A US study has found that people who play games regularly are more likely to take drugs and drink alcohol than normal people. They could have saved a lot of time and money by just asking us though.
Professor Laura Walker, who led the study from Brigham Young University in Utah, said: "The most striking part is that everything we found clustered around video game use is negative." Makes you wonder if they actually tried to find anything positive.
Games are usually pinned with making idiotic (sorry... easily influenced) teens violent, but according Walker: "It appears video games are related to a host of other negative outcomes."
800 university students were questioned, and it found that students who played games regularly were 10 percent more likely to have a tipple or take drugs than their non-gaming friends.
Those who play daily are said to be three times more likely to smoke cannabis, stop talking to friends and family and, female gamers in particular, have low self esteem, according to the report published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence (via the Telegraph).
"It may be that young adults remove themselves from important social settings to play video games, or that people who already struggle with relationships are trying to find other ways to spend their time," said Walker. "My guess is that it's some of both and becomes circular."
Universities - the best place to ask a bunch of guys if they drink...
Strange... It wasn't a year ago that she was claiming that it was a person's relationship with their parents that caused them to drink and take drugs... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080210094643.htm ...A fair bit of straw clutching is going on methinks!
Let's imagine, for a moment, that the conclusion that gamers are more likely to drink and take drugs is true.
There is still no excuse for the conclusion that "The most striking part is that everything we found clustered around video game use is negative."
Relatively little or no books have yet been written about the artistic and philosophical merits of videogames at their best. The level design in some games, for instance (quite a few N64 games spring to mind for instance) makes them something of abstract masterpieces. How can a game of such positivity, energy and colour as Jet Set Radio Future, for instance, be a wholly negative thing?
True, most games are not as inspiring or innocent as this these days but many or most universities won't even give games as innocuous as Sonic the hedgehog any serious consideration as anything other than an idle pursuit.
To not see any positives at all in videogames is to not play or understand videogames.
Brigham Young University in Utah? What a surprise - a bunch of Mor(m)ons declaim anything that might be fun that doesn't involve worshipping their version of the weirdy-beardy invisible daddy figure in the sky. Schmucks.
Even as a Social Sciences student I can pick holes in her research. She's basically saying that 'Gaming has a causal relationship with taking drugs and booze'. However, is it REALLY gaming that causes that? Is it not maybe the College enviroment? That campus? It lacks validility and can't really be extended to other segments of the population. Indeed, I could even see gaming as a good thing in certain circumstances such as keeping people off the streets. This is shoddy research. Academics will ignore it. We should to.
what a bunch of morons. Only the americans could come out with this kind of bulls**t. I am a gamer and have been for over on 2 decades. However i am neither a drug user and i VERY RARELY drink.
i also have a very active social life between family and friends.
i would love to see how they got to their "findings" as it seems to me that they just randomly made it up at the eleventh hours just so they could get their credit.
its pretty much like the american propeganda film industry such as the americans cracking the enigma code (when history clearly states it was the brits)
what a bunch of morons. Only the americans could come out with this kind of bulls**t. I am a gamer and have been for over on 2 decades. However i am neither a drug user and i VERY RARELY drink.
i also have a very active social life between family and friends.
i would love to see how they got to their "findings" as it seems to me that they just randomly made it up at the eleventh hours just so they could get their credit.
its pretty much like the american propeganda film industry such as the americans cracking the enigma code (when history clearly states it was the brits)
I like the way it says gamers are more likely to be druggies or alcho's than "normal" people. I like to think I'm normal. I haven't taken drugs in 3 years and go out for scoops 2-3 times a month, rarely miss a day of work and in doing so have been able to build up a good selection of games.
