"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." Robert E. Howard, The Tower of the Elephant (1933)
Some people are depressed and seek to escape in games, especialy the persistant worlds available in mmorpg's. I dont think gameing makes you depressed, but it certainly doesn't help if you are already in that mindset. Plus the social stigma attatched to them as you can see from reading some of the reactions on this thread already. I dont think this servey speaks 4 the majority of gamers out there in anyway. But you can't pretend there isn't a problem. Maybee these people need help rather than scorn. speaking as a recovering substance abuser I know if you are that far into something, getting out of it or picking yourself up on your own isn't always that easy.
Its true that almost every 'hardcore' gamer is overweight and depressed, but I wouldn't say they are all 35+. Most of them range from 12-18 years old. If anything I'd say 35+ gamers wouldn't have that problem since they'd have a more mature view on things, and gaming would be more of something they'd do in spare time.
I skimmed over the report, a rather small sampling if I recall not saying it isn't true but its also true that 35 is fairly close the median age in most areas, and that more are gamers than are not, further more its the US most are overweight and depressed. Looking at that we can say that for just about any thing that covers a large % of the population you will find that the average is (30-40, overweight, depressed, overextended) that includes thous who read, watch TV, play games, drive cars, talk on cell phones, eat McDonald's, have sex, and or go to work. . . as is usually the case I find the report rather useless yet some how interesting to read.
A mroe intresting stat I read recently was that nearly 50% of all XBox 360s have red ringed Woot you know how to do it Microsoft lol.
I think the person(s) responsible for calculating and condensing this data should be fired. No way in hell should my tax dollars be spent for people who can't even accurately measure the online gaming community. They mention several times they are directly targeting adults who are using the internet, which will thusly skew the numbers in their favor. Also, the United States Government feels the need to point the blame on online games because they don't want to look at the real truth of the situation. They should be targeting McDonalds and other fast food chains that are allowed to serve unhealthy food.
That is DIRECTLY linked with obesity. Anyone watch "Super Size Me"?
On another note, all these researches are taking a backwards stance approach to games/online games specifically because; 1.) they don't understand the games themselves, 2.) have their arses shoved up so far they can't see the light of their LCD monitors.
Seriously people, lets play games while exercising. That should through our government for a loop.
I think the person(s) responsible for calculating and condensing this data should be fired. No way in hell should my tax dollars be spent for people who can't even accurately measure the online gaming community. They mention several times they are directly targeting adults who are using the internet, which will thusly skew the numbers in their favor. Also, the United States Government feels the need to point the blame on online games because they don't want to look at the real truth of the situation. They should be targeting McDonalds and other fast food chains that are allowed to serve unhealthy food. That is DIRECTLY linked with obesity. Anyone watch "Super Size Me"? On another note, all these researches are taking a backwards stance approach to games/online games specifically because; 1.) they don't understand the games themselves, 2.) have their arses shoved up so far they can't see the light of their LCD monitors. Seriously people, lets play games while exercising. That should through our government for a loop.
The study doesn't say that games cause people to be overweight or depressed, any more than it says that games cause people to be 35 years old on average.
____________________________________________ im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good
Remember, according to these people the entire "average" population of the US is overweight. So, saying any sub-group of that population is overweight is pretty damn meaningless. These are also the people who want you all seeing shrinks and taking happy pills, so of course you are all depressed.
Originally posted by rikilii The study doesn't say that games cause people to be overweight or depressed, any more than it says that games cause people to be 35 years old on average.
I never said that they tried stating that online games cause people to be overweight or depressed. But what they are trying to do with the numbers is trying to support the link between being overweight and depressed with online gaming. And being that most concerned individuals would be adults, these numbers would help to cause a hystery of sorts with adults.
And if you look at other countries there are a lot of online gamers in several Asian countries who are not overweight, hell I'm not fat, but compared to them I feel like a beached whale.
I think the person(s) responsible for calculating and condensing this data should be fired. No way in hell should my tax dollars be spent for people who can't even accurately measure the online gaming community. The mention several times they are directly targeting adults who are using the internet, which will thusly skew the numbers in their favor. Also, the United States Government feels the need to point the blame on online games because they don't want to look at the real truth of the situation. They should be targeting McDonalds and other fast food chains that are allowed to serve unhealthy food. That is DIRECTLY linked with obesity. Anyone watch supersize me? On another note, all these researches are taking a backwards stance approach to games/online games specifically because; 1.) they don't understand the games themselves, 2.) have their arses shoved up so far they can't see the light of their LCD monitors. Seriously people, lets play games while exercising. That should through our government for a loop.
