dumb, and it's all a Slashdot conspiracy. How low do you want to go? Maybe as low as this?
The infamous Slashdot Front Page Troll? Nuclear fireballs? It goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on (troll?). Like the energizer bunny. Or take these two, which stretch the definition of weird.
It's up to you. We can get rid of this guy and make Slashdot a better place. I don't know about you, but I'd rather take the trolls and crapflooders over people like "bonch" any day. And I sure as hell don't want to be categorized along with him. This is not how you advocate free software, period.