hahaha. this is so wrong i hardly know where to begin. take an arbitary and very low amount of students, ask them a narrow range of questions about their lifestyle, and come up with an unscientific conclusion to fit your prejudices about a past-time that countless millions of people that never go near drink or drugs engage in daily. wow, even i could do this and i'm an alcoholic smack dealer who spends all day masturbating to pictures of game characters whilst listening to death metal, and as such, instead of spare time, i have only semen stains, vomit, and the smell of 45% Mama's Magic Moonshine on my hands. the article states that "students who played games regularly were 10 percent more likely to have a tipple or take drugs than their non-gaming friends." this is 10% from 100% of a part of 800 and as such is so small a difference between gamers and non-gamers as to be within reasonable tolerence, and could easily be coincidence. and then to insinuate that there is a cause-effect relationship between these tenuously linked factors is laughable. and apparently '(those) who play daily are said to be three times more likely to smoke cannabis'. hmmm, maybe that should be 'those who smoke cannibis daily are three times more likely to be sat around doing f#*k all and are therefore more likely to play games to pass the time'. in fact i could rephrase all her statements in this manner. how about - "(the) most striking part is that everything we found clustered around drug use is incidental and obvious." and so on.
who did professor laura walker shag to get her professorship? because i don't rate her as a scientist. then again i'm pretty hammered and that last hit's starting to kick in so i might have got this all wrong.
Brigham Young University is completely owned and run by the Mormon Church. Forgive me if I sense a little bit of bias in their findings. If there's one thing that religious types don't like it's something OTHER than their particular brand of craziness having any sort of influence over the minds of their young people!
"Brigham Young University is completely owned and run by the Mormon Church"
ah i didn't realise this. so maybe she didn't have to shag anyone to get the post, maybe she was just called to it by her ficticious God, or the however the hell it works. by the way, if that offends any Christians, then please, forgive me.* (hmm, if i keep this up i'm gonna get banned. or Brand. woohoo! f&$k it i don't care i've just done a massive neck full of Cake and am feeling my own t**s off.
they were questioning only 800 students, they're all drinking and smoking cannabis so it's increasing a chance that one of them will be smart enough to get drunk or stoned while playing to get better gaming experience.
well as a student, at universit, who also happens to be on the council for the universities Computing and Gaming society (society is the word here, you know, socialising and whatnot), i can, in all honesty, say that i (and a large proportion of my peers) do not smoke (either legal or illegal substances) play games regularly, are in good relationships, and, as a society, socialise more often thn not.
also i don't really drink at all :/
generalising research is something people should never do...
Almost everyone in my school owns a games console which they use once a day. Does that make them gamers? You cant say Gamers are more liky to try drugs when there is such a broad definition of the term. Is an 8 year old with a Wii a gamer? How about the folks in retirement homes with Wiis? I call Bulls**t over this entire study.
@vengeanceuk: I was wondering when a moron such as yourself would bring the whole "American" thing into this. Get over yourself.
As for this study, I'm an American and can tell you all that Utah is a Mormon state, and Mormons can't be trusted. I speak from experience, friends. I dated one once. Once.
Even as a Social Sciences student I can pick holes in her research. She's basically saying that 'Gaming has a causal relationship with taking drugs and booze'. However, is it REALLY gaming that causes that? Is it not maybe the College enviroment? That campus? It lacks validility and can't really be extended to other segments of the population. Indeed, I could even see gaming as a good thing in certain circumstances such as keeping people off the streets. This is shoddy research. Academics will ignore it. We should to.
But the media wont and idiot parents will belive it.
Interesting. I game pretty much everyday of the week, I rarely drink, I don't smoke and I've never taken illegal drugs. My girlfriend is a gamer and she doesn't suffer from low self-esteem. Brilliant "research" there. Granted, I realise that my girlfriend and I may not represent the overall gaming average but there are other studies that have indicated that gaming does not make gamers more violent; quite the opposite as gaming apparently allows many people to release pent up frustration.
I can't start playing Oblivion yet, my belt's not tight enough and I can't find a vein...just one more hit...one more hit...one more hit...one more hit...they're coming for me.
@vengeanceuk: I was wondering when a moron such as yourself would bring the whole "American" thing into this. Get over yourself.
As for this study, I'm an American and can tell you all that Utah is a Mormon state, and Mormons can't be trusted. I speak from experience, friends. I dated one once. Once.