They have been on game for the past what 15 years or so, before game it was music before that it was movie and before that it was texts. They love to bitch about the popular media and point out how damaging it is, simple fact of the matter is that game is a media like every other media, it does give us a new feature being interactivity that's true, but games don't make people fat or make kids kill them selves any more than music, movies or books. In short your right they are looking to point a finger or distract the people for one reason or another, this is a mild attempt and more likely where some one got board and wanted to start some crap.
I'm 29 not depressed and overweight according to the BMI. However, even at my healthy weight I'm considered overweight by the BMI. 200 lbs is a good weight for me and I'm 5'10". Check the BMI and I'm about 25lbs overwieght at that. I'm actually about 225ish have a beautiful wife, who is now the proper weight according to the BMI after having a baby 6.5 months ago(5'8" and 135-140ish). Before then underweight by 10-15 lbs according to the BMI. Oh and the kicker is that I have a jobs that is basically like sprinting every 5-10 minutes 38 times a day. To bad it's not for the recommended 30 minutes or else I'd be that 200lbs eating like I do.
ADDED FOR FLAVOR: When I was addicted to meth I weighed in the mid 170's so I know that is not a healthy weight for me. I looked sickly and was in the military so I was forced to work out every other day. Just wanted to add the last part because anyone familiar with meth understands that you don't eat. Combining that with working out would put me at a bad weight so yes 200 is a healthy weight for me. I guess some people really do have big bones :P
Originally posted by LodenDSG They have been on game for the past what 15 years or so, before game it was music before that it was movie and before that it was texts. They love to bitch about the popular media and point out how damaging it is, simple fact of the matter is that game is a media like every other media, it does give us a new feature being interactivity that's true, but games don't make people fat or make kids kill them selves any more than music, movies or books. In short your right they are looking to point a finger or distract the people for one reason or another, this is a mild attempt and more likely where some one got board and wanted to start some crap.
I'm 29 not depressed and overweight according to the BMI. However, even at my healthy weight I'm considered overweight by the BMI. 200 lbs is a good weight for me and I'm 5'10". Check the BMI and I'm about 25lbs overwieght at that. I'm actually about 225ish have a beautiful wife, who is now the proper weight according to the BMI after having a baby 6.5 months ago(5'8" and 135-140ish). Before then underweight by 10-15 lbs according to the BMI. Oh and the kicker is that I have a jobs that is basically like sprinting every 5-10 minutes 38 times a day. To bad it's not for the recommended 30 minutes or else I'd be that 200lbs eating like I do. ADDED FOR FLAVOR: When I was addicted to meth I weighed in the mid 170's so I know that is not a healthy weight for me. I looked sickly and was in the military so I was forced to work out every other day. Just wanted to add the last part because anyone familiar with meth understands that you don't eat. Combining that with working out would put me at a bad weight so yes 200 is a healthy weight for me. I guess some people really do have big bones :P
I agree the BMI is a load of crap, I am actually under what it says I should be even when I was in army serving as a 13F1P and at my heaviest I was a mere 150, I don't look sickly but my point is proper weight differs not merely with height and gender but with frame and build you can be 5'10 200 and be fat or you can be 5'10 225 and be normal depending on your frame. Just goes to show that the stats they show are BS, I don't know if its so much that they are trying to skew the numbers (why would they) or if they are just to stupid to realize that "normal" in a world with 6.5gig of unique people is a figment of your imagination.
I never understood how being a gamer is supposed to make you overweight , you gain weight from eating stuff not from having one hand on a keyboard and the other on a mouse..? What a bunch of bull
Your right. Being diabetic ,its TV that increases my carb intake lol. Watching a movie or something i seem to think i need something to munch but not while playing a game. Im in pretty good shape for an old geezer. Slaying monsters keeps the fat off.
