Gamers are fat, depressed and unhealthy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8206163.stm

The average age of an adult video game player is 35 - higher than previously thought, a US study suggests.
A team from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also found gamers were less healthy, fatter, and more depressed than non-gamers.
Researchers from the government agency analysed data from 500 adults aged 19 to 90 in the Seattle-Tacoma area of Washington state.
More than 45% of those surveyed reported playing video games.
The team chose the Seattle-Tacoma area because its internet usage level is the highest within the US and it is one of the larger markets for media.
A UK survey from 2002, conducted by the Leisure Software Publishers Association, found the average gamer was aged between 25 and 34.
But it also suggested that the average age of the keenest players is gradually edging upwards, a finding reinforced by the CDC finding.
The team from CDC 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.
CDC's Dr James B Weaver said the results were not that surprising.
"Health risk factors, specifically a higher BMI and a larger number of poor mental-health days, differentiated adult video game players from non-gamers," he said.
"Video game players also reported lower extraversion, consistent with research on adolescents that linked video-game playing to a sedentary lifestyle and overweight status."

 

Chicken and the egg. Are we to believe that games make people fat and unhealthy?

Is it not possible that fat, unhealthy people were fat and unhealthy before they went near a game and thought "hmm, that suits my lifestyle more than jogging"?

If not, loose shirts and sweat pants in a slimming colour make people fat too.

 

Well, either way, it's not a causal link.
Sitting still doing nothing at all but eating and exercise avoiding would have the same effect...

 

damn you and your flame retardant logic.

 

In America every summer there is a rise in the number of shark bites.
Also every summer there is an increase in ice cream sales.

It follows that shark bites cause ice cream sales (or is it vice versa?).

One thing is for sure, I bet the gamers have a higher average IQ than the non gamers.

 

Keith Vaz and Jack Thompson are non-gamers, so you may be right.

 

I bloody doubt it. Do you read the comments on games websites? Or listened to the wise words of the people on Halo?

 

The only real negative impact I can see is that gamers' attention spans are definitely shorter than-

 

We're talking about a place that gets on average anywhere between 150-200 days of rain a year. That lack of sunlight not only zaps your energy, but keeps people indoors. Not that I'm making excuses, but it's something to be considered if you're going to try to make a broad brush stroke about gamers health.
Additionally, when you're serving things like this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/24/kfcs-double-down-sandwich_n_266848.html

...and it's cheaper to eat this kind of food than healthy alternatives... I think it goes a little beyond just gamers being lazy. What a ridiculous study...

 

This study seems to contradict the 'games make you a violent psychopath' study - it takes real athleticism and vigour to be a violent psychopath...

 

And?

Well, also important to this is, I believe, the fact that the majority of all Americans are overweight and suffer from some signs of depressions. However, I think the title "Americans are fat, depressed, unhealthy, and also play games" would be less catchy.

 

It is indeed unfair to attempt to imply a causal link between gaming and health. It would be more accurate to say that a majority of individuals who choose a less healthy lifestyle include video games as part of that lifestyle. Yet, even still, what determines a gamer and what doesn't? There are certainly office workers who play solitaire and minesweeper for longer periods of time than any high school teenager plays their own game of choice.

I think the resounding consensus is that this study is not only unfair, but also poorly executed. Playing video games is as much of a choice as exercise, and it is not the choice of a video game, but the individual playing the game.

 

So gamer males have a greater reliance on the internet than non-gamers? Boy, these guys are right up there at genius level, aren't they?

I'm gonna get back to my pie and chips, maybe play some generic online RPG before crying myself to sleep. I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow, what with all the cars I have to steal and prostitutes to kill.

 

Games aren't helping our cause though.

The solution to pain? Food. Weakness? Food. Lack of ability, magic power, or other attribute? FOOD.

Now time to beef up my stats with some nice, greasy pizza.

 

Well, to that effect we should also be stepping on blood-packs/medikits and jabbing random syringes we find on the street into our arms to heal everything from poison to gunshot wounds.

 

Exactly. Wait, that was sarcasm.

You mean you AREN'T injecting yourself with random syringes you find on the street? You're missing out. I'm pretty sure I'm developing super powers.

The last post was meant to be ironic. People eat and exercise as much or as little as they choose. It's not games fault it's not society's fault, people just choose.

 

Speaking as a fat, depressed, unhealthy gamer. I can safely say that games didnt cause me to be in this state, but are the result of me being in this state.

Have you read any games forums recently?

 

Here's an independent report of the gaming habits of teens. One interesting point is that in this is 20% of gamer teens play MMOGs (I thought it would be higher) and 47% of gamers play against offline friends and people they know from their community.
http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2008/Teens-Video-Games-and-Civics.aspx