Slashdot Mirror
Gamers Are Fitter (and Sadder) Than You Think
missb writes "According to NewScientist.com, online gamers are no 'couch potatoes'. US researchers quizzed players of the role-playing game EverQuest II, and found adult gamers to be in better physical condition than the average American. The downside, however, was the gamers reported more cases of depression and substance abuse than their compatriots."
And we know the results are accurate, because they're working with a demographic famous for honest and forthright self-disclosure.
IOW: DUH!
Caveat Utilitor
I'd be depressed too if my level 9 elf lost the holy mantle of protection in a battle against a level 15 ranger. I mean come on now....In real life I'd destroy him with my +20 sword.
MMORPG is a substance.
Not that I do either, but the fact of illegal substance use is not evidence of a problem itself, more an indicator that the person has little regard for this area of law, and may be disconnected from society/not buy into its values. This links up with depression and dissatisfaction.
The average gamer also engages in vigorous exercise once or twice a week, which the researchers say is more than most Americans.
This just in! Both chair throwing and jumping around like a monkey count as vigorous exercise.
In Soviet Russia meme tires of you!
Alegory:
/. post
- Faster than your average snail
- Larger than your average sand grain
- Truthier than your average Scientology book
- Funnier than your average
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
since when has an evercrack player ever gotten away long enough to score some drugs? Or have a way to pay for them? Most of the ones I know of can't stop long enough to make the walk out of the basement to go raid the medicine cabinet in the bathroom.
I am about to prove that the average Slashdotter is more healthy, and gets more sex than the general public.
Please reserve this thread for discussions of your physical fitness level and love life. I will start.
First, before work every morning, I run a marathon. On the weekends, I do triathlons(one each day). Ofcourse, I do this while carrying 12kg dumbbells in each hand (I drop to 8kg when swimming).
Each evening I pleasure three supermodels except during lent when I drop to one due to my highly religious beliefs.
Anyone else have any data to add to this research?
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
Substances like soda and frosting.
They never WIN...
YAAAYYY!!! I'm level 8...
ooh... but I'm not level 9...
Games like that are a sharp contrast of what you have/haven't achieved until you top out the game... and then it's on to the next game.
so people suffer from depression and substance abuse when they spend most of their time indoors by themselves and most of their friends are virtual?
in what fashion is this news?
any doctor from the 50s could of predicted this given the symptoms/way of life of a hard core gamer. they'd of been horrified to learn that most of us sit in a chair for hours at a time hammering like poor possessed souls on little rows of buttons. as for junk food and long range commutes - who knows what they would of thought?
Speaking of other games -- who made the erroneous extrapolation that what applies to Everquest II players will necessarily apply to "gamers"? The "researchers", the slashdot submitter or the editor?
Perhaps there is a common cause for depression, playing EQ2 and being "healthy" (or did they mean "not overweight", and made another erroneous extrapolation?), and perhaps not.
In any case, this doesn't say anything about gamers in general. To use a car analogy for a change, this is like studying a group of people who own a Ford Explorer, and then extrapolate this to draw conclusion about drivers.
I'd agree with this. I just cancelled all of my accounts.
I started mmo gaming to hide from a failing marriage, after marriage counseling failed. My wife started getting meaner and meaner, so I started gaming to bury myself in my office and hide from it.
We recently decided to get a divorce. I dropped all of my accounts, started working out again and I've never been more happy in my life. "Hardcore" gamers are usually either escaping from something, or addicted to gaming. Neither situation is conducive to happiness. I'd guess that the ones who are escaping from something are more often also abusing(caffiene, pot, beer, whatever).
I don't think gaming directly causes the unhappiness, it's caused by the circumstances surrounding the gaming. I started gaming *because* I was unhappy. Obsessive compulsive gamers tend to lose their jobs and families because of the gaming. My marriage was already on life support so it was sort of reversed.
Casual gaming is also pretty prevalent and that's perfectly healthy. I'd bet that they'd get much different results interviewing casual gamers.
I quit because now I have better stuff to do and the source of my pain is gone. I'm also looking better because I cook my own food out of fresh ingredients ;). I feel really bad for addicted people. They have to hit rock bottom to quit. I never had to do that. Well actually, it's probably more accurate to say I hit rock bottom before I started gaming.