I never understood how being a gamer is supposed to make you overweight , you gain weight from eating stuff not from having one hand on a keyboard and the other on a mouse..? What a bunch of bull
[quote=pb1285n] 2. Eating doesn't make you fat. Playing video games for 15 hours a day and not living an active lifestyle makes you fat. [/quote]
Actually, you gain weight by burning fewer calories than you take in. Sedentary people who sit around and play video-games will burn much fewer calories than they take in UNLESS they have a high metabolism (which is more common in younger gamers). Sedentary people who have a high metabolism will still burn more calories than they take in, so they're very skinny / bony with atrophied muscles (i.e., they're physically weak) like me. The more you eat, the more calories you take in, so obviously it can contribute to weight gain, but if you have a high enough metabolism, it won't matter. Either way, sedentary life is bad for you.
As far as the link between depression and gaming goes, I think there is probably a significant number of cases that go both ways (cases that play video-games because they're depressed and need an escape and cases that are depressed because they let video-games take over their lives and no longer have a true social life / social skills to build one).
Personally, I'm not depressed or overweight (although I am out of shape); but I have family and friends that play video-games a lot that are overweight, and while none of them seem to be depressed, they are much more irritable than others (with a few exceptions), especially when talking about or playing video-games. However, those I know make up a tiny portion of the general gamer demographic, so it doesn't really say anything about the study.
Edit: I'll also say that my playing video games too much HAS had a negative effect on my real life social skills. At one point I could barely make eye contact with people. When I realized how bad it had gotten, instead of getting depressed, I made a conscious effort to get them back up to par, and I'm almost back to where I should be now I can hold a conversation and make friends relatively easily. I still don't have much experience dating, but I have a plan to fix that one too so I'm not worried. Don't beat yourself up about it. Develop a plan to fix it and put it into action.
"In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional or disciplinary response[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[2]" (Wikipedia.org, 8-24-09)
No reason to dismiss the findings out of hand (I'm depressed cause I can't find a decent mmo! first time I'm not subscribed to any mmo's in over 5 years) except, I'd want to question the ability of the CDC to accurately capture statistics for the under 18yo crowd.
I mean, if I were under 18, would I even answer a CDC questionaire, and if I did, wouldn't I lie my ass off?
__________________________ "Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it." --Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints." --Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls." --Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
"The average gamer, who took the survey, is 35, overweight, and more likely to be depressed" Not that surprising. I'm sure the younger crowd are less likely to take surveys. The average person is now overweight apparently (according to the mind-f**kers who seem to want everyone to be constantly worried and depressed about everything). Depressed people are probably a bit more likely to take surveys as they'll be more of them at home with spare time.
No the average person is now overweight because portion size has doubled in the last 30 years.
The problem is that we keep telling people it's okay to be overweight, and not to worry about what other people think. Too bad not worrying can lead to major health problems down the road.
Oh and you have a major misconception of depression if you think they sit at home on their computer all the time.
There's a mixture going on. People are maybe eating too much and not exercising enough + there's bossy mind f**kers who'll always be bossing about something, if people were 100% fit they'd be saying we're all too thin and need to eat more + the BMI bugs me because I used to be heavily into sports and people using the BMI as a measure is dumb and annoying.
Depression is on a wide spectrum. Mildly depressed people will be (at least a bit) more likely to be sat at home on the computer than a non-depressed person imo.
Comments
i read about it here www.maximumpc.com/article/news/shocking_study_finds_gaming_makes_you_fat_nerdy
but blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/ rips nice fluffy holes in the report an msnbc
"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." Robert E. Howard, The Tower of the Elephant (1933)
The 35 thing I think is the only one that is really ...a bit higher than one might expect.
65% of Americans are overweight (obesity1.tempdomainname.com/subs/fastfacts/obesity_US.shtml) Note overweight is not obese.
I'm not familiar with the rest of the worlds, rates, but I'm guessing industrialized countries are running
pretty high.
More likely (probably statistically) isn't explained but it could amount to 5% more likely than an average person..
So overall nothing really shocking..
Some people are depressed and seek to escape in games, especialy the persistant worlds available in mmorpg's. I dont think gameing makes you depressed, but it certainly doesn't help if you are already in that mindset. Plus the social stigma attatched to them as you can see from reading some of the reactions on this thread already. I dont think this servey speaks 4 the majority of gamers out there in anyway. But you can't pretend there isn't a problem. Maybee these people need help rather than scorn. speaking as a recovering substance abuser I know if you are that far into something, getting out of it or picking yourself up on your own isn't always that easy.
Its true that almost every 'hardcore' gamer is overweight and depressed, but I wouldn't say they are all 35+. Most of them range from 12-18 years old. If anything I'd say 35+ gamers wouldn't have that problem since they'd have a more mature view on things, and gaming would be more of something they'd do in spare time.