Theres always one person willing to blame America not all us brits hate the Americans(unless your cheating at cod waw )
These guys make me laugh. I am 15 i have been gaming since 5 thats 10 years right there and i go out all weekend love my parents and dont drink or take drugs. Oh wait sorry this is the college community. I wonder how the hell they are thinking they can get clean results out of college or university when that is the experimetation years of booze and drugs. Ah i love it when games become scapegoats.
WHAT IF, and I know this is a long shot, but WHAT IF being a druggie or alcoholic makes you more likely to play games. Did they ask that question?
Spot on, thats exactly what I was going to say.
If they were proper scientists, they would know that their conclusion would be impossible. Still, if they did conclude that, it would get them in the papers right?
To be fair to them, they are probably right in a very small way, but saying that all experiences related to videogames as 'negative' is sensationalism. I wouldnt say having a few beers and a spliff while playing games with your mates is particularly negative, compared to having a few beers and a spliff and then DRIVING to a club or something.
These are just people wanting to make a name for themselves in the papers rather than serious scientists.
The ironic thing is that when I was at Uni I drunk and took more drugs than any other period in my life, but I played games a whole lot less than I do now, or did before I went to uni. I reckon thats the same for quite a lot of people.
A recent study shows that 90% of gamers think scientists are gormless gits with no life!
The mere fact that many of them spend most of their time telling us about their ridiculous 'theories' says it all for me. "Oh yes, time travel is possible; if you travel faster than light, time for you slows down, so when you stop, from your POV, you will be in the future. Maybe. Oh, and you can't actually travel backwards, so even if it were true, it's not really travel." Oh, I didn't make it up, by the way -- this is a genuine scientific theory, and is almost as preposterous as the concept of "God". Oh, and I also happen to be a gamer with an IQ in excess of 160, so if they want to call me an idiot, they can go right ahead. At least when I make stories up I don't go around trying to convince people that they're true.
1. I damn near p**sed myself when I saw that photo 2. I do like a nice vodka every once in a while 3. When was the last WORTHWHILE scientific breakthrough?
Lol, the irony as I had the biggest hangover today at work after going out and getting wasted and spending the early hours watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas....
ahhhh let me guess this is the same people who did the study that linked video games to violence. its a load of crap, seriously who are they studying? ive got over 40 people on my friends list, most of them i use to go to school with and would not even think about touching that s**t. may be i need to do a study to show how much s**t these studies are full of.
ironicly enough all the people i know that do drugs about 10 in totaL NEVER played video games in there life. example 6 dick heads from school use to leave early to smoke weed all arvo than go for long drvies. my boss goes out every night leaving his kids by them selvs goes to the clubs and pops 2 or 3 X pills. my trades man does the same. so does. my cuz hates video games but hes the biggest pot head in the world. and last time i checked dident most rock stars die from drug/alchol overdose jimmi hendrix and the original ACDC singer? mr scientist go get stoned than try finish resistance 2 on superhuman and see how long you last.
Erm... I've been playing games since I was old enough to pick up a pad, I have a well paid job, a wife and a baby daughter. I also enjoy a drink as much as the next man.
To insinuate that games automatically have a negative impact on those that play them is utter ridiculous, inflammatory, insulting and stupid.
Seriously, hasn't anything else come along in the last 20 years that makes a better scapegoat than games yet?
Hello idiot I'm a hardcore gamer and I'm straightedge maybe you haven't met me yet but I'm also studying Science at college whats your excuse for being pathetic then? If only I could say this to all these idiots I know quite a few gamers none take drugs and only a few drink, maybe it was because she went to a university and picked the dumbest looking ****s she could get. Anyway why is she a scientist shes a damn time waster and come to think of it I want my 2 minutes for this back.
what a bunch of morons. Only the americans could come out with this kind of bulls**t. I am a gamer and have been for over on 2 decades. However i am neither a drug user and i VERY RARELY drink.
i also have a very active social life between family and friends.
i would love to see how they got to their "findings" as it seems to me that they just randomly made it up at the eleventh hours just so they could get their credit.
its pretty much like the american propeganda film industry such as the americans cracking the enigma code (when history clearly states it was the brits)
germans build it, but polish scientists cracked it and gave all info to britons who than used it, read history books more carefully, because you're spreading bulls**t.
what a bunch of morons. Only the americans could come out with this kind of bulls**t. I am a gamer and have been for over on 2 decades. However i am neither a drug user and i VERY RARELY drink.
i also have a very active social life between family and friends.
i would love to see how they got to their "findings" as it seems to me that they just randomly made it up at the eleventh hours just so they could get their credit.
its pretty much like the american propeganda film industry such as the americans cracking the enigma code (when history clearly states it was the brits)
germans build it, but polish scientists cracked it and gave all info to britons who than used it, read history books more carefully, because you're spreading bulls**t.
