More in the realm of stuff you already knew: all gamers are not antisocial freaks. This according to a study coming out of Victoria University which included 621 subjects.
Dan Loton, a Psychology grad of the institution, decided to prove the dissidence against the notion of gamers generally being an antisocial populace with low self-esteem. Hell dude, you didn't have to do a whole study, here's your proof right here:
Low self-esteem? Don't think so. There's a whole subculture based around trash talking while gaming for gosh sakes. Not to mention the whole Wii as a party console thing. And in case you don't remember elementary, middle, highschool or college, students are crazy about games; it's how I made a lot of my friends then, anyway.
"From a clinical point of view, an addiction is a mental illness with very serious consequences," Loton said. "In this context, we need to ask whether gaming is responsible for causing people’s lives to fall apart in the same way we see with gambling, alcohol or drug addiction."
The study found, quite simply, it's not. Specfically, only one percent of game addicts "suffered from shyness" and no direct connection could be found between "problem gaming" (defined as 50+ hours per week) and social skills or self-esteem. Most of the reported negative effects stemmed from MMORPGs, like World of Warcraft.
It will be interesting to see if this study has any impact on the American Medical Association's plans to formally recognize video game addiction as a mental disorder in 2012, which, according to Loton, needs to do more research.
Gaming censorship
The rules of gaming