-Viz
Don't kid yourself. It's the size of the regexp AND how you use it that counts.
I resent the implication that we gamers suffer from problems with depression. I mean, with the amount of Ecstasy I've downed over the past 24 hours I should be well past carefree until Sunday, at least!
Ninjas use italics.
has become a self-reflexive meme, especially on slashdot, used without thought
well guess what: finding a correlation is the first step in establishing causation, and it is entirely logical to conjecture a causative arrangement once a correlative conneciton has been established
so in the future, i would suggest that you, and anyone else reading this comment who loves vomiting "correlation is not causation" as a substitute for actual thought, to spell out exactly why you think there is no causative arrangement here, or in any other discussion
because i, and many others i think here on slashdot and elsewhere are pretty sick of the smarmy "correlation is not causation" kneejerk response
its nothing more than intellectual laziness at best, but most usually intellectual dishonesty
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
"where all drugs were 100% legal, including meth, heroin, cocaine, etc., the use of these substances would still be seen as a mental health issue"
Those ones you mentioned, perhaps so. Other substances less so, clearly depending on whether people are exhibiting addictive behaviour.
"because it is not mentally normal to need a foreign substance to support your brain chemistry"
Agreed. Where exactly was "need" mentioned?
"anyone who doesn't NEED drugs understands what i am talking about"
I don't understand what you're talking about and it's been years since I transgressed the law in this area. You've jumped straight from me saying "not all drug use is abuse" to accusing me of being an addict.
"and if you say you don't NEED a certain drug, and are right now formulating a rationalization against these words of mine, then congratulations: you are probably an addict. an addict needs a hard, reactive wall of rationalization to convince themselves to constantly need a foregin substance for their brain chemistry"
You're barking up the wrong tree mate. My complaint was the immediate anti-drug stance (i.e. no qualification of the word abuse) taken by the media. You're the one coming up with talk about addiction, habits etc.
"in fact your words above "an indicator that the person has little regard for this area of law, and may be disconnected from society/not buy into its values" screams rationalization"
Please explain. It is now very commonplace for people to smoke weed, however doing so implies a disregard for the law of the land. It does not necessarily imply addiction, any more than going for a beer with your buddies after work implies alcoholism.
"using drugs has absolutely nothing to do with being countercultural."
Didn't say it did, I said it implied lack of respect for that area of law and not buying into society's values, notably the ones that brought that law into being and keep it in place.
"there are many people who buy all of a society's questionable values who become addicts (rush limbaugh) and there are plenty of counterculture icons who don't use drugs at all"
Again with the addiction! I would also suggest that Rush does not buy into the crap he spews forth.
"there are plenty of counterculture icons who don't use drugs at all"
So?
"or, put another way, when it comes to being counterculture and using drugs, correlation is not causation ;-)"
Yes, but when it comes to taking illegal drugs you are breaking the law, this shows explicitly that you don't respect that part of the law or the social values that brought it into being and keep it there. It's pretty simple.
I'm not trying to paint some sort of counterculture mystique here, just say it is possible to use some of these things without being or becoming an addict or an "abuser", and that if you do you probably don't fully buy into the values of the society you find yourself in as you are going directly against them.
> if you say you don't NEED a certain drug, and are right now formulating a rationalization against these words of mine, then congratulations: you are probably an addict.
False dichotomy much? If someone smokes pot once a month, then they are a dirty addict? Once a year? Once a week? Once a day, just because they enjoy it so much?
While everyone else is lying about their health, I'm going to be brutally honest:
1. I'm 300lbs
2. I imbibe a gallon or two of beer/liquor each week
3. Cocaine's a hell of a drug
4. Nethack, baby!
All that to say: there is absolutely no unique correlation between gaming habits and fitness. You could have any hobby/pastime in the world, if you overdo it, it can be bad for your health. If you knit 23 hours a day, you're (hopefully) gonne die. If you run marathons 23 hours a day, you're definitely gonna die.
Hell, if you jerk off 23 hours a day, you're gonna die (and be featured on CSI:Miami).
Someone needs to lay the fuck off of gamers. Just because a bunch of nutso kids in Columbine liked to play Doom, doesn't mean gamers should be treated as odd little lab rats.
-Billco, Fnarg.com