Wrong , I am 52.
===========================
If you woke up breathing,
congratulations! You have another
chance.
===========================
I skimmed over the report, a rather small sampling if I recall not saying it isn't true but its also true that 35 is fairly close the median age in most areas, and that more are gamers than are not, further more its the US most are overweight and depressed. Looking at that we can say that for just about any thing that covers a large % of the population you will find that the average is (30-40, overweight, depressed, overextended) that includes thous who read, watch TV, play games, drive cars, talk on cell phones, eat McDonald's, have sex, and or go to work. . . as is usually the case I find the report rather useless yet some how interesting to read.
A mroe intresting stat I read recently was that nearly 50% of all XBox 360s have red ringed Woot you know how to do it Microsoft lol.
I think the person(s) responsible for calculating and condensing this data should be fired. No way in hell should my tax dollars be spent for people who can't even accurately measure the online gaming community. They mention several times they are directly targeting adults who are using the internet, which will thusly skew the numbers in their favor. Also, the United States Government feels the need to point the blame on online games because they don't want to look at the real truth of the situation. They should be targeting McDonalds and other fast food chains that are allowed to serve unhealthy food.
That is DIRECTLY linked with obesity. Anyone watch "Super Size Me"?
On another note, all these researches are taking a backwards stance approach to games/online games specifically because; 1.) they don't understand the games themselves, 2.) have their arses shoved up so far they can't see the light of their LCD monitors.
Seriously people, lets play games while exercising. That should through our government for a loop.
~Webby "This MMO needs more dead bird."
The study doesn't say that games cause people to be overweight or depressed, any more than it says that games cause people to be 35 years old on average.
____________________________________________
im to lazy too use grammar or punctuation good
Remember, according to these people the entire "average" population of the US is overweight. So, saying any sub-group of that population is overweight is pretty damn meaningless. These are also the people who want you all seeing shrinks and taking happy pills, so of course you are all depressed.
I never said that they tried stating that online games cause people to be overweight or depressed. But what they are trying to do with the numbers is trying to support the link between being overweight and depressed with online gaming. And being that most concerned individuals would be adults, these numbers would help to cause a hystery of sorts with adults.
And if you look at other countries there are a lot of online gamers in several Asian countries who are not overweight, hell I'm not fat, but compared to them I feel like a beached whale.
~Webby "This MMO needs more dead bird."
They have been on game for the past what 15 years or so, before game it was music before that it was movie and before that it was texts. They love to bitch about the popular media and point out how damaging it is, simple fact of the matter is that game is a media like every other media, it does give us a new feature being interactivity that's true, but games don't make people fat or make kids kill them selves any more than music, movies or books. In short your right they are looking to point a finger or distract the people for one reason or another, this is a mild attempt and more likely where some one got board and wanted to start some crap.
I'm 29 not depressed and overweight according to the BMI. However, even at my healthy weight I'm considered overweight by the BMI. 200 lbs is a good weight for me and I'm 5'10". Check the BMI and I'm about 25lbs overwieght at that. I'm actually about 225ish have a beautiful wife, who is now the proper weight according to the BMI after having a baby 6.5 months ago(5'8" and 135-140ish). Before then underweight by 10-15 lbs according to the BMI. Oh and the kicker is that I have a jobs that is basically like sprinting every 5-10 minutes 38 times a day. To bad it's not for the recommended 30 minutes or else I'd be that 200lbs eating like I do.
ADDED FOR FLAVOR: When I was addicted to meth I weighed in the mid 170's so I know that is not a healthy weight for me. I looked sickly and was in the military so I was forced to work out every other day. Just wanted to add the last part because anyone familiar with meth understands that you don't eat. Combining that with working out would put me at a bad weight so yes 200 is a healthy weight for me. I guess some people really do have big bones :P
-Almerel
Hello my old friend.
I'm glad someone understands my point.
~Webby "This MMO needs more dead bird."
What the hell is the CDC doing studying video games... don't they have more important things to focus on like... actual diseases
Didn't you hear? Their next studying is providing a link with communicable diseases and online games!!!
Edit: ...And they are also calling obesity a disease.
~Webby "This MMO needs more dead bird."
the truth only hurts those that are uglier
and you are right it would be lame if somebody on this site cared.........oh wait....you responded...