Same with America claiming they bluit the first Atomic Bomb. Sure it was built in america, but most of scientists were european, and all of the ideas used from from european heroies. Gaermany was closer than america till its efforts were destoryed by commandoes. All the rocket technology modern ballistic missles use is based on the German V2
Oh I am not alone, here I was thinking that Iw as the only person shooting up heroin before I played Fallout 3. Never again will I feel I am the only person speedballing my life away during a session of Wii sports.
I've just noticed... In that pic from the Telegraph, one dude is holding an N64 pad (using the D-Pad no less... How many N64 games actually used that?), the other guy has a GC pad, and they're playing on an Apple Mac monitor. Gotta love journalists!
They forgot those of us who have a PhD and are working on an MD and play video games. I am a 31 year old games, I have a PhD in Biochemistry from an Ivy league school and am in my second year of medical school in a top institution. When I have free time, I game on my PS3 like there is no tomorrow!
This Article is Hilarious, first of all, I bet the study was carried out for a course, Does anyone actually hand out questionairres or carry out interviews?
for my Sociology A2, I sure didn't do my study properly, me and my friends sat in a local bar and filled the questionairres out for each others work!
Questioning 800 University students is never smart, in fact questionairres are one of the most unreliable and invalid sources of research, I would like to call "horse s**t" on her study
and in University, it is easily biased, Many spend their time drinking and some spend their time experimenting with drugs....its just what they do!
If the study was carried out on a widespread basis, I would trst it more, but otherwise...stuff it!
Scientists and politicians constantly looking to put all the worlds wrongs down to videogames is kinda like picking on the small fat kid at school, he cant run very fast and is probably unable to fight back.
You know its amazing these people dont think to I dunno.......ask gamers? Most students are only casual gamers anyway, the most students do is go out get drunk and go on the pull.
Typical low grade students arent the best example for a scientific test anyway as they only go to uni and college as a cop out compared to the students who go there to actually learn.
this is so wrong i hardly know where to begin. take an arbitary and very low amount of students, ask them a narrow range of questions about their lifestyle, and come up with an unscientific conclusion to fit your prejudices about a past-time that countless millions of people that never go near drink or drugs engage in daily. wow, even i could do this and i'm an alcoholic smack dealer who spends all day masturbating to pictures of game characters whilst listening to death metal, and as such, instead of spare time, i have only semen stains, vomit, and the smell of 45% Mama's Magic Moonshine on my hands. the article states that "students who played games regularly were 10 percent more likely to have a tipple or take drugs than their non-gaming friends." this is 10% from 100% of a part of 800 and as such is so small a difference between gamers and non-gamers as to be within reasonable tolerence, and could easily be coincidence. and then to insinuate that there is a cause-effect relationship between these tenuously linked factors is laughable. and apparently '(those) who play daily are said to be three times more likely to smoke cannabis'. hmmm, maybe that should be 'those who smoke cannibis daily are three times more likely to be sat around doing f#*k all and are therefore more likely to play games to pass the time'. in fact i could rephrase all her statements in this manner. how about - "(the) most striking part is that everything we found clustered around drug use is incidental and obvious." and so on.
who did professor laura walker shag to get her professorship? because i don't rate her as a scientist. then again i'm pretty hammered and that last hit's starting to kick in so i might have got this all wrong.
Do gamers have other social past times. Like say going down the pub. Jesus christ they do. Who'd of thought it.
Did this moron ever stop to think that maybe theese gamers in fact form thier own social groups and have these strange things called parties.
