Gamers: Breaking the Stereotype

Ana Cedeno
North Bureau Chief

    When people think of a gamer, what often comes to mind is a middle-aged cave dweller surviving from the crumbs and grease stains on his clothes while yelling at a screen, which displays the video game that has, once again, managed to incur his wrath.

    This is the typical expectations people have of gamers, a subculture that until recently wasn't very well known, and whose identity has been warped and hurt by stereotypes such as the ones above.

    With the gaming community growing more and more, what a gamer is has been redefined almost to the point that the word has no meaning. The gaming stereotype is no longer true, if it ever was true to begin with, and has been broken in more ways than one.

    From MMOs, to simulators, to RPGs, games have developed enough variety to make them a world of its own. With such a vast variety of games available, it should be no surprise that the target demographic reflects this variety.

    While the average age of gamers is stated to be thirty one years old, recent gaming demographics suggest that 39 percent of gamers are under eighteen, while 32 percent are aged eighteen to thirty five, the last 29 percent being claimed by ages thirty six and up. Furthermore, according to the Entertainment Software Association 2013 survey, 48 percent of gamers are female, very nearly catching up to the 52 percent that is their male counterpart. Also, video game purchasers are split right down the middle, with male and female buyers each claiming 50 percent of game purchases. These numbers disprove both the age and the gender that most people associate with gaming, and deconstruct the stereotypes that have formed around gaming as a community. They also served to demonstrate that games are for people of all ages.

    According to a study conducted by Scott Rigvy, graduate from the University of Rochester, the reason people play video games is due to three psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness, all of which can be met, not only in real life, but also in video games. When you level up in a game or complete a difficult task, gamers feel accomplished. By having control over what their characters do and even who their characters are, players feel they're in control. The characters also provide someone to relate to and who the gamers feel can understand them. Additionally, online games serve to connect people to others who may share their interests, fulfilling the need of relatedness in a different way.

    An article written by Daniel Johnson for the Sunday Morning Herald, based on the aforementioned study, goes on to say that if these needs are met in real life gaming can be a healthy hobby, which puts a dent on the game-addicted part of the gaming stereotype; since unless the person already has an addictive personality or is in a bad place in life, it seems unlikely they would become addicted to games to the point that they won't leave home.

    What this all comes down to is that video games and gaming are simply a hobby—nothing more, nothing less. The variety in the types of video games available is reflected by the diversity of its audience. The gamer stereotype is broken simply by the fact that everyone who plays a game, whether admittedly or casually can be seen as a gamer.