The stereotype of the shut-in neckbearded gamer is going the way of the dodo. Aside from you know, people who raid in World of Warcraft (I kid), most of the gamers I know are regular, normal, socially functional people.

Maybe they’re even more socially functional than I give them credit for – a study shows that gamers are more likely to marry, date, have kids, and go out than non-gamers.

The study, which was performed by IGN and Ipsos Media CT and obtained by Gamasutra, says that more than half of the gaming population is married, almost half (48%) has kids, and the ones that haven’t settled down are twice as likely to go on a date in a month than people who don’t play games. Whether that’s because they feel a nagging sense of desperation or not, well study doesn’t say.

Gamers like to go out more, too. They’re 13 percent more likely to go to the movies, 11 percent more likely to play sports, and 9 percent more to go out with friends than people who don’t have to make guild meetings on a weekly business.

As always we can never really know the veracity of these studies, but still – good news Gamer: you like to go to the movies more than the guy who doesn’t play Pokemon.

Source: Gamasutra

Tags: gamers, social, study

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2 Comments » Chelsea Thompson on October 22, 2008 10:46 pm Neckbeards are gross. That is all :) Keane Ng on October 22, 2008 10:51 pm i like your yukari avatar ps: i have a neckbeard RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.