Hell when i was at uni we and a couple mates started a gamer soc. Ran tournaments and nights in the union. Got a bloody good turn out too. But obviously it was all a tea and crumpets affair.
Do uni students get drunk and dabble in drugs? hmmmm.
I don't have time for drugs; many of the games I play need a decent amount of concentration... Regardless, if 'normal people' are all antisocial dullards who wont go out for a drink, I'm not interested in being one.
Well imagine my surprise at this drivel, yet another vain attempt by the lefties to offer a loosely linked set of research points presented as scientific fact.
Decipher this; I play a lot of games and am a raving alcoholic, bother kids, take smack, kill many people on the sly, abuse foreigners, support the National Front, listen to very heavy death metal, drive an un-taxed car on the pavement and take every opportunity possible to hurt, maim and kill others........ must be these damn games!!
Absolute bottom, next they will be linking the totalitarian exploits of Hitler with the Seelow level on COD5 and how this makes players adopt a Swastika tattoo and start hanging local Russians.
So basically, anti-social kiddies are anti-social because of games... not that they play games more than others because they're anti-social in the first place??
This really does p**s me off. These lame ass people swan around and make these assumptions and accusations about gamers that are so far off the mark it is not true! So many people play games nowadays it is no longer a thing geeks in a small bedroom do, so of course some might take drink or drugs, but labelling JUST the gamers that do this is downright wrong and narrow minded. Loads of people take drink or drugs what the hell has that got to do with games for gods sake?
I don't take drugs or smoke and have been happily gaming 21 years. I also go out regularly and have a broad social life, so do I fit this study? Clearly not and I am certain not many others do to. Us gamers are always being labelled as negative, anyone wants to point the finger all the time, and it is just reminds me how endemic it is in society to label and scapegoat a bunch of people and accuse them of something they don't do. It just always covers over the genuine problems with society that these idiots who conduct these surveys do so with scorn and complete bias. Maybe if they began to understand what gaming is about they might be able to comprehend the appeal it has to so many people.
Okay, your theory that people are more likley to do drugs ect is kinda off. I know plenty of people that do drugs and don't play games, it would really be parents and freinds that would influence them. And i mean seriously, I have played games since i was 3 ( DOOM FTW!!!) and I turned out just fine. I am and Eagle Scout (no not the dorky fat ones), a 1st degree adult black belt in Goju Ryu, and I am currently going to college. I have NEVER, and I repeat NEVER done ANY drugs or drank any alchoholic beverages....EVER!!!! Oh and as for wanting to escape from relationships, umm yeah i am kinda the guy in my group of freinds who helps everyone with thier problems, the one that cares about all of em. So yeah, games... not the problem, look for another common denominator.
I never do drugs and rarely drink because I find it lessens my performance as a gamer and I prefer spending my time gaming or watching TV than sleeping off a drug or alcohol induced stupor.
I was just showing this article and comments to my missus, when strike me down with a feather she came up with an amusing observation.
They are correct gamers are now doing lots of different drugs whilst playing games, the demographic she was refering too were the OAP's hooked on c**ktails of god knows what playing the Wii in the name medicinal benefit.
I never do drugs and rarely drink because I find it lessens my performance as a gamer and I prefer spending my time gaming or watching TV than sleeping off a drug or alcohol induced stupor.
Hmmm, wouldn't have thought you'd be a drinker...y'know being called Mr Whisky and all that!
...and what a load of piffle about gamers being druggies!
Well out of all of my friends I probably play video games the most - and I don't smoke, take drugs or drink whatsoever. Most of my other friends who don't really play games that much at all smoke weed and drink, whilst the majority of people i know who are heavily into video games would rather stay away from drugs and tend to drink sensibly.
I think the findings of this "scientific" report are somehow very selective. They must've concentrated solely on people who smoke, drink, take drugs and play video games in order to get their results because in the whole time I've played video games I've not seen any link whatsoever.
Once again, someone jumps on the "video games are bad, mmkay?" bandwagon.
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Granted, I realise that my girlfriend and I may not represent the overall gaming average but there are other studies that have indicated that gaming does not make gamers more violent; quite the opposite as gaming apparently allows many people to release pent up frustration.