I agree the BMI is a load of crap, I am actually under what it says I should be even when I was in army serving as a 13F1P and at my heaviest I was a mere 150, I don't look sickly but my point is proper weight differs not merely with height and gender but with frame and build you can be 5'10 200 and be fat or you can be 5'10 225 and be normal depending on your frame. Just goes to show that the stats they show are BS, I don't know if its so much that they are trying to skew the numbers (why would they) or if they are just to stupid to realize that "normal" in a world with 6.5gig of unique people is a figment of your imagination.
Your right. Being diabetic ,its TV that increases my carb intake lol. Watching a movie or something i seem to think i need something to munch but not while playing a game. Im in pretty good shape for an old geezer. Slaying monsters keeps the fat off.
[quote=pb1285n] 2. Eating doesn't make you fat. Playing video games for 15 hours a day and not living an active lifestyle makes you fat. [/quote]
Actually, you gain weight by burning fewer calories than you take in. Sedentary people who sit around and play video-games will burn much fewer calories than they take in UNLESS they have a high metabolism (which is more common in younger gamers). Sedentary people who have a high metabolism will still burn more calories than they take in, so they're very skinny / bony with atrophied muscles (i.e., they're physically weak) like me. The more you eat, the more calories you take in, so obviously it can contribute to weight gain, but if you have a high enough metabolism, it won't matter. Either way, sedentary life is bad for you.
As far as the link between depression and gaming goes, I think there is probably a significant number of cases that go both ways (cases that play video-games because they're depressed and need an escape and cases that are depressed because they let video-games take over their lives and no longer have a true social life / social skills to build one).
Personally, I'm not depressed or overweight (although I am out of shape); but I have family and friends that play video-games a lot that are overweight, and while none of them seem to be depressed, they are much more irritable than others (with a few exceptions), especially when talking about or playing video-games. However, those I know make up a tiny portion of the general gamer demographic, so it doesn't really say anything about the study.
Edit: I'll also say that my playing video games too much HAS had a negative effect on my real life social skills. At one point I could barely make eye contact with people. When I realized how bad it had gotten, instead of getting depressed, I made a conscious effort to get them back up to par, and I'm almost back to where I should be now
I can hold a conversation and make friends relatively easily. I still don't have much experience dating, but I have a plan to fix that one too 
so I'm not worried. Don't beat yourself up about it. Develop a plan to fix it and put it into action.
"In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional or disciplinary response[1] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[2]" (Wikipedia.org, 8-24-09)
The best way to deal with trolls:
http://www.angelfire.com/space/usenet/ [IGNORE THEM, THEY JUST WANT ATTENTION!]
Just dinged 37 in rl last saturday...and feel the best I have in 10 years!
Just wanted to add you never grow up but sometimes us adults have to act.....well adult so its fun to play games so we can act like kids
No reason to dismiss the findings out of hand (I'm depressed cause I can't find a decent mmo! first time I'm not subscribed to any mmo's in over 5 years) except, I'd want to question the ability of the CDC to accurately capture statistics for the under 18yo crowd.
I mean, if I were under 18, would I even answer a CDC questionaire, and if I did, wouldn't I lie my ass off?
Describes me perfectly!
__________________________
"Its sad when people use religion to feel superior, its even worse to see people using a video game to do it."
--Arcken
"...when it comes to pimping EVE I have little restraints."
--Hellmar, CEO of CCP.
"It's like they took a gun, put it to their nugget sack and pulled the trigger over and over again, each time telling us how great it was that they were shooting themselves in the balls."
--Exar_Kun on SWG's NGE
I dunno you don't look to fat in your picture.
No the average person is now overweight because portion size has doubled in the last 30 years.
The problem is that we keep telling people it's okay to be overweight, and not to worry about what other people think. Too bad not worrying can lead to major health problems down the road.
Oh and you have a major misconception of depression if you think they sit at home on their computer all the time.
There's a mixture going on. People are maybe eating too much and not exercising enough + there's bossy mind f**kers who'll always be bossing about something, if people were 100% fit they'd be saying we're all too thin and need to eat more + the BMI bugs me because I used to be heavily into sports and people using the BMI as a measure is dumb and annoying.
Depression is on a wide spectrum. Mildly depressed people will be (at least a bit) more likely to be sat at home on the computer than a non-depressed person imo.
I dunno you don't look to fat in your picture.
Maybe his feet are ginormous.