Gamers are Rich, Fit and Social
With the announcement of the “Lighting-connected Gamevice” gaming controller for the iPhone, the idea of gaming on the go has become entirely tangible. The days of stereotype judgments of gamers being lazy, fat, and still living on mom’s couch are quickly diminishing. The gaming industry has changed a lot since Atari.
With the advancement of gaming technology new jobs are being created every day, and programs that didn’t exists fifteen years ago are sprouting up all over the country. Animators, software engineers, game developers, and so many other jobs have opened up to the gaming community all equipped with high paying salaries. Being a gamer has never been so attractive.
Lindsay Peacock, from itbusiness.ca, reports on the formation of over 1300 Canadian jobs in the gaming industry. She quotes the CEO of ESAC (Entertainment Software Association of Canada) on the positive and vital role that the video game industry has in Canada, “It’s a highly skilled, highly paid industry that employs young creative people; it’s demonstrating how Canada can create jobs and prosperity, export its creativity around the world and ultimately lead in the new economy of the future.”
That being said, does gaming still equate to being lazy or unhealthy? I did an interview with a potential major league gamer, Fifteen-year-old Mary, who goes by Official Moldy, to see what she had to say.
How long have you been a gamer?
I’ve been gaming every since I was four years old.
That’s a long time to be gaming! What kind of games did you play?
Yeah it is. I had an N64 and I played Super Mario 64, Star Fox, Mario Kart. I also played PC games and online games like Gaia Online, Habo Hotel, and Club Penguin.
What kind of physical activities did you participate in?
Well, I was in gymnastics, swimming, basketball and tennis.
That sounds like a lot of exercise. Do you still take part in those activities now?
Well, I walk around a lot now and I still play basketball and tennis! I’m concentrating on my studies right now, but I still try to be active in some way or another.
Now that health-food companies like Quest and Gama Labs are sponsoring major league gamers, do you feel more inclined to work out?
Yeah, I think that all gamers should take this as an example that you still need to live your life and be healthy.
I wanted to find out first hand whether the on the go devices have anything to do with the level of physical activity average gamers engage in. For the last few weeks I set up a poll on Facebook and gathered information from my fellow gamers on their level of activity. I wanted to see if there was any correlation between the level of activity for gamers who game stationary and those who game on the go.
Here are the results:
Overall, 93% of voters exercise in general whether it’s sometimes, regularly, rarely, or daily, and only 6.3% of voters said they never exercise. It is also interesting that only 25% of voters claimed that they played sport related games in the “other” option. 84% of votes play on consoles as opposed to the 53% who play on their smart phones. Assuming these smart phone gamers are playing on the go it doesn’t seem entirely relevant to whether or not they engage in more physical activity than those who play stationary.
So gamers have proved to be rich and fit, but social? Yes, the gaming community had a reputation of being anti-social in the past, but now gamers might be more social than the average person.
The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communications, a study run by York University, North Carolina State University and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, found that gamers who attend gaming events not only interact with their fellow gamers online, but also talk, drink, and watch other gamers play. Researchers visited a myriad of gaming events, ranging from intimate bar settings to ravaging convention centres, in the UK and Canada. They consistently discovered that, regardless of event size, gamers were social online and in person.
The New Face of Gamers, a report commissioned by Twitch, an online streaming service, found that gamers are actually more likely to be social, educated and family oriented than their non-gamer counterparts.
Having personally used Twitch to stream my gaming activity, and creative work, I felt very intimidated the first time I went live. Imagine having random viewers criticizing, and watching your every move. It’s as enticing as sitting on your bosses lap while writing up a report. It takes a while to get use to the haters and the trash talk, in a way it teaches gamers to take criticism and either use it to their own benefit or toss it in their proverbial trash can.
The report also finds that gamers are more likely to be tech-savvy and better, faster learners than non-gamers. They are more likely to embrace change rather than reluctantly accept it. They’re not only social but they’re fluid.
So, gamers are not the violent, lazy, socially inept loners that were stigmatized a generation ago, but the rich, fit and socially capable minds that are taking the world by surprise.
